The A’s announced this morning that Brett Anderson has been placed on the 10-day DL with a left shoulder strain. Anderson was removed from yesterday’s game before the second inning even began. He’d had an ugly showing so far this season at the MLB level, pitching to a 7.63 ERA with just eight strikeouts across four starts. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes, it’s the 11th time in the 30-year-old lefty’s career that he’s gone on the disabled list. Anderson has only pitched more than 100 innings once in the past eight seasons; it was a 2015 campaign with the Dodgers in which he worked to a 3.69 ERA and 3.94 FIP. In a corresponding move, the A’s have recalled Ryan Dull, who was technically optioned to Triple-A Nashville yesterday but never left Toronto.
Other injury notes from around baseball…
- Yesterday, the Diamondbacks officially announced the activation of slugging third baseman Jake Lamb from the disabled list. After hitting the 10-day DL with a sprained right AC joint and subsequently having his return delayed by elbow tendinitis, has finally completed a rehab assignment and is ready to return. It’s a welcome sight for the Diamondbacks, who recently lost team WAR leader A.J. Pollock to the DL. They’ll hope Lamb can repeat the 30-homer power he showed last year and help propel an offense that currently ranks 27th of 30 MLB teams with a wRC+ of just 83.
- Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports provides a pair Giants injury updates via Twitter. Joe Panik is reportedly doing well in his recovery from left thumb surgery, and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as the end of this month. Meanwhile, Mac Williamson served as a DH in Triple-A last night. None of the rehabbing Giants, however, will be called upon at the major league level for at least another week, a group that includes rookie Alen Hanson and veteran outfielder Hunter Pence.
- There’s still no real answer to the nerve issue in Matt Shoemaker’s forearm, according to Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times. The Angels right-hander reportedly visited a specialist in St. Louis earlier this week, and the next move in his recovery isn’t quite clear at this time. The oft-injured Shoemaker landed on the DL after just one start this season; he allowed three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out four.
jessecc08
it sure seems like there are a lot of injuries for a non contact sport
Solaris601
I’m not privy to the injury stats for the year to date compared to other years, but it definitely seems like there have been a lot more DL trips across the board this year than any other year I can remember.
davidcoonce74
Well, it’s a longer season with more games than any contact sport and pitching injuries are almost always caused by repetitive motion injuries – throwing too many pitches at too high a velocity too often. I mean, look at it this way – the closest thing to a MLB pitcher in any other sport is a football quarterback, and even then that’s not very accurate since QBs don’t pronate when they throw and don’t have a wide variety of deliveries that stress their elbows. But Quarterbacks do throw overhand, but they only do it about 500-600 times per season. A baseball pitcher throws from a variety of deliveries 100 times a game, with less time off between starts than a QB.
Kaelus80
I don’t think Alen Hanson is technically a rookie…
JoeyPankake
Hunter Pence should be released. Baseball is about winning games, not feelings. If I was all of a sudden terrible at my job but I was still well liked I probably wouldn’t have the job anymore.
GareBear
Stupid analogy. Baseball is a business and if feelings sell tickets than let feelings rain. Besides with all the injuries to the Giants roster they need warm bodies for the time being.
BigFred
Warm body is a pretty good description of Hunter Pence at this point. 🙂
arc89
Giants problem is they think they can contend when they should be rebuilding. I seen many teams make this mistake holding on to old players for one last shot. They have talent in the minors but using old vets instead will delay the rebuild.
baseball1600
Dumb comment. All their vets are under contract for a considerable amount of time. This isnt the 2017 Royals, who had easy chips to get rid of due to the fact that they were FAs at the end of the season. If anything, the season is going according to plan. Stay around the .500 mark until Bum gets back. Other injuries have hampered them, but the team has shown the ability to contend with almost any team. They hit a skid recently because their roster is considerably old and they havent had an off day in weeks. Once the off days start becoming more regular, expect a more fresh offense and team overall.
Bubba 5
Dumb comment. “ Going to plan”? Oh yea let’s overpay old guys. What a “ PLAN” Old teams don’t get better as the season wears on. Old injured some of the worst contracts in MLB. Stick a fork in them. They have set themselves back years with these moves.
baseball1600
What? Longoria has been their best bat next to Belt. McCutchen until recently had a 14 game hit streak going and was heating up. Overpaying? They got McCutchen for practically nothing? Gave up a top prospect for Longoria, but avoided giving up one of their top 3 prospects in the Organization? Did you really expect a team with deals for 3-4 years set in place just give up when they reached the playoffs as recently as 2 seasons ago? Especially when the Sharks, Warriors, and Niners all have playoff caliber teams right next door? If they had just decided to put on a complete rebuild, they would have loss a fraction of their fanbase to the neighbor teams, leading to a loss in overall payroll. They stood under the luxury tax and still have a chance at some exciting young players for next season, so it really hasn’t set them back for “years to come”. Do I expect them to win 90 games this year? No. But they could luck out and win a weak division with all the injuries in Arizona and the underpeformances in LA and Colorado. Think before you speak next time.
davidcoonce74
Longoria has a 276 OBP and has drawn 5 walks this year against 38 Ks – if that’s the Giant’s 2nd-best hitter then the Giants are in trouble. He’s been really bad with the bat this year; he’s not hitting the ball hard at all and he’s swinging at everything.
Sirsleepit
Calling the Niners a playoff caliber team is asinine
baseball1600
OBP is bad, but when you are hitting 5th in a lineup without much depth after the first 6 hitters, Home runs and RBI should be the stats being judged. 8 HR and 22 RBI is above average for somebody who plays his home games at ATNT. Could argue the Posey and Crawford are better than him, though. Both of them have really picked it up as of late.
Gobbysteiner
He’s not hitting the ball hard? His SLG is 470
Gobbysteiner
No it’s not. The niners are a playoff caliber team this year, most analysts and NFL personnel agree
Solaris601
People can say what they will about Pence, but we all know he’ll land on the DL twice more before the season is out. We all have our favorite players, but when they’ve outlived their usefulness on the field it’s time to get them off the field.
arc89
Anderson is back to his favorite place the DL. Always had the talent but never could stay healthy.
justin-turner overdrive
Yep, making a 21 year old throw 175 innings in MLB will kind of do that to a career. If anything guys like Anderson are the poster boys for innings limits and pitch counts.
justin-turner overdrive
Rich Harden, known as being made of glass, threw 928 innings from age 21-29.
Brett Anderson, who does not have that same “made of glass” level of reputation as Harden, has thrown 756 innings from age 21-30.
Hmmm.
jdgoat
In what world does Anderson not have the “made of glass” reputation?
justin-turner overdrive
I said “same level” of reputation people act like Harden never ever pitched but Anderson has actually been much, much worse at staying on the field compared to him.
davidcoonce74
Yeah, Harden was also abused early, throwing 260 innings in his first season-and-a-half as a 21-22 year-old. It’s a bummer, because when he was on he was terrific.
halofan20
Just release Shiemaker, we’re holding on to the hope that he’ll be half as good as he was in 14’. Let it go already. Pay his medical bills and ditch him already man.