Athletics shortstop Elvis Andrus underwent successful surgery today to repair a fibula fracture in his left leg, the club announced. The veteran suffered the injury over the weekend. The team anticipates he’ll be ready for Spring Training next season.
Oakland acquired Andrus from the Rangers in February after watching Marcus Semien depart in free agency. Andrus went on to log the bulk of the playing time at short this season, but he didn’t produce much offensively. The 33-year-old hit .243/.294/.320 with only three home runs, production that checked in 28 percentage points below the league average by measure of wRC+. That’s the fourth consecutive well below-average hitting campaign for Andrus, who had a really solid run for much of his time in Texas but has tailed off as he entered his 30’s.
Andrus remains under contract for 2022 on a $14MM salary, $6.75MM of which will be paid down by the Rangers. The deal also contains a $15MM vesting player option for 2023. Were he to reach 550 plate appearances next year, he’d have the right to exercise that option; if he doesn’t hit that playing time tally, he’d hit free agency at the end of the season.
Given Andrus’ continued offensive struggles, it’s possible the A’s look to upgrade the position this winter. Advanced defensive metrics have been split on Andrus’ glovework — Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as below-average three years running, while he’s rated quite well by Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Most teams would still probably feel comfortable with Andrus’ ability to handle shortstop, but the A’s will assuredly try to be competitive again next season and could look to add a little more offense at the position. There’s likely significant roster turnover on the horizon, and the front office might try to bring in a controllable shortstop option via trade to push Andrus into more of a utility role.
As opposed to an unsuccessful surgery for a minor fibula fracture? What would that entail? Amputation?
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
One of these times, Fever Pitch Guy was gonna get me. Gat dangit.
We could only hope
Unsuccessful would mean complications that would require further surgery or procedures. In Andrus’ case there were complications but the surgeon was able to localize the issue and proceeded.
NBC Sports BayArea:
The A’s announced Dr. Brigham Au at the Trinity Surgical Center in Arlington, Tex. performed two procedures on Andrus, including an “internal fixation to the fibula bone and a ‘tightrope’ procedure to repair the upper ankle due to a sprain of the syndesmosis of the left leg.”
Makes sense for the A’s to at least find someone who can platoon with him, both for esthetic and economic reasons
The good news is that he’ll likely be available before spring training. The bad news is that he’ll likely be available before spring training.
Matt Olson for Torres and Voit. Yankees not spending the money to keep Rizzo.
So in other words, swap Olson’s 5.6 WAR for two guys that have a combined 0.8 WAR. Sounds like a Yankees fan kind of trade suggestion – give me your best player for two guys that are borderline DFA candidates.
I wouldn’t call Torres a borderline dfa candidate, yeah he didn’t have that good of a year and he isn’t a true SS, but that’s taking it too far.
Gleyber had a 0 WAR in 2020, a 0.4 WAR in 2021 and is due an arbitration raise on his current $4mil salary. Absolute DFA candidate in my mind.
The notion that he has any positive trade value at this point is laughable.
Classic Yankees homer who doesn’t understand surplus value
Jim Bowden from MLB Network been suggesting this trade last few weeks ⚾️
There are multiple reasons Jim Bowden no longer has a job in the front office of a MLB team.
Why do you think that is the best possible package the A’s could get for Olson? Brewers could wreck it, Braves and maybe Giants could feasibly too (wouldnt that be wild), not to mention Boston has plenty of interesting pieces that could net an Olson.
Olson is def top 10 MVP every year, Gleyber and Voit would be interesting in 2019, but definitely not now. Add Jasson or go away.
The 4 players who truly sunk the A’s this year were Andrus, Lowrie, Canha and Murphy. A’s needed all of them to hit like 50% better than they did. Giving Aramis Garcia regular ABs was pure pain too. Andrus is so cooked as a regular, he should be a late inning defensive replacement only. How is he such a slow runner too? Canha also got noticeably slower this season too.
A’s can do better, but they wont and Canha will probably be back for more .750 OPS mediocrity.
All those players performed at expected levels, some maybe a little bit better even. They didn’t underperform, the A’s over-relied on them.
Hardly the players’ fault. Only Murphy is under 30 and could be considered a player on the rise. The rest are aging veterans. You know what you’re getting with guys like that.
Canha was injured most of the season and still put up an OPS+ of 112. His OBP was hovering around .400 until he ended up having to go on the IL.
Lowrie was a neat idea for about 3 weeks. But he’s done. He needs to retire.
Your comments are ridiculous…why would the A’s keep Andrus around as a late inning defensive replacement when his defense is below average? Nick Allen is the most likely replacement at SS and his defense is phenomenal.
Is this serious???
The 4 players that sunk the A’s were: Rosenthal, Trivino, Diekman, and Romo.
And the entire Mariner’s team.
Our bullpen was garbage this year.
Budgreen420. Bullpen was garbage down the stretch only. Most of the year they were pretty decent
Bottom line is there will be a plethora of changes with the A’s coming this way winter. Won’t be surprised if either Olson and/or Chapman are traded or both. It’s the sad reality for an Oakland team that more than a new stadium to generate revenue they just need new ownership.
The sad reality fans haven’t figured out spending doesn’t equal winning otherwise the A’s would never reach the playoffs ever or be remotely competitive. The other sad reality is if the A’s ran the franchise like you and other fans want them too, like resign aging veterans they wouldn’t be as successful. Let them go, that player you think is good won’t be that good in the near future and they’re easily replaceable just like every other player who has left and will leave in the future.