Oakland Athletics Are Plagued By Injury And Misfortune

The season is looking bleak for the Oakland Athletics, as injuries have helped feed the disabled list more than the win column.

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The disabled list for the Oakland Athletics currently has 13 players on it. When a low-budget team has a thin roster and gets hit by the injury bug, few things are going to go right. Illustrating that point, Oakland recently suffered through an ugly four-game sweep at home against the Yankees.

Perhaps, the biggest blow of all for the A’s is the fact that Sonny Gray has also landed on the 15-Day DL because of a strained muscle. The Athletics, already struggling, now don’t even have their ace to give them a ray of hope — although, Sonny’s production has been far below expectations this season.

Gray has a 3-5 record with a bloated ERA of 6.19. He started the season 3-1, but things went bad quickly for the pitcher who had been expected to contend for the Cy Young Award this season. Perhaps some time away from the field will help Sonny regain his confidence and command on the mound.

Another name on the DL that is quite depressing for A’s fans is Josh Reddick. He’s one of Oakland’s most consistent players, and his fielding skills are among the best in baseball. Reddick is expected to be out about four to six weeks with a fractured thumb.

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The loss of Reddick is especially painful because Oakland’s offensive production relies heavily on his good at-bats that help facilitate runs throughout the entire lineup. He hasn’t been a huge power guy this season, but he currently owns a stellar batting average of .322.

Without Reddick, the A’s will have a dreadful time trying to find consistent productivity from a group that has sustained far too many injuries. Oakland will likely have to give Jake Smolinksi more playing time in the field, though he hasn’t seemed to be very promising so far.

To make matters worse, the A’s lost Mark Canha for the entire season due to hip surgery. Canha seemed like he would grow into being a solid player for Oakland after a positive rookie season last year.

Everybody knows that the A’s won’t sign a big name free agent, so they must rely on the development of players in their own system. The loss of Canha will make it nearly impossible for the Athletics to fill roles efficiently on a daily basis.

Both Eric Sogard and Jed Lowrie are also on the DL, so the A’s essentially have no infield depth. It also means that there is a strong chance Oakland will see an increase in errors due to the lack of quality fielders.

Oakland’s closer, Ryan Madson, has been great from the bullpen, and guys like Khris Davis and Danny Valencia have been playing well. However, the Oakland Athletics don’t have enough things going right at the moment to enable them to string together a lot of wins.

A’s fans might be able to dig through the wreckage and find some sense of hope that the team’s situation isn’t entirely hopeless — but it doesn’t look good at all.

Overall, productive depth for the A’s is out of the question right now. There are simply too many names on the DL for them to have any chance of being successful.

Next: A's Mourn Sudden Death of Pitcher Sean Murphy

Last week, the A’s seemed to be turning things around with a combination of better starting pitching and strong offense. Things seemed to be looking up. But like most good things this season for the A’s, it didn’t last.

The team is currently stuck in a whirlwind of misfortune and it’s hard for fans to watch the A’s lose with such high frequency because they do have some good talent on their roster. Unfortunately, most of that talent is on the DL.