MESA, Ariz. — The A’s are running out of options for their starting rotation. Executive Vice President Billy Beane knows this, and he’s planning to do something about it.
With Jharel Cotton set to undergo Tommy John surgery and likely miss the entire 2018 season, Beane said the club won’t just look to add one starting pitcher, but multiple pitcher.
“We need some candidates. We’re looking right now. There’s just not very much depth at all,” Beane said. “It was a concern coming in, you just don’t want it to reveal itself this soon.”
The A’s current payroll sits around $69 million. Alex Cobb is the top starting pitcher still unsigned, but Beane said the club will not have very much room to spend.
The secondary pitchers on the market the A’s might be able to sign include two of their former players in Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson. John Lackey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Clay Buccholz, and R.A. Dickey also remain unsigned. Pitchers expected to be cut by other teams in the coming week will also be an option.
“I think we have no choice but to go out there and look,” Beane said. “It’s not exactly fertile ground for finding a starting pitcher. Certainly there is going to be some limitation as it relates to cost.”
The urgency from Beane to look for help comes from his health concerns over the current members expected to begin the season in the starting rotation. Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea, Paul Blackburn, Daniel Mengden, and Andrew Triggs all battled with injuries at some point last season.
Top pitching prospect A.J. Puk also remains in big league camp. Though the belief from most was that the A’s would avoid beginning the season with Puk in the rotation and wait until June in order to have an extra year of control, Beane shot that notion down. He said service time with players has never been an issue with the club, pointing out Huston Street, Anderson, and Cahill as examples of calling guys up early. It’s just making sure he’s ready for the big leagues.
“Go look at our history. We take guys out of A-ball. It’s never been an issue here. It means nothing to me,” Beane said. “We don’t have enough depth to start manipulating and playing with things like that. To worry about something six years from now or three years from now, that doesn’t come into play with us.”
Puk was dominant through his first three outings of the spring before getting touched up for four runs in a start against the Mariners Thursday night in which he lasted just 2 2/3 innings. Despite the bad outing, Puk has still been the most impressive starter in camp.
When asked if Puk truly has a legitimate shot at cracking the starting rotation out of spring, Beane didn’t shoot down, but he did make it clear they would prefer not to go down that road.
Do I think it’s ideal to call upon a kid who’s had half a year at Double-A? No,” Beane said. “You gotta be careful in spring training when making evaluations. He had a bit of a stumble the other night. But the preferred route is not to jump a kid after a half year in Double-A. It’s not always the one you have the option of taking.”
