Outings in Vegas could affect roster
One of the more interesting turns through a rotation is happening at TripleA Las Vegas.
Thursday night, A’s top prospect Jesús Luzardo started for the Aviators and allowed five runs, four earned, in 31⁄3 innings. Another of the team’s top young pitchers, A.J. Puk, retired two batters and allowed a homer in the ninth.
Friday, Marco Estrada, who has been out since April with a back injury, is scheduled to go four innings, with Daniel Mengden to follow him.
Saturday, onetime Mets star Matt Harvey, signed to a minorleague deal Thursday, will start, and Sunday, Sean Manaea, who is working his way back from shoulder surgery, will be on the mound.
Some or all of these pitchers could help the A’s at some point, with Puk the most likely to be up soon in Oakland’s bullpen should he continue to put up mostly strong performances; he had 35 strikeouts in 231⁄3 innings entering Thursday, and the A’s have to decide if he needs to be able to work in backtoback games or not before bringing him up for what would be Puk’s bigleague debut.
Puk is expected to resume starting next season; he’s got innings restrictions this season after Tommy John surgery in March 2018.
The starters aren’t guaranteed spots in the bigleague rotation, particularly if the A’s current group is pitching well. Luzardo and Manaea are likely to be September callups at the very least — and should anyone falter in the rotation, Luzardo might have the best shot at a spot if his performance warrants.
Manaea has options remaining, and his velocity and results have been inconsistent in his rehab outings. Were the A’s not in the playoff hunt, he’d likely be back in the rotation based on his track record — he was Oakland’s top starter last year — but if the team wasn’t in the race, the A’s also wouldn’t have added starters Tanner Roark and Homer Bailey before the trade deadline.
Mengden, who has been in the rotation on and off much of the year, might be a callup for depth in September, but it’s going to be a tough road for Harvey to crack the roster after he posted a 7.09 ERA with the Angels, who released him three weeks ago. Harvey would have to turn in some truly sensational work to get a look at the bigleague level.
Manager Bob Melvin said Thursday that he’d thought Harvey’s stuff looked decent when the A’s faced him earlier in the year and that the team always welcomes pitching depth.
Estrada might be an extra arm in September if he is not designated for assignment to create space on the 40man roster. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser