Hip surgery sidelines Rosenthal for year
HOUSTON — Closer Trevor Rosenthal, the A’s highestprofile freeagent signing last offseason, will undergo hip surgery and won’t pitch this season, manager Bob Melvin said Wednesday.
Rosenthal had thoracicoutlet shoulder surgery in April and was working toward a potential return. Melvin said Rosenthal started having right hip pain in the past week, was checked by team doctors and received a second opinion from hip specialist Dr. Marc Philippon in Vail, Colo.
Rosenthal was diagnosed with a torn labrum and will have surgery Tuesday, Melvin said.
“Unfortunately, after the shoulder surgery and working his way back and starting to throw, another thing popped up,” Melvin said. “So we will not see him this year.”
The A’s signed Rosenthal, 31, to a oneyear, $11 million contract in February to be their closer, replacing freeagent departure Liam Hendriks. Rosenthal opened the season on the injured list after reporting symptoms including numbness in his fingers and pain that did not subside after spring training outings. He was diagnosed with severe neurovascular compression, the A’s said, and had surgery April 8 that involved removal of a rib and a pectoralis minor muscle release.
Rosenthal said last month that he felt a return this season was “definitely achievable.” Melvin had said the A’s were tentatively targeting mid or late August for Rosenthal barring a setback.
“It stings,” Melvin said Wednesday. “This was kind of the final piece we brought in when some money was freed up to be able to bring in a guy like him and expect him to be your closer. It’s disappointing; it’s disappointing for him, too. He wanted to pitch for us. And then when he had his shoulder surgery, (he) worked hard to try to come back and help us.”
Rosenthal’s was the last of several lateoffseason bullpen signings by the A’s, who also brought back Yusmeiro Petit and signed Sergio Romo on freeagent deals. Lou Trivino claimed the open closer role in the first half; he entered Wednesday with 13 saves in 15 chances and a 2.01 ERA in 39 games. Relief depth has been an issue, however.
The A’s entered Wednesday with a 5.24 bullpen ERA over their past 16 games, being charged with five losses in that span. Aside from Trivino, Jake Diekman (3.21), Petit (3.25) and Deolis Guerra (3.73) and Romo (4.35) have ERAs under 4.50 with doubledigit appearances. Romo has pitched better since a rough start, compiling a 1.15 ERA over his past 17 outings, including 11⁄3 scoreless innings Wednesday.
Adding Rosenthal down the stretch might have provided reinforcement for that group. Melvin said the bullpen “remains status quo” with Rosenthal out for the season.
“We weren’t 100% sure we were going to get him back, anyway,” Melvin said. “We were hopeful, and based on the way he was progressing after the (shoulder) surgery, we felt pretty good about sometime in midto late August. But that’s just not the case now.
“So we’ve been operating the way we have been, and that’s the way we’ll keep going. And we’ll see what happens around the trade deadline, but what we have is what we have right now, and that’s what we’ve been operating with all year.”
Rosenthal has endured multiple injury setbacks in recent years. The righthander had Tommy John surgery in 2017, missed the 2018 season and pitched 151⁄3 innings in 2019. He bounced back in 2020, posting a 1.90 ERA in 23 games in the short season. Rosenthal recorded 11 saves in 2020 and has 132 saves with a 3.36 ERA in 373 career games.
Philippon also performed Matt Chapman’s hip labrum surgery last season.