Call to arms: signing former All-Star Harvey provides potential rotation depth
OAKLAND » The A’s aren’t done looking for rotation help.
Thursday morning, hours before the start of their key four-game home series against the A.L. Westleading Houston Astros, the team announced it had signed veteran Matt Harvey to a minor-league deal. The 2013 All- Star with the Mets was assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.
The 30-year- old righthander has had a tumultuous few years in the league of late, most recently with the Angels, who signed him to an $11 million, one-year deal this offseason and released him last month after he posted a 7.09 ERA over 12 starts.
But the A’s are ever willing to help pave a pathway for lost pitchers, recently adding Homer Bailey and Tanner Roark and seeing positive results. And a rotation still feeling a bit cobbled and vulnerable given injuries and some inconsistencies is always open for fresh potential.
“Just had a tough time this year in Anaheim, but you look at some of his stuff and he didn’t look too much different than last year, so we’re going to give him some starts in triple-A and
see where we are with that,” manager Bob Melvin said before Thursday’s game. “You can never have too much depth. You never know with injuries, so we’re giving him an opportunity to get some starts under his belt.
“We are a place that some of those guys that are free agents look to, even Marco with his situation and injuries, we’re not afraid to take a chance on a guy who’s been banged up a little bit, so any pitcher in his situation will probably look to our club and say ‘can I get an opportunity?’ ”
Harvey is set to start games for the Triple-A Aviators in a rotation currently occupied by Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo, who are both potential candidates to take a spot in the rotation.
Manaea struck out 10 batters in 5.2 innings in Omaha on Tuesday and should pitch up to 100 pitches in another start with the Aviators before a potential return to Oakland. Luzardo is a bit further behind than Manaea in his rehab assignment, but it’s hard not to wonder how his electric stuff might play in the big leagues.
Unless there is another injury, it’s unclear how Harvey would fit into the big league roster situation. The rotation, as it stands, is keeping its head above water. Mike Fiers, Roark, Brett Anderson, Chris Bassitt and Bailey are solidifying the bunch. But there’s room for improvement, and the injury bug is clearly made its home in Oakland’s pitching staff, so any depth is clearly welcome.
• The A’s had the bases loaded, two outs down just a run on Tuesday night against the Giants, a familiar situation to this point. Some of Oakland’s best ball — its most competitive at bats and timely hits — has been played in the later innings of late.
Chad Pinder struck out swinging at Will Smith’s high fastball, leaving another comeback just one run short. A couple feet away, Ramon Laureano was more hyped than ever.
“It’s crazy, last night, I’ve never been like that in a game, so pumped up,” Laureano said the following day. “That last inning was pretty intense. I wish I could have been in there.”
Laureano has an energy that can’t be tamed; he’s sidelined with a stress reaction in his shin, but he’s still very much present in the clubhouse, a frequent guest in manager Melvin’s office.
“He’ll take the lineup card out today, that’ll give him something to do,” Melvin said Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco.
The ceremonial home plate meet up minutes prior to first pitch is about as close as Laureano will get to game action. Laureano is keeping busy on the side, though. He’s taking swings and doing all other baseball activities other than running. Though the team doctors haven’t given him a timetable to return — or even a clue as to when he might be able to start jogging — Laureano felt confident that he might be able to return sometime in the last week of August, perhaps in Kansas City or more likely in the Bronx against the Yankees.
There’s no running allowed while he’s still in the shutdown period this recovery. He can walk without it hurting, and is doing cryotherapy (with shoes on) and just started lifting weights for the first time a few days ago.
“It feels better, it’s normal, I don’t feel anything,” he said. “When I had persistent days of activities and running, playing, that’s when you start feeling like somebody’s stabbing you with a knife and it’s itchy. It’s something, you don’t want to bet on it, you want to take it easy.”
Laureano made sure to consult with some players who pushed the stress reaction too much to a point where the reaction fractured. Those players had to miss a year of baseball — that’s something Laureano doesn’t even want to imagine.
More Laureano- less months than necessary could be hard on his team, too. Since the starting center fielder went on the injured list on July 30, an A’s offense that averaged nearly six runs per game. Since then, they’ve averaged just around four runs per game.
Laureano isn’t the best defender on paper; his knack for the spectacular often supersedes (or preempts, even) his propensity for gaffes. But that arm plays a role in itself, clearly living in players’ minds and able to control the base paths at times.
Of course, some of the pre- and post-Laureano gaps has to do with coinciding slumps from Khris Davis and Matt Chapman at the heart of the order, but Laureano’s unique presence — his love of big moments and eye-popping defensive plays — is sorely missing as the A’s embark on the home stretch of this postseason run.
“I love all those moments, to be a part of it,” he said. “I guess I’ll be in some of those moments in the end here.”