Andrew Triggs out for the year

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski on July 14, 2017 at 6:26 PM

Andrew Triggs has gone under the knife and had his hip labrum repaired. He won't be back this year. This sucks for Triggs, who was trying to establish himself as a full-time starter after a weirdly good six starts in 2016 opened that door. He doesn't miss bats, but he does keep the ball down, and the result had been, by Baseball Prospectus' DRA, a pretty good MLB starter: His 4.06, which is now his season-ending figure, ranks between Brandon McCarthy and Jose Quintana among established starters on the leaderboard.

Assuming he comes back at full strength in spring training, and further assuming that the medical team doesn't feel that starting is what caused the hip injury in the first place, there should still be an opportunity for Triggs in 2018. He'll still be a minimum-salary player, so there's no reason for the A's to worry about money, and only Sean Manaea and Kendall Graveman should be considered locks for the 2018 rotation, among players currently on the team. Jharel Cotton and Daniel Gossett have struggled, Sonny Gray seems likely to be traded, and who knows with Paul Blackburn and Chris Bassitt. I'd hoped that Frankie Montas would be pushing his way into that role by now, but: well. And Jesse Hahn? Sigh, Jesse Hahn.

Of course, if Gray is traded (or Sean Doolittle, or Yonder Alonso, or Jed Lowrie, or any combination of those guys), the return could include someone who would slot into next year's rotation, or at least compete for a spot soon, like Manaea and Cotton coming back in the Ben Zobrist and Rich Hill/Josh Reddick trades. It's all as in flux as it ever is, but this A's team isn't bursting at the seams with talent that can stop a potentially solid pitcher like Triggs from making his mark next year.