This week was a mixed bag for fans of the Oakland Athletics with good news and bad news coming from the baseball team. First, the bad news, Sean Doolittle will miss opening day due to a left shoulder injury. It’s not clear how the injury occurred or what the recovery time will be but medical staff are confident that the A’s closer will not require surgery. More details of his situation will come out in the days following FanFest, which will be Doolittle’s first media access since his injury.
The Doolittle household, as has come to be expected, are taking the injury in stride and have gleaned a bit of comic relief out of the incident. Gleaned. That’s a word I’ve never used in an article before. First, Eireann, noting that Doolittle’s injury and that of one Kobe Bryant are similarly timed, tweeted out:
Thank you for all for your nice tweets. This has been a hard day for all of us. I mean I can't believe Kobe will miss the rest of the season
— Eireann Dolan (@EireannDolan) January 24, 2015
Not to be out done and, in my imagination, three feet away on the same couch, Doolittle tweeted out:
Good news! I also had the doc inject slider serum into my shoulder so I have another pitch now!
— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) January 25, 2015
*😎 does one arm cartwheels past the haters*
Both tweeted out sentimental tweets as well but that’s boring and it’s Sunday and it doesn’t fit my narrative that they’re just sitting around trying to out funny one another so I’m leaving them out. You don’t like it? Apply to write for the site!
More from White Cleat Beat
- Zach Logue yet another disappointing Oakland A’s trade return
- Luis Barrera heading to familiar foe in Los Angeles Angels
- Looking back at Ruben Sierra with the Oakland A’s
- San Francisco Giants showing Oakland A’s offseason could be worse
- Lucas Luetge what Oakland A’s need in bullpen
In other news, Eric Sogard and Fernando Abad avoided the arbitrator by agreeing to terms of a one year contract. Sogard, who was estimated to make $1 million earned a paycheck just over $1 million. Abad, slated to earn $900,000, also settled on a paycheck of just north of $1 million.
This leaves only Tyler Clippard and Jarrod Parker still at the negotiation table. Considering Parker’s injuries and lack of playing time it seems pretty clear what the A’s will bring to the table in terms of “reasons we’re not paying that” but Clippard, recently acquired from the Nationals, should be a straight forward deal. He was estimated to make $9.3 million but is currently negotiating between $7.7 million and $8.8 million.
We will have more to report about Doolittle’s injury in a couple of weeks and will keep you posted on the remaining contract negotiations taking place in Oakland so stay tuned.