Athletics' lefty Sean Newcomb undergoes second knee surgery in four months

On Wednesday afternoon, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reported that Athletics' lefty Sean Newcomb has undergone an arthroscopic procedure to fix an issue in his right knee. This is his second knee surgery in the past four months.

The first procedure was done back in September. Newcomb missed time with a left knee sprain and underwent surgery to fix an issue with his meniscus.

This time, it's reported that Newcomb had an arthroscopic procedure done on his right knee, though the root cause of the problem seems unknown as of yet.

The Athletics acquired Newcomb from the Giants via trade back in August. He pitched 15 innings for the A's before the knee sprain ended his season early.

He was a solid pitcher for the Braves back in 2018 and 2019 but he's had a rough stretch of years since then. He's been traded twice in the past two years and pitched in four different organizations since the start of 2022.

Despite that, Newcomb found a rhythm during his brief stint in Oakland. He pitched to the tune of a 3.00 ERA while striking out nearly 28% of hitters. It's a small sample for sure, but he pitched just as well while in Triple-A for the Giants.

Gallegos reported that Newcomb is expected to be ready to go by the start of spring training. The A's could really use him in the bullpen, given that he and Kyle Mueller are the most reliable left-handers on the Athletics' staff, outside of JP Sears.

If it turns out that Newcomb isn't ready for opening day, Hogan Harris and Francisco Perez are the other two options should GM David Forst and manager Mark Kotsay wish to run with multiple lefties in the bullpen.

Brady Basso and is the only other lefty on the 40-man. He pitched well last year and received a call-up to Double-A toward the end of the season but has just 84 innings above rookie ball. He'd likely have to be having a dream season at Double-A to be considered for a mid-season call-up.

Regardless, the Newcomb news is the most recent bit of bad luck for the Athletics, as lefty Ken Waldichuk underwent elbow surgery earlier this month.

While both are reportedly hoping to be back for the start of spring training, losing those two guys really thins out the A's pitching staff.

The addition of Trevor Gott should help mitigate the loss of closer Trevor May. If Mason Miller can stay healthy, he should be extremely effective in a bullpen role moving forward.

Outside of that, there are a few question marks remaining, especially if Newcomb and Waldichuk aren't healthy. David Forst still has work to do in order to solidify the pitching staff prior to spring training.