A's manager confirms two veterans will begin season on IL

Miguel Andujar will undergo surgery to repair a torn right meniscus and will miss at least four to six weeks in recovery, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters.  The Athletics will also lose another player to the season-opening injured list, as Sean Newcomb will miss time due to irritation in his surgically repaired left knee.

Andujar’s surgery is set for Wednesday, and Kotsay said a further timeline will be established once doctors actually “get in there [to see] what the repair has to be….We could be looking at a longer timeframe.”  This will mark the second major surgery for Andujar, following a shoulder procedure in 2019 that cost him most of that season and serves as a turning point in his career.

A spectacular 2018 season with the Yankees saw Andujar finish second in AL Rookie of the Year voting, though he has since played in only 144 major league games.  The Yankees seemed to move on from Andujar after his lost 2019 campaign, and gave him only sporadic looks on the big league roster amid several call-ups and demotions back and forth from Triple-A.  The Pirates claimed Andujar off waivers from New York in September 2022, but this fresh start didn’t result in much more MLB playing time, as Andujar appeared in only 30 games for Pittsburgh in 2023.

Oakland acquired Andujar on another waiver claim back in November, and he avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.7M salary for 2024.  Andujar has been on fire at the plate during spring training, yet he’ll now face yet another frustrating setback with this knee injury.  More will be known once the surgery takes place, yet the hope is obviously for a best-case scenario that would see Andujar make his official A’s debut some time in May.

Newcomb had a lateral meniscus repair of his own on his left knee in September, and then an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee in December.  It certainly isn’t promising that Newcomb’s knee is still giving him problems, but the characterization of the issue as just “irritation” is perhaps a hint that there isn’t any further structural damage.  The Athletics will give Newcomb an extra 15 days on the IL at the start of the year to hopefully work through his soreness, and then complete any ramp-up work necessary to get him ready for his season debut.

Newcomb has seen action in each of the last seven major league seasons, pitching mostly with the Braves before a trade to the Cubs in April 2022.  He spent most of the 2023 season in the Giants’ minor league system before being traded to the A’s and given a look on the active roster, and Newcomb then delivered a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings.  Small sample size notwithstanding, it was still a big improvement over the 7.45 ERA that the southpaw posted in 73 2/3 MLB innings over the 2020-22 seasons.  Those struggles were tied to rather extreme difficulties in limiting walks and home runs, and Newcomb still issued nine free passes in his 15 innings with Oakland.

Between Trevor Gott’s Tommy John surgery, Scott Alexander’s stress reaction in his left ribs and now Newcomb’s knee issue, the Athletics have suddenly lost the three most experienced members of their bullpen to the IL (and, in Gott’s case, for the whole season).  Kyle Muller is now also the only left-hander remaining in the relief corps with Alexander and Newcomb sidelined, so the A’s might be on the lookout for southpaws in particular if they turn to the open market for any veteran relievers who might be available after the last rounds of spring training cuts.

As for Andujar, he was seemingly penciled into the regular outfield mix, but the A’s will now have to adjust to his IL stint.  Utilityman Hoy Park might now have a better chance of breaking camp, and Park has helped his case with some very impressive numbers in Cactus League play.  Park and Lawrence Butler could be backup outfield options behind the provisional starting trio of Seth Brown, JJ Bleday and Esteury Ruiz.