Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker will undergo season-ending knee surgery, per MLB Trade Rumors, ending a year the knee never let get started. Rooker hit .200 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs in 48 games and has not played since June 8.
The news lands on a franchise already staring at a decision. The A’s went into the break at 41-55 on a nine-game losing streak — the longest active skid in the majors — having lost 17 of their last 20, a stretch that already cost pitching coach Scott Emerson his job. They sit eight games out in the AL West, 6.5 back of the final wild card, and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports the club is now likely to sell before the August 3 deadline.
Rooker’s absence changes the calculus. He was the established power bat any second-half push would have been built around, and shutting him down removes the best argument for holding the group together. Athlon Sports reports rivals are expected to call on catcher Shea Langeliers — the AL’s starting All-Star catcher, who reached base twice in Tuesday’s 4-0 win in the Midsummer Classic — and infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, though trading either cornerstone would be a far bigger decision than renting out expiring contracts. This organization has plenty of practice telling the roster it has apart from the roster it is building. The next three weeks will show which players the front office puts in each pile.
Baseball resumes Friday at home against the Washington Nationals.
For fantasy purposes, Rooker can be cut in all redraft formats. Langeliers holds top-five catcher value wherever he plays, and a deal to a contender would only help his counting stats. The at-bats Rooker leaves behind are the sleeper story — whoever inherits the everyday DH role gets regular plate appearances on a team with every reason to audition young hitters down the stretch.
