by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit sbnation.com: Oakland A’s pitcher Sonny Gray is having his struggles of late

The A’s are off Thursdays as they are traveling to the Tampa St.Petersburg area to play the final three games of the nine-game road trip. The A’s are 1-5 on the trip, and things are not going well for the Oaktown boys. The starting rotation is a trainwreck right now. The A’s ace, Sonny Gray, is not pitching well and needs to get back on track soon.Gray’s record is 3-4, and his ERA is 6.00 Kendall Graveman has been rocked in his last three starts and may be in jeopardy of being sent to the bullpen as the long relief guy or, perhaps, sent  to Nashville, to get his game back on track. His record is 1-4, and his ERA is 5.74 Righty Jesse Hahn started the season in Nashville, called back to Oakland and pitched well in one game and not-so-well in another is back in Nashville trying to find the recipe for success. Lefty Sean Manaea, the prospect the A’s received when they traded Ben Zobrist to Kansas City, has made three starts, and his performance indicates that he may not be ready to pitch at the Major League level. His record is 0-1, but his ERA is an astounding 11.37. Lefty Eric Surkamp does not appear to be the answer in the starting rotation either. Surkamp is 0-3, and his ERA is 6.55.  The only consistent performer the A’s have is the veteran Rich Hill. Hill has made seven starts and owns a record of 4-3 and a very respectable ERA of 2.39. Hill is scheduled to pitch against the Rays’Jake Odorizzi Friday night. Jarred Parker, Felix Doubront, Chris Bassit, and Liam Hendricks are all on the DL. Position players Mark Canha and Jed Lowrie are also on the 15-day DL. A’s manager Bob Melvin has had to get imaginative in his lineups. Danny Valencia is also hurt. Melvin has Yonder Alonso playing third and Billy Butler playing first.

Josh Reddick leads the A’s offense.  Reddick has been very reliable so far this season. Reddick, however, will be a free agent at the end of the year, and he may find himself a new home for the 2017 season. The A’s could continue their pattern of trading him before the trade deadline to get more prospects, or they could give him a qualifying offer of over 16 million dollars for one year. The A’s probably think that Josh will reject the QO and then the A’s would receive a draft pick if some other club signed him. The A’s have another trade chip. However, the A’s have been adamant saying that Sonny Gray will not be traded. Sonny doesn’t cost the A’s a lot of money yet but he will in a couple of years.

The Tampa Bay Rays are almost a mirror image of the A’s. They play in a ballpark that is a nightmare. They are the only team in baseball that plays in an indoor stadium. Balls are lost in the lights, or they land on catwalks. Attendance is also the pits in St. Petersburg. The Rays would like to move but have a lease with the stadium that expires in 2027.

The Rays made the 2008 World Series with pitchers such as James Shields and David Price. Shields is now in San Diego, and Price is in Boston. Their lineup is made up of players that are either prospects or journeymen. The team is led by the veteran third baseman Evan Longoria. Longoria is hitting just .233 but has six home runs and seventeen RBIs. Right fielder Steve Souza, Jr has a batting average of .252, and he has eight dingers and fifteen RBIs. Left fielder Desmond Jennings is hitting a buck sixty-three and center fielder Kirk Kiermaier is just above the Mendoza line at .208. Brad Miller is the shortstop. Logan Forsythe plays second for the Rays, and the other Logan(Morrison) is at first. Forsythe is leading the club in hitting with an average of .308 but is listed as day-to-day due to a shoulder bruise. Curt Casali and the ex-Angel Hank Conger handle the catching chores.

The Rays, like the A’s, have prided themselves on good pitching.  However, the rotation of Chris Arche, Matt Andriese, Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi, and Drew Smyly have a won-lost record of 5-12 so far this season. Starter Alex Cobb is on the DL and may return later this year. The bullpen is manned by former Athletic Dana Eveland, Erasmo Ramirez, Ryan Webb, Enny Romero, Steve Geltz, Xavier Cedeno and closer Alex Colome. Ramirez has a record of 6-1 and Colome has recorded nine saves. Last year’s closer, Brad Boxberger is on the DL and may return in mid-May as he recovers from core muscle surgery.Boxberger recorded forty-four saves for the Rays in 2015. The Rays record for 2016 is 15-17 and are returning from a swing to the West Coast. The last three games of the trip were in Seattle and the Mariners swept them.

The A’s will send Rich Hill to pitch Friday night. He will be opposed by Jake Odorizzi. Kendall Graveman will pitch on Saturday and Matt Andriese will go for Tampa Bay. The A’s need to get well in Tampa as the return to face the potent Texas Rangers for three in Oakland. The New York Yankees arrive to play four, and they will be seeking to avenge the three-game sweep by the A’s earlier this year. The Yankees are playing better ball as their veteran players are starting to come around.  The A’s then go to Seattle for three and then return home to face the Detroit Tigers. They have their work cut out for them.