Game Thread #120: Athletics at Rangers

The past few hours have been filled with off-the-field A's news. The most discussed of this news has been the report that Coco Crisp is unhappy with his current playing time in light of his vesting option. The rare long-time Athletic has been one of the more dependable clutch bats these last few years, and has provided a valuable leadership role for a relatively young and inexperienced team, however, his abilities on both sides of the ball, as well as on the basepaths, have been in a steady decline, and with the A's committing further to their youth movement, Coco's current role on the team is becoming both unclear and expensive. As things currently stand, it appears that the Crisp situation will unlikely have an ending that satisfies all parties. Crisp will be starting in center field and leading off tonight.

The other news is a mix of good and bad. Jed Lowrie unfortunately has to undergo surgery for his foot and ligament problems, ending his season. While his injuries ultimately sapped him of most of his strength and clearly were hampering his movements on the diamond, Lowrie's batting approach was one of the strongest on the team, and his discipline will be missed. Replacing Lowrie will be, in all likelihood, Chad Pinder, one of the A's top middle-infield products, who has a good amount of pop for the position and has been making improvements in his plate vision and making contact after a slow start to his season in Nashville. Replacing Pinder in Nashville is phenom Matt Chapman, indicating that Pinder's call up is probably through the rest of the season.

The A's are still playing baseball, however! Taking the mound for the green and gold today is Andrew Triggs. Triggs has put up rather uninspiring numbers all season, but that is largely due to the fact that he has been primarily forced to pitch in situations that mask his strengths. Slated to be primarily a one inning reliever who faces almost exclusively righties, Triggs is often called upon to pitch in blow outs for multiple innings or make a spot start, all the while constantly needing to move back and forth between Nashville and Oakland. Due to all the injuries to the squad, Triggs has been and will continue to be sitting in a starting pitcher's slot for a few turns through the rotation, allowing him to adjust to the set role that he's in. Though he may not yet have the stamina to pitch all too deeply into tonight's affair, his ability to get outs should not be in doubt. Opposing Triggs is Lucas Harrell, whom the A's have traditionally hit very well.

Lineups are below. First pitch is at 5:05.