A’s injury updates: Laureano, Rosenthal, Wendelken, Fiers

The Oakland A’s have four players on the injured list right now, and they’ve each received updates in the last week or so.

First up is Ramon Laureano, who went on the IL at the end of May due to a strained right hip. The center fielder went through a full on-field workout Thursday and felt good after running, reports Alex Coffey of The Athletic. The team hasn’t yet decided if he’ll even need a rehab assignment in the minors before returning, with the following note from insider Martin Gallegos:

Laureano says he doesn’t really think he’d need rehab at-bats in the Minors but would probably want to get some innings in a game or two at Las Vegas to build up his stamina.

There’s still not a specific timetable, but this is a step forward.

Next we turn to the pitching staff, where Trevor Rosenthal has spent the entire season on the shelf after thoracic outlet surgery. The right-hander is still two weeks away from beginning to throw, but he’s making progress and there’s reasonable hope he can return this season, reports Matt Kawahara of the S.F. Chronicle. If all continues to go well then he could be back “maybe in August, the middle of August to later,” said manager Bob Melvin, per Kawahara.

Hot take: Oakland spent $11 million last winter to make Rosenthal their closer, but he’s yet to throw a pitch in green-and-gold. If he returns in mid-August, it’ll have the same effect as if the A’s had gone out and made a trade at the July deadline to acquire a star reliever to reinforce the pen. Silver lining to help soften such a heavy injury loss.

Also missing from the bullpen is J.B. Wendelken, out since early May with a strained oblique. The right-hander is scheduled to throw a 30-pitch bullpen session Friday (today), reports Coffey. His next assignment after that is yet to be determined, but “there is a possibility the right-hander could rejoin the club at some point on the back end of an upcoming 10-game road trip that begins June 18,” adds Gallegos in a full injury report writeup.

Finally, in the rotation, starter Mike Fiers is out with a sprained elbow, and he can’t return from the 60-day injured list until at least a few days into July. But he’s doing plyometric work with an eye toward when he might be able to resume to throwing, reported Kawahara last week.

There had been a fifth Athletics player on the IL, lefty reliever Reymin Guduan, but he was activated and then DFA’d on Wednesday. However, he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas, so he’ll remain in the organization.

Here’s the updated injury report.

• RHP Trevor Rosenthal, 60-day IL, thoracic outlet surgery (mid-August?)
• RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (July at least; not yet throwing 6/4)
• RHP J.B. Wendelken, 10-day IL, oblique (threw bullpen 6/11; rehab next?)
• OF Ramon Laureano, 10-day IL, hip (resumed full workouts 6/10; rehab next?)