The recent addition of Aaron Civale seems to have solidified the top three spots in the rotation to open the year. Even if you don’t feel that Civale is an upgrade over anyone in-house already, manager Mark Kotsay made it clear yesterday that the top three will be Severino, Springs, and Civale to open the season.
That means that the final two spots in the rotation are theoretically up for grabs, but are they really? Lefty Jacob Lopez was one of the A’s best pitchers last year but is apparently still recovering from the forearm issue that prematurely ended his rookie season. Would he actually be one of the odd-men out if he’s fully healthy and fully ramped up come Opening Day? Would the A’s be that cautious?
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Then there’s righty Luis Morales. One of the recent top prospects in the system, Morales showed why he was rated so highly in his first action with the A’s this past season. That would seemingly give him a step up on the other pitchers, but it’s important to remember he set a career-high in innings last year… at just 89! If the A’s do open the season with him in their rotation they’d have to be monitoring his workload essentially all season long.
If the A’s do surprise us all and want more of a workhorse-type option at the back of the rotation to open the year they could turn to a different young arm like Mason Barnett. Or they could give someone like Jack Perkins or JT Ginn a big chance to prove they can be more than a swingman. Want more upside? Gunnar Hoglund might be the arm you want at the back of the rotation to start the season. And there’s always the wild card in Luis Medina, who is out of options.
We’ve had surprises in recent years when Kotsay named his Opening Day rotation and this year could follow a similar path. Who takes those two final spots behind the veterans? Debate and comment below!