The Oakland Athletics received some bad news about their closer over the weekend, but they could bolster their roster with the pursuit of a Cuban infielder, who held a showcase in the Dominican Republic last week.
Sean Doolittle, the team's closer from 2014, has a "slight" tear in his rotator cuff, according to Jane Lee of MLB.com, and reportedly will not be ready for Opening Day. He has "considerable inflammation" in the area and received a platelet-rich plasma injection to treat the injury. Assistant general manager David Forst told Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area that Doolittle suffered the injury when he began his offseason throwing program.
However, there is some good news.
Fortunately the A's have some insurance in the meantime following the acquisition of reliever Tyler Clippard a few weeks ago. Forst also told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the left-hander will not need surgery and instead will rest and undergo treatment to heal the injury.
In his third MLB season, the 28-year-old Doolittle was 2-4 with a 2.73 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 89 strikeouts and 22 saves in 61 games (62 2/3 innings) with Oakland in 2014.
As for other potential good news, the A's are believed to have sent scouts to view a showcase for Cuban second baseman Hector Olivera. Last month, Ben Badler of Baseball America said the Athletics were to be a "serious contender" for the 29-year-old and then FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal wrote shortly thereafter that the team's next move could be the signing of Olivera.
MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez reported on Saturday that over 200 scouts attended Olivera's showcase last week in the Dominican Republic, but they're not among the teams expressing "strong interest" in him. It's unknown if they're looking to pursue him once he's cleared by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, but he could very well still be an option of theirs since second baseman Ben Zobrist is also capable of playing the outfield.
Oakland has made a number of trades this offseason, so it'll be interesting to see how their new-look roster performs in 2015.
