In a season in which pitching was one of the few things that dominated for the Oakland Athletics, the team suffered a serious setback as starting pitcher Brett Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery Thursday morning. Anderson suffered an elbow injury a month ago and was expected to go through four to six weeks of rehabilitation. Instead, Anderson is out the rest of this season and most if not all of next season.
The injury is just the latest blow to an A's team that was hoping to contend for the AL West division crown in 2011. Instead, the offense has been abysmal and the pitching has been racked with injuries. As the trade deadline approaches, the A's sit 12 games back of the Texas Rangers and find themselves looking to likely be sellers as July 31 approaches.
This is the second straight season Anderson has missed significant time with arm problems and one has to wonder if the Tommy John surgery will get him moving in the right direction health-wise. The A's have managed to get by without him on the pitching front, but a healthy Anderson could have been trade bait to acquire a decent hitting option. Instead, the A's will have to figure out their next step with one more arm on the shelf.