The Oakland A’s have been arguably the best team in Major League Baseball over the first third of the 2014 season, but on Saturday, they lost a piece of their offense early as a result of injury. That player was outfielder Josh Reddick, who left their game against the Angels with a knee injury, and now, Reddick is headed to the disabled list as the team activates star reliever Ryan Cook.
The #Athletics have reinstated RHP Ryan Cook from the 15-day DL and placed OF Josh Reddick on the 15-day DL (retroactive to June 1).
— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) June 3, 2014
It is difficult to say which is the bigger roster move at this stage, especially when considering that the 27-year-old Reddick has struggled mightily in the recent past. This season, Reddick has posted an ugly slash line of .214/.279/.339 with just four home runs in 50 games, but his defense is consistently above-average, and that alone could sidetrack what has been an impressive season of run prevention for Oakland.
On the side of Ryan Cook, the 26-year-old right-hander has been absent for much of the 2014 season as a result of a forearm issue, but he has been one of the best set-up men in baseball for the last three seasons. Cook has navigated 12 appearances with an ERA of 2.92 despite a scarily bad walk rate (6.57 per 9 innings), and if he can keep up that effectiveness, it will be the third consecutive season with a sub-3.00 ERA in the American League.
The A’s are cooking on all cylinders right now, and frankly, this swap shouldn’t do anything to directly counter that.
