The Oakland A’s lost Sonny Gray on Thursday to a lat strain, and they’ll be without their top starter for at least some of April. That leads us to an obvious question: What does the rotation look like now, without its presumed ace?
There isn’t one definite answer to that. The rotation was the tightest position battle in Oakland A’s camp this spring, with several promising arms competing for the final spot. Fortunately, that means there are several options to cover for Sonny’s (hopefully brief) absence, which hasn’t always been the case in recent years when they lost starters to injury during the Cactus League.