Spring Training Game Thread #18: Athletics at Indians

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY SportsThe A’s of 2016 were doomed to fail for a litany of reasons, but the most critical of those reasons came in a vicious 1-2 punch of injuries to key players and the lack of quality depth in the minor leagues to overcome those injuries. Chris Bassitt and Felix Doubront going down with injuries that would require Tommy John surgery, ending their seasons before they even had a chance to start, evaporated the A’s semi-capable pitching depth and paved the way to seeing a whole-lot of Eric Surkamp and unseasoned youngsters make starts early and often in the ill-fated campaign. The embarrassing losses and sustained frustration from poor play clearly weighed heavily on the egos of the team and fans alike, but some A’s were able to take advantage of the otherwise dire situation and run with it.

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