Oakland Athletics

Sonny Gray is having his best season as a professional, but the Oakland Athletics star will have to put it on hold, at least temporarily, as he will miss Thursday's start.  

Continue for updates. 

The All-Star Game is July 14 and the Oakland A's have several quality candidates that could head to Cincinnati to represent the American League.

Unfortunately, fan voting seems like it will knock out many of those candidates, from Oakland and many other teams, in place of much less deserving players. Because of that, the likelihood the A's send more than a player or two are slim.

Oakland Athletics switch-pitcher Pat Venditte has fallen victim to the injury bug that has forced him to be placed on the 15-day disabled list. 

Continue for updates. 

Venditte Has Shoulder Strain

Friday, June 12

According to the A's official Twitter, Venditte has a strained right shoulder that will keep him out for at least the next 15 days:

Pat Venditte was a feel-good story in February and March. 

He was thrown into the hype machine in April and May, and it was ramped up to full bore Friday after the Oakland A’s called up the ambidextrous relief pitcher from Triple-A Nashville.

The Oakland A's record is disappointing two months in, so naturally, there's already chatter about the team trading stars.

With the 2015 first-year player draft approaching, let's take a look back at how the last 10 Oakland A's first-round draft picks have fared.

Because hindsight is a beautiful thing.

For purposes of a tidy list, we'll stick with the first overall selection from each year dating back to 2005. There may be a better draft pick, a guy picked later who is playing better currently. If that's the case, that player may get a brief mention, but again, this article will concentrate on the first pick.

The Oakland A's season has not gone as expected, and yet we may see a few more surprises before all is said and done.

Just over one month into the season, the A's are struggling.

Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have been solid. After them, the starting pitching has been all over the place. The offense is inconsistent, and the bullpen is a problem. Injuries have decimated the roster as well. From leadoff hitter Coco Crisp to closer Sean Doolittle, key players have missed extended periods here and there.

After one month of baseball, we've learned quite a bit about the 2015 Oakland Athletics, haven't we?

The area many thought would be a strength is a weakness. The one many questioned is a strength. And the third component we expected to be mostly good with some bad has been...mostly good with some bad.

New leaders have emerged.

New faces are clicking with each other.

Veterans have risen again.

The Oakland Athletics have had a surprisingly strong start at the plate this season, but they will be without one of their top offensive contributors in Ben Zobrist after it was revealed he will undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Continue for updates.

The critics came out in droves.

They slammed Billy Beane for dismantling a playoff team during the last offseason, and they questioned his commitment to keeping a winning team on the field since he jettisoned players like Josh Donaldson, Jeff Samardzija, Derek Norris and Brandon Moss for lesser returns. They even retroactively bashed his trading of Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester.