A's Now Have 11 Players on the IL. The Offense Has Noticed.

Nick Kurtz went on the 10-day IL Tuesday with a strained thumb, Jeffrey Springs followed him with hip discomfort, and Oakland's injury list is now at 11 players in the last three weeks. That's a lot of bodies. Kurtz had 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 69 games — the kind of middle-of-the-order presence that doesn't get quietly replaced. Springs, for his part, had been the staff's innings-eater even when the results were rough. Losing both on the same day is just a bad afternoon.

The rotation was already thin before Tuesday. Luis Severino and Gunnar Hoglund are both on the 60-day IL, which means Aaron Civale and Jacob Lopez are carrying the bulk of the starting load with whatever internal options the club can piece together. The bullpen isn't in great shape either — Mark Leiter Jr. and Brooks Kriske are also on the 60-day. The A's are 37-51, eight games back in the AL West, and the offense has scored 2.3 runs per game over the last ten contests. That's not a slump so much as a shutdown.

Shea Langeliers, who had been one of the better stories on this roster, is on the 10-day IL as well, and Zack Gelof is out after his fence collision. The players who are healthy — Henry Bolte, Max Muncy, Cade Marlowe — are being asked to carry more than they should have to right now. The next ten days are going to tell you a lot about how deep this organization actually is.