No word yet on A’s Danny Valencia, but DL appears likely
NEW YORK - Officially, the A’s hadn’t made a decision about what they might do with injured third baseman Danny Valencia before Thursday’s game at Yankee Stadium.
Unofficially, it’s fairly clear that Valencia will land on the disabled list.
Utility player Tyler Ladendorf - who was not in Triple-A Nashville’s lineup Thursday - is an excellent bet to be recalled Friday at Toronto.
Ladendorf can play anywhere in the infield and outfield and he is particularly good at shortstop, where the A’s only current backup is second baseman Jed Lowrie.
Lowrie twice has been in the DH spot this season and had to move to the field when the team lost the DH - or as Melvin termed it Thursday “chose to lose the DH.”
Four times in all, Melvin has decided to give up the spot in order to move the DH into the field.
Losing the DH also indicates that the team has a fairly deep bench otherwise - the A’s have plenty of pinch hitters available.
The major potential issue is having to remove a reliever who is pitching well just because their spot in the lineup is coming up.
Henderson Alvarez (shoulder) will head to Nashville for his next rehab start; he’ll go three innings and 45-plus pitches on Monday. …
The Yankees held a pregame ceremony for former A’s minor-leaguer Michael Nolan, who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Yonkers last year at the age of 23.
Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
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After the news broke Thursday that Prince had died, outfielder Josh Reddick said he listened to “Purple Rain” and “Raspberry Beret” over and over.