Jermaine

Dye

Dye has been dealing with the injury for the past six weeks, but as he is close to being completely healthy he will be in the Oakland lineup everyday for the rest of the season. Nick Swisher will see his at-bats decrease as a result. Feel free to put Dye back in your fantasy lineup if you need him.

He does not seem to be bothered by his fractured left thumb.

The ligament when sprained snapped off a piece of bone, but the A’s medical staff is treating the injury as a soft tissue one. It’s just semantics. Dye will continue to try and play with the injury although he has missed seven of the team’s last 22 games, including the last four. Don’t expect much production from Dye from here on in.

Trainer Larry Davis said Dye still won’t be cleared to play until he doesn’t have a significant amount of pain.

Dye is hitting just .258 with runners in scoring position. Macha said Scott Hatteberg, the team leader with 69 RBI, and Erubiel Durazo, its leading hitter at .319, could be options. So could right-handed hitter Jeff Kent if the A’s are successful in trading for him.

“It’s hard to say,” manager Ken Macha said, when asked if the rest Dye received Friday may extend for a few more days. “He doesn’t want out of the lineup, but he also realizes that he’s in some pain.” Dye admitted after Friday’s game that the thumb hurts him every time he swings. He’s 19-for-103 (.184) with just two homers and seven RBI in 25 games since July 19.

We hope Dye returns to the A’s lineup better than when he left it. The Oakland right fielder had struck out six times in his last 13 at-bats.

Finley is the top choice, but he might be out of reach. If Dye is signed, Marquis Grissom would stay in center field and Michael Tucker would become a reserve. Moises Alou isn’t being mentioned at all.

If J.D. Drew and Magglio Ordonez are out of the Rangers’ price range, Dye, Danny Bautista and Jeromy Burnitz could be pursued. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram also speculates that the team is looking at Eric Milton and Tino Martinez.

Signing Dye to a one-year deal would be a fine move for the Rangers. He’d play right field and probably bat fifth.