Athletics' Shea Langeliers, top MLB trade deadline target, could be out for season after devastating injury

One of MLB’s top trade candidates ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline might be out for the remainder of the season.

Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, who was enjoying a career year behind the dish and in the batter’s box, suffered a torn meniscus that could force him to miss the rest of the season, per ESPN.

The 28-year-old hurt his knee while running on the basepaths, and now he and the team are deliberating over whether he should undergo surgery to repair the tear in the knee.

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If surgery is the decision, ESPN reports it would be the end of Langeliers’ 2026 campaign.

But either way, teams that were interested in potentially trading for the All-Star catcher are very likely out of the running now. Langeliers is considered one of the best at his position in MLB, which is why the A’s had no plan to move him despite a 44-60 record on the year that puts them on the outside looking in at playoffs.

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Langeliers has been the team’s top player, representing them at his first-ever All-Star Game earlier this month. And he’s doing so while others like Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker and Jacob Wilson are dealing with injuries themselves.

Langeliers is slashing .263/.332/.497 this season with a .829 OPS, 23 home runs and 51 RBI. These are the numbers the A’s were hoping Langeliers would post this season after a successful 2025 campaign that included 31 homers and a career-high .861 OPS.

He was on pace to break some more career highs, but this injury puts a damper in it all.

And those postseason contenders are just as bummed if they were hoping the A’s would change their position about moving Langeliers before the deadline. The New York Yankees, for one, are a team that’s expected to be in the catching market before the deadline, and calling the A’s about Langeliers would likely have occurred.

Now, catchers like Colorado Rockies’ Hunter Goodman and Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman could see an uptick in interest among teams hoping to bolster that position for a playoff push.

The A’s will have to go with Jonah Heim moving forward with Langeliers sidelined, and he himself has been among trade conversations as well due to his veteran prowess. He vaults to a starting role, though, and may not be as available.

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