The Athletics made it official Friday: Justin Sterner is done for the year. The right-hander underwent a chondroplasty of the medial femoral condyle in his right knee along with a PRP injection, and the team confirmed he'll miss the remainder of the 2026 season.
This one had been building for a while. Sterner hasn't taken the mound since July 17, and an MRI a day later showed wear and tear on the articular cartilage in that knee, diagnosed as chondromalacia. He landed on the 15-day injured list on July 18 with an expected return sometime in August, but a follow-up visit with a specialist at Stanford earlier this month made clear rest alone wasn't cutting it. Surgery became the call, and with it, his season.
It's a tough way to close out a 2026 that already had its bumps. Sterner appeared in 46 games out of Oakland's bullpen, going 2-3 with a 6.12 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP and a 40:13 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 42.2 innings. He wasn't part of a traditional closer conversation to begin the year, but he did pick up a save back on June 4 against the Cubs and carved out a role in middle-to-high leverage spots when healthy.
Losing any arm down the stretch stings, but losing one who'd logged 46 appearances is a real dent in the workload the rest of the pen has to soak up. Bullpens live and die by depth in August and September, and the A's just lost a piece of it for good.
There's no word yet on a return timeline into 2026 offseason ramp-up, but knee procedures like this one are generally about buying long-term durability rather than sidelining someone for an extended stretch beyond the current season. For now, the Athletics just have to reshuffle without him.