The Athletics have designated Jai Miller for assignment according to a team press release. This move and the earlier Landon Powell move get Oakland's 40-man roster back down to 40 players following the Gio Gonzalez trade.
Miller, 27 in January, hit .276/.368/.588 with 32 homers and 16 steals in 475 plate appearances for the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate this season. He's a .235/.288/.368 career hitter in 73 big league plate appearances spread across the last four years. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle says (on Twitter) that Miller had mentioned as an outfield candidate next year, so the team must be hoping he clears waivers.
i don’t think he’ll make it through waivers, yes he has a god awful strikeout rate and teams won’t overlook that, but i don’t think they’ll overlook his power either. i just hope he clears though
The 179 strikeouts last season at Triple A Sacramento could not have helped Jai Miller’s chances.
179 K in 110 G at AAA = 350 Ks at MLB. He’s not a big leaguer.
32 HRs in 110 G at AAA = 54 HRs at MLB. Big leaguer
If he was an MLB player, he would be. Especially on the A’s.
thanks
How’s his defense? I could potentially see the Red Sox picking him up to platoon with Reddick in RF if he is a good defender there.
he’s got good range and a strong arm from what i’ve read, from what i saw it looked like he got meh reads off the bat, but overall i think he’s solid
Are u nuts? He has played 28 games in the majors and somehow he is gonna platoon for the Red Sox haha
Much stranger things have happened.
Darnell McDonald?
him, daniel nava, and jared head come to mind
I know, because it would be out of character for the Red Sox to pick up a guy off of the scrap heap, who was once thought to have potential, for essentially nothing.
Hey, the Red Sox let Andrew Miller start games, so…
The Red Sox wouldn’t give him the time of day. They want proven players, not aging AAA stars.
They wouldn’t be interested in him as a starter, but they need a RH outfield bat to platoon/play off of the bench, and if they can get one for cheap, and assuming he plays good defense, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be interested.
Let’s see;
He plays Left Field, Strikes Out a lot, hits Home Runs, is on the scrap heap and isn’t going to get paid a lot = Cincinnati Reds…..
Looks like Tribe material. Probably better than Aaron Cunningham that they picked up last week and it would not have cost them anything in return to get Miller.
you mean braves…wren is licking his chops….ugh
My thoughts exactly. Plus, he’s from central Alabama, so he’d be real close to home. This looks like destiny!
I said the Braves should take a flyer on this guy a while back and got crucified for it. If the Braves somehow got him he’d be a nice 4th OF type, who knows with some regular ABs he might be the guy to take over CF next season if he can develop a little more plate discipline.
Reds should claim him. Need an OF- and have room on the roster.
He’s too old and too flawed to get excited about, but I would rather
have seen him (or anybody under age 30) getting the ABs in 2011 that Oakland gave to old has-beens such as DeJesus and Matsui.
i bet frank wren is licking his chops… the perfect fit for the braves….ugh
He will get claimed by the indians with the Grady Sizemore question marks and Brantley proving he is not a centerfielder they just cannot let a guy like this slip by IMO.
This guy is the black Jay Bruce. Dozens of teams would be dumb not to try and claim this guy. He’s got an above average arm and Mike Stanton-esque power. I really hope he gets a chance to start everyday somewhere. I’d say he’s capable of averaging .245 BA, 35 HR, 15 SB, 95 RBI, with about 185 strikeouts. In that range. That’s certainly serviceable and he’s only 27, smack dab in the middle of his prime. He’s a perfect late bloomer breakout candidate in 2012 ala Carlos Pena, Nelson Cruz, Jose Bautista.
The Reds need the black Matt Holiday to play LF. Were can we find him?
The Reds need the black Matt Holiday to play LF. Were can we find him?
throw him on the nats, reds, or mets. why not dfa neil wagner or andrew carnigan first
Neil Wagner and Andrew Carignan have all 3 of their options remaining, and Miller has none left. That’s one reason.
Not to mention Carignan put up strong numbers in Stockton, Midland and Sacramento last season, and still has plenty of time to improve. You can’t judge him by a 6.1 inning sample size from his very first major league stint. And the same applies for Wagner, who looks like he could be a late bloomer. His K/9 and BB/9 in Midland and Sacramento were fantastic over 66.1 innings this season, and his FIP wasn’t shabby either.
If anything, they probably should have DFA’d Pedro Figueroa before Miller. But definitely not Wagner or Carignan. They’re gonna need that bullpen depth anyway, now that Wuertz and Breslow are gone (and Bailey likely getting traded soon).
….
Miller played in the PCL, which is very much a hitters league. Sacramento’s team OPS was .824. He could help a team out in a Emil Brown sort of way, but to expect him to hit 32 HR’s in the ML’s is wishful.
i’m pretty sure he is
Options wouldn’t clear space on the 40-man anyway… had to be DFA’d
no such thing as a 27 year old “good prospect”
WAS being the operative word here.
definitely, i hope he makes it through and gets a shot in ST to be the a’s fourth OF
Nelson Cruz might beg to differ.
Jai Miller was one of the best two or three players (Choice, Mitchell) offensivley in the A’s organization in 2011 (32 hr’s, 88 RBIs, 16 sb’s). He was called up in late 2011 along with a few other players who had good years at AAA and looked like he could handle big league pitching a lot better than the other two (Michael Taylor, Anthony Recker). His big league numbers didn’t show it, but he had a lot of good at bats and made outs on several hard hit balls in September (I live in the Bay Area and watch almost every game on tv).
After what I saw from Miller in Sept. and the fact that Willingham, Crisp and DeJesus are gone, I was fully expecting Miller to win a starting outfield job in spring training. He was a late bloomer and will be 28 in a few weeks, but he’s goot some pop and looks like he can handle big league pitching. I hope he makes it through waivers!
He definitely is. His last option year was 2010.
Youkilis wasn’t still considered a prospect, but he had only played in 100ish games by the time he was 27.
Good point. And although they already had a lot of major league experience, Carlos Pena and Jose Bautista didn’t break out until the age of 29.
I don’t why so many people think that if a player hasn’t put it all together by the age of 25 or 26, that they’re never going to. It’s not all that rare for late bloomers emerge.
Well, to be honest, it is true more often than not, but there are enough examples of that ‘rule’ being broken that it’s wrong to make a definitive statement like his.
We’re in full agreement.
He’s going to buy a boat!
He’s going to buy a boat!
Physically retarded is an inappropriate term for physically disabled people, and its not cool to make jokes with disabled people as the punch line. Its wrong to use word retarded at all really, unless you like to make jokes about disabled people…
I’m not laughing out loud about the physically disabled. I’m thinking that you dont realize how wrong it is to joke about the physically disabled.
I’m not laughing out loud about the physically disabled. I’m thinking that you dont realize how wrong it is to joke about the physically disabled.