The Athletics have designated catcher Landon Powell for assignment, reports Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). Oakland currently has 41 players on their 40-man roster following the Gio Gonzalez trade, so they still must make another roster move.
"Not fun to find out two days before Christmas," said Powell, who told Slusser he hopes to get picked up by another team or traded. The 29-year-old backstop is a .207/.284/.328 career hitter in 406 big league plate appearances. He has thrown out 29 of 73 attempted basestealers during his career, a stellar 39.7%.
Great backup C, might even flourish in a hitter-friendly park. He can throw out runners like no ones business. Has bad hamstrings though and cant ever play everyday.
Orioles could have used this guy, if they hadn’t traded for Teagarden.
Defensively, sounds good to me. Not sure why he never developed as a hitter. He will land somewhere, because he knows what he is doing behind the plate as long as he is healthy.
Yeah his health will never be there, but if a team needs a C for no more than 35 games a year they will get a great thrower out of runners and a potential masher.
Happy Recker gets a look though, he’s more healthy and has better plate discipline.
agreed about recker, i wonder he’s even bearable enough to get a decent package for suzuki (yes i know his value is at its lowest, but i don’t see his offense improving much)
lets see the mets pick him up. clearly he’s better then rob johnson
Lol, I forgot the Mets picked up Robby J. Thanks for reminding me.
Yup another catcher to pick up off the scrap heap
Always thought he was a damn good player who deserved more time. Caught Dallas Braden’s perfect game. Good pop, clutch player, just with Suzuki out there very few ABs.
This will be good for him, I think—blossom with another club into what he could be.
His hamstrings are chronic, sadly. He won’t ever be more than a PT catcher, but he can also play 1B and DH if a team with a hitter-friendly park wants to give him a shot. A’s fans love him but he’s such a frustrating quantity.
entity
Can’t say I’m upset by this. But it should have been Recker or Donaldson, in my opinion. Powell’s the superior defensive catcher of the three, believe it or not. And probably the better game caller. And being a switch-hitter is definitely a plus.
Oh well. I wish him luck elsewhere if he doesn’t clear waivers!
Unfortunately he has never proven to be physically able to play every day because of his hamstrings, whereas Recker and Donaldson have. Powell is an awesome C to have play every 5th day though.
I agree 100% with that last sentence. That’s why I’d rather it was Recker or Donaldson who was DFA’d. None of those three are good enough to be more than backups, in my opinion. So I’d rather have seen them keep Powell over Recker or Donaldson.
Not that I’ll be losing sleep over this. It’s quite minor.
Agreed, personally I think Recker’s plate discipline makes him more interesting than Powell.
Yeah. I gotta admit that I’m a little intrigued by Recker. Maybe he’ll be a late bloomer, and can translate some of that power he showed in Sacramento to the majors.
I’m probably a bit biased because Recker is a friend of mine, we went to the same HS and played baseball and football together.
He was a late bloomer physically, probably 5’8″/150 until his sophomore year of HS, then grew like a weed, but was always a great athlete. His favorable size didn’t really come into play until late HS so he wasn’t noticed by scouts.
He was going to walk-on at Delaware, but as they had two scholarship catchers, the coach recommended he transfer to a DIII school if he wanted PT.
He tore up DIII, but granted, he didn’t see the level of competition that he would have had he played DI. I think once he started in the minors he was a little behind his peers for that reason and usually after he’s had a year at any given level, he makes the necessary adjustments to be successful.
Looks like Kevin Cash has competition on the “can’t buy a hit but can throw” market. Will end up on some team’s AAA roster next year.
Just in case anyone’s curious, Powell does have one option left. And even though he’s in his first year of arbitration (as a super-two), he’s already signed for 2012 at just $620K. He’d be a solid pickup for any team in need of catching depth.
Hello Anthony Recker!
The strange thing about the A’s 40 man is Sean Dolittle is still on it. The guy has barely played baseball in the last 2 years and could easily make it through waivers. What does he know about Beane that keeps him on the 40 man?? Would love to know.
He’s a pitcher now lol
He really does dolittle I suppose.
The A’s in recent years, first with Kendall and then with Suzuki, have been reluctant to give playing time to their backup catchers. One wonders why, especially with the lack of production they got from Kendall and the recent slippage from Suzuki. So I understand Powell’s frustration. But Powell can lay some blame at his own feet for never being in good shape. I’m guessing he could have earned more confidence from management and more playing time if he had put in the work to drop about 40 pounds.
Thank you Recker is way better then this guy!
time to trade kurt suzuki for a decent package (even with his value so low, he’s under control for a while and is still a good defender), let josh donaldson and anthony recker take the reigns while the a’s aren’t competing until derek norris/max stassi/ryan ortiz are ready
There’s almost zero chance of that happening. One of Suzuki’s biggest strengths is being able to handle a young pitching staff well, and help them to mature fast. And with so many rookie arms getting ready to arrive, Kurt is far more valuable being behind the A’s plate than being trade bait right now.
those are good points, but with the a’s building for 2014/15, i don’t think Suzuki is in their plans, so a’s should trade him while he’s under control for a few years and bring back a player that could replace his production
If it were any other position we were talking about, I’d agree without hesitation. But I’d be very troubled if Josh Donaldson and Anthony Recker were the two catchers tasked with shepherding in Parker, Peacock, Milone, Gray, etc.
PLEASE AA, get this guy instead of Mathis, I’ve lowered my standards. Getting Darvish is like getting a BMW for christmas. I know that Rogers Claus doesn’t wanna spend too much money and BMW 7 series are sooo expensive but I’ll be super happy If Powell is the backup catcher instead. It’ll be like getting Wendy’s instead of McDonald’s! Gimme some Chili’s with that burger instead of fries. Fries have too much salt anyway 🙁
Would it make sense for the Rockies pick him up so Rosario can play a full season at AAA? Hernandez catching 100 games and this guy 60 doesn’t sound terrible to me, especially if Powell is as good a game-caller as has been put forth.
I’m not super familiar with the Rockies catching situation. But if Rosario seems like he could use another full, or near-full season in the minors, then I think Powell would definitely be a good pickup for the Rockies if they’re not yet sure who their backup catcher is gonna be.
It sounds like his feelings are really hurt right now, so he’ll probably be highly motivated to prove himself this season. And between that, and potentially playing half his games in Coors Field, I think he could have a solid season not only behind the plate, but offensively as well. Quite possibly an OPS of well over .700, which would be pretty nice from a backup catcher.
I’m also pretty confident in saying that he’s definitely a good game caller. A’s pitchers have always spoke highly of him, which is all you can really base that on. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he has a perfect game on his resume. Especially since Braden said he only had to shake him off twice the entire game, and both times were just for location.
Another reason that I’m a fan of him, in addition to my opinion of his catching ability, is that he seems like a true class act. So I’ll be following and rooting for him wherever he winds up!
Rosario got a Sept. callup this season and went .204/.228/.463 over 57 PA’s. He did manage 3 HR in that limited action, though, and his power is legit, but 20 K’s versus just 2 BB’s also helps tell the story.
He’s never played AAA, having made the jump straight from Tulsa this past season. He’ll also turn 23 right after reporting this spring, so I don’t see the need for them to hurry him.
The Rockies were mentioned as possibly being interested in Jeff Mathis in the last couple of weeks. That tells me that they want Rosario to get a full AAA season in, and from what I can see I think they would be better off with this fellow instead of Mathis.
Yeah. Sounds like Rosario should definitely be in AAA this year, especially if they view him as their catcher of the future. Because if that’s the case, I think it would definitely be preferable for him to continue getting regular playing time somewhere.
And just thinking outside the box here, but the A’s are rumored to have some interest in Seth Smith. So maybe the they could work Powell into some type of 3-for-1 package for Smith if the Rockies have interest.
why not dfa andrew carnigan, neil wagner, pedro figueroa, graham godfrey, jordan norberto, sean doolittle, jermaine mitchell, or anthony recker. put him on the o’s, mets, royals, or cards
Do you mind clarifying some of that? Because why would they DFA 8 players for no reason? And what are you talking about when you say “put him on the o’s, mets, royals, or cards”?
I think Max was referring to other DFAable players other than Powell. I’m not sure what the MLB minimum will be in 2012, but Recker will get the league minimum vs. what would be due to Powell … it’s only a few hundred thousand, but to a club like the A’s, that’s a lot.
Powell had already signed a 2012 contract for $620K, and the league minimum is right around $420K. So all they’d be saving if he gets claimed is $200K. It’s really hard to imagine that even the A’s would have to worry about that small of an amount.
It sounds like they just have more confidence in Anthony Recker and Josh Donaldson, at this point.
because all those guys have options, i’m not sure if powell still does or not, but it’s not useful to waste an option on someone with so little value as powell
What do you mean by “it’s not useful to waste an option on someone with so little value as powell”?
If they used an option on Powell this season (and he does still have one remaining), it would have nothing to do with anyone elses options.
This move was all about them having more faith in Recker and Donaldson than they do in Powell. And they also probably didn’t want to have 5 catchers taking up 40-man roster spots. If this move had anything to do options, they probably would have DFA’d Pedro Figueroa instead. Just like Powell, he’s down to one last option. And he would probably be far more likely to clear waivers.
I would like to see the RAYS pick him up much better D than Lobitan.