We'll keep track of today's outright assignments here…
- Rich Thompson has cleared waivers and will go to Sacramento, the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. The A's claimed the right-hander off of waivers one week ago, but have since designated him for assignment. Thompson, 27, posted a 3.00 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 54 innings for the Angels a year ago.
Can someone explain why no one wants this guy? Extremely quick glance shows that his numbers are fine the past two seasons and he’s done pretty well for himself in the minors. Is he made of glass and that’s why no one’s biting? There are A LOT of relievers out there that have been much worse than this guy since 2010 and some of those guys still have big league jobs.
I think the concern for him this season was his fastball velocity, which went from being in the low 90s, to 87-88 mph. Plus, with him struggling at the start of the season, the Angels felt the need to DFA him. An Angels fan could probably give you more of an answer, but from what I heard those were the main concerns.
I was surprised the Angels let him go, but yes, I think it was a combination of decreased fastball velocity and the inability to throw it for strikes without it being crushed. The Angels’ bullpen is terrible, so if they let him go, that really says something.
A lot of pitchers struggle with velocity early on in the season due to poor offseason conditioning…not sure if thats the case here at all as I don’t really know Thompson’s history–but that K/BB ratio is worth a waiver claim in my opinion–surprised he cleared.
Right? It’s not like every team is Rich in pitching
Glad to know that Thompson will stay in the organization. I think he will be a good mid-late season call-up if their bullpen gets depleted in case of injuries and/or trades.
I’m shocked teams with crappy bullpens aren’t grabbing him to see if he can turn it around with more reps in the bigs. He has proven his worth in the minors, and the Angels never really gave him a shot to fully prove himself. The Rays usually jump all over these guys and turn them into studs. Maybe there’s an injury concern.