The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve reinstated closer David Robertson from the paternity list and designated righty Michael Ynoa for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster.
Ynoa was once one of the most promising prospects ever to come out of the Dominican Republic, signing with the Athletics for a then-record $4.25MM back in 2008. He rated as the game’s No. 54 prospect the following offseason, per Baseball America, but he never delivered on that considerable potential. Elbow soreness and tendinitis wiped out his first year as a pro, and that was followed by Tommy John surgery a year later. Upon returning, he delivered mostly middling results in the Athletics’ minor league system.
Now 25 years of age, Ynoa made his MLB debut with the Sox last year, pitching to a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings but limped to a 5.90 mark through a nearly identical sample size of 29 frames with the 2017 Sox. He’s shown some ability to miss bats, but control has been an issue for Ynoa, who has a 53-to-39 K/BB ratio through his 59 Major League innings to date. He also experienced a significant dip in fastball velocity this season (though he still averaged 92.4 mph), while each of his strikeout, walk, home run and grounder rates trended in the wrong direction.
Back to A’s?
Michael, we hardly Ynoa.
Haaaaaaaaa
Should go to a team not competing who can give him innings and see if he can play. Padres maybe? The A’s have to many pitching Prospects that they need to see
If they can play and he would just prevent that from happening.
The rebuilding White Sox were that team, especially so with a pitching staff that has been hit hard with injuries all season. They are also (correctly) in no hurry to promote any of their more elite arms from AAA until concerns regarding MLB service time have passed as the calendar flips into July.
I don’t disagree but similar to the A’s they have potentially good pitches knocking on the door whereas a team like the Padres are fine fielding a team full of Rule 5 guys who may be in Single A this year if it wasn’t for the Pads. They seem fine being then worse team in baseball and giving a guy like this a half a year of starts regardless of results
This looks like a job for the Reds. Even with that line he’d likely be a top 3 starter for them
This is why you don’t overvalue prospects!!! Proven MLB players are ALWAYS more valuable!
The Cubs just won a World Series with a roster including Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, Carl Edwards Jr., Pedro Strop and Justin Grimm….. all of whom were acquired as prospects or busted prospects (Arrieta).
Also, aren’t you a fan of the team that got Josh Donaldson in a trade for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin?
What are you even talking about? All players are prospects at some point! My point is to quit acting like ALL prospects are more valuable than solid big league regulars and realize that to MLB Front Office people, MLB players who have made the jump are more important to winning than guys like Ynoa who was supposed to be huge but flamed out in MLB. Prospects will break your heart more often than not, as evidenced by Ynoa and yes, you absolutely should give them up if you are trying to win a title.
“acquired as prospects or busted prospects (Arrieta).” lol what? Rizzo and Arrieta were MLB players when they got them, please don’t hurt yourself stretching to try and “beat” me when what I’m saying is what reality is. Prospect hounds and fans who overvalue them are delusional – that’s simply not how MLB teams operate, they want to win at ANY cost. You trade your best prospects to win a title – it’s been like that for decades and will never change.
Right. So teams shouldn’t overvalue prospects unless they’re the ones that are going to turn into proven MLB players because all players are prospects at some point, but they’re not more valuable than proven MLB players until they’re actually proven MLB players themselves. That about cover your “logic” cycle?
It must be exhausting to speak only in absolutist statements like you do.
Don’t you get tired of trying to constantly twist your logic and uncontradict yourself in an effort to maintain a feeling of superiority?
talk about missing every single point ever, lol
They were both busted prospects that were given another chance or further development
Just to be clear, you’d happily do that Samardzija for Russel deal again then?
Sure thing, if that KC WC game wasn’t the most ridiculous playoff game in recent history, the A’s would have gone into the Div series with a rotation of Gray, Lester and Shark who were all on fire at the time – they would have had the best rotation out of any playoff team that year had they not lost that one freakish game.
Winning is more important than possible future winning. That’s the difference between my view and that of fans who overvalue untested players.
It wasn’t as bad of a trade as it seems…if you look at where the teams are now. Granted, Russell helped the Cubs win WS, but the A’s could have done the same that year were it not for losing the Wild Card game. From that trade, though, the A’s swapped Shark for Semien (who is pretty much on the same level offensively as Russell, if not better, just not as good defensively), and Phegley, who is a starting catcher (but not that great). Cubs did turn around and use McKinney as a piece to get Aroldis, but he is back with the Yankees, so the Cubs currently have nothing from that trade (except the ring from last year, of course). Personally, I would rather have Semien than Russell, and if Bassitt can bounce back from TJ surgery, he could be a key piece in the bullpen or even the rotation. It wasn’t the greatest trade, but it didn’t work out that badly for the A’s, and I would say that yes, I would make that deal again, considering that the A’s were in a position to go for it, just like the Cubs were in trading for Aroldis 🙂
not really. look up the top 15 free agent signings, then look at the top 15 prospects. then track them for 5-7 years.
prospects, as a whole, out perform the free agents. this is even without considering the monstrous difference in cost.
Well of course, silly, all players are prospects – you are pulling from a massive pool of players and cherry picking the ones who make the jump. My point is MLB front offices do not care about them if their team is contending and they need players to put them over the top, they have and will and always will trade them to win a title. You don’t have to like it, but that’s reality.
I wont even get into FA signings, that’s not even what I’m talking about, most FA signings don’t even make the contract worth it, but they’re getting paid off past performance, not future.
Agreed, you shouldn’t OVERVALUE prospects…but…proven MLB players aren’t ALWAYS more valuable. What Sano Smash was trying to point out was that the Cubs built a WS winner by trading for prospects or “busted prospects” like Arrieta and Rizzo, so prospects can actually build a stronger foundation for a team than established players/free agents. It doesn’t look like he/she was trying to “beat” you, or that it was any competition, and may have misread/misinterpreted your comment, but that there are teams that value prospects more than veterans and can build championships on that. You made one good point, he/she made one good point…seems even, not that one “beat” the other.
Touché
He’s still young. A lot of players are late bloomers. If he could just stop walking people, he’d be at least serviceable.
Got Ray Searage written all over him
This definitely has the Padres written all over it, but I could see the Angels or Orioles going for him too.
He would steal just as many bases as the rest of the team!!!
It pretty much has the Padres written all over it but I certainly wouldn’t mind the Mets take a flyer on this guy
I wouldn’t mind seeing him get another chance in Oakland’s system,but I think the Pirates would be a good choice for him
All the White Sox players given up to the A’s are all injured
The players the A’s got from the White Sox aren’t all injured…Bassitt is, but Phegley is on paternity list, and Semien was back in the lineup yesterday (yes, he had been on DL since beginning of season). Rangel Ravelo is now in Cardinals minor league system 🙂