The A’s signed right-hander Homer Bailey to a minor league deal earlier this week and assigned the veteran to Triple-A Las Vegas. This is Bailey’s second stint with Oakland, after first joining the organization via a trade from the Royals in July 2019 and then posting a 4.30 ERA over 13 starts and 73 1/3 innings in the green and gold.
Bailey was a front-of-the-rotation arm during his prime years in Cincinnati, which included no-hitters in both 2012 and 2013. This led to a six-year, $105MM extension prior to the 2014 season that unfortunately became something of an albatross for the team, as Bailey battled multiple injuries (including a Tommy John surgery) over his remaining five years with the Reds. However, after catching on with the Royals on a minors deal, he rebounded to post serviceable numbers over 163 1/3 combined innings with K.C. and Oakland in 2019, with a 4.57 ERA/4.60 SIERA and an above-average 7.6% walk rate.
Injuries again hampered Bailey in 2020, as biceps tendinitis limited him to only eight innings with the Twins. The righty didn’t sign with another team during the winter, though he did make Team USA’s roster for the Olympic baseball qualifying tournament.
The 35-year-old has by far the most experience of any pitcher in the Athletics farm system, and Bailey is likely to remain on hand as a depth option should an injury or a need arise in Oakland’s rotation. Mike Fiers was re-signed last February to fill that veteran depth role, though Fiers has been on the injured list since early May due to an elbow sprain and will out of action at least through July after receiving a PRP injection. It’s probably safe to assume that the A’s will continue to seek out more pitching (both for the rotation and the bullpen) as the July 30 trade deadline nears.
D’oh
Hopefully, he can be available for long relief. But it’s a liability when he gets called back to the Olympic team.
A liability for the USA
PRP injections don’t work.. they are a placebo: painscience.com/articles/platelet-rich-plasma-does…
The article you reference is not any kind of scientific analysis. And saying PRP is a placebo is wrong – a placebo in a study looking at the potential effectiveness of PRP would likely be saline and not the compound in question. Not sure if PRP helps but get your facts straight. The article you reference is an more of op-ed. I’m not saying PRP works because I don’t know – but don’t reference an opinion article to make your point.
False: they refer to studies that show it isn’t what they claim.. but if you want to read the authority… this is their conclusion: the NIH ( National Institute for Health) “Platelet Rich Plasma: Myth or Reality?:…… In general, conclusions advocating for an adjunctive effect are not supported by the study design. Therefore, the use of this material cannot be supported at present,”
let me translate that: it isn’t known to be effective, No studies show it is effective.. it is likely any benefit isn’t from the treatment.. let me translate that.. its called placebo effect.. if you think it works.. then your attitude and outcomes are effected by your own thoughts and actions..
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2609914/
Your “translation” is 100% BS. Stop posting lies.
did you even understand a single word from the NIH’s study? I’d guess you didn’t.
Old guy, you’re close, but your “translation” is also carrying your own predetermined bias of the situation. The NIH study you posted does, indeed, suggest that no study yet performed adequately proves the efficacy of PRP. Based on that, the conclusion they reach is essentially one of “we don’t know, and there’s no evidence to suggest it does work at this point.” They acknowledge anecdotal studies that suggest certain benefits, but question their methods.
They also question the methods of basically every PRP study done to date. Nowhere in that specific conclusion is it suggested that PRP is a placebo, however. You are extrapolating that from the first article you posted in conjunction with this more vague conclusion from NIH. Really, packing all of this together, the answer to PRP efficacy is: who knows?
I have no Bias… having reviewed multiple research long before i posted this and there is no quantifiable benefit shown in those studies except the placebo effect.. have i read every study. No, but i have read enough to make an informed opinion.. which is what i did..
And your opinion is entirely valid, I’m merely stating that what you articulated as a “translation” was not such, but rather your own multi-extrapolated opinion.
As far as the actual discussion goes, I’d wager you are probably correct that there is little benefit to PRP. But the unknowns in that field are great and variable.
Honestly stick him in the bullpen, can’t be much worse then what we got now. I’d take this guy over Burch Smith
Smith throws left-handed, Bailey is a RHP…but I get your point. A hitting tee is more effective than Smith at this point.
Burch is a righty
You are correct. I don’t know why I thought he was a LHP. Now I really don’t understand the A’s fascination with him. Or Jordan Weems.
Daulton Jefferies should be in the MLB bullpen right now.
I was surprised to see his name on the list of MLB pitchers that have pitched two no hitters.
@Oscar – Not as surprised as he is…
To be fair he was all right in first rental period at Oakland but he got great run support. We gave up 1st Rnd no 33 Kevin Merrill for Bailey. This was a disappointment – I can’t think of any other player with the middle name “Custer”. Hopefully we can make this a priority and right this wrong in the upcoming draft….
Further proof there isn’t nearly enough MLB quality pitching for 30 teams.
The Dark Knight Rises.
Kinda goes to show that the organization has lost confidence in Luzardo to pitch meaningful innings in Oakland in 2021. Very little risk in this move, and if Bailey can be your long guy and/or complement Petit then it’s a good move. Maybe Bailey can help Luzardo live up to his much-hyped potential in Vegas.
If he no longer can get MLB hitters out, then you cut bait and move on.
Just looked up Homer Bailey’s numbers…career 5.6 WAR. That’s it. A grand total of 5.6. Chris Bassitt has 2.3 in 2021 alone. Bailey has a career ERA+ of 90. Well below league average. But here’s the kicker; Bailey has made $98 Million in his career. Which just goes to show that if you have a lot of hype and the right agent you can get far in MLB despite being pretty bad.