The A’s announced their Opening Day roster this afternoon, and five non-roster invitees were selected to make the big league club. Pitchers Justin Grimm, Dany Jiménez, Zach Jackson and Jake Lemoine were all added to the MLB roster, as was corner outfielder Billy McKinney.
Grimm, Jiménez and McKinney each have previous big league experience. All three were signed from other organizations this offseason. Grimm is up for his ninth MLB season, his first since a four-game stint with the Brewers in 2020. The right-hander had a nice showing in the middle of the last decade with the Cubs, posting a 3.36 ERA in 171 1/3 innings between 2014-16. He hasn’t found much major league success in the past five years, but he punched out an excellent 33.6% of opponents with the Mariners Triple-A affiliate last season.
Jiménez’s big league time consists of two appearances with the Giants in 2020. The righty has been of interest to the Oakland front office for some time, as they selected him in the Rule 5 draft at the end of that season. He didn’t stick on the active roster, though, and the 28-year-old spent last season at Triple-A in the Blue Jays system. Jiménez pitched to a 2.22 ERA with an incredible 39% strikeout rate there, although he also walked 13.4% of batters faced.
McKinney is a former A’s first-rounder. Traded to the Cubs before he made his MLB debut, he’s suited up with five different teams over the past four years. The left-handed hitting outfielder owns a .215/.286/.404 line in a bit more than 700 plate appearances. McKinney has flashed some power potential, but he’s punched out in 26% of his trips to the dish. The 27-year-old joins Stephen Piscotty, Seth Brown and Chad Pinder in the corner outfield mix for skipper Mark Kotsay.
Jackson, 27, was a third-round pick by the Blue Jays out of the University of Arkansas in 2016. The 6’4″ righty — who has worked exclusively out of the bullpen as a pro — was selected by the A’s in the minor league phase of the 2020 Rule 5 draft. He split last season between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas, working 28 innings of 2.57 ERA ball across the two levels. The Tulsa native remarkably fanned 41.2% of opponents, albeit with an 11.4% walk rate.
Lemoine was a fourth-round pick of the Rangers in 2015 out of the University of Houston. The right-hander has also worked solely in relief as a pro, pitching his way up to Triple-A in the Texas system. Lemoine hit minor league free agency at the end of the season and signed with the A’s. He owns a 4.81 ERA with an underwhelming 18.9% strikeout percentage in that time, but Lemoine has induced grounders on over the half the balls in play against him in each of his Triple-A seasons.
To create 40-man roster space, the A’s needed to free three spots. They’ve designated southpaw Sam Selman for assignment, tweets Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. The other two spots, according to the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com, were freed by placing pitchers Deolis Guerra and Brent Honeywell Jr. on the 60-day injured list.
Selman just landed in Oakland last month when he was claimed off waivers from the Angels. The 31-year-old southpaw has pitched with the Giants and Anaheim over the past three seasons, combining for a 4.77 ERA in 54 2/3 frames. Selman doesn’t have particularly strong strikeout, walk or ground-ball numbers, but he’s been a nightmare for left-handed hitters. Same-handed batters have just a .171/.307/.329 line in 102 plate appearances against Selman. He has a minor league option remaining.
Guerra’s and Honeywell’s absences were expected. The former recently underwent surgery after experiencing forearm tightness this spring. The latter was shut down from throwing indefinitely after suffering an olecranon stress reaction in his elbow.
If anyone plays for all 30 MLB teams, it’s billy McKinney.
A gamer
Idk man, Emilio Pagan is on his 6th team in 5 years.
Billy McKinney is on his sixth team in like, a year.
Are we counting organizations he’s been a part of, or just teams he has suited up for? Because so far, McKinney has been part of the A’s, Cubs, Yankees, Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers, and Rangers, but has only played for 5 of those teams. Pagan has suited up for 4 teams and will suit up for a 5th team as long as something catestrophic doesn’t happen between now and his Twins debut.
Sam is either going back to work at the used car lot , or back to the Yankees hahaha
Ahahahaaha
Billy McKinney shall benefit himself
from a wide open A’s team. The opportunities are there…
I like old Billy. He is a gamer and should be a positive attitude on the team. I guessing he will be productive this year.
no Drew Jackson?
Wasn’t he on the Rangers? I’m so confused
I saw Jackson and my first thought was Edwin. He would fit in with the A’s budget and talent level.
*SACRAMENTO SQUIRRELS
Wow, this is exciting news … I bet a’s fans everywhere are up in arms (with a combined 4 arms in total)!!!
Somehow Skye Bolt is up on the team.
Just until Ramon returns (hopefully)
Imagine actually replacing GOAT Matt Olson with literal 37 yo broken body wash up Stephen Vogt? That’s not even Moneyball, Hatteberg was much younger and always hitting.
Pathetic organization, its embarrassing to be an A’s fan when Beane and Fisher do this totally avoidable BS.
It’s moneyball, just on a different level. Now they are trying to get on base with another city!
The bottom Payroll approach is not on Beane, its all on the cheap owner Fisher
Fisher annually gives Beane crap to work with and asks him to convert it into diamonds. Some years, Beane actually can, but this year is too tall an order for any GM. We are basically a Triple-A level team.
Oh, and they raised Tickets prices by 40%. Audacious asking Fans to pay more for a lesser product.
Maybe if they Hired a few more folks in their Marketing Dept they could negotiate more Revenues from their TV and Radio contracts? They are not generating the same Revenues from those areas as the Giants or other similar-sized Markets are.
They purposefully don’t make as much at this point. Like noted above and backed up by your own raising of ticket prices. They truly do not want people to endorse the A’s in Oakland. Which is sad I know it’s a dump but I’ve gone to the coliseum my whole life, granted I would much rather take my kids to a game at oracle. Not having the A’s or the ability to take my kids there after they leave will be a bit heart breaking.
But like the Sacramento Kings, sometimes you cannot love a franchise anymore. The choices they make can alienate fan bases and like the rest of your money you get to choose who it endorses. Throwing money at bad franchises has no good outcome for anyone except the owners, just need fans smart enough to make that choice with their wallets.
Jah but Hatteberg was an ahead of its time move. Moved on to bigger and better things, first a detour in local public administration and then….Starlord!
Ooof!!!!! Justin Grimm? Now there’s someone who turned getting lit up into an art form. Get ready for the fireworks and missiles, A’s fans!
#moneyball
Kept Kolarek over Selman…. hmmmm
Because they traded 2 prospects for Kolarek whereas they signed Selman off the street. Would be admitting a mistake and most FO’s dont admit mistakes.
Oh, we got one of those Prospects back already ( Shelden Neuse ).
I think Billy McKinney needs everyday playing time to see his true potential. When he was playing everyday on the Mets last year he was raking. Once they got Conforto back from the IL, McKinney would spot start or pinch hit and his numbers started to plummet
A’s will find players hanging out at the bus station, and still play .500….Kotsay’s gonna be great.
Pretty good. Jackson hasn’t pitched since 2009 so he will be fresh
Wrong Jackson
5.81 ERA Zach Johnson??
Wrong Jackson is posted.
Dayam…how would you feel to be Sam Sellman and not make this cluster f of clowns?
Also heard the A’s took a looooong look at Matt Stairs and tried to sign Rod Beck to a multi-year deal, but then found out he was dead. Nonetheless they then examined league rules as to whether or not they could still make him their closer.