The A’s announced Tuesday that they’ve reinstated Stephen Vogt from the injured list, selected the contract of infielder Matt Davidson from Triple-A Las Vegas and designated right-handed reliever Parker Markel for assignment. Oakland also optioned infielder Sheldon Neuse to Las Vegas.
Davidson, 31, saw some big league time with the D-backs earlier this season but rejected an outright assignment following a DFA and inked a minor league pact with the A’s. He’s appeared in just 21 Triple-A games and tallied 88 plate appearances but already has seven home runs in Las Vegas. Davidson was mashing with the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno, too, and he’s posted an overall .306/.389/.711 batting line with 15 long balls in only 139 Triple-A plate appearances so far this season.
Some caveats to that production apply, of course. The Pacific Coast League is a notoriously hitter-friendly setting, with Vegas in particular tending to inflate offense. Davidson has had his share of Triple-A success in the past as well — albeit not to this extent — with 146 home runs logged through 703 games at that level. He’s a .248/.320/.470 hitter in Triple-A but hasn’t quite carried that over in parts of six seasons in the Majors, where he’s a .222/.292/.433 hitter. He could still give the A’s more offense than they’ve gotten out of Neuse, a fellow right-handed-hitting infielder who has managed a tepid .228/.291/.305 output in a career-high 182 Major League plate appearances so far.
Markel, also 31, inked a minor league deal with the A’s over the winter and parlayed a 1.89 ERA in 19 Triple-A frames into his first big league action since 2019. The former Mariners and Pirates righty has a long track record of missing bats at a high level but also battling command issues, and both of those have been true in the Majors and in Triple-A this season. Markel fanned 35.4% of his opponents while pitching for Las Vegas but also walked hitters at a 12.7% clip. He fired three scoreless innings in the Majors with the A’s and picked up three strikeouts … but he also issued a walk to five of the 13 hitters he faced.
Even though he averages better than 95 mph on his heater and has a 3.09 ERA and 30% strikeout rate in 177 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level, Markel has only ever logged 25 innings in the Majors. There’s no sugarcoating his ugly 14.1% walk rate in Triple-A, but the bat-missing ability and velocity are somewhat intriguing all the same.
Oakland will have a week to trade Markel, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He’s been outrighted once before — by the Angels in 2020 — so even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the option of rejecting an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Zero idea why we keep running out these washed up veterans, Let the young guys play. If we are going to be bad I’d rather watch the young guys struggle then a bunch of veterans,
Agreed. What is the plan on these washes up veterans?… This appears to be a rebuilding efforts or whatever that means to A’s upper management aka John Fisher…
The plan is to hope he hits well enough to trade for some soda…beane doesn’t want his guys paying for soda anymore
Control and plus for most prospects they don’t develop well being thrust into MLB action.
I mean they can’t develop much worse then the prospects we’ve already utilized this season…
The young guys stink.
With regular PT Davidson could hit 25 bombs with a decent obp. He hit a homer in his first AB in Arizona, then walked twice in his second game just to never be given another chance to start because Torey Lovullo wanted to play Sergio Alcantra and his .150/.200/.195 line instead. Claimed better defense but all Alcantra did was make errors and strike out. Davidson, if played, will hit better than almost every player on the Oakland roster but will likely only start vs LHP. Glad he’s being given another chance.
I understand on a rebuilding team wanting to let the young guys play, but having them continue to struggle at the Major League level isn’t going to help their confidence and could hurt their development long term. Send them down to work in a non-pressure environment and bring them back up when they’re ready is likely best. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to see a few three-run shots from Mr. Davidson in the meantime which helps team morale.
DFA Murphy, bring up Langielerrs or however the hell it’s spelled, and get some god damned offense in here! Don’t mind losing, but at least don’t be boring
Murphy ain’t hitting right now, but he’s the best defensive C in MLB, as soon as he starts hitting he’s bringing back a huge haul just based on how only Realmuto is better overall. Not many are currently better than him.
I do agree Langeliers needs to be up right now though, I mean I’d just have him backup Murphy and DH if he starts mashing, but that’s me, I’m interested in putting a watchable team out there, Beane is not.
Did the Team send down the wrong 3rd Baseman?
Sheldon Neuse gets Sent down while Kevin Smith remains? Smith is batting .189 with an On-Base % of .216.
Granted, Smith has the better Glove but he is more of an Automatic Out at the plate.
Of course they did.This is the worst managed team from top to bottom everrrrrr
DFA Lowrie & Betancourt
AAA Pache, Smith & Trivino
Bring up Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Vince Fernandez, Nate Mondou & Shea Langeliers
Move Andrus to 1B if you want his bat in the lineup so bad, his glove is so beyond trash at SS and you have future perennial gold glove finalist Nick Allen right there – he cant hit any worse than Pache+Smith are. Its maddening how Nick Allen is at AAA for literally no reason – a rebuilding team is blocking a top prospect with a washed up overpaid veteran – like, why? I thought Beane was smart? This is bad GMing 101, just brutal to have to watch.
Get Elvis Andrus, Sean Murphy, and Kevin Smith out of here too. Shake it up and compete next year
FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!! FU John Fisher!!!!
The A’s got their man
The A’s are a joke
That is the only drawback this fan has with the A’s proposed move to Las Vegas.
He’s a cheapskate.
Cmon Steve, Davidson better particularly in Vegas? 8 homers 44 at bats for Reno. Elevation more than double Vegas. Reno is notoriously hitters paradise as is most of PCL. Reno’s just particularly more so than Vegas. Not a big deal cuz you are a good writer.
Reno’s elevation is listed as 4,500 feet. The Las Vegas Ballpark is at 3,000 feet. Much hotter though.
Vegas is 2000. You missed my point. Reno is more notorious, not Vegas, for hitters. However, its a league that has Colorado and Tucson and salt lake etc. All elevated. So the league overall is notorious and that was Mr.Adams point. I simply argued his focus on Vegas versus Reno.
Sign Rickey Henderson. He’d be your best player
I believe some club will pick up Markel. While his BBs are high, so, too, are his K/9. At AAA, he’s putting up video game strikeout numbers. If the right team grabs him and can fix those walks, they got a guy under control for several years.