The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve released veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus. Infielder Sheldon Neuse is up from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his spot on the roster.
Once Andrus wasn’t traded either in the offseason or at the trade deadline earlier this month, the writing was on the wall for Andrus, whose contract contains a vesting player option for the 2023 season that would become kick in upon reaching 550 plate appearances. The rebuilding Athletics unsurprisingly had no interest in allowing that option to vest, and the mere presence of that option has made the possibility of trading Andrus seem both complicated and frankly unlikely since this past winter. Now that he’s been released, however, it’s a moot point; the option won’t vest an Andrus will simply become a free agent at season’s end.
[Related: Vesting Options Updates on Flexen, Maldonado, Carrasco, Andrus]
Andrus can now sign a new deal that does not require a new club to pay him $15MM in 2023 if he reaches 550 plate appearances on the season. (He’s currently at 386 trips to the plate and would’ve needed another 164 to reach that threshold.) Any team that signs Andrus would need only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Major League roster; the A’s will remain on the hook for the rest of this year’s salary.
It’s been a decent season for Andrus at the plate and with the glove. The 33-year-old (34 next week) is no longer the hitter, but he’s turned in a respectable .237/.301/.373 batting line (97 wRC+) with eight home runs, 24 doubles and seven stolen bases. Defensive metrics on Andrus are something of a mixed bag this season; Defensive Runs Saved pegs him six runs below average, but neither Ultimate Zone Rating (2.6) nor Outs Above Average (-1) is quite so sour on his glovework. It’s fair to say that Andrus is clearly no longer the premium defender he was early in his career, when he was regarded as one of the sport’s top gloves at any position.
With Andrus out the door, the A’s will turn shortstop over to a player who has just that type of defensive prowess right now, in the early stages of his own career. Nick Allen, 23, has managed just a .215/.279/.316 slash through his first 173 trips to the plate in the big leagues, but he’s considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the minors and has a more palatable .266/.371/.358 slash in 206 plate appearances for Triple-A Las Vegas, where he’s walked almost as often as he’s struck out (13.1% versus 16.5%).
Allen will likely never hit for power in the big leagues, but with regular playing time, his walk rates, speed and bat-to-ball skills could lead to some 20-steal seasons with solid OBP marks and plus defensive contributions. If the lack of power proves too limiting for Allen to hit like an everyday player, the glove and above-average speed should make him a useful utility infielder who can provide excellent defense at shortstop, second base and third base.
Lol bye
Gee, I wonder what the motovation$ were in this move!?!
The motivation is Nick Allen’s prime is going to look like Jose Altuve with Andrelton Simmons-level defense.
Normally you would be correct, but the A’s do at least have an elite SS who they need to be handing the keys over to now.
Allen can’t hit.
A’s fan hate that has been following Allen since he was drafted.. where in the world are you grabbing the Altuve comp? He’s never been anywhere near the hitter Altuve is, and his profile (at best) is not similar to Altuve.
On Simmon’s defense, yes, we can agree there.
When you are defending this move, especially as an A’s fan, you literally care more about A’s FO than about the actual game of baseball.
This is complete garbage.
@Newman- What a bad take. It means they care about the long-term outlook more than the 2022 season which is entirely logical.
Yes, they care for the idea of outlook and not winning games. That’s good for baseball, for fans, or A’s FO?
In all reality though.. it’s Elvis’ signature on the dotted line. He opened the door -for this to happen, and the A’s took it.
Just a little disappointing
It’s good for fans and the front office. Transition periods may not be great for the sport but they’re necessary for the A’s to return to competitiveness and their fans should appreciate that.
The A’s were competitive last year.
They were. We know how they operate, though. I’m sure they could spend more to avoid a constant rebuilding cycle but they don’t so playing lots of cost controllable players frequently is a necessary evil. Nick Allen could become a solid regular though.
Why lol? Now he gets paid and will also be added to a playoff contender.
No one wants to take the chance they’d have to pay him $15M next year.
He’s not worth it.
Acquire him and stick him on the bench most the time? Then he really DOES have a contract grievance.
What? Someone is going to sign him too a new big league deal. The signing team will not be on the hook for the buyout.
The contract runs through end of season. A team that picks him up will only have to pay prorated MLB-minimum, but the contract and all its clauses remain in force.
No it does not. He’ll be playing on a completely new contract.
You are incorrect sir. He could go and finish with 600 PA’s somewhere else and there is no player option.
You don’t have to take my word for it either, Steve Adams wrote it verbatim in the 3rd paragraph above.
There will be a union grievance for sure. Just missed ab requirement to guarantee future salary
Why? Sure if he played above replacement level I could see it. But didn’t he post a 0 or slightly negative bWAR?
bWar this year is 1.3
Thanks 1.3
I retract my previous comment in light of your research. I must have been thinking of someone else.
Thank you.
There could only be a grievance if they kept him and sat him on the bench. And he didn’t JUST miss it. He was short by over 170 plate appearances. There was a chance to get there is they didn’t release him and he played every day, but they didn’t want that. It’s not a team’s responsibility to make sure an expensive option vests for a player. Especially if they don’t want him on the team anymore.
Well said!
No grievance to be won. It works both ways. If he makes the plate appearances. There is not language that states they cannot sit him even if it was to stop the option. While I see it as probably ethically wrong but he does stink. If he was lighting it up he would have been traded.
Doubtful, the A’s are in full rebuild mode and it makes no sense to bring up prospects while letting a mediocre veteran play every day, I assume you’d need a much better case to win a grievance. There was just an article about Andrus being unhappy with sharing play time, now he can pick a team better suited to his preferences.
I’m sure some team will pick him up. He could probably benefit from a move to the other side of second base. If he were a 97 OPS+ shortstop with good defense at the position, he wouldn’t have gotten released, but his shortstop defense has slipped so much the last 2-3 seasons.
Yankees
LOL yes, please replace IKF with Andrus. This Rays fan–and others in the AL East–would be appreciative.
Would not be surprised to see the Mets pick him up. With Guillorme out, they need a back-up SS. I don’t think they’ll do it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
can they bring him up to the majors? He was on a team’s 40 man already so I’m not sure. I’m also not 100% on the new waiver wireless rules for that kind of thing.
Since he was DFA’d another team can sign him for the league minimum and bring him to the majors if they choose.
thanks for the clarification.
And I believe he’d be postseason eligible if he’s on a team’s 40 by August 31.
Honestly he probably would’ve gotten released even if his defense was good. They don’t want to pay him that much money next year and the open market wouldn’t pay that much. Maybe if it was ELITE defense they could’ve found a deadline taker
Dude was butt hurt they took away his playing time for the younger players. Said he wasn’t a bench player. His stats prove otherwise. Time to see what the younger kids can do if anything. True he lost out on more money with not hitting a certain amount of AB’s, but he was getting overpaid anyway based on performance.
Dude had 15 million reasons to want to play everyday. Really can’t fault him for fighting for playing time. He would be a fool not to
Only problem is thinking he is a good player when he hasn’t done a thing to prove it.
“Dude had 15 million reasons to want to play everyday. ”
Bro, David Price gets $30 mill a year to be a middle reliever, money is based off past performance and doesnt matter in the present, we all need to stop thinking it does.
I mean he had to get PAs presently to get that koney so in this case it is tied to present and not past…
You really thought you had a point there.
He wouldnt make his vesting option as a backup player.
He was never going to get there on this team though.
And Price has been excellent this year and done his job without complaint.
For what he makes I wouldn’t complain either.
true, but that’s why the As wouldn’t want him playing everyday not a reason for him to not want to play everyday.. He still wants the money even if it just to ride a bench.
The sooner that changes baseball will improve a lot. Get rid of any signing over 5 years for players 30 and over. not as a rule, to avoid tampering, but as a SOP!
That would be called “collusion”, which is something that has cost the owners billions of dollars in the past.
This is so random lately. Who knew various players would be completely out?
Great news
And Astros fans everywhere feel relieved..
I doubt Astros fans care since he hasn’t done much in the last 4 years.
@ARC 2- I think he means because Andrus has been an Astros killer to the tune of .298/.327/.489 vs HOU this year and was a big part of Oakland’s recent sweep of Houston. I think Astros fans are definitely happy they don’t have to face him anymore.
Elvis has left the building ….
I have to admit I’m surprised this comment didn’t show up earlier in the thread. 😀
Needs 550 plate appearances and he has 386. A’s have played 117 games, Elvis is averaging 3.3 plate appearances over those 117 games (he appeared in 106, but it’s normal not to play everyday). If Elvis averaged 3.3 over the A’s final 45 games, he would get another 149 plate appearances, finishing at 535 and failing to kick in the $15M for 2023….so the A’s could argue that whether they released him or not he wasn’t getting to 550
Mets depth?
Mets?
Ya mean for depth?
Yet another waning veteran SS soon to become available for some contender who might need one. Elvis Andrus will join Didi Gregorius and Andrelton Simmons among others who are DFA’d free agents.
Cookie is worth that salary if he maintains his current level after he gets back from the DL.
Bad situation for a good MLB player. Not earning his money late in career. Too common these days. Good luck for next year. You are still a good player, who will take a large pay cut. No one will pick up this year with his high price option!
Welcome to the Mets!!
Padres?
padres dont need him
Smart on the A’s to trade nearly all the valuable veterans and release Lowrie and Piscotty BEFORE cutting Andrus. It helps fight the likely upcoming grievance that Andrus will file…
the grievance will go nowhere.
A’s can point to releasing Piscotty and Lowrie as a way of their org philosophy to play young players down the stretch.
29 other teams could also pick Andrus up right now and they won’t. Really no case for him. Enjoy the 100+ mil you’ve made
If he hits 550 PA for a different team and they exercise the option, would the A’s be on the hook for the $15 million?
No. ‘Different team’ would be, and it’s a player option activated by hitting 550 PA, not a club option.
Incorrect CCCTL, only if he were claimed off waivers is his option still valid. Once he clears waivers or is outright released his new contract will be completely different, it’ll be for the pro-rated league minimum the rest of the way and the player option will no longer exist
if it were a waiver claim then yes but in this scenario he is a free agent so prior contract doesnt matter except he will likely earn veteran minimum.and anything new team pays cuts A’s responsibility.
Correct. Elvis just didn’t leave up to expectations. The trade with Texas was mostly to get rid of Khris Davis’ contract. On the other hand, A’s needs to either move to Vegas or owner and Gap mogul John Fisher needs so sale the team to someone somebody who cares more (spends more that is) BTW. Billy Beane is just a minority owner (1%)…
Beane has a 4% stake.
No, he was released without having a reasonable chance of clearing that threshold, so they are only on the hook for this year. If he were claimed on waivers, then the new team would have been responsible for the option. No team wanted that.
The other side of that vested option coin is what’s going on with Carlos Carrasco for the Mets. His injury takes him out of the running for reaching 170 innings to vest his $14M option for next year. The Mets could decide to exercise it anyway.
Hoping Neuse is ready to make some noise.
If past performance is any indicator any noises he makes won’t be with his bat
He’s got a lot of Max Muncy in him, he’s one adjustment away from mashing.
Rangers. They collect shortstops.
Mets should replace marrero with him
Devin Merrero looks impressive on D
This should have happened yesterday, on the anniversary of Presley’s death.
Or could’ve held on for a couple more games in Texas. Then let Elvis parachute out over Vegas on the flight back.
More IF depth for the Braves?
Vogt and Pinder have to go next. Both FA’s, both adding zero to this team in these last two months.
This is what happens when you play the “lotto ticket veteran” game, as the poorly-owned (by a billionaire) A’s always do. Should have committed to the youth earlier.
Bring up Vince Fernandez next please for real, and if you want to not be cowards, bring up Jordan Diaz, Zac Gelof and Brett Harris too. Machin, Bolt and Bride are AAAA scrubs, they’ve shown nothing. Nick Allen at least looks like a potentially great player, there’s a clear talent gap between him and Machin/Bolt/Bride. Its time to give other prospects as fair a chance as they have gotten and not even put up a .700 OPS with.
Pinder yes, but keep Vogt to teach Langeliers catching and then hire him as a coach for next season. Vogt has “future manager” written all over him.
I agree with that, but…they can do both? Release him, then hire him as a coach? He’s not a MLB player like, at all, anymore.
Also Vogt is an awful defensive catcher, maybe the worst of all-time, I dont WANT him teaching anyone that! Sean Murphy is plenty qualified to teach – he has a gold glove lol Vogt is definitely going to be a MLB manager someday though, no argument there!
Dittos Rush I do not believe in Stephen Vogt, even if A”s fans do!
How much can he really learn about catching at this stage of his career? Sure he can get better, but there’s not much Vogt and/or Murphy can instruct him on that any MLB coach couldn’t.
It’s mostly “at the MLB level”-type stuff a fan wouldn’t even know about.
Vogt’s future is in the broadcast booth.
I was watching the A’s, Angels’ game the other day and the color man was marveling about Andurs’s play.
Bottom line, never get your baseball information from a color man who is paid by the team.
Dallas Braden gets excited about the next color of Skittles candy out of the bag. He’s awful.
Might interest the Mets.
That’s what you get for hitting a HR last night Elvis!
He left the building, and now he has to leave the building.
The grievance goes something like:
Andrus: They cut me so the option wouldn’t vest
A’s: Andrus was hitting .237 /.301/.373 with average defense
That’s not even correct, his defense was terrible, and was exposed by Nick Allen being all-world there to show just how bad Andrus was.
And if the players’ union counters, it’ll go something like this:
Andrus’s wRC+ is 25 points higher than last year’s and his fWAR and bWAR are both higher, so why is he being cut now?
Hoped for a bounce back since he was under contract, it didn’t happen…don’t let the door hit ya.
White Sox should let him pass thru waivers then sign him as fo for remainder of year. Hope to catch change of scenery/lighting in a bottle. With injuries and underperforming to their infield Maybe help them into the playoffs which is shaky currently.
Waiver trades no longer exist. If you want him take him.
He’s not on waivers, a free agent now. Anyone can sign him.
@WhiteSox
Chicago seems to be the ideal spot for him indeed: A vacancy at SS with Anderson injured and a permanent vacancy at 2B. The home park is more hitter friendly than the one in Oakland and the AL Central is no hotbed of brilliant pitching. The White Sox might even offer him a decent team option for next year, since they will need a 2B then as well.
Gruß,
BSHH
A young Lisa Marie Presley really moved the needle.
He’s made a a lot of money and some team can still use his services. This is not a fit of consequence. Elvis was never going to be allowed to get enough ABs to trigger the option.
That is 1 way to avoid the risk of his player option vesting lol
Allen’s numbers in the easiest AAA park in minor leagues to hit for power suggest he has a punch & Judy utility guy.. Comical that mlbtr references VEGAS numbers as showing offensive promise for Allen. He’s not a big leaguer on any other team
So if LV numbers cant be used, NONE of them can be used? How should we view that dumb parks numbers? We’d all love to know.
But Allen literally has a .793 OPS over his last 15 MLB games. You might want to not be a casual and actually watch the games before poppin off in future, because what you wrote just magnifies how little you know about MLB. Also the A’s paid a massive overslot draft bonus to get Allen, he’s always been a first round ELITE LEVEL talent, no matter what you think!
Phillies… Nick Maton in LF last night. Marsh, Schwarber, Muzzioti, all down and Harper can only DH when activated.
Union held-out over service time manipulation and this kind of manipulation is still legal ROFL
Giants fan straight up lying about the A’s? Wouldnt be the 8 millionth time that happened.
Let me know how other teams not wanting to give anything up for Elvis at the deadline is “manipulation” in the same way a ready-now prospect not being bought up to help the team win games is. I’ll wait.
Maybe the White Sox could use him while Anderson is on the shelf?
If the CWS were smart they would grab him verses thinking Sosa can make the jump.
If only Andrus was still a good defensive SS. That’s more key than the bat. In minority that prefers they err on side of youth Sosa (or other farmhand) mixed with underwhelming Leury. Andrus fresh from losing his vesting option also not sure is a positive mindset to add.
“The 33-year-old (34 next week) is no longer the hitter”
He was always a bad hitter save for a couple of seasons a long time ago. He’s actually having one of his best seasons ever at the plate.
Really I was hoping he with his agent would work something out to void opinion year , but here they are . A’s need to see what they have , and Andrus is definitely not part of that future . Neuse might be out of options. So he needs to be seen as a replacement for Pinder .
Angels can definetely can use him pronto
He’s made over $130 Million for being a 2.7 WAR player over his career. Only a single season with 5 WAR or better. Below average hitter – even in Texas. Only two seasons above 100 OPS+. Not sure what the fuss is about.
You should go count up the number of career 30+ bWAR players there have been since he debuted in 2009. If you saw how small that list was you probably wouldn’t be that shocked by his career earnings.
I think it was nice they waited until the day after Elvis died before making this Elvis leave the building!
White Sox for sure
As several have said Andrus to the White Sox seems to obvious not to happen, but then so did Starling Marte to the Phillies last winter and that didn’t happen
I’m hoping Elvis is still playing when Vegas gets a team. Seems like a natural fit.
Welp he was unhappy about his playing time there so..
White Sox should sign him with Tim Anderson out
I can’t wait to see how the grievance plays out
Mets pickup for infield depth while Guillorme is on the IL.