The A’s have acquired infielder Abraham Toro in a trade with the Brewers. Minor league pitcher Chad Patrick is headed back to Milwaukee. Oakland already had four vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no further move was necessary.
Toro, 27 next month, has now been traded three times in his career. The former Astro draftee went to the Mariners in the Kendall Graveman deal at the 2021 deadline. Toro didn’t find consistent offensive success over a season and a half in Seattle. He hit only .213/.276/.342 in 605 plate appearances (roughly one full year of playing time) through the end of the 2022 campaign.
As a result, the Mariners looked to upgrade at second base. They sent Toro alongside designated hitter Jesse Winker to Milwaukee for Kolten Wong. The trade didn’t work out for anyone involved. Wong was released by August while Winker slumped to a .199/.320/.247 line before hitting free agency. Toro barely played for the Brew Crew, getting into just nine MLB contests.
Toro spent most of the season on optional assignment to Milwaukee’s Triple-A team in Nashville. The switch-hitter had solid numbers there, running a .291/.374/.471 batting line over 414 plate appearances. He only hit eight home runs but walked at an excellent 11.8% clip while striking out 17.6% of the time. Despite the solid numbers, Milwaukee stuck with light-hitting rookie Brice Turang at second base and rotated through a number of third base options. 26-year-old rookie Andruw Monasterio and scuffling veteran Josh Donaldson got looks at the hot corner instead of Toro.
That limited usage made him a non-tender candidate approaching Friday’s deadline. While his projected $1.3MM arbitration salary isn’t exorbitant, it’s almost twice the league minimum rate. Toro is also out of minor league option years. Milwaukee would have had to keep him on the MLB roster or designate him for assignment at the beginning of next season.
Oakland is apparently more willing to take that shot. The A’s have almost nothing locked down in the infield. Second baseman Tony Kemp hit free agency. A’s third basemen (primarily the since-traded Jace Peterson, Jordan Diaz and Aledmys Díaz) combined for dreadful .192/.271/.285 batting line. Toro has a solid minor league track record and is eligible for arbitration through 2026. The A’s can afford to give him some run in what’ll be another uncompetitive season to see if he can hit MLB pitching.
The move for Milwaukee is mostly about clearing the roster spot and projected salary. Rather than a straight non-tender, they’ll pick up a mid-tier pitching prospect. Patrick joined the A’s before the trade deadline in the deal that sent Peterson to the Diamondbacks.
A former fourth round pick, Patrick spent the 2023 campaign in the upper minors. He logged a 5.59 ERA over 124 innings between the Arizona and Oakland organizations. The Purdue-Northwest product struck out 23% of opponents while issuing walks at a slightly high 9.4% clip. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until next offseason, so Milwaukee can keep him in Nashville as non-roster rotation depth.
Huh? Well, ok… Go A’s…
Oakland can’t afford Milwaukee’s Best so they opted for a Toro instead.
Crazy how far Winker fell….
Yeah, Seattle got the worst of that initial trade by far. Graveman actually continued on to be a very consistent, reliable reliever for the Stros; so much so, they traded for him again after he went to the White Sox.
I actually thought Seattle made a big mistake trading Winker and Toro for Wong, but it turned out to be a horrible trade for both teams, basically a wash. Patrick could tilt things in the Brewers favor, but I highly doubt it. His numbers are flat out awful. He’s been extremely hittable and lacks control, but he has been effectively wild at times with some solid K numbers. Still, unless they overhaul his arsenal and pitch selection and improve his command he’ll likely never be anything other than a AAA pitcher that bounces around.
They are going to field a whole team of Rule 5 Draft picks to shrink their already microscopic payroll.
Costs an extra 100K to get a rule 5 pick. Only the salary is paid on waivers claims and FAs.
Isnt this literally the Rays strategy as well?
I see no reason to stop phasing the A’s back into revenue sharing funds. Clearly the organization has changed its ways and no longer directly embezzles the funds. Manfred is an ethnical, honest commissioner.
We’ve got action!
I read the headline so fast I could have swore it said “Abraham Taco.” I should probably go eat something..
Dude is making his way through the ALW
Remember when Dipoto traded the best RP during the 2021 season for this guy cause “more bites at the apple” or something
They also got Joe Smith who pitched better than Graveman the rest of the way.
Good old Joe Smith sure did disappear into the ether after that stint with the M’s. It’s like , what happened to Joe? Eh, Joe?
I wish my name was as generic and plain as Joe Smith. Now that’s a well-rounded American name. Just ahead of Michael Young or Will Smith.
If you plan on lamming it though you gotta have something a smidge more conspicuous. “Scott Reynolds” perhaps? Something squarely in the middle of the lexicon of names.
That reminds me of Scott Bradley who I would get confused with Scott Kingery. And now you’re throwing a Reynolds at me. This is worse than counting sheep.
The year I was born the trendy boy name was “Jason”. There were so many Jason’s around, every classroom had 3 or 4 Jason’s. But I can only think of Jason Giambi off the top of my head.
Steven Miles?
Nope too many syllables. Too complex. We need simple like Joe Buck.
Alright alright…I got it narrowed down to: Dee Gordon-Strange..OR….Ed Bo?
What was really puzzling is that Dipoto also traded J.T. Chargois and prospect Austin Shenton to the Rays for Diego Castillo at that same deadline. Chargois has been the better reliever since that deal, and Shenton put up a 1.006 OPS at AA/AAA last season. Mariners could have used his bat for next season. Rays win another one.
@HBan22 Yeah thank you, but I didn’t need to be reminded of that. My brain had thankfully stuffed it away so it couldn’t hurt me anymore, and now you have dredged it up and I have to deal with it yet again. Thank you for the recurring trauma and may I send you my psychiatrist bills?
Jason Kendall says hi.
How did he not get more of a chance in the MLB last year? With the Brewers cutting payroll, you think he would get a shot
That was the strange part about Counsell as manager. Always churning the roster, plugging guys in here and there, never able to get consistent time, and guys like this would be totally ignored in favor of a guy like Winker or any number of other marginal players. Hope he gets a decent shot somewhere sooner than later.
I’d take him over Moncada on my White Sox lol
He got a decent shot with the Mariners, he was just incredibly inconsistent.
I was more happy about Toro than winker… A’s got a decent player. Also never got how so many other guys got run before he did.
Just look at who the Brewers have traded out versus who they bring in over the past several years. There’s a pattern and there’s your answer regarding the Brewer franchise and “the strange part about Counsell as manager.”
OPS of .563 over 109 games, pretty rough hit for a team trying to make the playoffs.
Toro brings nothing to the table in terms of offense, although he does know how to bunt. The best he can offer is a .225 BA in a banner year, but he usually plays his best against HOU, so there’s that.
Angels and Rangers call dibs on getting him next!!!
Toro for Adell plus cash considerations
After he plays a game with the A’s first!
Blockbuster!
I’ve had 7 people call me about it already. I’m speechless.
Toro already highest paid player on a team now.
Abe Toro is from Quebec and speaks fluent French , Spanish, and English. He should probably play for the Twins at some point so he and Edouard Julien can hang out.
Team is changing name to 4A’s
A’s strategy seems to be hoping these cheap, productive older AAA hitters with some mlb experience, may turn into something. With Toro and Andujar. Typical dumpster diving
Theyve sort of been doing it with varying degrees of success since the Moneyball days.
He can’t hit .200 in the majors. He’ll fit right in. FU JOHN FISHER!!!
Tony Kemps replacement
A’s are so cheap they picked him up to do double duty. He also has to help the grounds crew with the lawn mowers…..
Wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right. God I hate A’s owner John Fisher
A Toro lawnmower at that…
Please dont denigrate Oakland’s grounds crew by comparing them to the players on the field.
Stove is so hot we almost burned ourselves reading this
Toro might go on to be the best of all time!
Beginning of an A’s dynasty that lasts decades.
“The A’s have almost nothing locked down in the infield.”
Gelof? That’s pretty locked down, no?
The fact that a guy locks down a spot in the infield after less than half a season of above average hitting more proves than disproves that point.
That was my thought as well!
The A’s have almost nothing locked down in the infield. As you said, Gelof should have a spot. That’s 1 of 5 spots “locked down.”
BA of 444 OBP of 524 for ’23, what a steal
I’m calling a 2.93 ERA for Patrick in the minors next year. He’ll rise to #12 in the brewers prospect list and have 1.5 good seasons in the majors. He ends up in the NL East and never has a sub 4 era again.
If anyone deserves a 2nd article/post it is this man…Keep up the good work fellas..We are all wondering about this man! Honest Abe all day baby!
Not a great Landing spot for Toro. Toro isn’t a star player but I also feel he has gotten in bad situations.
Toro is a guy who has two strengths:
1.decent contact ability (89% zone contact over his career)
2. Ability to hit the ball in the air (13.7 degree avg launch angle over his career)
What he doesn’t have is power, his max ev, barrel rate, 90th percentile EV is not good.
That means he is very dependent on the park situation, what could be a homer in cincy can be an easy fly out in Seattle. I feel in the right park like Cincinnati he could hit 270 with 20 Homers but in a pitchers park it probably will be more like 240 with 10 bombs (I think 2022 he got a little unlucky with a .198 babip, his xBA was .226, still bad but better than the 185 he got).
Milwaukee would have been such a spot and he did well in a very small sample there but as a contender they have better options than Toro.
Oakland ownership felt they won too many games last year so are loading up on a guy that provides a career -2.1 WAA.
Brewers have a good record when it comes to developing SP. Patrick could be the next come-out-of-nowhere pitcher for them who somehow does better in the majors than he did in the minors.
No room in the inn for Toro in Milwaukee, so nice pick up by the Brewers getting Patrick.
“While his projected $1.3MM arbitration salary isn’t exorbitant, it’s almost twice the league minimum rate.” So, you can get two alternative Toros for the price of one, or is that one original Toro for the price of two (shipping and handling extra)?
Franchise altering move for the A’s
Solid move by the A’s – taking shots around the periphery of the rosters on guys that once upon a time could hit major league pitching. And he’s still young and cheap.
I see a ring in the A’s future!!
Poor guy