The Athletics announced that they have traded outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Dodgers for right-hander Carlos Duran. Prior to that official announcement, Alden González of ESPN reported that Ruiz was headed to the Dodgers. The outfielder was designated for assignment by the Athletics a few days ago. The Dodgers will option him to Triple-A. Right-hander Kyle Hurt has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Hurt required Tommy John surgery in July and won’t be an option until later in the season.
Ruiz, now 26, long been known for his wheels but has always had questions about his bat. He burst onto the major league scene with the A’s in 2023, topping the American League by stealing 67 bases. At the plate, he slashed .254/.309/.345 for a wRC+ of 85. Despite his speed, his glovework received mixed reviews. He was credited with two Outs Above Average but -20 Defensive Runs Saved.
The stolen bases weren’t enough to get buy-in from the A’s. They optioned him to the minors early in 2024. He was recalled but then suffered a strained left wrist which kept him on the IL for months. He also underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in September. He was in camp with the A’s this spring but was optioned in mid-March and bumped off the 40-man when they claimed left-hander Angel Perdomo off waivers this past weekend.
The minor league offense has been better in recent years. Dating back to the start of 2022, Ruiz has a line of .337/.444/.535 on the farm. However, most of that was in his breakout 2022 season. He was in the majors in 2023 and mostly hurt in 2024. His minor league production was more middling prior to that. He slashed a combined .247/.318/.391 from 2017 to 2021 across various minor league levels for a 97 wRC+.
It’s been up-and-down overall. His huge 2022 showing got him a lot of attention. The Padres traded him to the Brewers that year as part of the infamous Josh Hader deal. Milwaukee then flipped Ruiz to the A’s as part of the three-team Sean Murphy trade. The A’s clearly were making a big bet on Ruiz at that time but apparently soured on him after his middling offensive performance in 2023 and then injury-marred 2024.
For the Dodgers, they effectively had a 40-man roster spot open due to Hurt’s surgery. There’s little harm in bringing Ruiz aboard to see how he looks after last year’s injuries. Even if the bat doesn’t come around, he could perhaps prove to be useful as a pinch-running specialist. Any offensive developments would be a nice bonus.
Duran, 23, has been working as a starter in the minor leagues with some decent numbers but health concerns. Despite primarily working as a starter in the minors, he’s never topped 81 innings in a season.
In March of last year, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him the #22 prospect in the Dodgers’ system, noting that Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2023 and he also had some shoulder troubles on his track record. He returned to the mound last year and gradually built up to toss 53 1/3 innings across 19 starts. He had a 3.71 earned run average, 29.4% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate. He reached Triple-A in the process and will give the A’s some non-roster pitching depth at the upper levels.
Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images.
Of course they did
*sarcasm
I’m thinking it was irony and not sarcasm, unless you’re angry. But I’m not sensing true anger.
Esteury Ruiz bust status has been deferred
Estuery Ruiz is the new guy to run and get Freidman’s coffee order. What is his jump time off a latte order on office carpet?
“Of course they did”..People often act like the Dodgers are doing things every other team is forbidden from doing.
Their envy and Jealousy of success makes them forget that just about 13+ years ago, the LA Dodgers were a mess of infighting, poor management, court battles, faltering revenues and divorce. You know, just like the team you’re currently rooting for.
Hating on success, good management and a great business plan is never going to get you anywhere, since your team can do pretty much the same thing with the right strategy.
Signed, not a fan of the Dodgers per se, but just a baseball fan in general.
The Dodgers doing last 5 or so years with trading for players, signing free agents and winning championships is the same exact thing the Yankees did from mid 1990’s till mid to late 2000’s The joys of being a big market club
Difference is the Yankees were way more successful doing it on their era with the 5 WS championships
Does 2009 still count as part of that era? If so that’s quite a dry spell they had in-between. Seems like their eras could still be comparable depending on how these next few seasons go.
Yeah because not many other teams did it. Now we have a lot of teams going all in with enormous payrolls well over 200m.
@tangerine
LAD just getting started
The dodgers just got out of their hot girl era, give them time
It’s a different time these days
As a Pirates fan, I agree that the rules across MLB are the same but the circumstances for every team are different. I’m neither envious or jealous of the Dodgers and since the Bucs need outfielders I wish they picked up Ruiz but there’s maybe 4-6 teams who can stash Ruiz in the minors for 160ish games and call him up in time to be allowed to sit on the bench for a month and pinch run in the playoffs. It’s not a rules issue, it’s a non-competetive issue based on money. Its not disdain towards the rules or Dodgers. It’s disdain towards those who abuse the system for personal profit at the expense of fans who care for and love the game.
I agree, but I don’t think a player like Ruiz is worth making a fuss over. He’s just fast and his bat has gotten progressively worse ever since he’s been in the majors.
I agree that you shouldn’t hate the Dodgers because they are using the resources they have, but when people say teams like them, Yankees, Mets, etc are spending out their own pockets, that’s not really true. They have monster tv deals and revenue out the wazoo. NO owner would blow his money “for the love of the game”.
One of the main reasons for the Dodgers sustained success is their player development and how they get a lot out of the little moves and castoffs, but they have the cash and ability to literally keep an entire rotation on deck in case of injuries, and a team so deep they can just pick up pieces here and there with no stress to be heroes, just fill minor roles. Every player a team like the Pirates acquires has pressure to succeed because they are low on talent. Average joes like Horowitz are expected to be saviors and young guys can’t be given a long leash to develop because there’s not 6 other good hitters to help out.
Esteury Ruiz would not help the Bucs. Although he’s fast and always a threat to steal, he’s a poor hitter and a very poor defensive OF.
I’d like to see the Pirates put more speed on the field myself. I remember how Vince Coleman and Willie McGee and Bert Campaneris and Bill North before them put a great deal of pressure on pitchers, catchers and defenses.
The Dodgers don’t really need any more hype. Being an unpaid spokesperson for the Dodgers is not really a great look. I’m sure there are some other teams in need of your free labor, if that’s how you wish to spend your time.
The Dodgers signed Ruiz to a 15-year, $800 million contract…just for the hell of it.
For a team like dodgers status and all that money I’d hardly say World Series and a half of one is no Yankees teams of the recent past
Something something Dodgers getting away with it something something
What are they getting away with? Trading for a flawed player who was designated for assignment because he wasn’t good enough for a sub-.500 team?
Yes. Because the Dodgers can afford to pay him above market as a whole simply to acquire his specific skills etc that is useful. The Sacramento A’s don’t have that option.
These specific skills that you mention are reminiscent of Liam Neeson’s ‘very particular set of skills’ in the film ‘Taken’. If this is the case, then good luck MLB…
This had nothing to do with money….he’s making Minor League money. It’s about the fact that Ruiz tumbled down the A’s OF depth chart and no longer merited a spot on their 40-man. He’s a fifth OF/pinch-runner who swings like a power hitter.
Cue baseball is broken rants
oh and deferred salary jokes yipppeeee
Found the predictably upset Dodgers fan ^
Wasted no time being upset. In the future they should defer their anger.
@Easy as 1 2 3…you don’t want deferred anger. That build into bigger problems:)
Gee, I wonder why the Dodgers fan would be so “predictably upset” it may have something to do with the endless jokes…
People only make the endless jokes because the clowns keep entertaining them and taking the bait
Well dodger fans should be mad at the dodgers then. If dodgers don’t defer money then jokes don’t happen.
It’s only a joke if it’s funny 🤷♀️
Steinbrenner, as Yankee fans we’ve seen much worse than a few weeks of deferral jokes. And Dodgers fans, enjoy the fact that your team is curb stomping the rest of the league and get some thicker skin.
Stein, They shouldn’t react so prominently to what internet strangers say. Especially when their team can purchase their happiness.
That’s not true. You’re a joke and you’re not funny at all.
“Well Dodger fans..Jokes don’t happen”..If you eliminated all the teams that “defer money”, then baseball “don’t happen”.
It’s only a joke if YOU think it’s funny
That’s the thing with Dodgers fans, they have absolutely no sense of humor.
not a dodgers fan actually, I’m a Brewers fan. Just sick of unkowledgeable fans who only spew what they see on twitter
“Unkowledgeable”
I saw hate and bigotry on Twitter and uninstalled it
So instead of a A’s having William Contreras, LAD gets Esteury Ruiz, and A’s have highest ticket median of any MLB team playing in a AAA stadium for free.
I’m sure the Giants are not letting the Athletics play their for FREE.
I could be wrong, but I thought I saw that they waived the lease to entice them to play there.
Probably getting ready to enjoy Oakland’s tv revenue bomb once the A’s move to LV for real
You are not wrong on the ticket prices. I live in Cali and used to be in tampa and a season ticket holder cuz i love baseball. Always made the drive twice a year to see the d-rays and bo sox(where I was born) in oakland. And i always went back to Tampa to see my family and spring training. The tickets for regular season games in Sacramento are outrageous, not third party, straight from the A’s website. My friend went and saw Skenes today for 7 bucks, granted that was third party. I’m interested in summer when it’s hot in both and rainy in one to see ticket prices
@mike:
The third-party prices are already low, people who spent for season tickets got hosed.
He is a fine outfielder but his speed is the big draw. In the postseason a lot of teams like having that lightning fast guy to pinch run in a close game. I get the A’s didn’t want to put him out there every day, but to trade him for likely nothing seems odd.
A’s got a good arm in this trade. Duran is under the radar prospect whose injury woes seem behind him. Good trade for both teams.
He’s not a good CF. Below avg arm. He does have history playing 2nd base in minors though
No way do the Dodgers consider moving an outfielder to the infield.
/S
Irony. Sarcasm is the angry side of irony. You don’t appear to be angry.
He is going to be our new pitcher. We need some that can cover first FAAST
I really like Carlos Duran honestly, I agree that this is a good trade for both teams. I can totally see Dave Roberts using Ruiz as a Terrance Gore character during the playoffs, but one that actually gets ABs.
Actually, he’s graded below average defensively. Usually a guy with his speed and potential coverage, would at least be average at worst. I can see him being a fill in if a couple of guys hit the IL. Other than that, I hope he likes OKC in the summertime.
Yikes, no other teams needed him??? Odd.
Right. Tigers cudda took a flier on him, imo
@dsett75:
NO!!! Ruiz is terrible except on the base paths. Ryan Kreidler is a better hitter! And a much, much better outfielder.
Dodgers are ruining baseball….or something.
Dodgers could use speed on the base paths in the back of the lineup
The next labor stoppage is going to be a bloodbath, im not sure the players appreciate what is coming.
If the owners want to limit salaries then 10-15% of the delta between purchase and sales prices should have to go into a fund for salaries/dev. It’s crazy that asset appreciation is never considered as a lever while operating expenses are,
To be DFA by the Dodgers in 3… 2…
They actually are not one of the teams that does that crap all the time. Orioles, Athletics, Marlins… they are the repeat offenders of the instant DFA’s all the time.
They didn’t trade that good of arm to dfa him. Wouldn’t make sense.
It’s hard to make sense of this kind of trade, period. He’s going to find a place on the Dodgers when he couldn’t with the A’s? Uh, okay. When they need that 40-man spot (and they will, soon), who goes first? Just looking at the list, Ruiz automatically becomes the most expendable.
Unless they teach him to hit ball hard he’s basically a pinch runner. Maybe they can.
Good news they gave up a guy who they probably couldn’t fix control and wasn’t going to make their 40 man.
Good change of scenery trade. Try to out develop the previous teams.
He still has options. Not sure how the A’s couldn’t fit him in.
Is he out of options? I could actually see the Dodgers turning him into a competent hitter with a few months in their system. He has top prospect pedigree.
Ruiz has 2 options remaining and is headed for AAA (as it says in the article).
If he had options remaining, why didn’t the A’s just keep him instead of DFA?
dunno. maybe FanGraphs is wrong
Presumably because they wanted to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Las Vegas Aviators season ticket holder here. That’s a good question. Ruiz’ spot in the Aviators lineup has been taken by Drew Avans and Carlos Cortes. Neither of them will ever contribute to the A’s in the majors. Avans has hit two solo HRs in the first few games, but he’s also botched and booted enough balls hit to him that he’s caused more runs to be scored by the opposition than he’s helped create for the Aviators.
Esteury Ruiz won me some fantasy leagues the year he stole 60 bases but unfortunately he can’t hit at all.
at one point last year he was the A’s hottest hitter and was hitting almost .400 when he got DFA last year. It was also noted he wore a bracelet that was a dig against john fisher and got dfa the same week.
He was also a monster at bat during his brief time in Triple A. He hit the longest home run in Minor League Baseball last year, but he didn’t get credit for it in MiLB’s stats because the Aviators mis-reported the distance. He blasted the ball over the huge scoreboard in centerfield, and out of the park, where it landed on the roof of the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ practice facility next door. At the game it was announced as 519 feet, which is totally believable. But the Aviators reported it in the official stats as 389 feet. Which would have been short of the 400 ft centerfield fence and wouldn’t even have been a HR.
Im truly happy for Ruiz but its ridiculous.
Interesting. Gives them a bit more OF depth at that position within the system I guess. Duran was generally ranked in the 40s or so within the Dodgers system prospects (ie, not MLB Pipeline Top 30 Dodger Prospects, and 42 in Prospects1500 rankings, etc.) but some LA fan prospect hounds liked his upside and it’s a deep system.
Ruiz has been freed!!
He’s still stuck in AAA for the season, Pages, Kike, Outman and Ruiz all vying for that spot now. He will probably get ABs in AAA and could join the roster late in the season to give the Dodgers a pinch runner, but wont be featured any time soon. Would have been nice to see him go to a team where he could have gotten some playing time.
A’s could have asked for Jake Gelof, Zack’s brother.
He’s going 40/40
40 hits 40 Stolen bases?
40 errors 40 pitch clock violations
Esteury is OK I guess…maybe a little brackish.
probably room with River Ryan
It’s already April. That joke would have worked better in Marsh.
Dodgers are now a true tidal contender
Always good to have a burner and Ruiz would be an ideal candidate for a playoff roster spot for the Dodgers.
A for A’s that’s a nice high ceiling arm to work with.
Dodgers don’t know. Average deal. Did what they needed to do. They didn’t think they could imporve Duran control is my guess. Maybe see a way to get more bat out of Ruiz. Maybe getting him a torpedo bat the A’s refused to pay for. Nothing lost. They can find more prospects with plus stuff and poor control. Nothing lost and maybe they have the answer to develop Ruiz.
seems like nothing burger to me. If they need speed, Dodgers have Zyhir Hope who can also actually hit and defend. And Josue DePaula,
I don’t know about DePaula, but they can have Ruiz as the pinch-runner on the bench without interrupting Hope’s development.
I don’t see Ruiz making an impact above AAA this year at least.
I’m still high on the offensive profile. He wasn’t awful in ’23 and he’s still young enough that I could see some mechanical tweaks coaxing out more of his minor-league power. I mean, he’s a 3-win CFer if you can get him to a league-average bat with four years of control. Personally, I’d love to have him back on the Padres.
I think the idea is to keep him as a designated pinch runner for the postseason.
So the A’s ended up getting exactly nothing for Sean Murphy and Joel Payamps when Murphy was one of the most valuable trade chips in recent memory. The irony is the catcher the Braves traded in that 3 way trade is way better than Murphy now.
Designated Runner.
They’ll park him in AAA until the postseason.
After Ruiz shamed A’s on leaving Oakland, they’ve been against him at every turn. Granted he played poorly and wasn’t healthy, but the bias didn’t help. Dodgers shouldn’t have these problems and should enjoy a speedster to pinch run in important situations, and if they fix up his hit tool they could make a nice profit if they trade him later on.
Ruiz stolen bases will be deferred until the post season!
With so much focus on high spin rate pitches, guy’s going to be running like crazy. Teams better have a decent throwing catcher. RIP Cincinnati.
Nothing on Duran? Great stash for the Dodgers. They can bring him up and use him to pinch run. Why the hell on earth no one else went there is a mystery.
He’s going to be like a designated pinch runner for the dodgers
Ruiz seems like the outfield version of Jorge Mateo, who also might be available on the waiver wire soon.
Meh. His brother Tributary Ruiz has better stats.
Can you describe the delta between them?
The rich get richer.
How much help does Austin Barnes need?
Austin Barnes needs the most lopsided torpedo bat ever because he doesn’t strike out a lot but his contact does nothing. He couldn’t find the sweet spot if it hit him in the face.
Detroit shudda looked at him.
Was hoping Duran would go to the Rangers, Red Sox or Twins so we could appreciate Duran Duran.
I could see the Dodgers turning him into an Otis Nixon type with the bat, but it’s pretty tough to turn a bad fielder into a good one. I’d like to think Ruiz is a hedge to prevent LAD from bringing back Trayce Thompson for the umpteenth time this season.
Smart move. The Dodgers are really struggling. This will help.
Ruiz is leading off for the Dodgers next season and will steal 80 bases. He will take a team friendly extension too, and they’ll have their CF and leadoff hitter for the next decade. Im a Ruiz fan but wont be a Dodgers fan. Less of an A’s fan after this situation, and Ive been an A’s fan since 1986, I was seven years old when Jose Canseco was a rookie. He was my favorite player. Been partly an A’s fan ever since, A’s and White Sox, and was really excited about Ruiz. Im from Chicago though, and am now solely a White Sox fan. Like our team this year.
after all the A’s trades over the last five seasons .. they basically have little to show for it
Carlos Duran can run it up to 98-100 MPH but his 4seam fastball is straight. He could be a cutter slider reliever in the majors right now. If he had another above average pitch (I’d teach him the splitter because his change up is too fast) or if he could land the slider in the zone more often, he could be a major league starter.
Will this player with burner speed have the same truncated career as past players with a similar skill set like Peter Bourjois and Billy Hamilton or can the Dodgers unlock better bat-to-ball skills?
I even if he becomes just a consistent high average singles hitter, imagine him hitting in front of Ohtani. A true leadoff hitter.
He won’t be taking at bats away from Ohtani or Betts. In that scenario he’d be hitting in the 9 spot ahead of them the second time through the lineup.
67sb and the war crowd think Ruiz is a bum!? Dee Flash Gordon II
They say you can’t steal first. But buzzers are okay
They’ll probably add him to postseason roster as a speedy defensive guy for late innings