Athletics Rumors

JP Sears Generating Trade Interest

By Darragh McDonald | June 5, 2024 at 5:15pm CDT

The Athletics are getting plenty of trade interest in left-hander JP Sears, according to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, though Passan adds that the A’s are unlikely to move him. It’s a similar situation with right-hander Mason Miller, as Passan relays that the A’s are willing to listen to offers but don’t appear likely to make a trade. That tracks with previous reporting on Miller, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said about a month ago that the A’s were willing to listen but had a massive asking price.

Sears came over to the A’s as part of the 2022 deadline deal that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. Since then, Sears has been the most reliable and consistent pitcher on the Oakland staff as other arms have either been hurt or underperformed. He made 32 starts last year and tossed 172 1/3 innings, leading the club in both of those categories by a decent margin. Ken Waldichuk was second in both columns with 22 starts and 141 innings.

Here in 2024, he’s been the rock of the rotation yet again. The A’s currently have Waldichuk, Paul Blackburn, Ross Stripling and Alex Wood all on the injured list. Sears is once again leading the staff with 12 starts and 67 1/3 innings pitched.

While the A’s surely appreciate that quantity of work, the quality has been more decent than it has been outstanding. Sears had a 4.54 earned run average last year along with a 21.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate, with all those numbers coming in fairly close to average.

Sears has dropped his ERA to 4.01 here in 2024 but that may be more due to luck than anything else. His 6.9% walk rate is a slight improvement over last year but his 16.3% strikeout rate is a significant drop. His batting average on balls in play is .239, which is well below the .278 mark he had last year and this season’s league-wide average of .286. His 35.6% ground ball rate is below average as well. His average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate are all in the 32nd percentile or worse among qualified pitchers, according to Statcast.

Even if a bit of regression is coming, he could still serve as a solid innings eater with good control. His 4.32 FIP and 4.75 SIERA on the year aren’t as nice as his ERA but aren’t disastrous either. That can have value to an Oakland club cycling through struggling pitching prospects and injured veterans.

Whether it will be valued enough by another club to get Sears away from the A’s remains to be seen, as they should be in no real rush to move him. He came into this season with one year and 81 days of service time. That means he won’t even qualify for arbitration until after 2025 and isn’t slated for free agency until after 2028. If they don’t find any particularly enticing offers now, they can simply keep him around as part of the rotation core as they gradually try to emerge from this rebuilding process, which seems to be the most likely scenario at this point.

But the case for making him available could be his age. Sears was sort of a late bloomer, not reaching the big leagues until his age-26 season. Though the A’s can theoretically control him for years to come, he’s now 28 years old and will likely be in his early 30s by the time the club is competitive again. Perhaps that will compel them to consider pulling the trigger on a deal while his value is at its highest. With pitchers liable to suffer significant injuries at any time, there’s also a case for the club to proactively strike a deal before that happens to Sears.

Whether anything can come together will likely depend on the offers that are coming towards Oakland. Since Sears is cheap and controllable and fairly reliable, they will likely need a decent return to get a deal done. As mentioned, Sears is more a reliable mid- or back-of-rotation guy than an ace, but that could hold appeal to clubs with so many pitching injuries around the league.

A’s Select Vinny Nittoli

By Anthony Franco | June 4, 2024 at 4:05pm CDT

June 4: The A’s made it official today, selecting Nittoli’s contract today. They also reinstated left-hander Sean Newcomb from the 60-day injured list. One spot was opened by righty Michael Kelly being placed on the suspended list today, one of many players receiving punishments for gambling, as reported earlier today. A second active roster spot was opened by left-hander Brady Basso being optioned. To open another 40-man roster spot, right-hander Paul Blackburn was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Additionally, right-hander Aaron Brooks was outrighted to Las Vegas after being designated for assignment on the weekend.

Blackburn will be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was May 11. That means the club doesn’t expect him back in the next month. He has yet to begin a rehab assignment after suffering a stress reaction of the fifth metatarsal of his right foot.

June 3: A’s reliever Vinny Nittoli is joining the team before tomorrow’s series opener with the Mariners, reports Jessica Kleinschmidt (X link). Assuming he’s in line for a call-up, the A’s will need to select his contract to add him to the MLB roster.

Nittoli, 33, landed with Oakland on an offseason minor league deal. The 6’1″ righty struck out 10 hitters in 5 2/3 innings in Spring Training. He has continued to miss plenty of bats for Triple-A Las Vegas. Over 23 1/3 innings in the Pacific Coast League, Nittoli has fanned 36% of opposing hitters. While he has also issued walks at a higher than average rate (11%), the huge strikeout tally has allowed the Xavier product to post a 2.70 ERA in an extremely hitter-friendly setting.

Since making his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2021, Nittoli has logged 6 2/3 innings with three different teams. He has appeared at the big league level in each of the last three seasons, but last year’s three games with the Mets represented a personal high. Nittoli has five years of Triple-A experience, turning in a 4.73 ERA in 177 innings at that level. He has punched out more than 29% of his career Triple-A opponents.

Oakland lost setup man Lucas Erceg to the injured list over the weekend, subtracting one of their higher-octane arms from the relief corps. The A’s have plenty of opportunity available in the middle innings leading up to star closer Mason Miller and high-leverage righty Austin Adams. Their 40-man roster is at capacity and they don’t have any obvious candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list. That could require them to designate a player for assignment if they officially call Nittoli up tomorrow.

MLB Issues Lifetime Ban To Tucupita Marcano For Betting On Baseball, Announces Four Other One-Year Suspensions

By Steve Adams | June 4, 2024 at 9:29am CDT

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday morning that Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been declared permanently ineligible for violating the league’s sports betting rules and policies — specifically Rule 21(d)(2). Per this morning’s press release:

In March 2024, MLB learned from a legal sports betting operator that it had identified past baseball betting activity from accounts connected to multiple Major and Minor League players. MLB obtained data from that operator and other sportsbooks, including authentication data for bets. None of these players played in any game on which they placed a bet. Further, all of the players denied that they had any inside information relevant to the bets or that any of the baseball games they bet on were compromised or manipulated, and the betting data does not suggest that any outcomes in the baseball games on which they placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way. None of the players are appealing their discipline.

Under Major League Rule 21, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” Whereas, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

MLB’s investigation found that from Oct. 16-23, 2022 and from July 12 to November 1, 2023, Marcano placed 387 bets on baseball, including 25 bets on Pirates games where he was a member of Pittsburgh’s roster. All 25 of those Pirates bets came while Marcano was rehabbing from a season-ending ACL tear, so he did not appear in any of the games in question. The bets nonetheless violate the league policy and have thus triggered the lifetime ban.

The league’s investigation found that Marcano placed more than $150K worth of bets on baseball. Most of the bets in question were parlays, some including his own (at the time) Pirates club. Marcano’s bets typically involved the Pirates winning the game or were over/under bets on the number of runs scored within the game.

Major League Baseball also announced that Athletics right-hander Michael Kelly, Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Saalfrank, Padres minor league pitcher Jay Groome and Phillies minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez have been given one-year bans for violating Rule 21(d)(1). All four players were found to have made bets on Major League Baseball games but were not on the Major League roster or injured list of any teams involved in the bets they placed.

Kelly, 31, is an active member of the Athletics’ bullpen and has pitched to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 innings this season. His bets were all placed in Oct. 2021, when the right-hander was with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate. He made only ten bets for a total of $99.92, with three of those bets coming on games involving the Astros’ big league club during the postseason. Despite the meager total of Kelly’s bets, his gambling activity was a violation of the rule in place and will trigger that one-year ban.

Similarly, each of Saalfrank ($445), Groome ($453) and Rodriguez ($749) bet under $1,000 on Major League games back in 2020-21. All were minor league players at the time — Saalfrank with Arizona’s Low-A team, Groome with the Red Sox’ High-A affiliate and Rodriguez with the White Sox’ Double-A club.

Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement on today’s suspensions:

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans. The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people. Since the Supreme Court decision opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have worked with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity perspective through the transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.”

MLBTR readers can view the league’s entire press release, which contains further specifics on the nature of each player’s bets, in its entirety at MLB.com.

A’s Designate Aaron Brooks For Assignment

By Nick Deeds | June 2, 2024 at 9:03am CDT

The A’s announced this morning that they’ve activated right-hander Luis Medina from the 60-day injured list. To make room for Medina on both the club’s active and 40-man rosters, right-hander Aaron Brooks was designated for assignment.

Brooks, 34, signed with the A’s on a minor league deal over the winter and was called up last month to help fill out the club’s rotation mix amid a number of injuries to key veterans such as Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, and Paul Blackburn. He ultimately made four starts for the A’s, pitching to a 5.82 ERA with a 5.59 FIP in 21 2/3 innings of work with a strikeout rate of just 10% against a 6% walk rate. With potential long-term pieces like JP Sears and Mitch Spence currently filling out the rest of the club’s rotation mix, Brooks’s mediocre performance wasn’t enough to justify a rotation spot for the righty now that Medina is healthy enough to take the mound.

Going forward, the A’s will have one week to either trade Brooks or attempt to pass the veteran righty through waivers. Should he clear waivers, the veteran would have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he wish to do so. Despite his lackluster results this year, it’s feasible that a club in need of starting pitching depth could have interest in the righty. After all, he’s a veteran of six major league seasons who has compiled 56 appearances and 32 starts in the majors during that time as a back-end starter and long reliever who enjoyed some success overseas while pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2020-21.

Brooks’s spot both on the 40-man roster and in the starting rotation will be taken by Medina, who the A’s acquired alongside Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the Frankie Montas trade at the 2022 trade deadline. The 25-year-old made his big league debut with the A’s last year and struggled to a 5.42 ERA in 23 appearances, 17 of which were starts. Medina’s difficulties at the big league level were primarily attributable to his unsightly 11.5% walk rate, which clocked in less than ten points below his 21.4% strikeout rate.

Despite those ugly peripheral marks, Medina’s 96.1 mph average velocity on his fastball offers plenty of reason for excitement about his abilities if he figure out his command, and his performance improved as the 2023 season continued with a 4.22 ERA and 4.04 FIP in his final 70 1/3 innings of work last year. Medina’s tantalizing upside made him a strong candidate for the fifth starter role in Oakland entering the season until he found himself sidelined by a grade 2 MCL sprain in early March. Medina has been shelved ever since, but now is healthy enough for the A’s to once again offer him the opportunity to join their rotation alongside Sears, Spence, Joey Estes, and Hogan Harris.

Phillies Claim Freddy Tarnok

By Mark Polishuk | June 1, 2024 at 1:23pm CDT

The Phillies announced that they have claimed righty Freddy Tarnok off waivers from the Athletics. Tarnok has been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after first being activated off the 60-day injured list. To create room on the 40-man, the Phils moved right-hander Dylan Covey to the 60-day IL.

It wasn’t publicly known that Tarnok had been designated for assignment, but Oakland had to make some kind of decision since was nearing the end of his 30-day rehab assignment. Tarnok has pitched in six games for Triple-A Las Vegas since May 8, and with a 13.50 ERA to show for those 7 1/3 innings of work, Tarnok might have simply pitched himself out of the Athletics’ plans. Tarnok has been on the IL since Opening Day due to inflammation in his right hip, and he was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day at the start of May.

A third-round pick for the Braves in the 2017 draft, Tarnok made his MLB debut in the form of a single game and two-thirds of an inning pitched during the 2022 season. That winter, Atlanta dealt Tarnok to Oakland as part of the huge three-team, nine-player trade that sent William Contreras and Joel Payamps to the Brewers and Sean Murphy to the Braves, with Tarnok being one of the younger, controllable players the A’s landed in one of several fire-sale type trades during their latest rebuild.

Tarnok’s first (and officially only) season with the A’s consisted of five outings and 14 2/3 innings due to multiple injuries. Shoulder problems led to a 60-day IL stint to begin the 2023 campaign as well, and hip surgery then ended his season altogether in August. Recovery from that hip procedure lingered into the offseason and Spring Training, necessitating Tarnok’s IL stint at the start of this year.

Unsurprisingly, Tarnok has run into some troubles keeping the ball in the park in the Pacific Coast League, and his walk and strikeout rates have been average at best even prior to 2024 across his 71 career Triple-A innings. However, Tarnok has a solid 4.18 ERA in those 71 Triple-A frames, and is still only 25 years old. There’s no risk for the Phillies in having some more big league-ready rotation depth ready at Lehigh Valley in the event of injury, or if Philadelphia just wants to give some of its starters extra rest in advance of what the team hopes will be a deep postseason run.

Covey has yet to pitch this season after suffering a shoulder strain during Spring Training, and he likely would’ve been placed on the 60-day IL much earlier than today had the Phillies been in need of a 40-man roster spot. As a reminder, a 60-day IL placement is retroactive to the start of the initial 15-day placement, so Covey can now technically be activated at any time since it has already been more than 60 days since Opening Day.

AL West Notes: Semien, Schanuel, Erceg

By Mark Polishuk | June 1, 2024 at 8:14am CDT

Marcus Semien went 1-for-4 in the Rangers’ 8-2 loss to the Marlins yesterday, marking his return to the lineup after sitting out Texas’ previous game. While off-days aren’t normally worth mention, Semien’s absence from Wednesday’s lineup ended a streak of 349 starts for the star second baseman, and it represented only his ninth missed game since the start of the 2019 season. The decision was made since Semien is dealing with a compressed nerve in his neck, as he told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and other reporters yesterday, and the hope is that resting both Wednesday and Thursday (when the Rangers didn’t have a game) will help get Semien back on track.

“I could have missed more time, but I’m trying to figure out how to fight through it,” Semien said. “It feels better after a day off and another day of rest. I’m happy about that. I just want to come back strong.”

The injury stems from a collision between Semien and Adolis Garcia while the two were chasing the same fly ball on May 18. Semien has hit only .135/.200/.189 over 40 plate appearances in the nine games since the collision, and also made three errors in the field. As Grant notes, Semien’s career splits indicate that he is generally a better hitter anyway later in the season, though this neck issue adds an unwelcome obstacle for a Texas club that has struggled to a 27-30 record in its defense of last year’s World Series championship.

A’s Place Lucas Erceg On IL With Forearm Strain

By Anthony Franco | May 31, 2024 at 2:30pm CDT

TODAY: The A’s have now made it official, placing Erceg on the IL today and also optioned right-hander Tyler Ferguson to Triple-A. In corresponding moves, right-hander Dany Jiménez and left-hander Brady Basso were recalled. Additionally, infielder Tyler Nevin was outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

MAY 30: The A’s will place setup man Lucas Erceg on the 15-day injured list, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters on Thursday afternoon (via the MLB.com injury tracker). The right-hander experienced forearm tightness while warming up on Tuesday. He’s headed back to Oakland for further evaluation.

While Erceg isn’t as dominant as late-inning bullpen mate Mason Miller, he has been a key leverage arm in his own right. He’s carrying a 2.86 ERA with a 31% strikeout rate over 22 innings. Half the batted balls he has allowed have been hit on the ground. Erceg has averaged nearly 99 MPH on his fastball and has gotten swinging strikes on almost 13% of his offerings. He’s second on the team behind Austin Adams with eight holds and has picked up a pair of saves.

This has the makings of a breakout season for Erceg, who turned 29 earlier this month. He began his career as a reasonably well-regarded third base prospect in the Milwaukee system. When his bat plateaued in Triple-A, the Brewers moved him to the mound. Milwaukee abandoned the experiment when they traded Erceg to Oakland for cash last May. The A’s lived with some inconsistent results in his rookie campaign — a 4.75 ERA with a huge 14.3% walk rate over 55 innings — and have been rewarded through this year’s first couple months.

A healthy Erceg would make for an interesting trade candidate this summer. The A’s certainly don’t need to move him. He has five more seasons of team control and won’t get to arbitration until the end of 2025. There’s clear appeal to a Miller/Erceg pairing in the late innings. If the A’s decide to stretch Miller back out as a starter next year, Erceg could be their first choice to close.

Still, there’s also an argument for trying to sell high on Erceg. His winding career path means he’s well into what would typically be a pitcher’s prime (although it’s possible he’ll develop later than most because of his relative inexperience on the mound). Relief pitching tends to be volatile and Erceg’s command is still a work in progress. While this season’s 9.2% walk rate is average for a reliever, he had generally walked between 13-15% of opponents before this year.

Trade speculation is conditional on him being on the mound in July. He’s set to be out at least into the middle of June. The upcoming testing will reveal whether he’s in line for a longer absence and if there are any structural concerns.

Athletics Outright Brandon Bielak

By Darragh McDonald | May 30, 2024 at 3:25pm CDT

The Athletics have sent right-hander Brandon Bielak outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Bielak, 28, only came to the A’s a couple of weeks ago. He had been designated for assignment by the Astros and then flipped to Oakland in a cash deal. Up until that point, he had spent his entire career in the Astros’ organization, as that club drafted him in the 11th round back in 2017.

He debuted in the big leagues in 2020 and had a 6.75 earned run average that year, but he went on to serve as a decent depth swingman for the next three years. Over the 2021-23 seasons, while getting frequently shuttled to the farm and back, he tossed 142 1/3 major league innings with a 4.05 ERA. His 19.2% strikeout rate wasn’t amazing but his 9.8% walk rate was close to average and he got grounders at a strong 48.1% clip.

But in the process, he exhausted his option years. That meant that he came into 2024 out of options and with a tenuous hold on his roster spot. The Astros dealt with various pitching injuries this year and kept Bielak in their bullpen but his 5.71 ERA in 17 1/3 innings eventually squeezed him off.

He landed with Oakland but made just three appearances for that club before getting designated for assignment again. The other 29 clubs had a chance to grab him in recent days but it appears they all passed.

Bielak came into this year with two years and 110 days of service time, putting him 62 days shy of the three-year mark. Players continue to earn service time while in DFA limbo, so Bielak should have been earning service time all year until his outright. May 28 was the 62nd day of the season and his outright is listed as May 29, so he should have hit the three-year mark.

That is significant since players with at least three years of service or a previous career outright have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Bielak doesn’t have a previous career outright but should now have hit the three-year service line. It’s not yet confirmed that he has the right to hit the open market, nor is it known what his decision will be, if he has one.

If he sticks with the A’s, he should have a decent chance of making it back to the majors later in the year. They have one of the weaker pitching staffs in baseball and currently have ten hurlers on the injured list. Anyone who is pitching well this summer could wind up traded by the rebuilding club, opening up opportunities for other guys.

Athletics Designate Tyler Nevin For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | May 28, 2024 at 2:05pm CDT

The Athletics announced today that they have reinstated infielder Aledmys Díaz from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, infielder/outfielder Tyler Nevin has been designated for assignment.

It’s an unwelcome birthday present for Nevin, who will reach the age of 27 tomorrow, likely while in DFA limbo. He landed with the A’s earlier this year via a waiver claim and hit well for a while but has cooled off lately. He was slashing .325/.375/.500 through May 1 but has just one hit since then, leading to a line of .023/.192/.047 in his past 52 plate appearances.

Thanks to that rough patch and the fact that he’s out of options, he has been bumped off the roster. The A’s will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Despite the recent struggles, it’s not impossible to imagine another club having interest.

Nevin has generally performed well in Triple-A in recent years but not in the big leagues. Dating back to his 2021 debut, he has hit just .208/.309/.314 in 453 major league plate appearances. His 10.8% walk rate in that time has been decent but a .259 batting average on balls in play has dragged him down a bit.

But in 576 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level over 2022 and 2023, he slashed .315/.394/.522 for a wRC+ of 134. He hit 22 home runs and walked at a 10.2% clip. He can also play all four corner spots, which could perhaps help him serve as a versatile bench piece somewhere.

His continued struggles in the majors will tamp down interest but it’s not all bad. Even in his rough stretch that started after May 1, he drew a walk in 15.4% of his appearances and had an unsustainably low .034 BABIP, perhaps leaving some hope for a bounceback. After burning his final option year in 2023, he bounced around a bit in the offseason. He went from the Tigers to the Orioles via a cash deal, but didn’t make Baltimore’s Opening Day roster, which led to him landing in Oakland.

If there’s any interest left around the league, the A’s will have a few days to suss it out. If any team were to acquire Nevin, he can potentially be retained for four more seasons beyond this one since he has less than two years of major league service time.

Díaz, 33, dealt with both a groin strain and a calf strain during Spring Training and has been on the IL for the whole season until today. He’s in the second season of a two-year deal he signed with the A’s but the first season in Oakland didn’t go well. He hit just .229/.280/.337 in 2023 for a wRC+ of 72.

The A’s will undoubtedly be hoping for a strong couple of months from the veteran so that he can be traded before his contract runs out. He’s hit .261/.314/.429 for his career overall, which translates to a 100 wRC+.

A’s Outright Jordan Diaz

By Anthony Franco | May 27, 2024 at 11:01pm CDT

The Athletics announced that third/second baseman Jordan Diaz has been assigned outright to Triple-A Las Vegas after clearing waivers. Oakland had designated him for assignment last week when they called up Daz Cameron.

Diaz hasn’t played in the majors this season. The Colombian-born infielder appeared at the highest level in both 2022 and ’23. Diaz hasn’t produced much against big league pitching, hitting .227/.276/.358 over 344 plate appearances. He was productive against upper minors arms over that two-year stretch, but his Triple-A numbers have cratered over this season’s first two months.

A .204/.288/.327 batting line in 111 plate appearances is well below average, particularly in the Pacific Coast League. It’s not surprising that squeezed Diaz off the A’s roster and led the 29 other teams to decline a chance to add him. This is the first career outright for Diaz, who less than three years of MLB service. That means he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency, so he’ll remain in Vegas and look for better form at the plate.

Diaz would be eligible for minor league free agency at the end of this season if the A’s don’t reselect him onto the 40-man roster. Abraham Toro and Zack Gelof are handling the respective third and second base positions in Oakland. J.D. Davis has moved over to first base, but he’s hitting just .220/.261/.367 in 115 plate appearances.

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