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Athletics To Activate Matt Olson

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The Athletics will welcome back first baseman Matt Olson tomorrow, according to a report from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. His activation will likely lead the team to designate Kendrys Morales for assignment, she reports, though that isn’t yet written in stone.

Olson has been working back from a hamate fracture that has sidelined him for most of the season to date. The 25-year-old will look to pick back up where he left off last season, when he launched 28 home runs, slashed .247/.335/.453, and secured a Gold Glove Award.

The A’s could certainly use a boost. Entering play today, the club was stuck in the AL West cellar with a six-game gap separating them from first place.

Oakland had acquired Morales in the wake of Olson’s injury in hopes of avoiding this sort of early hole. A veteran switch-hitter who has mostly featured as a designated hitter in recent years, Morales has been utilized at first base since the A’s already have a full-time DH in Khris Davis.

Unfortunately, that move hasn’t worked out as hoped. Morales carries only a .209/.318/.275 slash with a single home run through 107 plate appearances. That showing is likely to spell the end of his tenure with the A’s, though Slusser adds that it’s possible he could stay on the roster for a few more days if the club elects to option down outfielder Skye Bolt.

It was always going to be tough to carry Morales on a roster with Olson and Davis. Given his lack of production, it’s no surprise to hear that such a move is imminent. It’s still a bit of a tough pill for the Oakland org to swallow, though, having given up some trade resources and taken on salary to add Morales.

West Injury Notes: Pollock, Tatis, Olson, Holland, Smyly

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With center fielder A.J. Pollock having undergone right elbow surgery Thursday, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters that adding another righty-hitting outfielder “would be ideal.” However, Friedman noted the Dodgers “have a fairly high bar with our mindset being to giving our current guys more of a runway.” Even without Pollock, the Dodgers have no shortage of quality outfield options at the big league level, though nearly all of them hit from the left side. Pollock could come back later in the season to balance out the group, but there’s still no timetable for his return. For now, Pollock’s “resting and recovering” in the wake of surgery, per manager Dave Roberts.

  • Padres manager Andy Green expressed optimism Saturday that shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. will come off the injured list in relatively short order, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. Tatis went down with a hamstring strain Tuesday, meaning he’s eligible to return as early as May 10. When he does come back, the 20-year-old rookie will try to pick up where he left off before the injury sidelined him. Tatis has burst on the scene by slashing .300/.360/.550 with six home runs and six steals in 111 plate appearances.
  • Injured first baseman Matt Olson could rejoin the Athletics as early as Tuesday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. The 25-year-old slugger has only totaled six plate appearances this season as a result of late-March surgery on his right hand, an injury that spurred the A’s to acquire Kendrys Morales from the Blue Jays. Morales has since amassed more appearances at first than any other Athletic, but the 35-year-old switch hitter has batted an uninspiring .200/.310/.271 with just one home run in 100 trips to the plate.
  • Giants left-hander Derek Holland will come off the injured list Wednesday for a start in Colorado, according to manager Bruce Bochy (via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). It’ll amount to a short stay on the IL for Holland, who landed on the shelf April 29 because of a bruised left index finger. Holland, 32, revived his career with the Giants last season, which convinced the team to re-sign him to a one-year, 7MM guarantee over the winter. The investment hasn’t paid off in the early going for San Francisco, as Holland has only managed a 5.34 ERA/5.15 FIP in 32 frames.
  • Texas will activate southpaw Drew Smyly from the IL to start Sunday against Toronto, Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake announced. The oft-injured Smyly, who missed 2017-18 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, has been on the IL since April 20 because of mid-arm nerve tightness in his left arm. While the 29-year-old seems to have dodged a serious ailment this time, his return from TJ surgery has been a struggle thus far. Smyly has averaged fewer than four innings a start across four tries and posted a 7.80 ERA with six walks per nine and a meager 26.7 percent groundball rate.

Injury Notes: Murphy, Olson, Meadows

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Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy is ahead of schedule in his rehab and is expected to be activated in the near future, manager Bud Black said Tuesday in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link, with audio). While Black said that Murphy was unlikely to be activated for tonight’s game, the skipper called Murphy’s return “imminent,” assuming one final evaluation of his fractured finger checks out. “Probably not. We’re probably going to give him the day,” Black said when asked about potentially activating Murphy on Tuesday. “He had three days in [Triple-A] Albuquerque. We figure we’ll get him back in Denver, reevaluate the finger and then make a decision tomorrow or the next day what direction we’re going to go with Daniel.” Black added that Murphy didn’t feel any pain or discomfort in his rehab games or after the fact.

A couple more health-related notes on key players…

  • First baseman Matt Olson could be back with the Athletics by mid-May, manager Bob Melvin told reporters Monday evening (Twitter link via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). The 25-year-old has been out since mid-March after fracturing his hamate bone on a swing during Oakland’s two-game set against the Mariners in Tokyo. Kendrys Morales and Mark Canha have stepped in as the Athletics’ two first base options in lieu of Olson. Morales, acquired just prior to the league-wide Opening Day, hasn’t provided anything at the plate to this point, batting just .179/.277/.250 in 65 plate appearances this year. Canha’s .242/.422/.455 slash has been terrific, though history shows that his right-handed bat is best deployed in platoon situations. Neither player can match Olson’s defensive prowess, either; Olson won a Gold Glove at first base last year and posted a sensational mark of +14 Defensive Runs Saved.
  • Rays outfielder Austin Meadows won’t require surgery to repair his sprained thumb, manager Kevin Cash revealed last night (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Meadows will have his thumb immobilized for the next 10 days, per Cash, who put a timeline of roughly three weeks on Meadows’ return. “Good thing is he can keep his legs in shape, he can keep his throwing arm in shape,” said Cash of the injury. Meadows, 23, is off to a ridiculous .351/.422/.676 start to the season and has belted 11 extra-base hits (six homers, four doubles, one triple) in his 83 plate appearances.

AL Notes: Olson, Semien, Athletics, Red Sox, Swihart

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Here’s the latest from around the American League…

  • In an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (link to Bowden’s Twitter feed), Athletics GM David Forst said that Matt Olson is expected back in the lineup within the next two weeks.  Olson underwent surgery to move his hamate bone from his right hand back on March 22, and while no timeline was given, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted that players who underwent similar procedures typically were able to return within six-to-eight weeks.  If Forst’s projection is correct, that would put Olson on the low end of that time frame, which is good news for the A’s.  Olson hit .250/.339/.502 with 53 homers over 876 plate appearances in 2017-18, and also delivered some outstanding defense at first base, earning him a Gold Glove last season.
  • The Athletics have been talking to shortstop Marcus Semien about a contract extension, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required).  This isn’t the first time the two sides have discussed a longer-term deal, as Semien and the A’s were known to be talking as far back as July 2017.  Since that time, Semien entered into his arbitration years, and is earning $5.9MM this season with one more arb-eligible year before hitting free agency after the 2020 season.  He’ll be 30 years old when he reaches free agency, so Semien could potentially be interested in locking down an extension now (as so many players have in the last two months) rather than face a potentially scarce free agent market as a player entering his 30s.  Semien posted a career-best 3.7 fWAR in 2018, making some great strides in his defense while delivering another season of slightly below-average (95 wRC+, 96 OPS+) hitting.
  • Also from Olney’s piece, he speculates that the Red Sox could become a popular deadline seller if the team continues to falter throughout the season.  It’s still very early, of course, and the Sox did just complete a three-game sweep of the AL East-leading Rays.  But if Boston did fall out of the pennant race, players who could be free agents in the offseason (i.e. Rick Porcello, Mitch Moreland, and opt-out candidate J.D. Martinez) could all potentially be moved for some needed prospects.  Perhaps more importantly, moving some salary could also allow the Sox to get under the maximum luxury tax penalty threshold of $246MM.  It would only be a one-year reload for the club, as the Red Sox would look to contend again in 2020 in their final year of team control over Mookie Betts.  It doesn’t seem too likely, by the way, that Boston would look to shop Betts, even though he has rebuffed the team’s overtures about a contract extension.
  • The Blake Swihart era in Boston came to an unceremonious end on Friday, as the Red Sox dealt Swihart and $500K of international bonus pool money to the Diamondbacks for minor league outfielder Marcus Wilson.  The Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato looks back at Swihart’s rocky development through the Sox farm system, which included injuries, multiple position changes, and an inability to truly unlock his heralded hitting potential even in the minors.  As highly-touted a prospect as Swihart was, “the organization could never come to a clear consensus on his ability.  There was always a disconnect and it existed through multiple regimes in the front office and field staff,” Mastrodonato writes.  This manifested itself in a seeming lack of confidence in Swihart as a regular catcher, though Mastrodonato notes if the Sox were going to deploy Swihart at different positions, it was unusual that Swihart wasn’t considered to fill Boston’s third base void prior to the 2017 season.

Athletics Notes: Chapman, Murray, Ballpark, Olson

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The Athletics announced an extension yesterday with slugger Khris Davis — the club’s first in five years. That’s the big news, but there’s more to cover out of Oakland …

  • If the A’s had their way, they’d probably already have made at least one additional long-term investment. The club has tried to lock down third baseman Matt Chapman in the past to no avail; he has only continued to boost his value in the meantime. But he says he’s interested in remaining with the A’s “for a long time,” as Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Interestingly, Chapman cites the Davis contract as “a step in the right direction” for his own situation. Whether a deal comes together, he says, “is out of [his] control.”
  • In a recent profile of superstar quarterback Kyler Murray, who just so happens to have previously signed a contract to join the A’s, SI’s Robert Klemko covers plenty of topics of general interest. From a hot stove perspective, though, there’s one nugget of particular interest: per Klemko, the Oakland ballclub dangled an additional $14MM contract to keep Murray from heading to the NFL. That offer evidently was made in January as Murray was pondering whether to declare for the draft (which he ultimately did). The A’s would have added that sum on top of the $4.66MM they had already promised him. While there’s no evident path to a deal at this point, now that Murray has positioned himself as the likely top overall pick in the NFL draft, it’s a fascinating number to contemplate — with multi-faceted connections to the valuation of amateur talent, the evaluation of recent extensions signed by current MLB players, and the willingness of MLB teams to sacrifice draft picks (when you consider the huge risk that the A’s took — and were willing to double down on — for a talented but still undeveloped player).
  • That cash is small potatoes compared to the still-uncertain stadium situation in Oakland. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted yesterday, there has been a notable recent development. Alameda County has lined up a deal with the team to sell the municipality’s ownership interest in the O.co Coliseum site to the A’s, with a vote scheduled for tomorrow to approve. That’s part of the club’s recently announced plan to build a new park on another site while redeveloping its current home. (That idea arose after prior plans were scuttled.)
  • Focusing on the immediate roster needs, the A’s are surely anxious to get Matt Olson’s bat back in the lineup. The first bagger’s injured hand seems to be on the mend; as manager Bob Melvin told reporters including Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle, via Twitter, Olson was able to take cuts off a tee for the first time today. That’s a promising development, though there’ll be further hurdles to clear before Olson is ready to make it back to the MLB roster.

Matt Olson Undergoes Hand Surgery

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Athletics first baseman Matt Olson has undergone hand surgery, per a club announcement. The procedure “involved a right hamate excision,” according to the team.

Olson’s timeline to return to competitive action is not yet clear, though there are plenty of comparable situations to look to for precedent. Hamate removals are rather common for hitters; the typical prognosis is a return within six to eight weeks, though that’s only a general expectation.

Soon to turn 25, Olson was looking to follow up on a strong first full season of MLB action. He played in all 162 games in 2018, slashing .247/.335/.435 (117 wRC+) and swatting 29 long balls in 660 plate appearances.

Instead, he’ll be sidelined for a decent chunk of the early action. While it seems reasonable to hope he’ll be at full health for most of the season, hamate procedures are generally associated with some reduced power for a time once a player returns to action.

It’s not clear just yet how the A’s will fill in while Olson is sidelined. Mark Canha is the only other player on the 40-man roster with extensive experience at first base. Old friend Danny Valencia is still on the open market, as is Logan Morrison, if thought is given to outside additions. The organization may also look at players that are just now being made available by other organizations.

Athletics Shut Down Luzardo For 4-6 Weeks; Olson To Be Evaluated For Hand Injury

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The Athletics have received some unwelcome injury news in the past 12 hours or so, as general manager David Forst revealed prior to Tuesday’s game against the Mariners in Tokyo that top pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo will be shut down for four to six weeks due to a strain in the rotator cuff of his left shoulder (link via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser).

That’s not all, however, as Oakland announced following today’s game that first baseman Matt Olson exited the game due to discomfort in his right hand. He’ll be further evaluated when the team returns to the United States. As Slusser reports (via Twitter), however, there’s some cause for genuine concern regarding Olson, who felt pain when fouling off a pitch and is now having difficulty gripping a bat.

Luzardo, 21, had emerged as a candidate to break camp in the Athletics’ rotation on the heels of a strong spring in which he allowed one earned run with a 15-to-4 K/BB ratio in 9 2/3 innings. Regarded as one of baseball’s elite pitching prospects by Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs, ESPN and Baseball Prospectus, Luzardo reached Triple-A as a 20-year-old in 2018. He skyrocketed across three levels in the Oakland system, pitching to a collective 2.88 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 109 1/3 innings of work.

Slusser further reports that the A’s were in touch with righty Edwin Jackson about a reunion earlier this spring and suggests that the Luzardo injury could rekindle those talks. At present, the Oakland rotation consists of Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada, Brett Anderson and some combination of Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas and Aaron Brooks. There’s depth in the form of recently optioned Daniel Mengden, Paul Blackburn and Tanner Anderson, but the A’s could be without top starter Sean Manaea all season following a September shoulder procedure. Other rotation options, including Jharel Cotton, Daniel Gossett and top prospect A.J. Puk are still mending from 2018 Tommy John surgery.

Beyond Jackson, there are still a few recognizable names who’ve yet to sign for the 2019 campaign. While few would expect Oakland to make a splash of Dallas Keuchel magnitude, none of Bartolo Colon, James Shields or Yovani Gallardo have signed yet. There will also be several veterans who took minor league deals this winter opting out of those deals in the coming days if they’re not assured a 25-man roster spot, and the A’s could opportunistically look to bolster their depth by exploring that market.

As for Olson, any sort of fracture or other significant injury would be a huge early-season blow to the A’s. The 24-year-old (25 next week) hit .247/.335/.453 with 29 home runs and 33 doubles while playing all 162 games for the A’s in 2018. He also won a Gold Glove Award in his first full MLB campaign, tallying 14 Defensive Runs Saved and recording an 11.6 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Mark Canha could step into regular at-bats should Olson require a short-term trip to the injured list, though if Olson is expected to be out for a longer period of time, the open market does still have a few notable first-base options. Lucas Duda opted out of his minor league deal with the Twins yesterday and would represent a logical platoon partner for Canha, while veteran Logan Morrison remains unsigned after undergoing season-ending hip surgery last year.

West Notes: Taylor, Joc, Rangers, QO, A’s

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Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto understandably regrets the deal that sent Chris Taylor to the Dodgers,telling Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times that “it’s clearly the worst deal I’ve ever made.” The veteran baseball executive surely had little reason to expect Taylor to break through as he has, but he still says he “whiffed” by parting with such a controllable player for a pitcher (Zach Lee) that has not worked out.

More from out west:

  • He is playing for the Dodgers in the World Series, but Joc Pederson might conceivably not remain in Los Angeles beyond the present season, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. There are alternatives on hand, particularly in light of Taylor’s emergence, and the Dodgers could also look to add other pieces. Of course, the Los Angeles front office has thrived on ensuring plenty of depth and surely won’t just give Pederson away despite his struggles in 2017, though surely there’d be quite a few teams intrigued at the idea of buying low on Pederson’s powerful bat. Sherman also notes that the Dodgers were in on Yulieski Gurriel before he landed with the Astros, though Dodgers president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman says his team never formally bid on the Cuban star.
  • MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan looks at some recent Rangers players currently slated to hit the open market. As he notes, veteran knuckler R.A. Dickey could conceivably be a consideration for a reunion, though it’s not clear that the team will suit Dickey’s geographical preferences. More intriguingly, perhaps, Sullivan adds that Miles Mikolas — who excelled in Japan after leaving Texas — has left the Rangers “highly intrigued.” Elsewhere, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News analyzes the team’s options at first base. Ronald Guzman could be an option alongside Joey Gallo, notes Grant, perhaps leaving the team interested in acquiring a part-time, right-handed-hitting option to join the mix.
  • First, the Rangers will have to decide upon a qualifying offer for righty Andrew Cashner. Despite some prior indications that the team might issue one, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports that’s not likely at this point. Similarly, says Heyman, the Reds are “leaning against” a QO for shortstop Zack Cozart — though the team is said to be willing to pursue a multi-year deal in free agency.
  • The Athletics may be looking into some intriguing extension possibilities, Heyman further reports. Young standouts Matt Olson and Matt Chapman appear to be in the team’s sights. While neither is really even approaching arbitration, let alone free agency, perhaps Oakland will look to find value by making an early-career guarantee or two over the winter to come. Otherwise, says Heyman, the A’s are focused on adding some pieces to the bullpen and perhaps getting a righty outfield bat over the offseason.

Injury Notes: Altuve, Yadi, Olson, Red Sox

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Here are the latest health notes from around the game:

  • The Astros dodged a bullet tonight when star second baseman Jose Altuve left the game after being struck on the forearm by a pitch. Thankfully, as Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle tweets, x-rays came back negative. The diminutive 27-year-old is leading the American League in hits for the fourth consecutive year and in batting average for the third time in four seasons. He’s also pacing qualified batters with a career-best 168 OPS+.
  • Also departing with an injury tonight was Cardinals veteran Yadier Molina. The team announced that he’s undergoing testing as part of the concussion protocol after taking two consecutive foul balls off of his mask. His status for the rest of the regular season remains uncertain, but it could become a bigger issue if St. Louis can claw into Wild Card position.
  • Athletics slugger Matt Olson has been diagnosed with a grade 2 hamstring strain, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. He’s very likely to miss the remainder of the season, but it won’t put a damper on an exciting campaign. Olson, 23, has streaked to 24 long balls in 216 trips to the plate, with a robust .259/.352/.651 batting line. He’ll fall shy of a full year of service, too, so the A’s will control Olson for six more campaigns.
  • Things didn’t go quite as hoped for the Red Sox tonight. Lefty Drew Pomeranz was sitting in the high-eighties with his fastball, though he says that was part of a plan to save some gas for the later innings, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports. Star outfielder Mookie Betts left with a wrist issue, though there’s no reason as yet to think it’s significant. Of the greatest concern, perhaps, infielder Eduardo Nunez tweaked his injured knee. He suggested that he’ll sit out a few more games and try again to return, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets.

West Notes: Stammen, Olson, Meyer

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Veteran righty Craig Stammen is interested in returning to the Padres next season, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. “I really like it in San Diego,” says Stammen, who signed with the Padres last winter after missing most of the previous two seasons to injury. “They showed me quite a bit of loyalty at the beginning of the season when I was struggling. They could’ve gotten rid of me really quick. But they stuck with me, they gave me a chance. (Manager Andy Green has) been great with me, allowed me to work back this year and get put in different situations.” The 33-year-old Stammen allowed 11 runs in 11 2/3 innings in April but has quietly been terrific since then, with a 2.14 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 63 innings since. He’s eligible for free agency this winter and should attract serious interest on the open market — assuming, that is, that he doesn’t re-up with the Padres. Here’s more from the West divisions.

  • The Athletics installed Matt Olson at first base after dealing Yonder Alonso to Seattle last month and have gotten great results so far, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes. Olson has 17 homers in just 47 big-league games so far this year. The lefty-swinging Olson’s performance so far has suggested he doesn’t need much platoon help, either — three of his homers have come against lefties, including one today against Houston’s Tony Sipp. Olson was a former first-round pick and top prospect whose star faded somewhat after a mediocre 2016 with Triple-A Nashville, but after strong performances in both Nasvhille and Oakland this year, he appears to be very much back on the map. “Olson looks like the real deal,” says a rival scout, via Slusser. “I’ve been impressed with how he’s gotten on some pitches in the upper zone.”
  • Angels righty Alex Meyer already knows his 2017 is over, but also must deal with uncertainty about his future after losing the last two months of the season to shoulder inflammation, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. Meyer isn’t yet sure if surgery might help him, and he doesn’t yet know if he might have to move to the bullpen to stay healthy. Meyer has been dogged by shoulder issues at various points throughout his pro career, but managed to avoid the DL in 2015, when he mostly pitched in the bullpen in the Twins’ system. “I don’t know if there’s a correlation, but I can’t say there’s not,” he says. Meyer posted a 3.74 ERA, 10.0 K/9 and 5.6 BB/9 over 13 starts and 67 1/3 innings in the big leagues this season.

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