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Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Position Players Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

Here are the position players that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Athletics Announce Changes To Player Development Department

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The Athletics announced on Thursday that Keith Lieppman will step down from his post as director of player development and transition to a role as a special adviser to the front office. He’ll be succeeded by Ed Sprague, who has been promoted after serving as Lieppman’s assistant director for the last year.

Lieppman, 70, has become something of a legend within the Athletics organization, which he has served for nearly five decades dating to the early 1970s when the team drafted him in the second round. Between his years as a player, minor league manager, and executive, Lieppman has had his hand in decades of great Athletics baseball. He requested to step away from his position in order to spend more time with his family, recommending Sprague to replace him.

Sprague has served in the player development department for the last four seasons, first as an instruction coordinator before earning the title of assistant director for the 2019 season. He has also worked as the organization’s coordinator of on-field analytics, integrating the team’s analytic systems into the player development process. A former Major League All-Star, Sprague also served as the head coach for the University of Pacific prior to joining the Athletics.

Organizational figures like Sprague and Lieppman, who operate largely behind the scenes, often go unnoticed and under-appreciated since it’s awfully hard to quantify their contributions. Still, it seems that the Athletics’ player development department has enjoyed quite a bit of success with Lieppman at the helm. The current roster boasts a wealth of homegrown talent, including stars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, with A.J. Puk and others on the way. Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo, though they were drafted by other clubs, have spent the majority of their careers with Oakland. Of course, that’s only recently: the organization has also drafted and developed stars like Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Nick Swisher, and more.

A's Name Ed Sprague Director Of Player Development

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  • The Athletics have promoted Ed Sprague to director of player development, as per a team press release (Twitter link).  Sprague will take over from Keith Lieppman, who has served in the role for the last 28 seasons as part of a 49-year run in the organization.  Lieppman will become a special advisor to the player development department.  Sprague, perhaps best known as a starting third baseman for the Blue Jays during his 11-year playing career, has worked in Oakland’s front office for the past four years.

Latest On Oakland Stadium Dispute

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Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle reports new details in the ongoing litigation taking place between Alameda County and the city of Oakland (link). To recap, Alameda County engaged in negotiations with both the city of Oakland and the Oakland A’s organization in an attempt to offload its share of the Oakland Coliseum and the Oakland Arena. With the stipulation that the city would pay upfront, Alameda County offered to sell its share of debt to Oakland for $78MM back in February–that offer was ignored on Oakland’s part.

Interestingly, though, the plot thickened from there: as Ravani characterizes it, that “snub” prompted Alameda officials to pivot to the Athletics, to whom they offered to sell their debt for $85MM. This time, however, the county would allow the A’s seven years to pay off the sum–with the very important caveat that the A’s would have to remain in Oakland. “The A’s were able to spread their terms out … whereas the county wanted us to pay it all up front,” Oakland Councilman Loren Taylor says in Ravani’s article, “From my perspective, we still need to have a conversation about the same terms that the A’s were given.”

The city and county are currently embroiled in a lawsuit intended to block the county from selling its stadium stake to the A’s, which has put something in a wrench in the team’s plans to develop a new stadium project. This state of affairs caused commissioner Rob Manfred to comment that he was “very concerned” at the litigation and the overall lack of “concrete progress” toward a new playing site for Oakland. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff later indicated to KTVU that Manfred has proposed the possibility of relocation to Las Vegas, with the Chronicle also relaying a similar suggestion on the part of Manfred.

Mark Kotsay Drawing Pirates' Interest

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  • The Pirates have reached out to Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay to gauge his interest in managing the Bucs, Nubyjas Wilborn of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays. The 43-year-old Kotsay was a major league outfielder/first baseman from 1997-2013 who has since worked in coaching and front office roles between San Diego and Oakland. He interviewed for San Francisco’s managerial opening last week.

Matt Williams To Manage KBO’s KIA Tigers

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While managerial rumors are flying around the majors, we haven’t yet seen a team land a new skipper. But the Korea Baseball Organization’s KIA Tigers have secured their next manager in the form of Matt Williams, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).

Williams is said to have struck a three-year deal to head to Korea. The long-time big-league slugger had served as the Athletics’ third base coach for the past three campaigns.

Of course, the most notable aspect of Williams’s post-playing days came with the Nationals. He became the D.C. skipper in advance of the 2014 after a coaching stint with the Diamondbacks.

Things went well in 2014, with Williams helping to guide the Nats to a division title. While the club was bounced in the divisional series, he earned manager of the year honors. But the club endured a highly disappointing 2015 campaign and fired Williams at season’s end.

Pirates To Interview Ryan Christenson For Managerial Opening

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The Pirates will interview Ryan Christenson for their managerial opening, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). It appears he’s the first known candidate for the Pittsburgh opening to hold a sit-down.

Christenson, 45, saw action in six MLB campaigns after being drafted and developed by the A’s. He never gained much traction as a player in the majors, but he’s looking to do so on the coaching/managerial front after steadily re-ascending the Oakland farm system as a skipper.

For the past two years, Christenson has served as bench coach to veteran Athletics manager Bob Melvin. Christenson could be seen as a possible eventual successor to Melvin, but the long-time helmsman remains under contract tin his role through 2021.

There are, of course, other names connected with the Bucs’ opening. But it’s not clear which, if any, have scheduled formal discussions with the Pittsburgh brass.

Bruce Maxwell On Tumultuous Time With Athletics

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Former Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell is a player known more for his ideological stances than for his performance on the diamond, but that hasn’t stopped the backstop from turning a few heads while playing in Mexico this season. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser can be counted as one who has taken the time to notice Maxwell’s torrid production south of the border, as the veteran scribe profiled the catcher’s attempts to resurrect a career impacted, in part, by his decision to kneel during the national anthem in 2017 (link). The now-28-year-old Maxwell hit .325 with 25 homers in 2019 while playing for the Acereros de Monclova, a team that also featured fellow former Athletic Chris Carter. But, as Slusser points out, it’s far from clear if Maxwell’s foreign success will be enough to entice teams to overlook the “political baggage” (Slusser’s words) associated with him.

A's Mark Kotsay Interviews With Giants

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The Giants interviewed Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay for their vacant managerial position Monday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays (Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the Giants’ interest in Kotsay last week). Although Kotsay’s the only known outside candidate the Giants have interviewed thus far — it appears bench coach Hensley Meulens has already had a sit-down — president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has indicated they’ll likely speak with to six eight individuals in their search to replace Bruce Bochy. Kotsay and Zaidi entered the process with at least some familiarity, as the latter was a member of the A’s front office when the former was an outfielder with the club from 2004-07.

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