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Athletics’ Sean Murphy Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Athletics catcher Sean Murphy underwent a lateral meniscal debridement procedure on his left knee today, as per a team announcement.  The surgery addresses the meniscus problems that plagued Murphy this season (leading to a pair of stints on the Triple-A injured list), and the young backstop “is expected to be ready for Spring Training.”

Knee surgery isn’t exactly the best way to celebrate a birthday, as Murphy turns 25 years old today.  But, given how the youngster performed in his first taste of MLB action even while not at 100 percent, a clean bill of health makes Murphy seem like an even more intriguing prospect going forward, and a strong candidate to assume the everyday catching duties for the Athletics for next season.

Murphy hit .245/.333/.566 with four home runs over his first 60 Major League plate appearances, all but one of which took place in September.  With the A’s battling for a wild card berth, Murphy’s performance earned him an increasingly larger share of the playing time alongside veteran catcher Josh Phegley, and Murphy ended up getting the start in Oakland’s wild card game loss to the Rays.

After three impressive years at Wright State, Murphy was a third-round pick for the A’s in the 2016 draft and continued to impress as he worked his way up the minor league ladder.  Murphy hit .267/.341/.456 over 966 career PA in the minors, showing up strong offensive potential to go along with his highly-touted defensive skills.  Fangraphs ranks Murphy as the 29th-best prospect in baseball, with MLB.com (43rd) and Baseball America (52nd) also issuing strong placements on their top-100 prospects lists.

Manfred Reportedly Told Oakland Officials That A’s Could Move To Las Vegas

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Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf said today that Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that he sees Las Vegas, Nevada as a possible relocation spot for the Athletics, Sal Castaneda of KTVU reports on Twitter. Manfred’s threat of exploring options in Vegas had been reported recently by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The newly combative stance from MLB’s top official arose after the city of Oakland filed a surprise suit to block a major portion of the A’s stadium plans. Manfred’s already reported comments conveyed a thinly veiled warning that the team and league could consider alternatives. But it was not known that he had specifically floated Las Vegas as a realistic possibility.

Vegas holds particular allure for Major League Baseball and special meaning to Oakland-area fans. After all, Sin City just lured away the Raiders with a massively subsidized new stadium. Whether or not there’s further appetite in Nevada for taxpayer-funded facilities isn’t really clear, but it is at least a facially plausible threat for the commissioner to make. Notably, though, local officials said they were unaware of any actual discussions to this point, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Several other cities have been mentioned at times as potential relocation spots, but it’s not clear which if any would be serious possibilities with the Rays already flirting with Montreal.

Manfred has made clear plenty of times in the past that his strong preference is for the Athletics to remain in Oakland. And the A’s have worked hard to come up with a workable plan built around private financing (which isn’t to say that significant public support wouldn’t be involved). There are surely still plenty of pathways for that result, though it’s also certain that team and league have little appetite for too many more campaigns in the Coliseum.

A’s Rumors: Treinen, Profar, Pending FAs

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We’ve seen quite a bit of news on the Athletics since their season ended with Wednesday’s wild-card loss to the Rays. Here’s even more on the A’s, courtesy of Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (links here):

  • It’s “likely” the Athletics will non-tender or trade right-handed reliever Blake Treinen, according to Slusser, who also names second baseman Jurickson Profar as someone who’s in danger of winding up on the outs. Just a year ago at this time, Treinen was coming off perhaps one of the greatest seasons a reliever has ever posted. It would have unthinkable then that the A’s would be considering cutting the cord on him 12 months later, but it’s now understandable in light of his rough 2019. Injuries limited Treinen to 58 2/3 innings, and his numbers declined across the board when he was able to take the mound. Treinen recorded a 4.91 ERA/5.14 FIP with 9.05 K/9 and 5.68 BB/9 before his season ended in mid-September because of a stress reaction in his back. Although Treinen lost his job as the A’s closer this year, the saves he has amassed will help him in the arbitration process, where he’d be in line to collect a raise over the $6.4MM he earned in 2019. But the low-budget A’s could simply choose to walk away from the 31-year-old after his nightmarish campaign.
  • Profar, like Treinen, entered the season as a player the A’s were counting on to successfully fill a big role. After acquiring the switch-hitter from the Rangers last winter, Oakland gave Profar ample opportunity to build on a career-best 2018 this season. Instead, Profar stumbled to an uninspiring .218/.301/.410 batting line in 518 plate appearances and earned negative grades at the keystone (minus-10 DRS, minus-1 UZR). The 26-year-old, who made $3.6MM in ’19, has one more season of arbitration eligibility remaining.
  • The Athletics may have too many starters lined up for 2020 to justify re-signing pending free-agent left-hander Brett Anderson. The same likely goes for fellow soon-to-be FA starters Homer Bailey and Tanner Roark, Slusser suggests. The A’s acquired both righties over the summer, and the team ended up receiving surprisingly decent production from Bailey after years of struggles with multiple franchises. The 33-year-old Bailey, who told Slusser he “really enjoyed” his stint as an Athletic, pitched to a 4.30 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 across 73 1/3 innings in their uniform. Roark managed similar numbers in his 55 frames as a member of the club, with which he notched a 4.58 ERA and put up 8.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.
  • Lefty reliever Jake Diekman, yet another in-season trade pickup, could also depart in the next several weeks. However, the A’s at least figure to discuss retaining him, Slusser relays. He has a $5.75MM mutual option (or a $500K buyout) for next season. Diekman struggled mightily with his control as an Athletic this year, though, as he issued 16 walks, allowed 16 hits and yielded 10 earned runs in a 20 1/3-inning sample.
  • This was a stunningly poor season for designated hitter Khris Davis, whom the team signed to a two-year, $33.5MM extension in April. At that point, Davis was coming off three consecutive 40-home run seasons and a remarkable four straight in which he batted .247. Both streaks came to an end this year, in which Davis hit .220/.293/.387 with 23 HRs in 533 trips to the plate as he dealt with injuries. But Davis “wasn’t injured at the end of the year,” said manager Bob Melvin, who expects a bounce-back performance from the slugger in 2020. Executive vice president Billy Beane shares Melvin’s optimism, saying he looks for a return to Davis’ “annual 40 homers, .247” next year.

Latest On Yusmeiro Petit

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With their 2019 campaign officially in the rearview mirror, the Athletics can get to work on offseason decisions. One of the choices they’ll have to make soon centers on right-hander Yusmeiro Petit’s future. The soon-to-be 35-year-old reliever has a $5.5MM club option for 2020, though he said after Wednesday’s wild-card loss to the Rays that he hasn’t heard whether the A’s will exercise it, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. But Petit wants to remain an Athletic, Gallegos writes, and he has definitely made a strong case to do just that.

Formerly a member of the Giants, Nationals and Angels, Petit joined the A’s for a two-year, $10MM guarantee in November 2017. He was coming off a career campaign with the Halos at that point, as he led all relievers in innings and notched a 2.76 ERA/2.85 FIP with 9.95 K/9 and 1.77 BB/9 across 91 1/3 frames.

Petit has continued his ways as an effective workhorse during his run in Oakland, where he has amassed another 176 innings of low-ERA ball (2.86). He’s now fresh off an 83-frame season in which he led the league in appearances (80) and logged a career-best 2.71 ERA with his highest swinging-strike rate (11.4 percent) since 2014.

The soft-throwing Petit benefited in 2019 from a .213 batting average on balls in play against and thrived despite a 29.9 percent groundball rate. As a result, there’s a certain amount of skepticism in regards to his stingy run prevention, with ERA indicators FIP (3.59), xFIP (4.48) and SIERA (3.90) painting a gloomier picture. However, it’s worth noting Petit greatly aided his cause by doling out few free passes and limiting damaging contact. Petit walked a meager 1.08 hitters per nine, which helped him overcome a below-average strikeout rate (7.7 K/9). Plus, according to Statcast, Petit ranked in the majors’ 83rd percentile in average exit velocity against (86.6 mph) and its 91st percentile in expected weighted on-base average (.264, compared to the actual .243 wOBA hitters mustered off him).

Although the A’s are regularly one of the majors’ lowest-payroll teams, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them retain Petit for what looks like a reasonable salary. They’ll officially decide what to do with him, not to mention fellow established veteran relievers Jake Diekman (mutual option) and Blake Treinen (non-tender or trade possibility), in the approaching weeks.

Brett Anderson Interested In Re-Signing With Athletics

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The Athletics’ season reached an early conclusion Wednesday with a 5-1 loss to the Rays in the wild-card round. The A’s defeat may have brought an unofficial end to left-hander Brett Anderson’s time with the franchise, though he hopes that’s not the case. The pending free agent told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he wants to return to the A’s in 2020. However, Anderson suggested there may not be room for him in Oakland anymore because of the collection of starters the team already has under control for next season.

Anderson, who first joined the A’s in a significant 2007 trade with the Diamondbacks, made his debut in ’09 and quickly established himself as one of the majors’ premier young starters. Unfortunately, injuries were consistently an issue for Anderson in Oakland, which ended up dealing him to Colorado prior to 2014. Anderson has pitched in the bigs for a few other teams since then (the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Cubs), with injuries remaining an all-too-frequent occurrence.

To Anderson’s credit, after an adverse 2017 divided between Chicago and Toronto, he has reestablished himself as a legitimate MLB starter over the past two years. He reunited with the Athletics on a minor league deal going into 2018, and while it went down as another injury-shortened season for Anderson, he proved to be a quality low-risk pickup for the club. Anderson wound up notching 80 1/3 innings of 4.48 ERA/4.17 FIP ball with 5.27 K/9, 1.46 BB/9 and a typically high groundball rate (55.6 percent) to help the A’s ride a patchwork rotation to a playoff spot.

Anderson’s bounce-back performance last year earned him a big league deal last offseason, when he stuck with Oakland for a guaranteed $1.5MM. Again, signing Anderson for a relative pittance worked out beautifully for the A’s. The 31-year-old Anderson put together one of his healthiest seasons ever in 2019, totaling 176 innings and logging a 3.89 ERA with 2.51 walks per nine and a 54.5 percent grounder mark. At the same time, though, Anderson struck out a paltry 4.6 hitters per nine – by far the fewest among qualified starters – while his 4.57 FIP, 4.79 xFIP and 5.17 SIERA all lagged miles behind his ERA. The soft-tossing Anderson wasn’t a Statcast favorite this year, either, ranking near the bottom of the league in the majority of its notable categories.

Skepticism seems warranted in regards to Anderson’s output this season, but it’s quite possible his grounder-heavy ways would continue to yield good results in Oakland. After all, the A’s boast three outstanding defensive infielders in third baseman Matt Chapman, shortstop Marcus Semien and first baseman Matt Olson. Still, the A’s might not welcome back Anderson, who figures to land a raise on a second straight guaranteed pact. Barring offseason changes or injuries (which they’ve dealt with much too often of late), they could easily enter next spring with Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo, Mike Fiers, A.J. Puk and Chris Bassitt as either locks or strong contenders for rotation spots.

A’s Mark Kotsay Interested In Managing

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The Athletics’ season came to an unceremonious end Wednesday, which could give quality control coach Mark Kotsay a chance to actively pursue a managerial job. Kotsay’s currently “a hot name on the managerial market,” Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets, and it appears he’d be willing to leave Oakland for a top position somewhere.

“Managing a team would interest me, for sure,” Kotsay told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. “This is priority No. 1 here (with the A’s). When the time comes, if I get that opportunity to be part of the process, I’d definitely be open to that.”

Now 43 years old, Kotsay enjoyed a productive major league career as an outfielder/first baseman for several teams from 1997-2013. Kotsay hasn’t managed at any level since then, but he has worked in a variety of roles between clubs’ front offices and coaching staffs. He served as both a special assistant and a hitting coach with the Padres before joining the Athletics, with whom he began as a bench coach in 2016 before transferring to his current role prior to the ’18 campaign. Along the way, Kotsay has earned a reputation “as an excellent strategist and communicator,” Shea writes.

Should Kotsay land a managerial job this offseason, he’d become the latest example of a team handing its dugout over to a neophyte. More than half of the league’s 30 teams – the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Rangers, Mariners, Twins, Braves, Nationals, Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, Brewers, Reds, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres – have opted to hire first-time MLB managers over retreads in the past few years.

Recently Filed Lawsuit Interferes With Athletics’ Stadium Plans

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The Athletics know the twists and turns that a Wild Card game can take; they’re in the middle of their latest do-or-die contest as we speak. The Oakland organization also just experienced a sudden jolt in the lengthy roller-coaster ride that it hopes will end in a new ballpark.

While the most recent news was positive, a sudden new roadblock has arisen, as Phil Matier and Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle report. The city of Oakland has brought suit against Alameda County to prevent the county’s sale of the present Coliseum site to the A’s — a key part of the team’s overarching strategy of building a new stadium at Howard Terminal.

Sometimes these sorts of conflicts are anticipated. In this case, both the A’s and even Oakland’s mayor expressed great surprise at the move, which evidently emanated from a city council directive. The merits of the claims remain unclear, but a glance at the rundown of the complaint reveals a potentially fact-heavy matter that may not easily be resolved in an expedient manner — assuming, at least, that the city has no interest in a speedy end to the uncertainty.

The true motivations and possible pathways remain unclear at this time. But MLB commissioner Rob Manfred left no doubt as to the way the move was interpreted by the league. He tells the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser that he’s “very concerned” by the litigation and the lack of “concrete progress” towards a new facility.

Manfred explained that he has already met with mayor Libby Schaaf and City Council President Rebecca Kaplan to convey his misgivings. Despite carrying a generally optimistic tone on the subject in recent years, Manfred was now willing to embed an obvious warning shot in his comments:

“What I would say is we can’t stay in a holding pattern with no progress indefinitely. There needs to be a plan to move this franchise forward. I’m hopeful it’s going to be here in Oakland.”

It’s worth bearing in mind that the redevelopment of the Coliseum site is not, in theory, inextricably tied to the new ballpark-building project. But even a casual glance through the above-linked A’s site on the initiative shows how closely connected these aims are. The goal is for the new park to be fully financed by the team itself, the accomplishment of which depends upon what the team has labeled a “two-project approach.”

MLBTR Poll: AL Wild-Card Matchup

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The Athletics are minutes away from hosting the Rays in a wild-card matchup consisting of two of the majors’ lowest-spending teams. Even though the A’s and Rays don’t boast the spending power of fellow AL playoff clubs such as the Yankees and Astros, that didn’t stop either Oakland or Tampa Bay from enjoying outstanding regular seasons. The A’s, built by executive vice president Billy Beane and general manager David Forst, amassed 97 wins and posted the majors’ fifth-best run differential (plus-165). The Rays, led by by their own formidable two-man setup of senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom and GM Erik Neander, rival the A’s in victories (96) and run differential (plus-113, which places seventh in the game).

Oakland will initially turn to left-hander Sean Manaea in Wednesday’s matchup, even though he missed the majority of the regular season while recovering from the shoulder surgery he underwent last September. The 27-year-old Manaea was fantastic during the five starts he did make this season, though, having notched a sterling 1.21 ERA (with a less imposing 3.42 FIP) and 9.1 K/9 against 2.12 BB/9 in 29 2/3 innings. He’ll try to contain a Rays lineup that was tough on lefties during the regular campaign, as the unit logged the league’s 11th-highest wRC+ (101) versus southpaws.

Meanwhile, the Rays will count on the battle-tested Charlie Morton, a brilliant offseason free-agent signing who’s just two falls removed from serving as a playoff hero for World Series-winning Houston. The 35-year-old Morton has been among the absolute best pitchers in baseball in 2019, evidenced by the 3.05 ERA/2.81 FIP with 11.1 K/9 and 2.64 BB/9 he has put forth across a career-high 194 2/3 frames. He’ll deal with an A’s offense that has caused headaches for righties, who yielded a 104 wRC+ (the game’s sixth-highest figure) to Oakland’s hitters. Center fielder Mark Canha, first baseman Matt Olson, shortstop Marcus Semien and third baseman Matt Chapman have made life especially miserable on RHPs this season.

In all likelihood, both teams’ bullpens will figure prominently in tonight’s contest. Both groups were among the league’s most successful in the regular season, and the two look especially loaded for a one-game playoff. Reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, breakout righty Tyler Glasnow and dominant in-season pickup Nick Anderson are at the forefront of the Rays’ options, while the A’s bring to the table imposing youngsters Jesus Luzardo and A.J. Puk, not to mention lights-out closer Liam Hendriks and workhorse righty Yusmeiro Petit, among others.

Regardless of who wins tonight, the hope is the game will rival the excitement of Tuesday’s Nationals-Brewers matchup. The home team, Washington, survived a thriller to advance to the National League Division Series. Now, will the A’s also hold serve in their stadium? Or will the Rays move on to face the top-seeded Astros in the ALDS?

(Poll link for app users)

Athletics Announce Wild Card Roster

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The Athletics have formally announced their roster for this year’s Wild Card game against the Rays. They’ll head into tonight’s sudden-death showdown with 11 pitchers, headlined by resurgent top starter Sean Manaea.

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

The fact that Manaea is in line to start tonight’s contest is remarkable for multiple reasons. The lefty underwent shoulder surgery last August that, at the time, was expected to not only end his 2018 season but quite likely his 2019 campaign. Over the course of the current season, though, Manaea passed recovery milestones and benchmarks well ahead of schedule — enough that he was able to make it back to a big league mound at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 1.

Talented as Manaea was known to be, few could’ve expected the type of otherworldly production he’s shown since activation. In five starts, he’s given the A’s 29 2/3 innings of 1.21 ERA ball with a 30-to-7 K/BB ratio and just three home runs allowed. He didn’t face a dominant series of lineups down the stretch, squaring off against the Tigers, Rangers (twice) and Mariners in addition to the more formidable Yankees, but that level of output immediately upon returning from major shoulder surgery is nevertheless impressive.

One name that is notably absent, as was first reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, is right fielder Stephen Piscotty. The decision to carry Barreto over Piscotty boiled down to the simple matter of health, manager Bob Melvin explained in that interview with Slusser. Piscotty missed a month with a sprained ankle late in the year, and while he returned in time to take four at-bats in the Athletics’ regular-season finale, the club felt Barreto’s superior speed was a better use of the roster spot. The A’s could, of course, change gears and carry Piscotty on the roster in the ALDS if they advance beyond tonight’s one-game playoff.

More broadly looking at the Oakland roster, it’s punctuated by a rather large number of rookies. Not only have none of Luzardo, Puk, Neuse, Murphy or Brown played a full season in the big leagues — none of those five had even played in a single Major League game prior to Aug. 21. Barreto, meanwhile, has seen action in parts of three Major League seasons but still has just 209 plate appearances at the game’s top level under his belt.

Oakland isn’t carrying veteran starters Tanner Roark, Homer Bailey or Brett Anderson on its single-game roster, either, although as with Piscotty, they can be added back into the mix for the Divisional round of play in the event of an A’s victory tonight.

A’s To Activate Stephen Piscotty; Latest On Mark Canha

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The Athletics will activate outfielder Stephen Piscotty from the injured list in time for tonight’s game in Seattle, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The A’s have been without Piscotty since he suffered a high ankle sprain Aug. 24. It was the third significant health problem of the season for Piscotty, who previously dealt with a melanoma on his right ear in mid-June and then missed all of July with a sprained right knee.

A healthy Piscotty hasn’t matched his quality 2018 production, having hit .252/.312/.416 with 13 home runs in 389 plate appearances, though he seemed to be rounding into form before landing on the shelf last month. The fact that he’s returning when the A’s are pushing for a playoff spot looks like a boon with fellow outfielder Mark Canha battling groin troubles.

Canha’s injury appeared as if it could end his regular season when he suffered it Wednesday, but it now seems he dodged a worst-case scenario. He may be available off the A’s bench as early as tonight, Slusser tweets. Meantime, Oakland will start Ramon Laureano, Robbie Grossman and Seth Brown in its outfield.

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