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Athletics Rumors

AL West Notes: Bolt, Rangers, Seager

By Steve Adams | May 2, 2019 at 8:49am CDT

The Athletics are promoting outfield prospect Skye Bolt for his big league debut this weekend, as first reported by AthleticsFarm.com (on Twitter). He’ll step into the roster spot of Ryan Dull, who was optioned to Triple-A following yesterday’s game. Oakland spent its recent series against the Red Sox operating with a two-man bench, so the addition of Bolt will give the club some much needed flexibility on the position-player side of the roster. A fourth-round pick in 2015, the switch-hitting Bolt is batting .325/.400/.675 with six homers and three steals through 90 plate appearances in Triple-A  Las Vegas so far in the season. Despite his 80-grade name and strong start to the year, Bolt is regarded as more of a fourth outfield type than a potential outfield cornerstone in Oakland. He ranks 17th among A’s prospects at Fangraphs and 19th at both MLB.com and Baseball America. The aptly named Bolt draws praise for his above above-average speed and arm strength, which allow him to capably handle all three outfield slots.

Here’s more from the AL West..

  • Rangers 2018 second-round pick Owen White will miss the remainder of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The right-hander joins 2018 fourth-rounder Mason Englert as the second Rangers prospect from last year’s draft to undergo the procedure in recent weeks. The pair of injuries comes in spite of the Rangers organization keeping both White and Englert from pitching last summer in an effort to help manage the workloads of young, recent draftees. Both White and Englert were slated to start the season in short-season Class-A and were already years from being options at the big league level, but the loss of a pair of high-upside teenagers for a full season before either even pitches for a minor league affiliate is undoubtedly maddening for a club that has already been snakebit by pitching injuries in recent years.
  • Kyle Seager tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that his surgically repaired finger is back up to full strength and he feels ready to play, but the Mariners third baseman will still miss just over three more weeks by virtue of the fact that he’s on the 60-day injured list. Seager’s recovery is well ahead of schedule, and the 31-year-old figures to head out on a rehab assignment at some point between now and his May 25 return date in order to get him some in-game reps after sitting out since tearing a tendon in his finger on March 8. As Divish notes, his eventual return will create a crunch at the corner infield spots and designated hitter. Seager will join Ryon Healy as a third base option, while Healy, Daniel Vogelbach, Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce are all options at first base and DH. A trade can ever be ruled out with ever-active GM Jerry Dipoto at the helm, though certainly Seager wouldn’t be the player to be moved; he’s owed $15.4MM through season’s end, plus another $19MM in 2020 and $18MM in 2021. His contract also contains a $15MM club option that is converted to a player option if he is traded. Divish suggests that Healy had previously been a candidate to be optioned to Triple-A, though he’s off to a .235/.301/.471 start (110 OPS+) with five homers and a league-leading 13 doubles in 2019.
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Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers Kyle Seager Ryan Dull Ryon Healy Skye Bolt

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AL Injury Notes: Ohtani, Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics

By Connor Byrne | April 28, 2019 at 6:23pm CDT

The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani won’t make his season debut during their homestand from April 30-May 5, manager Brad Ausmus told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters Sunday. The two-way star is still on the mend from the Tommy John surgery he underwent on his right elbow last October, which will keep him from pitching this season but won’t prevent him from helping the Angels’ offense. Los Angeles entered Sunday with a middle-of-the-pack offense, though designated hitters Albert Pujols and Kevan Smith have only combined for average hitting to this point relative to their position. Ohtani was far better than that as a rookie in 2018, when he slashed .288/.361/.564 with 22 home runs and 10 steals over 367 plate appearances.

  • The injury-ravaged Yankees may have to start dipping into the Double-A level to fill their roster at this rate, as a couple more of their players – infielders DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela – left Sunday’s game against the Giants with ailments. LeMahieu departed with right knee inflammation, while Urshela exited after Giants reliever Nick Vincent hit him in the left hand with an 88.5 mph pitch. Luckily for New York, X-rays came back negative in both cases, though LeMahieu will undergo an MRI on Monday (via ESPN.com, Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). LeMahieu and Urshela have handled third base with aplomb in place of Miguel Andujar, who’s one of 13 Yankees currently on the injured list.
  • Red Sox infielders Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Nunez are set to embark on rehab assignments, manager Alex Cora said Sunday. Meanwhile, fellow banged-up infielder Brock Holt was scratched from his Triple-A rehab game Sunday because of right shoulder soreness (links via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). Pedroia landed on the IL on April 18 with yet another left knee injury, but he’s “a lot better” now, according to Cora, who announced he’s likely to play with Double-A Portland beginning May 2. Nunez, down since the 19th with a mid-back strain, will go to Triple-A Pawtucket on Monday and could be back in Boston by May 6, Cotillo writes. Holt has been on the IL since April 6 with a scratched right cornea, and there’s no word on how serious his shoulder problem is. When healthy, Pedroia, Nunez and Holt have posted pitiful production this year, which helps explain why Boston second basemen have recorded the AL’s worst fWAR (minus-0.9).
  • Athletics first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha suffered a wrist sprain Sunday and may require a stint on the IL, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Slusser notes the A’s could recall Skye Bolt or Dustin Fowler to replace Canha, who has hit .200/.377/.375 with a pair of HRs in 53 trips to the plate this year.
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Boston Red Sox Los Angeles Angels New York Yankees Oakland Athletics Brock Holt DJ LeMahieu Dustin Pedroia Eduardo Nunez Giovanny Urshela Mark Canha Shohei Ohtani

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Braves Acquire Jerry Blevins

By Connor Byrne | April 28, 2019 at 9:57am CDT

The Braves have acquired left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins from the Athletics, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Oakland announced that it will receive cash or a player to be named later in return. Atlanta subsequently selected Blevins’ contract, optioned Wes Parsons to Triple-A Gwinnett and transferred reliever Arodys Vizcaino to the 60-day injured list.

An Athletic earlier in his career, Blevins never made it back to Oakland this year after returning to the organization on a minor league contract in the offseason. The 35-year-old instead tossed 10 2/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball with 13.5 K/9 and 3.38 BB/9 with the A’s Triple-A affiliate.

Blevins had to settle for a role in the minors after a trying 2018 as a member of the Mets, with whom he posted a 4.85 ERA, 8.65 K/9 against 4.64 BB/9, and a measly 21.8 percent groundball rate. Difficulty retiring same-handed hitters played into Blevins’ struggles last year, a season in which he declined sharply after a largely impressive run with the A’s, Nationals and Mets. From 2016-17, his first two full seasons in New York, the soft-tossing Blevins managed a stingy 2.87 ERA with 11.97 K/9, 3.86 BB/9 and a 43.3 percent grounder mark across 91 innings. He was tough on both left- and right-handed hitters in the first of those two seasons, though the latter teed off on him in 2017.

Blevins will now join an Atlanta bullpen which is in dire straits, having limped to the majors’ eighth-highest ERA (4.74) with its worst walk rate (5.87 per nine) and second-worst fWAR (minus-0.7) this season. In the Braves’ estimation, the fact that lefties Jonny Venters and Jesse Biddle are on the injured list and fellow southpaw A.J. Minter has been awful helped create a need for Blevins.

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Atlanta Braves Oakland Athletics Transactions Arodys Vizcaino Jerry Blevins

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AL Pitching Injury Notes: Snell, Carrasco, Smyly, Estrada, Hardy

By Jeff Todd | April 24, 2019 at 8:29am CDT

The Rays have decided to start ace lefty Blake Snell today after he bounced back quicker than expected from a minor toe fracture, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. There are some obvious risks to bringing him back before he’s ready, but the organization obviously feels that isn’t the case. The reigning American League Cy Young winner has been outstanding once again early in 2019, with a 2.16 ERA and 13.0 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 over 25 frames.

More on the health front, focusing on some other AL hurlers:

  • Indians righty Carlos Carrasco departed his start yesterday early with some left knee discomfort and will undergo an MRI to make sure there isn’t an injury. It’s being billed as a precautionary measure, as MLB.com’s Mandy Bell reports (via Twitter). The Indians will hope it comes back clean, as he’s a key part of the team’s plan to fend off challengers in the AL Central. Carrasco has had a few rough outings this year, but has also spun a pair of 12-strikeout gems and was getting the job done yesterday before tweaking the joint.
  • Rangers starter Drew Smyly was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday with what the club described as mid-arm nerve tightness in his left arm. It seems the hope is that he’ll only miss a start or two; the placement was back-dated to April 20th. The 29-year-old Smyly hasn’t quite had the bounceback campaign he was hoping for to this point, with a 7.80 ERA, 19:10 K/BB ratio, and four home runs allowed through 15 innings over four starts. Right-handed Wei-Chieh Huang is up to take the open roster spot. He made his MLB debut earlier this season and has been throwing well at Double-A.
  • The Athletics sent righty Marco Estrada in for an “ablation procedure” on his balky back yesterday, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to cover (Twitter links). It seems he’ll be out through at least early May, though there isn’t a precise timeline just yet. The hope seems to be that this surgery will speed things up a bit. Meanwhile, the A’s hoping that reliever Lou Trivino will bounce back quickly after he was struck in the thumb by a baseball. He’s taking a few days but not slated to hit the injured list at the moment.
  • The Tigers announced yesterday that lefty Blaine Hardy was heading to the IL with a left forearm strain. Injuries to that area can be quite concerning for a pitcher, but there’s no real indication at this point of the outlook for the 32-year-old. After dabbling with the rotation in 2018, Hardy has been utilized in a multi-inning relief capacity thus far, throwing a dozen frames in eight appearances. Fellow southpaw Jose Fernandez takes his spot on the active roster.
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Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Oakland Athletics Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Blaine Hardy Blake Snell Carlos Carrasco Drew Smyly Lou Trivino Marco Estrada

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Prospect Notes: Hernandez, Sheffield, Senzel, Bichette, Vlad Jr., Luzardo

By Jeff Todd | April 23, 2019 at 9:09pm CDT

Here’s the latest on some prospects of note from around the game:

  • The Red Sox brought up top pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez for his first taste of the majors, with Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reporting the move. Hernandez, a 22-year-old from Venezuela, still needs to iron out his command but has shown some impressive swing-and-miss capabilities. It was on display tonight, as he allowed five baserunners but also racked up four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings in relief.
  • Left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield will join the Mariners on Friday for his first action with his new club, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports on Twitter. He’s expected to piggyback with Yusei Kikuchi for a start; it’s possible he’ll be dropped back to Triple-A thereafter, though that’s not yet clear. While he already has 13 days of MLB service on his odometer, Sheffield won’t be able to reach a full year of service even if he stakes a permanent claim to a big-league roster spot. Sheffield hasn’t been himself thus far at Triple-A, carrying an 11:14 K/BB ratio through 18 1/3 innings.
  • It’s possible the Reds will soon welcome top prospect Nick Senzel to the majors. As Fletcher Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, Senzel is back in the lineup at Triple-A after recovering from a sprained ankle. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be promoted in the near-term, but the organization doesn’t have much cause to hesitate at this point. Senzel can no longer achieve a full year of MLB service in 2019; the club is sitting at five games under .500 and can’t wait long to make its move. Once Senzel gets his timing down and gets comfortable in the outfield — he’s lined up in center field tonight for Louisville — he’ll likely be called up.
  • The Blue Jays got some unwelcome news on exciting infield prospect Bo Bichette. Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported on Twitter that Bichette had suffered a broken hand. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets, the fracture was to the second metacarpal of his left hand. Widely considered one of the game’s very best prospects, Bichette will now need to get back to health before he can begin pressing for a major-league promotion. Meanwhile, anticipation grows that teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will soon get the call; Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs tweets that some around the game anticipate it’ll come this week.
  • Top Athletics prospect Jesus Luzardo is beginning to work back toward the hill, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links). He’s moving from 75 feet to 90 feet tomorrow, so it’s still rather early in his progression back from shoulder soreness. Slusser estimates that it could take four to six weeks before the prized southpaw could be ready for game action. In all likelihood, he won’t be seen as a candidate for a MLB promotion until he has at least a few Triple-A starts under his belt and the club feels confident there aren’t any lingering issues with the joint.
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Boston Red Sox Cincinnati Reds Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays Bo Bichette Darwinzon Hernandez Jesus Luzardo Justus Sheffield Nick Senzel Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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Injury Notes: Murphy, Olson, Meadows

By Steve Adams | April 23, 2019 at 11:02am CDT

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.
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Colorado Rockies Oakland Athletics Tampa Bay Rays Austin Meadows Daniel Murphy Matt Olson

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

By Mark Polishuk | April 21, 2019 at 5:50pm CDT

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.
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Boston Red Sox Oakland Athletics Blake Swihart Marcus Semien Matt Olson

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Athletics Notes: Chapman, Murray, Ballpark, Olson

By Jeff Todd | April 19, 2019 at 11:19pm CDT

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.
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Oakland Athletics Kyler Murray Matt Chapman Matt Olson

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Athletics Extend Khris Davis

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | April 18, 2019 at 2:53pm CDT

Oakland fans have cause to celebrate. The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve extended designated hitter/outfielder Khris Davis through the 2021 season. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (via Twitter) that Davis will earn $16.75MM in each year of the contract, meaning he’ll take home $33.5MM in new money over the next two campaigns. Davis, an Octagon client, would have been eligible for free agency following the 2019 season.

“Oakland has been a special place for me since I arrived,” said Davis in a statement accompanying the announcement. “I love playing here in front of our fans, and my teammates make this feel like a family. I never hid the fact that I wanted to stay in Oakland because that is how I feel and I’m glad that I can continue to call the city of Oakland my baseball home. This team has a bright future, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

Davis, 31, has been a source of immense power and stunning consistency since coming to the A’s by way of trade from the Brewers. There may be no more remarkable piece of trivia in baseball than the slugger finishing four consecutive seasons with a .247 batting average. Of course, while that number doesn’t stand out as particularly impressive, Davis offsets that average with respectable on-base skills and elite power; he’s a .247/.322/.539 hitter since being acquired by the Athletics (this season included) and averaged 44 homers per year in each of his three full seasons in green and gold.

It’s not particularly surprising to see the sides line up on a new deal, especially in this year of the extension. The A’s have proven willing to commit multiple seasons to a DH in the recent past. Though they came to regret the Billy Butler signing, the club has had a lengthy opportunity already to evaluate Davis in person. He has proven capable of putting the ball over the fence in one of the game’s least homer-friendly ballparks. And he’ll continue to earn at the same level he is in 2019, a salary that the club obviously feels it can manage even with its typically bottom-barrel payroll.

From Davis’s perspective, the market has been distinctly unfriendly to defensively limited sluggers. J.D. Martinez hit free agency with a better track record and at a much younger age than Davis would have, but settled for $110MM over five years. And that’s the very top of the market. The aging but highly accomplished Nelson Cruz settled for one year and $14MM this past winter. He took down four seasons and $57MM when he hit the market in 2014, but things have clearly changed since that time.

If there was an upside scenario for Davis in the 2019-20 market, it was probably embodied in Carlos Santana’s three-year, $60MM deal. Santana was a similar age to Davis; he lacked Davis’s power abilities but was a much bigger on-base threat. That contract came in higher than MLBTR predicted; it also quickly proved undesirable for the Phillies. Santana’s contract was one of several first base/DH accords to be swapped around the league this winter. Perhaps Davis could still have earned more on the open market, in AAV if not also years, but it’s understandable that he wasn’t anxious to test his luck.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Newsstand Oakland Athletics Transactions Khris Davis

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Athletics Place Marco Estrada On Injured List

By Steve Adams | April 17, 2019 at 6:21pm CDT

The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve placed righty Marco Estrada on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar strain in his back. Fellow right-hander Chris Bassitt is coming up from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his spot on the roster and figures to be an option to step into in the rotation as well.

There’s no word yet on just how long Estrada is expected to miss, although the 35-year-old has a history of back issues in recent seasons. Estrada has twice missed time in the past due to back troubles and has pitched through a herniated disk in his back as well.

He’s off to a rough start in his new surroundings, having surrendered 19 runs (18 earned) on 23 hits and eight walks with 11 strikeouts in 23 2/3 frames. The long ball has plagued Estrada in the past, but his troubles with that issue are more pronounced than ever so far in 2019; in those 23 2/3 innings, he’s already given up seven home runs. His velocity, while never a strong point, is nevertheless down as well, as his fastball is averaging a career-low 87.4 mph that lags well behind last year’s average of 88.6 mph.

Estrada told reporters this afternoon that he’s been trying to pitch through discomfort but reached a point where he felt unable to do so (Twitter link via the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea). “I don’t hit guys. I don’t walk guys,” said Estrada, who walked three batters and hit another in 3 1/3 innings yesterday. “I couldn’t pitch yesterday.”

Oakland signed Estrada to a one-year, $4MM contract this offseason in hopes that he could bounce back from a down year in Toronto and serve as an affordable rotation stabilizer. The A’s have a number of arms on the mend from 2018 surgery — Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton, A.J. Puk and Daniel Gossett among them — and are leaning on a somewhat patchwork group to hold things together at the moment.

Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson, Frankie Montas and Aaron Brooks are all in the rotation at the moment, while Daniel Mengden, Paul Blackburn and Tanner Anderson are all in Triple-A. The A’s also signed righty Edwin Jackson to a minor league contract last week, and he’ll provide further depth once he’s up to speed.

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