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A’s To Promote Jacob Wilson

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The Athletics are calling up top infield prospect Jacob Wilson, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (X link). Last year’s sixth overall pick has posted incredible numbers through his first full professional season. Oakland has two vacancies on the 40-man roster and optioned Armando Alvarez yesterday to create an active roster spot. No corresponding move is required.

Wilson is the fifth player from the 2023 first round to reach the big leagues. The Angels pushed Nolan Schanuel there last summer, while Wyatt Langford, Paul Skenes and Hurston Waldrep have made their debuts this season. Wilson only needed 72 minor league games to convince the A’s that he is prepared for a look at MLB arms.

The A’s selected the righty-hitting Wilson — the son of former All-Star Jack Wilson — after a standout college career at Grand Canyon University. Wilson hit .412 with 19 walks and a laughable total of five strikeouts over 49 games during his junior season. While he certainly wasn’t facing the caliber of pitching that players like Langford and Dylan Crews saw in the SEC, scouts have never doubted that his contact skills would translate.

Whether Wilson would make enough hard contact to be an impact hitter was more debatable. How well the profile will translate against MLB pitching remains to be seen, but he hasn’t had any problem hitting for power in the minors. Wilson tore through Double-A pitching, connecting on 13 doubles and a trio of homers in 22 games. He hit .455/.473/.705 over 93 plate appearances to earn a bump to Triple-A Las Vegas in May. An injured list stint briefly held him back, but he has continued to rake since returning in June.

Over 19 Triple-A contests, Wilson hit .398/.444/.639 with seven walks and only three strikeouts. He popped another four homers and eight doubles. Between the top two minor league levels and a brief rehab stint in rookie ball, he owns an eye-popping .438/.475/.687 batting line in 200 plate appearances this season.

The A’s have used Wilson exclusively at shortstop. There’s little reason for a rebuilding Oakland team not to give him a shot to stick there. The A’s have been running with 27-year-old rookie Max Schuemann at the position for the last two weeks. Schuemann has a league average .245/.339/.347 slash line. That’s decent production, but the former 20th round draftee isn’t going to stand in Wilson’s way. The A’s could kick Schuemann over to third base while Abraham Toro is on the injured list, cutting into the playing time for Brett Harris in the process.

Wilson’s massive numbers vaulted him up to #19 on Baseball America’s most recent ranking of the sport’s Top 100 prospects. He opened the season in the #76 spot. MLB Pipeline ranked him 68th before Opening Day and has nudged him up to #50 at this point. Wilson meets the prospect criteria to potentially earn a full service year if he manages to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, though that’ll be a tough task with less than half the season to play. The A’s would not receive a bonus pick if Wilson were to win Rookie of the Year since they didn’t call him up in time to accrue a full year of service in the traditional manner — spending 172 days on the MLB roster.

Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Wilson will be under team control for six seasons beyond this one. He’s not likely to qualify for arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. A future assignment back to the minor leagues could delay that trajectory.

A’s Release Lazaro Armenteros

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The A’s released outfielder Lazaro Armenteros, tweets Francys Romero. Oakland had sent Armenteros through outright waivers in May, so the move won’t create a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a disappointing conclusion to the Cuban outfielder’s seven-year stint in the A’s system. Armenteros was a high-profile amateur signee back in 2016. He landed a $3MM bonus on the strength of his raw power potential. It didn’t take long for prospect evaluators to express concerns about Armenteros’ defense and pure hitting ability, though. The right-handed hitter never made enough contact to get a major league look in Oakland.

Armenteros has fanned in more than 37% of his professional plate appearances. Even with huge walk rates and double digit home run totals, that’s not viable against minor league pitching. The A’s nevertheless added Armenteros to their 40-man roster at the start of last offseason on the heels of a .248/.380/.464 showing in Double-A. At the time, Oakland’s front office still had some belief that he could translate his physical tools into better results and didn’t want to let him reach minor league free agency.

The A’s gave the 25-year-old Armenteros his first look at Triple-A pitching this season. It didn’t go well, as he struck out nearly 40% of the time en route to a .191/.321/.309 slash over 42 games. The A’s demoted Armenteros back to Double-A last month. While he managed decent results behind a .481 average on balls in play, a 37.5% strikeout rate in 16 Double-A games led the team to move on entirely.

Mason Miller Open To Returning To Rotation In Future

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Athletics right-hander Mason Miller has broken out as one of the most dominant relievers in the world this year, which will lead to an interesting decision about his future role. He tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he’s open to returning to the rotation down the line but also appears somewhat tempted to stick where he’s having success.

“I don’t think I want to close that opportunity,” Miller said of possibly starting someday. “If the opportunity presents itself, maybe, but with the success I’ve had [as a closer], I think it’s a difficult decision to say I want to get away from that.”

Miller, 25, was primarily a starter in college but wasn’t able to stay healthy in his first few professional seasons. He was drafted in 2021 but then was held back by a shoulder strain in 2022, limited to just 14 innings over six minor league starts. Last year, he made two minor league starts and four in the majors before landing on the injured list with forearm tightness. He was eventually diagnosed with a sprained UCL in his throwing elbow and avoided surgery but wasn’t able to return until September.

In December, general manager David Forst discussed Miller’s situation, with Martín Gallegos of MLB.com relaying his sentiments on X. Forst said the club was planning to have Miller serve in a relief role in 2024, with a return to starting a possibility down the road, but they wanted him to stay healthy for a full season first.

As mentioned, 2024 has been a banner year for Miller so far in that relief role. He already has 15 saves and a 2.27 earned run average in 39 2/3 innings. He has struck out an incredible 46.7% of batters faced. Among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched this year, Josh Hader is second in the strikeout rate category but well behind Miller at 40.4%. He has been selected to his first All-Star team this year.

If Miller stays healthy in the second half, the question will turn to what comes next and it appears the A’s don’t yet have a firm decision. “I don’t know,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said to Nightengale. The skipper added that he didn’t want to rule anything it out but they are still focused on keeping Miller healthy in 2024, before addressing the inherent pros and cons of the decision. “There’s more value there in the innings, but obviously there’s more impact with the opportunity for us to win a game at the back end with him being the closer.’’

This season, various players have attempted to the reliever-to-starter move, with varying degrees of success. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a look at the results, with Garrett Crochet and Reynaldo López two of the best success stories with A.J. Puk on the other end of the spectrum.

The A’s control Miller for another five seasons after this one and are currently rebuilding. That gives them some leeway to experiment if they and Miller decide that they want to, but there would also be an argument for simply continuing with what’s working. Many closers around baseball are former starters who were put into late-inning roles due to health issues or workload concerns, then were simply kept there because it was working.

Miller is one of the hardest throwers in baseball, averaging 100.9 miles per hour. He already has the UCL sprain and the significant shoulder strain on his track record. He would likely have to pull back on the velocity a bit if he were to move into a starter’s role but it would still be a new challenge keeping his body healthy for the marathon of starting for a full season, as opposed to the high-octane relief role he’s been in this year.

Broadly speaking, having an effective starting pitcher give a club 150 to 200 quality innings is more valuable than 50 to 60 innings of relief work. That’s why the best starting pitchers are paid more than the best relievers, both in arbitration and in free agency. Controllable starters also tend to bring back larger returns when traded, as compared to their relief counterparts. Miller has been speculated as a trade candidate this season, reportedly drawing lots of interest, though with the A’s setting a high asking price. They would likely have to be blown away to trade five-plus years of such a dominant pitcher and the possibility of him returning to a rotation down the line could conceivably give him even more trade value at some point.

Both the A’s and Miller would stand to benefit if he could successfully take on a rotation role, but whether they pursue it or not could depend on the comfort level from both sides, as well as the ongoing monitoring of his health.

Athletics Select Seth Brown

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The Athletics announced that catcher/first baseman Tyler Soderstrom has been placed on the 10-day injured list, with first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown selected to the roster to replace him. The club already had three vacancies on their 40-man thanks to recently outrighting Aaron Brooks as well as releasing Aledmys Díaz and Sean Newcomb, so the count now climbs to 38. Soderstrom has a left wrist bone bruise, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on X.

It’s unclear how long the club expects Soderstrom to be out. Clubs sometimes have a quick trigger when it comes to IL stints around the All-Star break. Due to the four off-days, Soderstrom could theoretically return after a minimal stint and miss fewer games than an IL stint at any other point in the season. Perhaps further reporting will shed some more light on the situation.

Regardless of the details on that, Brown gets back to the majors. He was outrighted off the roster last month after a rough start to the season wherein he slashed .189/.251/.306 while striking out in 33.8% of his 195 plate appearances.

He reported to Triple-A Las Vegas and has been tearing the cover off the ball. He hit seven home runs in 16 games for the Aviators and produced a batting line of .403/.416/.736. Part of that is surely due to the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League as well as his .423 batting average on balls in play, but it’s a nice bounceback nonetheless.

Brown hit 45 homers for the A’s over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, leading to a line of .224/.294/.457 and 112 wRC+. Last year, he hit just 14 homers and his line of .222/.286/.405 dragged his wRC+ down to 92. Then, as mentioned, he had an awful start to the 2024 season.

His recent showing with the Aviators was a small sample and surely he can’t maintain that insane pace, but it would be nice for the A’s if he could simply be back around his 2021-22 form. He won’t be a big part of the rebuilding club’s future since he turns 32 years old this Saturday, but he could be a deadline trade candidate if he’s in good form at the plate. He also has some versatility, capable of playing passable defense at first base or in an outfield corner. He is making $2.6MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one.

Phillies Reportedly Interested In Brent Rooker

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The Phillies are “keeping a close eye on” A’s outfielder Brent Rooker ahead of the trade deadline, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested last month that the club may look to add only modestly ahead of the trade deadline on July 30, and highlighted the bullpen as an area where the team could stand to improve. That’s not to say the Phillies won’t make any additions outside of relief help this summer, however. The club’s 58-31 record entering play today affords them the best winning percentage in baseball, leaving them well-positioned to push for the club’s first World Series championship since 2008 this October.

That doesn’t mean the club lacks holes, however, and outfield production is arguably one of the biggest. With Bryce Harper having moved to first base on a full-time basis and Kyle Schwarber now in an everyday DH role, the lefty sluggers that have worked the outfield corners for the Phillies in recent years have now vacated the outfield grass. Brandon Marsh has performed well when healthy, slashing .265/.346/.414 with a 116 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield spots, and veteran slugger Nick Castellanos has begun to heat up in recent weeks and figures to continue acting as the club’s everyday right fielder.

With that being said, each of Johan Rojas, Cristian Pache, and Whit Merrifield have all disappointed offensively this season. While Rojas and Pache both offer valuable defensive in center field and Merrifield’s versatility makes him a useful bench player, none have posted a wRC+ higher than 60 this year despite taking nearly 500 combined at-bats for the Phillies. That’s led the club to resort to using journeyman David Dahl as a left-handed complement to the trio of righties, but while he got off to a hot start in a Phillies uniform earlier this year he’s fallen back to Earth and now sports a meager .207/.242/.397 (75 wRC+) slash line in 19 games with Philadelphia.

It’s easy to see how Rooker would be a perfect fit for the club’s outfield mix. The 29-year-old first broke out with the A’s last year with a 127 wRC+ in 137 games, but he’s taken his offense to another level so far in the 2024 campaign. In 313 trips to the plate with the club this year, Rooker has slashed a fantastic .277/.351/.540 with a wRC+ of 153. While that production has come with a troublesome 32.9% strikeout rate, Rooker has made up for it with a strong 9.9% walk rate and the seventh-highest isolated slugging percentage in the majors.

While .371 BABIP this season is likely too high to be entirely sustainable, advanced metrics are generally buying in on his overall production as his .378 xwOBA is a near match for his .380 wOBA, suggesting that any regression in BABIP should be made up for by his eye-popping 16.4% barrel rate so long as he manages to keep his elite contact quality up going forward. That’s particularly important for Rooker given that the breakout journeyman entered the year with just over two years of service time under his belt. He’s making just over the league minimum this year and would come with three more seasons of team control after this one before becoming a free agent following the 2027 season.

That’s a timeline that lines up nicely with the current window in Philadelphia. Veteran ace Zack Wheeler just signed an extension that will also end following the 2027 season, and youngsters Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott are both also slated to hit free agency following that campaign. Meanwhile stars Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola, and Trea Turner will all be entering this mid-30’s at that point and complementary pieces of the current core like Schwarber, Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto will have seen their contracts expire. That Rooker’s years of control line up so cleanly with Philadelphia’s current window of contention could make him all the more attractive to the Phillies.

With that being said, it’s worth pointing out that the club may have other prioritizes ahead of the trade deadline this year. As previously mentioned, Dombrowski has highlighted a desire to improve the club’s bullpen this summer in the past, and he also cautioned last month that the club wasn’t likely to pursue the sort of blockbuster trade where the club would have to “trade three top prospects” to acquire a player.

Relief help isn’t the only other need the club may look to address this summer, either. The club entered the summer with something of an embarrassment of riches in the rotation that forced Spencer Turnbull into a bullpen role despite a 1.67 ERA in six starts back in April, but since then both Taijuan Walker and Turnbull have hit the injured list, leaving the club to rely on rookie Michael Mercado to fill out the club’s rotation behind Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez. With Turnbull not expected back until late August at the earliest and Walker lacking a specific timeline for return, it’s possible the Phillies could look to add a pitcher capable of helping the club either out of the rotation or bullpen depending on their needs at that moment.

Rooker also isn’t the only outfielder expected to be available at the deadline this year, with White Sox veteran Tommy Pham standing out as a rental option who would likely prove cheaper to acquire than Rooker if the Phillies are concerned with the prospect cost involved in acquiring the A’s outfielder. Kevin Pillar of the Angels, Mark Canha of the Tigers, and Jesse Winker of the Nationals are among the other rental veterans playing for teams who could consider selling this summer and would likely cost the Phillies less than a controllable asset like Rooker.

Athletics Release Aledmys Díaz, Sean Newcomb

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Today: The Athletics have released Aledmys Díaz and Sean Newcomb according to their player pages on MLB.com.

July 2: The Athletics announced today that they have recalled right-hander Tyler Ferguson and infielder Brett Harris from Triple-A Las Vegas. Left-hander Sean Newcomb and infielder Aledmys Díaz were designated for assignment in corresponding moves.

Díaz, 33, had a solid run as a productive major leaguer from 2016 to 2022, suiting up for the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Astros. The A’s signed him going into last year, giving him a $14.5MM guarantee over two years, ideally hoping that he could serve as a stable veteran presence on a rebuilding club full of younger and less experienced players.

The first season of the deal was undoubtedly a disappointment. Díaz carried a career batting line of .266/.320/.443 into the year but ended up slashing just .229/.280/.337 in 2023. While the former line translates to a wRC+ of 105, the latter put him at just 72, going from a bit above average to well below.

This year has been far worse. Díaz dealt with a groin and a calf strain in Spring Training and landed on the 60-day injured list to start the year. He was reinstated at the end of May but has slashed .103/.133/.103 since then. He wasn’t getting much playing time, with just 30 plate appearances so far this year and just three in the past week.

Rather than keeping him on the bench for the final three months of his contract, the club will let him pursue opportunities elsewhere while giving his roster spot and playing time to younger players that could perhaps be part of the club’s future. Max Schuemann has been getting the bulk of the playing time at shortstop and will likely continue to do so, with players like Harris and Armando Alvarez capable of filling in from time to time. Darell Hernaiz is on the IL but Nick Allen is on the 40-man and could be recalled at some point. Jacob Wilson is a shortstop and one of the club’s top prospects. He only has 11 games of Triple-A experience and just 22 at Double-A, but he keeps putting up huge numbers and could be an option at some point.

The A’s will technically have five days to work out a trade with Díaz but the interest from other clubs figures to be close to zero, given his contract and recent performance. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and will likely be released in the coming days, leaving the A’s on the hook for the remainder of his salary.

At that point, another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the A’s pay. Though given his recent form, he will likely have to settle for minor league offers.

As for Newcomb, 31, he also began the year on the 60-day injured list. In his case, it was due to irritation in his surgically-repaired left knee. He was reinstated from the IL about a month ago and has since tossed 10 innings over seven appearances, allowing seven earned runs. He struck out seven opponents but also issued eight walks.

He once seemed like a building block in Atlanta earlier in his career, tossing 264 innings in 2017 and 2018 with an earned run average of 4.06. He pitched primarily out of the bullpen in 2019 but continued having good results with a 3.16 ERA.

Unfortunately, things took a nosedive from there. He posted a 7.45 ERA over the 2020 to 2022 seasons, including a stint with the Cubs. The A’s gave him some time on the roster late last year with encouraging results, as he logged 15 innings with an ERA of 3.00.

The A’s took a shot on Newcomb carrying that over, avoiding arbitration by agreeing to give him a $1MM salary for 2024, even after he had undergone surgery on that left knee. But things haven’t gone according to plan and he’s been bumped off the roster.

Newcomb came into this year with his service time count at four years and 113 days, leaving him 59 days shy of the five-year mark. Since players collect service time on the minor league IL, he crossed over that threshold earlier this year. That means he now has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while keeping his salary in place.

That makes it likely that, just like Díaz, he will end up released in the coming days. The A’s will be on the hook for what’s left of his salary and any other club could potentially sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the A’s pay.

Athletics Outright Aaron Brooks

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June 27: Brooks was outrighted again, per the transaction log at MLB.com. He has the right to elect free agency, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he reports back to Las Vegas and awaits another opportunity with the A’s.

June 25: The Athletics announced that they have recalled left-hander Jack O’Loughlin, with right-hander Aaron Brooks designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Brooks, 34, signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and has twice been selected to their roster. The second such selection just occurred on Sunday and Brooks went on to perform some mop-up duty for the club last night. Luis Medina started the game but was removed after recording just nine outs. Brooks then came in and covered five frames, tossing 65 pitches and letting the rest of the bullpen have a night off.

That effective yeoman’s work was likely an ironic contributor to him losing his roster spot, as he surely wasn’t going to be available for a few days. Since he’s out of options, the club had to remove him from the 40-man roster in order to get a fresh arm into the bullpen.

The A’s will now have a week to trade Brooks or pass him through waivers. The last time he lost his roster spot, earlier this month, he cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas. It’s possible that the same scenario plays out again in the days to come. He has an earned run average of 5.06 over his five appearances in the majors this year, as well as a 4.30 ERA in ten appearances for the Aviators.

MLBTR Podcast: Injured Trade Candidates, The Cristopher Sánchez Extension And Blue Jays’ Woes

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • “What would it take for the Rockies to consider trading some young assets like Ryan McMahon or Brendan Rodgers?” (23:55)
  • “The Astros are clearly out of it, so why isn’t Ryan Pressly a top target of teams with bad bullpens?” (30:35)
  • “Would the Marlins or Nationals trade with the Mets, Phillies or Braves, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Lane Thomas being good fits?” (39:25)
  • “Will T.J. McFarland of the Athletics be traded to the Cubs or another contender?” (47:45)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Yankees Acquire J.D. Davis

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired infielder J.D. Davis and cash considerations from the A’s in exchange infielder Jordan Groshans. Davis had been designated for assignment by the A’s earlier this week. The Yankees transferred right-hander Nick Burdi to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Davis on the 40-man roster.

Davis, 31, signed with the A’s in late spring after the Giants released Davis during Spring Training in order to get out from under most of the $6.9MM salary he had been awarded in arbitration over the winter. He managed to secure a guarantee of just $2.5MM from Oakland, a far cry from his previously-awarded arbitration salary even after factoring in the roughly $1.1MM in termination pay he received from San Francisco.

After that late spring controversy, Davis went on to appear in 39 games with the A’s where he slashed a roughly league-average .236/.304/.366 in 135 trips to the plate while splitting time between first base, third base, and DH. While his offensive numbers this year leave something to be desired, Davis’s positional versatility and track record as an above-average hitter make him a perfect fit for the Yankees’ current needs.

The club lost starting DH Giancarlo Stanton to the injured list earlier today, and first baseman Anthony Rizzo was also placed on the shelf not long ago due to a fractured forearm. Rookie Ben Rice has scuffled a bit in his first few games replacing Rizzo at first base, while the club has no obvious alternative to Stanton as an everyday DH in-house. Even at third base, where the club is currently relying on the combination of Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu, New York has gotten a wRC+ of just 78 — this ranks second-worst of all AL third-base units, ahead of only the White Sox.

Enter Davis, who entered the 2024 season with five consecutive seasons of solid production with the Mets and Giants. Since the start of the 2019 season, Davis has slashed a solid .265/.349/.438 with a wRC+ of 118. While he’s struck out a 27.1% clip during that time, he’s walked at a healthy 10% rate while flashing 20-homer power. That sort of production would be a major upgrade for a Yankees club that has generally struggled to produce offense outside of the outfield this year even before losing Stanton for at least the short-term. Davis seems likely to slide into the everyday DH role for the Yankees while Stanton is unavailable, but could also spell Rice at first base against left-handed pitching and even contribute at third alongside LeMahieu and Cabrera.

On days where Davis is playing the infield, the Yankees could offer Aaron Judge or Juan Soto the opportunity to get a half-day of rest as a DH and improve the club’s outfield defense by inserting glove-first center fielder Trent Grisham into the mix. When Stanton eventually returns to reclaim regular DH, the Yankees could pick and choose from Davis, Rice, Cabrera, and LeMahieu based on how everyone is performingt. That being said, if Davis can even maintain his production as an Athletic in the Bronx he should be a shoe-in for at least semi-regular playing time around the Yankees infield even after Stanton’s eventual return.

In exchange for Davis’ services, the Yankees are sending Groshans to Oakland. The 24-year-old’s stint in the Yankees organization was a relatively brief one, as the club claimed him off waivers from the Marlins back in February. He was outrighted off their 40-man roster in early March and has struggled to this point in the 2024 season with a .232/.310/.281 slash line while playing all four infield spots in 50 games split between the Double- and Triple-A levels. That follows a similarly rough performance at Triple-A with Miami last year; in 528 plate appearances across 125 games in 2023, Groshans slashed a paltry .244/.339/.330 with just six home runs.

Despite Groshans’ struggles over the past two seasons, it’s not hard to see why the A’s would be willing to give the youngster a shot. After all, the infielder was the 12th overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Blue Jays and received plenty of top prospect buzz earlier in his career, including a stint as a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport back in 2021. That pedigree combined with Groshans’ stronger numbers at the Double-A level earlier in his career provide some reason for optimism that he could contribute at the big league level at some point.

That possibility is surely an attractive one for an Oakland club that has struggled to find a consistent option at third base this year while cycling between Davis, Abraham Toro, and Tyler Nevin at the position. Toro will be out until at least the All-Star break recovering from a hamstring strain, leaving even more opportunity for Groshans to win some playing time at the hot corner.

Vinny Nittoli Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Nittoli cleared waivers, the A’s announced, and Nittoli has chosen to become a free agent rather than accept the outright assignment to Triple-A.

JUNE 21: The A’s designated reliever Vinny Nittoli for assignment before tonight’s matchup with the Twins. Oakland recalled righty Osvaldo Bido from Triple-A Las Vegas to replace him on the active roster. Nittoli is out of options, so the A’s couldn’t take him off the big league club without removing from the 40-man roster. Their 40-man tally is down to 38.

Nittoli cracked the big league bullpen a couple weeks ago when Michael Kelly was suspended. Mark Kotsay has called upon him seven times, generally in low-leverage situations. Nittoli has allowed two runs over eight innings, punching out five against two walks. It was a generally solid showing, but the 33-year-old pitched two innings and tossed 28 pitches in yesterday’s loss to Kansas City. That’d likely have ruled him out for today and prompted the A’s to bring up a fresh arm. Bido, who hasn’t pitched in a week, should be able to work multiple innings out of the bullpen.

It’s a tough break for Nittoli, who has had MLB cups of coffee in each of the last four seasons. This year’s eight innings already topped his previous combined workload between the Mariners, Phillies and Mets. Nittoli has pitched in five seasons at the Triple-A level. He owns a 4.73 ERA there for his career, though he turned in an impressive 2.70 mark through 23 1/3 innings with Las Vegas before being called up. Nittoli punched out 36% of batters faced for the Aviators against an 11% walk rate.

The A’s have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Nittoli has cleared outright waivers a few times in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed. Since he’s out of options, another team would need to plug him directly into the MLB bullpen if they claim him.

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