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A’s Designate Hideki Okajima For Assignment

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The A's announced, via Twitter, that they have designated left-hander Hideki Okajima for assignment. The move allows Oakland to select the contract of right-hander Pat Neshek, who was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A last month.

The 37-year-old Okajima pitched to a 4.22 ERA for Triple-A Sacramento with 9.5 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 42 2/3 innings of work. The longtime Red Sox reliever yielded five earned runs in one inning in his final outing with Sacramento. He did see some brief time in the Majors with Oakland this season, allowing a run on seven hits and a pair of walks in four innings of work.

Okajima is the latest in a wave of players to be designated for assignment in order to clear room for September callups, and you can track all of those situations using MLBTR's DFA Tracker.

Mike Zagurski Opts Out Of Contract With Athletics

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Lefty Mike Zagurski has opted out of his contract with the Athletics, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old reliever had signed with Oakland after opting out of his previous deal with the Yankees, and will now look for a big league job over the month of September.

During his brief stint with Triple-A Sacramento over the last couple of weeks, Zagurski gave up four earned and struck out eight batters over six innings. He sports a 3.04 ERA in 53 1/3 total Triple-A innings on the season, and has posted an eye-popping 14.0 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9. Though Zagurski was less successful in a short run with the Pirates earlier this year, his big strikeout potential could make him attractive now that rosters have expanded.

Athletics Designate Luke Montz For Assignment

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The Athletics have designated 30-year-old catcher and designated hitter Luke Montz for assignment, the team announced on Twitter. That move created 40-man roster space for the addition of young outfielder Michael Choice.

Montz, who has seen thirty uneventful plate appearances for the A's this season, has spent most of the last six seasons in the upper minors. He possesses a .246/.352/.541 line in 145 plate appearances at Triple-A, and did more or less the same while in the Marlins' system during 2011-2012.  

Top Prospect Promotions: Choice, Castellanos

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As we learn of top prospect promotions over September, we'll try to keep tabs on them in a daily basis. Here are Sunday's promotions:

  • The Athletics are set to bring up outfielder Michael Choice, the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser first reported last night. Choice entered the season as the A's second overall prospect as rated by Baseball America, which praised his strength and bat speed. He currently sits as the 92nd overall prospect in the game on Mayo's list. The 23-year-old has delivered a .302/.390/.445 line and fourteen homers in 600 plate appearances over his first season at Triple-A. 
  • The Tigers have officially called up the team's top prospect, with the team announcing on Twitter that it has purchased the contract of outfielder Nick Castellanos. The former third baseman entered the year as a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball, and moved up to 11th overall in the mid-season ranking of MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. As Mayo explained, the 21-year-old hits the ball to all fields and has solid pop.

 

West Notes: Hamilton, Dodgers, Volquez, Suzuki

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ESPN.com's Jayson Stark turned to executives, scouts, and other baseball people to try and figure out what has gone wrong with Josh Hamilton since he joined the Angels.  While some expressed doubt over whether he can rebound, GM Jerry Dipoto said that he's confident that his sizable investment will pay off.  "I still believe in Josh's physical ability. I still believe in the player. … And we've seen signs, over the last three weeks [as Hamilton has put up a .329/.414/.539 slash line over a 19-game stretch], that he's getting back to doing the things that Josh Hamilton does," the GM said.  Here's more out of the AL and NL West..

  • The Dodgers signed Edinson Volquez shortly after he was cut loose by the Padres, but there were plenty of other suitors.  The pitcher says that he chose L.A. over the Reds, Blue Jays, Orioles, Phillies, and "a couple more" teams, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.  Volquez added that he's willing to start or relieve for the Dodgers.
  • Ken Gurnick of MLB.com (via Twitter) notes that even though Don Mattingly said that Volquez would come out of the bullpen for the Dodgers, he was seen taking batting practice with the starting pitchers.
  • Kurt Suzuki is glad to be back with the A's and the feeling is mutual within the organization.  Manager Bob Melvin says that one advantage of reacquiring Suzuki is that he won't need a whole lot of time to get acquainted with the Oakland pitching staff as other backstops would, writes Joe Stiglich of CSNBayArea.com.

Minor Moves: Neshek, Wood, Perdomo

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Here are today's minor moves from around the league…

  • Right-hander Pat Neshek has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Sacramento from the Athletics, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Neshek, who was designated for assignment on Monday, has a 3.58 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings this season. He does come with significant platoon splits, however.
  • The Twins unconditionally released Triple-A right-hander Tim Wood, according to Twins director of communications Dustin Morse (on Twitter). Wood, 30, was dominant enough with the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in 2012 that Minnesota inked him to a one-year, $675K Major League deal despite the fact that he didn't throw a pitch in the Majors last year. He pitched to a 2.19 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 70 1/3 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis last year, but injuries limited him to nine appearances between High-A Fort Myers and Triple-A Rochester prior to his release this season. He allowed nine runs in 9 1/3 innings between those two levels.
  • The Twins also released right-hander Luis Perdomo from Rochester, according to the International League transactions page. The 29-year-old posted a 5.95 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9 in 65 innings at the Triple-A level this season.
  • Edinson Volquez, Edgmer Escalona Aaron Harang, Russ Canzler and Jason Kubel are each currently in DFA limbo, and you can track their statuses using MLBTR's new DFA Tracker.

Quick Hits: Kubel, Athletics, Twins, Harper

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The Athletics should consider claiming outfielder Jason Kubel, InsideBayArea.com's John Hickey argues. The Diamondbacks designated Kubel for assignment Tuesday afternoon. After losing Josh Reddick to a wrist injury, the A's are short an outfielder. Their current plan is to slide Brandon Moss to the outfield and have Daric Barton play first base, but Hickey thinks it might be better to keep Moss at first and play Kubel in an outfield spot instead. He notes that exchanging Barton for Kubel would be a defensive downgrade, however, and it's questionable how much more offense Kubel might provide. He hit .220/.288/.324 for the Diamondbacks this year, and would have to make a significant rebound in the direction of his 2012 form to be an upgrade. Here are more notes from around the Majors.

  • Josh Willingham of the Twins says August waivers are "no big deal," Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (via Twitter). The Twins placed Willingham on recovable trade waivers earlier today, raising the possibility (even if it isn't an incredibly likely one) that Willingham could be dealt. Willingham tells Miller he's in no hurry to leave Minnesota. The outfielder is hitting .214/.348/.393 this season.
  • It's still not impossible that the Twins could trade Justin Morneau. But Morneau is a free agent after the season, so even if the Twins dealt him, they could bring him back for 2014. That decision could be based on how often they want Joe Mauer to play first base, 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey argues (on Twitter). Mackey argues that, in any case, the Twins shouldn't consider more than a one-year deal for Morneau, who appears to be past his prime and doesn't stack up particularly well against other first basemen.
  • Scott Boras, who represents the Nationals' Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, half-jokingly says he prefers "12-year deals" for his players, MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko reports. "I'm more into 12-year deals for young players," says Boras. "The M.O. is that you want to keep within the franchise, you want him there for a long time and you want to be there for the fans and be a marquee for them. … You're going to have to do something different if you're going to be a team of distinction." Boras was in Washington for the Nationals' game against the Marlins, and he seemed to be talking about Harper, although he did not name him directly.

Athletics Designate Pat Neshek For Assignment

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The Athletics announced on Twitter that they have designated right-hander Pat Neshek for assignment. In related moves, Josh Reddick was placed on the disabled list, and right-hander Evan Scribner and first baseman Daric Barton were recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.

Neshek possesses some of the better-looking stats you'll see out of a DFA'ed reliever, as he's posted a 3.58 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings for the A's this season. Stats like FIP (4.57), xFIP (4.66) and SIERA (4.18) all feel that his ERA is a bit of a mirage, however. He's also struggled greatly as of late (six earned runs in his past three innings) and comes with significant platoon splits, as left-handed batters have produced a .327/.379/.577 batting line against the former sixth-round pick.

Neshek joins Chien-Ming Wang, Edinson Volquez and Edgmer Escalona in DFA limbo, as can be seen in MLBTR's new DFA Tracker.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Reddick, Kendrys Morales

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On this date 17 years ago, A's outfielder Brian Lesher became the first Belgian to play in a MLB game contributing a RBI single off Andy Pettitte (who went on to win a career-high 21 games and finished second to Toronto's Pat Hentgen in the AL Cy Young voting that year) as Oakland beat the Yankees 6-4. Lesher would go on to play parts of five seasons with the A's, Mariners, and Blue Jays posting a slash line of .224/.275/.380 with nine home runs and 38 RBI's in 288 plate appearances (108 games). To this day, Lesher is the only Belgian ever to appear in a MLB contest. In other news and notes from the AL West: 

  • Rangers Assistant GM Thad Levine told Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio (via Bowden on Twitter), if the club is going to make a trade before August 31st (players acquired after this date are ineligible for the post-season), it will be for a starting pitcher.
  • Levine adds (again from a Bowden tweet) the Rangers have been searching the waiver wire actively, but most of the quality players are being claimed before them.
  • A's outfielder Josh Reddick left today's game against the Orioles with discomfort in his right wrist and he thinks it's 50-50 as to whether he lands on the disabled list, reports the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser. John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group tweets Daric Barton was pulled from Triple-A Sacramento's game after one at-bat and may join the A's to replace Reddick. Slusser isn't surprised Barton would get the call over outfielders Michael Taylor and Michael Choice because Barton was slated to join the team when rosters expand September 1st and he plays first base very well allowing Brandon Moss to move to the outfield (all Twitter links). The A's 40-man roster currently sits at 39, so Barton could be added without a corresponding move.  
  • A reunion between Kendrys Morales and the Angels would not be shocking, if the pending free agent doesn't re-sign with the Mariners, tweets the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo. The Mariners acquired Morales, hitting .283/.339/.450 with 17 home runs in 522 plate appearances this year, from the Angels last December for left-hander Jason Vargas. 
  • Earlier today, Angels manager Mike Scioscia denied reports he has philosophical differences with GM Jerry Dipoto.

Athletics Acquire Kurt Suzuki

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Kurt Suzuki is headed back to Oakland.  After just over a calendar year in Washington, the Nats and A's have officially announced a trade that will send Suzuki back to Oakland in exchange for Class-A right-hander Dakota Bacus.  Oakland will reportedly assume about $675K of Suzuki's remaining $1.34MM salary as well.  The Athletics' catching depth is currently compromised, with John Jaso on the DL for a concussion and Derek Norris suffering a broken toe suffered on Tuesday. 

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It's likely that Suzuki, a favorite of manager Bob Melvin, will platoon with current A's backstop Stephen Vogt.  A 29-year-old Hawaii native, Suzuki was originally drafted out of Cal State-Fullerton by the A's in the second round in 2004, a few picks after Hunter Pence and Dustin Pedroia.  The Red Sox, in fact, wrestled between picking Pedroia or Suzuki in that draft, wrote WEEI's Alex Speier a few years ago.

Instead, Suzuki debuted with the A's in 2007 and managed to hit 15 home runs in 2009.  The following season, he signed a four-year, $16.25MM extension with Oakland, which still marks the largest contract for a catcher with between three and four years of big league service (though it has since been topped by Buster Posey and Carlos Santana, who had less than three years).  Suzuki talked about the extension in-depth with B.J. Rains for MLBTR in Spring Training this year.  The contract has an $8.5MM club option for 2014 that becomes guaranteed with 113 starts this year, but Oakland does not have enough games remaining for that to become possible.  So, it will remain a club option, which is likely to be declined.  

Suzuki is surely feeling déjà vu with this trade, having been dealt to a contender on Aug. 3 last year when the Nats acquired him for minor league catcher David Freitas.  Suzuki had a nice run offensively for the Nationals last year, but he's dropped off in 2013, hitting just .222/.283/.310 with three homers.  Now, he's returned to the organization that drafted him, tweeting that he's "pumped to be back and ready to go make a run at this."

Bacus, 22, was selected by the A's in the ninth round of the 2012 draft. In 121 1/3 innings for Beloit this season, he's posted a 3.56 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. At the time of the draft, Baseball America noted (subscription required) that Bacus — Indiana State's ace — led his team to a Missouri Valley Conference championship. He sits 90-92 mph with his fastball and features a slider and change-up, though his lack of swinging strikes makes him profile as a No. 4 starter.

Amanda Comak of the Washington Times was the first to report that Suzuki was headed to the A's, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Nationals would receive Bacus and roughly $675K of salary relief.

Steve Adams contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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