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Latest On Frankie Montas

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With the trade deadline approaching, Frankie Montas’ health status is of particular interest to both the Athletics and several other teams around baseball.  The right-hander tossed just one inning on July 3 and hasn’t pitched since, due to shoulder inflammation.  The A’s resisted placing Montas on the 15-day injured list, and it seems as though he could return as early as Thursday, when Oakland opens the second half with a doubleheader against the Tigers.

Montas received a cortisone shot as part of his recovery, and things went “really well” during a bullpen session yesterday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.  The club will continue to observe Montas over the All-Star break, but for now, it would seem like Montas is on pace to get back onto the mound.  Assuming regular rest, Montas would be on pace to make at least two starts prior to the August 2 deadline, though it’s also possible the Athletics could rest him if a trade is close.

Frankie Montas To Return After All-Star Break

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The Mariners have reinstated Carlos Santana from the restricted list, the team announced. In a corresponding roster move, Kevin Padlo was optioned to Triple-A. It’s a good time to return to the Mariners, who are amid a 20-3 run, including an active 12-game winning streak. Santana has appeared in 15 games for the Mariners since being acquired from the Royals, slashing a robust .245/.383/.449 in that time. Elsewhere around the junior circuit…

  • Frankie Montas intends to return to the A’s rotation after the All-Star break, per MLB.com. The right-hander will throw a bullpen on Saturday in the hopes of being ready to make his first start since July 3rd. Montas knows that the sooner he gets back on the hill, the sooner he continues to showcase for a potential trade. “As much as I don’t want to think about it, I don’t know, I think it’s a big possibility that I still get traded,” Montas said, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Vinny Nittoli plans to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). The 31-year-old right-hander has just one career appearance in the Majors. That appearance came last season with the Mariners, who drafted him in the 25th round of the 2014 draft. This season he has logged 36 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.44 ERA for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Athletics Claim David McKay, Designate Jake Lemoine

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The Athletics announced that they have claimed right-hander David McKay off waivers from the Rays. Fellow righty Jake Lemoine has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. McKay had been designated for assignment by the Rays a few days ago when they acquired Christian Bethancourt from the A’s.

McKay, 27, underwent hip surgery in April of 2021 and missed that entire season. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays prior to this year, but was traded to the Yankees for cash considerations before the season began. He made the Yankees 40-man roster but was recalled and optioned to Triple-A three times, only getting two big league innings in the process. He was designated for assignment in June and sent back to the Rays, with cash considerations once again changing hands. He threw another two big leagues innings for the Rays, before being optioned to Triple-A and then being designated in recent days.

He fared quite well for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Yankees’ Triple-A team, throwing 21 2/3 innings with a 2.91 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate, though with subpar walk rate and ground ball rates of 12.5% and 33.3%, respectively. He was less effective for the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A team of the Rays, though in a small sample of just four innings.

Generally speaking, the strikeouts and the walks have been the recipe for McKay, with teams continually intrigued enough by the Ks to give him chances and hope the control improves. For the A’s, their 29-59 record is the worst in baseball, making them perhaps the most logical team to take a shot on a flawed player and hope that he finds a new gear. This is McKay’s last option year, meaning he will have to stick with the big league club next year as long as he holds onto his roster spot.

As for Lemoine, 28, he was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and cracked Oakland’s Opening Day roster. He has struggled in the majors with a 7.71 ERA, though in a small sample of 16 1/3 innings. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, between last year with the Rangers and this year with the A’s. Since the start of 2021, he has thrown 64 Triple-A frames with a 2.67 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate, with ground ball rates around 60% in each season. He still has all three of his options, which could appeal to team’s looking for bullpen depth. The A’s will have a week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him.

Luis Castillo Drawing Widespread Interest; Reds Not Close To Any Deal

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July 12: The Reds aren’t close to any trades as of this morning, tweets Jim Bowden of The Athletic, who adds that “most” contending clubs have checked in on Cincinnati. That includes both the Cardinals and the Mariners, who have not been prominently linked to Castillo until this point (but who both make logical sense as a potential landing spot).

July 11: The Dodgers and Reds have had preliminary talks about Cincinnati starter Luis Castillo, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). Los Angeles joins a growing list of contenders known to be in contact with the Reds front office.

Castillo is one of the sport’s most obvious trade candidates, placing fourth on MLBTR’s Top 50 list last week. The right-hander is arbitration-eligible through 2023, but Cincinnati has no hope of competing this season. With the opportunity to market two possible postseason pushes to contenders, Castillo’s value around the league will never be higher than it is this summer. Teams like the Twins, Padres, Mets, Yankees, and Blue Jays have all been reported to have inquired in recent weeks. That’s presumably not an exhaustive list, as virtually every contender is likely to check in with Cincinnati general manager Nick Krall and his staff.

The 29-year-old Castillo carries a personal-best 2.92 ERA through his first 12 starts of the season. He’s been in peak form of late, tossing 20 innings of three-run ball with 25 strikeouts and five walks over his past three outings. Of course, Castillo has a multi-year track record as one of the sport’s better pitchers. He’s allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine innings in five of his six big league campaigns. One of the game’s hardest throwers, he typically blends a rare combination of swing-and-miss and ground-ball upside. This season’s respective 25.3% strikeout rate and 49.7% grounder percentage are both down a bit from his best levels, but each remains decidedly above-average.

Castillo missed the first month of this season with shoulder soreness. That set him off on a less than ideal start, but he’s rounded into form over the past few weeks. Although his fastball velocity was down a tick in May, he’s built arm strength as the season has worn on. According to Statcast, Castillo has averaged 97.7 MPH on his four-seam and 97.1 MPH on his sinker through his two starts this month. That’s in line with or better than last year’s respective 97.1 MPH and 97.3 MPH season averages, seemingly putting away any concerns clubs might’ve had stemming from his early-season injury.

Alongside teammate Tyler Mahle and A’s hurler Frankie Montas, Castillo is one of three high-octane controllable starters widely expected to be available at the deadline. Mahle is on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder strain, while Montas is dealing with some shoulder inflammation. Mahle has indicated he expects to be reinstated well in advance of the August 2 deadline, though, and the A’s remain hopeful that Montas can avoid the IL entirely and start this week (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). Even if all three pitchers are healthy, one could argue for Castillo to land the strongest return based on his track record and recent dominance.

The Reds are understandably setting their sights high in discussions. Jon Heyman of the New York reports that Cincinnati has sought one of Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza as a headliner in talks with the Yankees. Each player is a top shortstop prospect, with Volpe topping the Yankees’ farm rankings and placing among the 15 best farmhands leaguewide at each of Baseball America, FanGraphs, ESPN and the Athletic heading into the 2022 season. Peraza is generally regarded as the second or third-best player in the New York system; he landed second in the organization and 79th overall on BA’s recent Top 100 update.

It’s hard to envision New York parting with Volpe in any trade, but a player of Peraza’s caliber is a reasonable starting point for the Cincinnati front office. The Blue Jays sent the Twins two prospects generally regarded as top 100 talents (Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson) for a year and a half of José Berríos’ services last summer. Martin was a somewhat divisive player but just a season removed from being drafted fifth and ranked by most outlets as a top 50 overall talent at the time of the deal.

Peraza isn’t having a great season offensively in Triple-A (.242/.313/.411 through 275 plate appearances), but he’s young for the level, having just turned 22. He’s viewed as a strong defensive player, and the Yankees’ belief in he and Volpe was cited frequently as a reason for the club declining to aggressively pursue the big-ticket free agent shortstops available last winter.

Whether or not the Yankees are willing to entertain the possibility of putting Peraza in a Castillo trade, the lofty reported ask reflects the Reds’ leverage in dangling an arm of his caliber. They’ll certainly look towards the upper ranks of the farm systems of other clubs inquiring over the next few weeks. In all likelihood, talks with myriad teams will continue until the days immediately preceding the deadline and perhaps into August 2 itself.

Athletics Select Dermis Garcia

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The Athletics are calling up first baseman Dermis Garcia, according to a team announcement. Garcia is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, but a vacancy was created with yesterday’s trade that sent Christian Bethancourt to the Rays. Whenever Garcia gets into a game, it will be his major league debut.

Garcia, 24, was once a high-profile international signing, joining the Yankees in 2014 with a $3.2MM bonus. In 2015, Baseball America ranked him one of the top 30 Yankee farmhands, comparing him to Miguel Sano, with both players having spent time with the same trainer. Although he was a shortstop at the time of his signing, evaluators expected him to move off the position and become a bat-first prospect, something that has largely come true, with Garcia first shifting to third base and then first base.

Garcia hit for tremendous power during his time in the Yankees’ system, though that also came with piles of strikeouts. He’s never had a strikeout rate lower than 27.7% at any minor league stop in his career. For reference, the MLB average this season is 22.2%. Despite those Ks, Garcia still managed to be productive with his power and walks. He stayed on BA’s list of top Yankee farmhands from 2015 to 2018.

Last year, Garcia reached Double-A, hitting 31 homers and walking 11.7% of the time, but also striking out in 37.9% of his plate appearances. His final line on the year was .210/.307/.486 for a wRC+ of 111. He reached minor league free agency and signed with the A’s in March on a minor league deal. He’s spent the year with the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, getting into 54 games so far. He seems to have improved his plate discipline but sacrificed some power in the process. He has an 11.4% walk rate on the year with a 29.2% strikeout rate, but just eight homers in the famously hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League. His slash line is .251/.338/.444 for a 92 wRC+.

Despite spending all those years in the Yankee system, he’s still just 24 years old. The A’s have Seth Brown as their regular first baseman, though he’s also capable of playing some outfield. The Bethancourt trade also removed one first base/DH option from the team, creating an opening for the club to give Garcia a shot.

Martín Gallegos of MLB.com announced his promotion before the official team announcement.

A's GM David Forst Discusses Future Plans, Deadline, Montas

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  • In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard, A’s general manager David Forst discussed his team’s struggles, the young talent on the roster and in the farm system, the pitching development team, and many other topics.  Forst also noted how the continued uncertainty over the Athletics’ future in Oakland impacts long-term planning, saying “this is sort of almost cliché at this point, but it’s hard, without a ballpark direction and timeline, to really make a plan on what the next few years look like.  Even internally, it’s hard to know what the team will look like the next couple of years.”
  • Forst also talked some trade possibilities both in the future and in the past, noting that of all the Athletics’ moves during the winter, the deal that sent Matt Olson to the Braves “was the one that we had most discussed prior to the lockout.”  Most of the other notable deals were largely negotiated post-lockout, however, leaving the A’s with little time to both remake their roster and bring in new talent.  “That’s why I sort of say there weren’t enough days to make those deals — which again, we knew we were gonna have to do — and also find ways…to get the current team to the level that we’ve sort of become accustomed to,” Forst said.  No such time crunch exists with the upcoming trade deadline, and to that end, Forst (unsurprisingly) said “there’s no panic” about moving Frankie Montas prior to August 2.  “We didn’t trade him in Spring Training because there wasn’t a trade that made sense for us.  That will continue to be the case.  Whether it’s at the deadline or next offseason or whatever, there’s not a feeling at all that in the next 30 days we have to trade Frankie Montas.”

Rays Acquire Christian Bethancourt

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Christian Bethancourt said his goodbyes to his Oakland teammates today, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The A’s traded Bethancourt to the Rays in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). In exchange for Bethancourt, the Rays sent outfielder Cal Stevenson and right-hander Christian Fernandez to Oakland, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). Both teams have announced the deal.

Bethancourt, 30, made it back to the Majors for the first time since 2017. His career began, however, all the way back in 2013 with the Braves. Atlanta eventually traded him to the Padres, where he played from 2016-2017. To that point in his career, Bethancourt owned a .222/.252/.316 line across 489 plate appearances. Since then, Bethancourt has been stuck in Triple-A – with the Brewers in 2018 and the Pirates in 2021.

This season, Bethancourt has burst back onto the scene for an Oakland club that’s largely treading water. The right-handed hitter has slashed .249/.298/.385 in 182 plate appearances while catching and playing first base. He’s also spent ten games as the designated hitter.

For the Rays, they’re getting a versatile defender who can handle the catching spot. Tampa loves defensive versatility, and Bethancourt’s ability to move around the diamond will at least make it possible to keep three catchers on the roster when Mike Zunino returns from injury.

Of course, the Rays haven’t gotten much offense from any catcher on the roster. Zunino registered a measly 43 wRC+ at the dish before going on the injured list, with backup Rene Pinto posting a 27 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances and Francisco Mejia topping the group with a 74 wRC+. Bethancourt’s 99 wRC+ improves upon that lot, but more than that, he gives the Rays some depth at a position where it was previously lacking.

The Rays were thought to have some interest in Willson Contreras, perhaps the top trade available trade target on the market, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal noted a reticence on Tampa’s part to pay high-end prospects for a rental like Contreras. Acquiring Bethancourt doesn’t necessarily take Tampa out of the running for Contreras, but it gives them plenty of leverage in later negotiations.

In many ways, Bethancourt represents a sort of everyman version of Contreras. He’s an offensive upgrade who bats right-handed and can move around the diamond when needed. To his advantage, Bethancourt doesn’t carry the financial obligations that Contreras does, perhaps giving Tampa another reason to consummate this deal now. By making the move today, the Rays give themselves a month to reassess their situation and decide if a bigger splash is necessary.

The Rays designated David McKay for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Bethancourt. After spending most of the spring with the Rays, McKay latched on with the Yankees to start the season. The Rays claimed him off waivers, but he has spent most of the season in Triple-A. He’ll again now be exposed to waivers.

As for Oakland, they’ll pick up a pair of minor leaguers for a veteran that probably didn’t fit on their next contender. MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos provides this quote from manager Mark Kotsay, who said, “Christian did a great job while he was here. It’s tough trading a player who has had an impact on and off the field. He’s been a leader in that clubhouse. .. I’m happy for him that he’s going to a team in contention and in need of catching.” Kotsay still has two catchers on the roster in Sean Murphy and Stephen Vogt.

For Oakland, neither player coming back is a top prospect, but that doesn’t mean they have no future in the bigs. Besides, considering Oakland’s minimal investment in Bethancourt, two minor leaguers is a solid return for the utility catcher.

Stevenson isn’t a top prospect, but he’s a fast-enough outfielder whose ability to play centerfield provides a cleaner path to the Majors than most, despite already being 25 years old. Originally a 10th-round draft choice by the Toronto Blue Jays, Stevenson has spent the past two seasons in the Rays farm system. In Triple-A this year, the southpaw has hit .265/.376/.353 in 203 plate appearances.

Fernandez was signed originally by the Rays out of Venezuela back in 2016. The 22-year-old registered a 2.79 ERA across 58 innings for the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs. He will go to High-A where he will join the Lansing rotation.

Frankie Montas To Miss Next Start Due To Shoulder Inflammation

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Athletics ace Frankie Montas, who experienced a worrying velocity drop over the weekend, underwent an MRI that revealed shoulder inflammation, team trainer Nick Paparesta announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). He’ll receive a cortisone injection and miss his next start, but there’s no further timeline on his absence for now. Notably, the A’s have not yet placed Montas on the injured list, and Paparesta noted that the MRI did not show any structural damage in Montas’ shoulder.

While Montas has avoided the injured list for the time being, it’s still a concerning development for a pitcher who, along with Reds righty Luis Castillo, is widely viewed as one of the prizes of this summer’s trade market. The A’s tore down the bulk of their core over the winter, shipping Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea out in a series of cost-cutting trades that also built up what had become an increasingly thin farm system.

The expectation was that Montas would follow his teammates out the door, but the A’s never found a return they deemed in line with what was reportedly a sky-high asking price. He ultimately stayed put, started for the A’s on Opening Day, and has been the subject of trade speculation throughout the season.

Today’s announcement obviously doesn’t preclude the possibility of a trade, but any recent shoulder issue is going to make interested teams somewhat leery, even if they’ll be able to review all of Montas’ medical records first-hand. And, of course, if the current shoulder ailment is a portent for an absence of any real note, the A’s will likely lose the opportunity to extract peak value a player who was very arguably their most marketable trade chip even dating back to the offseason.

Montas is controlled through the 2023 season via arbitration, meaning they’d have the entire 2022-23 offseason to try again, assuming the right-hander is healthy at that point. They’d also have the first half of the 2023 campaign. That said, the trade value of a healthy Montas won’t ever be higher than it is right now, and if the A’s are unable to move him due to injury, they’ll no doubt be left feeling as though they overplayed their hand.

The 29-year-old Montas has been every bit as good this season as he was in a breakout 2021 showing, pitching to a 3.26 ERA over 17 starts — a total of 96 2/3 innings. The righty’s 25.8% strikeout rate is just barely south of last year’s 26.6% strikeout rate — strikeouts are down league-wide, on the whole — and he’s made improvements in his walk rate (6.2% compared to last year’s 7.3%), ground-ball rate (47.1% to 42.3%), average exit velocity (88.6 mph to 89.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (36.6% to 42.2%). Montas is making $5MM this year and will be eligible for arbitration once more this winter before reaching free agency following the 2023 campaign.

Frankie Montas Leaves Start Early

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  • Athletics starter Frankie Montas left today’s start early after seeing a drop in velocity, per MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos. Montas’ heater was 2.4 mph slower than usual, while his sinker was 2.7 mph slower on average, notes Gallegos. The initial diagnosis is inflammation, reports Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle, but they will need more time to evaluate. Not only is Montas Oakland’s nominal ace, but he’s been one of the more sought-after arms when it comes to the August 2nd trade deadline. A significant arm injury would obviously derail any plans to use the righty as a trade chip.

A’s Designate Adam Kolarek, Option Cristian Pache

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The A’s announced a series of roster moves before tonight’s game in Seattle. Right-hander Adrián Martínez and infielder Vimael Machin have been promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas, as previously reported. Oakland also reinstated outfielder Skye Bolt from the 60-day injured list, placed Jed Lowrie on the 10-day IL due to a left shoulder sprain, and optioned center fielder Cristian Pache and starter Adam Oller to Triple-A. Bolt’s activation required a 40-man roster spot, which has been created by designating reliever Adam Kolarek for assignment.

Kolarek has spent the past couple seasons in Oakland. The A’s acquired him from the Dodgers in February 2021, sending infielder Sheldon Neuse the other way. (Oakland has since reacquired Neuse via waivers). Kolarek has bounced on and off the active roster since that point, making 27 combined appearances. He was tagged for ten runs in nine innings last season, and it’s been a similar struggle thus far in 2022.

Through 17 2/3 innings, the southpaw has posted a 4.58 ERA. Kolarek has struck out only 11.4% of batters faced on a 4.7% swinging strike rate, and he’s walked a personal-high 10.1% of opponents. Kolarek has never missed many bats, but he’s seen his average fastball drop from the 91-92 MPH range down to 88.1 MPH this year. The 33-year-old has also allowed eight runs over 12 2/3 frames with Las Vegas during his optional stints.

Those struggles led the A’s to move on, but Kolarek could still hold some appeal to other clubs. The sidearmer has typically been excellent at handling left-handed opponents. For his career, he’s held southpaws to a pitiful .190/.243/.260 line over 277 plate appearances. Right-handers have teed off at a .311/.383/.490 clip, but that kind of situational dominance made him a productive bullpen option in Los Angeles and Tampa Bay earlier in his career. Kolarek also routinely generates ground-balls at a 60% clip or better, and that’s been the case even as his velocity and swing-and-miss have taken a step back in Oakland.

While Kolarek’s time in the organization could be coming to an end, the A’s are surely hopeful Pache will yet emerge as a member of the long-term core. The 23-year-old was one of four players (arguably the headliner) of the Spring Training return from the Braves for Matt Olson. He’s gone on to start 60 of the team’s 72 games in center field, but his first season in green and gold has been a disappointment.

Pache carries just a .159/.203/.224 line across 214 plate appearances. He’s collected only eight extra-base hits while walking at a subpar 5.1% rate and striking out 26.2% of the time. Of the 206 MLB hitters with at least 200 trips to the plate, Pache ranks last with a 24 wRC+ (suggesting he’s been 76 percentage points worse than the league average batter). The non-competitive A’s continued to give him opportunities to get on track offensively, but his woes have spiraled of late. Dating back to the start of June, he’s collected only six hits and three walks over 19 games.

Of course, Pache has long been a glove-first player. He drew top prospect attention during his time in the Atlanta system based largely on the strength of his defense, which most evaluators suggested could be among the league’s best. Pache has lived up to that reputation early in his MLB days. He ranks fourth among outfielders in Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric this season, checking in seven plays better than par. That kind of ability could make Pache a perennial Gold Glove candidate, but he’ll need to hit far better than he has this season if he’s to earn everyday run in the majors.

The Braves had optioned Pache during both the 2020 and ’21 campaigns. Assuming he spends 20+ days in the minors this year, he’ll exhaust his third and final option year. That means the A’s will need to keep him on the active roster next season, assuming they don’t want to make him available to other teams. Needless to say, organizational higher-ups will hope that this latest reboot against upper minors arms will help him take a step forward at the plate. Pache owns a more serviceable .267/.331/.414 line through 458 Triple-A plate appearances; the A’s would be thrilled if he could come anywhere close to that kind of production in the majors given his defensive acumen.

How quickly Pache returns to the big leagues will depend in large part on how he hits in Las Vegas. Getting back at some point this season would have important service time repercussions, as he’s just shy of reaching a full year of big league service. Pache entered the 2022 campaign with 79 days. Players reach a full service year upon accruing 172 days on an MLB roster or injured list, meaning he needs 93 days this season to surpass the one-year mark. Pache has tallied around 84 days in the majors to this point, so he needs about a week and a half more time in the big leagues in 2022 to keep on track towards a post-2027 free agent trajectory.

While Pache tries to find his footing, the A’s figure to turn center field over to Bolt. The 28-year-old hasn’t played in the big leagues this season due to an oblique strain, but he’ll get the nod in center tonight. Bolt has only 37 games of MLB experience under his belt, but he’s out of options and has to remain on the active roster or be designated for assignment now that he’s healthy.

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