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Brent Rooker

A’s Reluctant To Trade Brent Rooker

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Brent Rooker has been one of the best hitters in the league over the past two seasons. He hit 30 home runs in an All-Star campaign a year ago. He has been even better this year despite being left out of the Midsummer Classic, clubbing 25 homers with a .288/.365/.583 slash across 378 plate appearances.

If he’s available, Rooker would be arguably the best offensive player on the market. It’s not clear that another team will be able to pry him from Oakland. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote yesterday that the A’s were leaning towards holding their breakout slugger. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman hears similarly, tweeting this morning that the A’s are informing other teams they’re reluctant to part with Rooker or center fielder JJ Bleday.

As MLBTR explored in more detail in a post for Front Office subscribers this week, whether to trade Rooker is the biggest decision the A’s are facing. There’s a case for moving him. The A’s are at least another season away from postseason contention. This summer’s market looks like it’ll be light on impact bats. Rooker didn’t break through as a regular until after his 28th birthday. He turns 30 in November and is probably amidst the best season of his career.

At the same time, the A’s aren’t facing contractual pressure to make a deal. Rooker is playing for marginally more than the league minimum salary. He’ll qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under team control through 2027. His power-oriented skillset is the kind that pays well over time in arbitration, but his first-year salary will be eminently affordable. The A’s don’t have a single guaranteed contract on their 2025 payroll ledger. Even with ownership imposing huge limitations, they’ll be able to accommodate a salary in the $4-6MM range for Rooker without issue.

Bleday, 26, always seemed like more of a long shot trade candidate. Oakland acquired the lefty-hitting outfielder from the Marlins going into 2023 in a one-for-one swap for A.J. Puk. That deal looked skewed in Miami’s favor during the first season but has been more balanced this year. Bleday, a former sixth overall pick out of Vanderbilt, has stepped up as the A’s primary center fielder. He’s hitting .233/.314/.430 with 12 homers across 422 plate appearances.

The A’s control Bleday for four seasons beyond this one. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026 campaign. He now looks like a potential regular (or at least a strong side platoon bat) whom the A’s have no urgency to move.

Oakland general manager David Forst said earlier this week that the team wasn’t looking to deal all their players of note. “We may do some things, but anyone who expects we’re going to continue to just move guys for prospects will probably be disappointed because there’s guys here we think are part of the team beyond this year,” Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on Monday (X link). Fost didn’t specify names but was surely referring to players like Rooker, Bleday and closer Mason Miller — who went on the injured list this week and is very unlikely to move. While those comments could include some amount of gamesmanship — it wouldn’t serve the front office well to exaggerate their urgency to subtract — it seems they’re projecting a similar message in conversations with teams.

If the A’s hold Rooker and Bleday, they’d likely be in for a quiet deadline. Setup man Lucas Erceg should draw interest. They could move rental lefty relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland for minimal returns. Miguel Andujar is hitting reasonably well and may be on the radar for teams looking for a right-handed bench bat, while back-end starters Ross Stripling and Paul Blackburn just returned from the injured list and could get a few calls.

Mariners Still Active In Trade Market

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The Mariners’ acquisition of Randy Arozarena last night is perhaps the most notable swap of the season thus far, but Seattle isn’t content with that lone acquisition. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that the M’s are still talking to other clubs, looking to add another bat and a high-leverage reliever. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times adds some context on the team’s search for bats, reporting that two of the top bats on the market — Oakland’s Brent Rooker and Chicago’s Luis Robert — may not be likely to land in Seattle. The A’s have been reluctant to trade with Seattle, per Jude, while an acquisition of Robert is considered “highly unlikely at this point.”

Both Rooker and Robert would add a controllable, high-end bat to what has been a stagnant Mariners offense. Rooker is arb-eligible for the first time this offseason and controlled three more years. Robert is signed through the 2025 season, and his contract contains a pair of $20MM club options.

The A’s haven’t always been reluctant to deal within the AL West, but the last time they completed a trade with the Mariners came back in 2017, when the two clubs swapped Emilio Pagan for Ryon Healy. In fact, the only trade they’ve made with a division rival in the past three years was this April’s acquisition of righty Brandon Bielak in a deal that sent cash back to the Astros. It’s always possible there’ll be a change in direction, but their once-frequent intra-division trades (e.g. Elvis Andrus, Khris Davis, Jed Lowrie, Jurickson Profar, Pagan, Healy) have dried up in recent years.

With regard to Robert, there’s no intra-division component to be considered, but traction on Robert hasn’t really picked up, it seems. ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that the White Sox have set a high asking price and haven’t yet seen potential trade partners willing to meet it or even come particularly close.

The mere mention of Rooker and Robert aligns largely with the latest reporting from Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, who suggests that Seattle’s front office has been “aggressive” in trying to add multiple impact bats. Arozarena checks one box, but the Mariners’ lineup could use upgrades at multiple spots.

It’s even possible the M’s and Rays could line up on another deal; Kramer writes that the two teams discussed infielders Isaac Paredes and Yandy Diaz in the offseason. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets that the Mariners are again a potential landing spot for Diaz, who is drawing trade interest and was reinstated from the restricted list within the past hour after a week-long absence to tend to an undisclosed family matter.

Like Arozarena, the 32-year-old Diaz got out to a slow start in 2024 but has heated up in recent months. Over his past 280 plate appearances, he’s slashing a robust .302/.354/.453 with seven homers, 16 doubles, a triple and just a 13.9% strikeout rate. He’d give the Mariners an upgrade over the recently designated Ty France and simultaneously accomplish the team’s ongoing goal of reducing their MLB-worst strikeout rate. He’s earning $8MM the second season of a three-year, $24MM contract extension and is owed $10MM in 2025 before the team must decide on a $12MM option for the 2026 season.

Paredes, 25, is arguably one of the most appealing possibilities on the entire trade market. He’s played third base primarily of late, but the versatile infielder can handle all four infield positions and has emerged as a genuine middle-of-the-order slugger. Dating back to Opening Day 2023, he’s slashed .250/.353/.469 with 47 homers in 241 games. He’s earning only $3.4MM this season in the first of four arbitration seasons (as a Super Two player). Paredes’ versatility, productive bat, remaining control and currently affordable price tag could make the prospect cost to acquire him prohibitive, but the Rays are generally open to listen on anyone — and teams have been at least inquiring on Paredes recently.

The A’s Difficult Deadline Decision

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The A's are one of the few obvious sellers this summer. Oakland will certainly move some players by next Tuesday, but it's not clear if they'll dominate the trade market. The A's don't have anyone on significant long-term commitments that they'll be trying to offload. They could move a couple middle relievers and call it a deadline.

That's not all that interesting. Their bigger decisions will be whether to deal players under team control. They've reportedly set a massive demand on Mason Miller, whom they could stretch back into a rotation role next season. Miller has been the subject of a ton of trade speculation with good reason. There's been less chatter, at least publicly, about Brent Rooker.

The front office might have an even tougher call in the coming days regarding Rooker than they do with their star closer. Rooker has been one of the most productive offensive players in baseball over the past season and a half. He could be the best hitter traded. Yet his winding career arc makes him a tricky player to value -- potentially making it tough for the A's and other teams to align on an asking price.

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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.

Journeymen Taking Advantage Of Playing Time With Athletics

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Opportunities in the big leagues can be fleeting. Jackson Holliday of the Orioles came into this year considered the best prospect in all of baseball. Despite being just 20 years old, the Orioles called him up to the majors this year. But after just 10 games, during which he struck out in half of his plate appearances, he was sent back down to the minors.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently took an interesting look at the struggles of several young players, including Holliday, but also Colt Keith, Kyle Manzardo, Henry Davis, Jackson Chourio and Wyatt Langford. Several people in the game seem to agree that the gap in quality between Triple-A and the majors is widening.

There are various theories for why that might be happening. J.D. Martinez suggests that the new rules about smaller rosters in the minor leagues are squeezing out some veteran pitchers, reducing the overall quality of arms on the farm. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt views it similarly. Orioles general manager Mike Elias suggests that the scouting in the majors is so advanced that players will have their weaknesses attacked to a much larger degree than in the minors. Rays manager Kevin Cash told the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (video on X) that minor league pitchers might be more worried about developing their skills as opposed to results, whereas MLB pitchers will be the inverse.

The reality may be a combination of those factors and more. But whatever the cause or causes, there seems to be a growing consensus among people in the game that the jump to the big leagues is bigger than ever before. For a team like the Orioles that is in a battle in the American League East, this puts them in a tough position. Do you let a player like Holliday learn on the job, improving your team in the long run, even if there’s short-term pain? Or do you construct your roster for the best chance of success today?

For a rebuilding club, the choice is much easier. With a low chance of short-term success, the long-term play is the obvious one. This is one silver lining of not being a competitive club: there’s plenty of playing time for both prospects and former prospects.

This is perhaps something that will become even more important in the current era of baseball. With the recent introduction of the lottery system, rebuilding teams have less access to the top of the draft. For instance, the White Sox have the fifth pick in this summer’s draft. That means they can’t pick higher than tenth next year, even though they are one of the worst teams in baseball right now.

Which brings me around, finally, to the Athletics. Apologies to any inverted pyramid traditionalists who have been pulling their hair out to this point, but I thought all that preamble was interesting framing.

The A’s have been trading away all their best players in recent years and now are naturally giving a lot of playing time to their prospects, either the homegrown variety or the ones they traded for. But they’ve also given some playing time to several former prospects that have bounced around and struggled in other uniforms but are now finding success in green and gold. If these players can keep it up, they could be a part of the next good Athletics’ club or perhaps be traded for yet more prospects, good for the club either way. Let’s take a look at them…

Brent Rooker

Now 29 years old, Rooker was drafted by the Twins in 2017 and made his major league debut with that club in 2020. In April of 2022, he was traded to the Padres alongside Taylor Rogers in a deal sending Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagán the other way. The Friars mostly kept him on optional assignment and then flipped him to the Royals at the deadline for Cam Gallagher. The Royals also gave him more playing time at Triple-A than in the majors before putting him on waivers in November.

Rooker had continued hitting well at Triple-A but not in the majors. He had received 270 major league plate appearances through the moment he was put on waivers, scattered over three seasons and for three different teams, with a batting line of .200/.289/.379. But in 632 Triple-A plate appearances over 2021 and 2022, he hit 48 homers and walked at a 13.3% clip, leading to a .271/.383/.614 line and 149 wRC+.

The A’s put in a claim and have given Rooker plenty of playing time in the past year-plus. He has been making the most of it, to put it mildly. In 663 plate appearances since the start of last year, he has punched out at a 32.4% clip but also launched 40 home runs. His batting line of .253/.336/.509 translates to a 137 wRC+. He isn’t considered a strong defender, even in an outfield corner, but the A’s surely don’t mind as long as he keeps mashing like this. He plays designated hitter most of the time and has produced 3.5 wins above replacement since coming to Oakland, per FanGraphs.

He came into this year with a service time count of two years and 59 days. He will qualify for arbitration for the first time this winter, and the A’s can control him through 2027, their planned final year in Sacramento. They could keep him around and in the lineup for that time or they could trade him whenever they get an enticing offer, depending on how their view the timeline on their return to contention.

Abraham Toro

Toro, now 27, was drafted by the Astros back in 2017 and was up in the majors with them by 2019. The trilingual Québécois infielder got limited playing time in Houston and was traded to the Mariners in 2021 alongside Joe Smith, with Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero going the other way. He got regular playing time with Seattle in 2022 but struggled. Prior to 2023, the M’s flipped him to the Brewers with Jesse Winker, acquiring Kolten Wong and cash in return. The Brewers mostly kept Toro in the minors, only putting him into nine major league games last season. He was traded to the A’s in November of last year.

At the time of the deal, Toro had strong results in the minor leagues, slashing .294/.387/.480 on the farm from 2021 to 2023 for a 119 wRC+. But he had produced a line of just .211/.282/.354 in 934 major league plate appearances.

However, in 165 trips to the plate for Oakland this year, he’s hit four home runs while slashing .288/.339/.444 for a wRC+ of 130. He’s also stolen a couple of bases while bouncing between the three non-shortstop infield positions. He already has 1.0 fWAR on the year. He qualified for arbitration this past winter, making $1.275MM this year, and has two more passes before he’s slated for free agency after 2026.

Tyler Nevin

Nevin is just a couple weeks away from his 27th birthday. He was drafted by the Rockies in 2015 but never made it to the majors in Colorado. In 2020, the Rox acquired Mychal Givens from the Orioles, sending Nevin, Terrin Vavra and a player to be named later to Baltimore. He got bits of playing time with the O’s in 2021 and 2022 but didn’t do much.

He was designated for assignment by Baltimore and flipped to the Tigers for cash, just before the calendar flipped over to 2023. He didn’t hit much in the majors for the Tigers and spent most of the year on optional assignment, exhausting his final option year in the process. That left him out of options going into 2024, which caused him to ride the transactions carousel for a bit. He was designated for assignment by the Tigers in January of this year and flipped back to the Orioles for cash. He didn’t make Baltimore’s Opening Day roster, which put him into DFA limbo again, this time getting claimed by the A’s.

Nevin’s output this year hasn’t been quite as strong as that of Rooker or Toro, but it’s a similar step forward from a guy who has always hit in the minors and is now improving in the majors. From 2022-23, Nevin hit 22 home runs in 576 Triple-A plate appearances, also drawing walks at a 10.2% clip. That created a combined batting line of .315/.394/.522 and a 134 wRC+. But his major league work over those same two years resulted in a line of just .198/.302/.282.

Oakland has given him 130 plate appearances so far this year, and he’s launched four home runs. His 8.5% walk rate is just a hair below this year’s 8.6% league average. His .235/.315/.365 batting line leads to a 103 wRC+, indicating his offensive output has been 3% above league average overall. As mentioned, it’s not as emphatic as the jump from Rooker or Toro, but it’s still miles ahead of what Nevin did in the last two years. He’s also provided the club with some flexibility, having lined up at all four corner spots, allowing them to rotate their prospects into the lineup with ease. Nevin came into 2024 with just over a year of service time, meaning he still won’t be arbitration-eligible after this year and can potentially be retained through 2028.

Austin Adams

The A’s have also needed plenty of innings covered on the pitching side, and there are interesting developments there as well. The 33-year-old Adams has been bouncing around the big leagues for years. He debuted with the Nationals back in 2017 and has since pitched for the Mariners, Padres and Diamondbacks. Apart from his 2021 season in San Diego, he’s never topped 32 innings in the majors.

That’s partly due to injuries but also due to a significant lack of command. He finished 2023 with 114 1/3 major league innings under his belt with a 4.17 earned run average. He had always been able to punch guys out, carrying a 33.1% strikeout rate into the season — but also a 14.6% walk rate. Additionally, he’d plunked 31 batters, garnering attention in 2021 when he somehow hit 24 batters, leading the league despite throwing far fewer innings than dozens of starting pitchers.

Adams was outrighted by the Diamondbacks at the end of last year and elected free agency. He initially landed with the Mets on a split deal, holding a roster spot for a few months before they outrighted him. Since he had less than five years of service time then, rejecting the outright assignment would have meant forfeiting the remainder of the money on his contract, so he stayed. The Oakland bullpen took a hit when Trevor Gott required Tommy John surgery, so they sent cash to the Mets for Adams just a few days before the season started.

So far, the move to Oakland is working out brilliantly. Adams has a tidy 1.23 ERA through 19 appearances, striking out 32.8% of opponents. More importantly, his 8.2% walk rate is a bit lower than average and much better than his previous career work. He’s also getting ground balls on 51.6% of balls in play. He won’t be able to strand 84.2% of baserunners forever, but his 2.23 FIP and 2.31 SIERA suggest he would have been posting good results even with neutral favor from the baseball gods. With Mason Miller locking down the closer’s role, Adams has become a key setup arm, with 11 holds already this year.

Adams is making just $800K this season, per the Associated Press, which is barely above the $740K league minimum. He came into this year with four years and 150 days of service, meaning he’s slated to finish the season at 5.150, just shy of the six-year mark required for automatic free agency. That means he can be retained for 2025 via arbitration, which could increase the attraction for a club looking for bullpen upgrades at the deadline.

Lucas Erceg

It might be a stretch to call Erceg a “journeyman” in the common use of the word, since he only played for one other club before coming to the A’s. He was drafted by the Brewers in 2016 and was with them until May of 2023. But he has nonetheless taken a circuitous route to where he is today.

He was initially drafted as a third baseman but didn’t hit much in the minors and transitioned to pitching. His first official action on the mound was in 2021, pitching in Double-A. He threw 47 2/3 innings with a 5.29 ERA. As one would expect for someone new to pitching at a relatively high minor league level, control was an issue. Erceg walked 16.4% of batters faced that year, but his 21.1% strikeout rate was reasonable and he also induced grounders at a strong 56.8% rate.

In 2022, he tossed 61 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.55 ERA. His 13.1% walk rate and 24.4% strikeout rate were both gradual improvements over the prior season’s marks. He started 2023 back at Triple-A and was posting similar numbers when the A’s traded for him in May, sending cash to the Brewers. Oakland added him to the roster just a couple days later, and he stayed up with the big league club the rest of the season. Erceg logged 55 big league innings with a 4.75 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate in 2023.

He seems to have taken a big step forward so far in 2024, with a 3.18 ERA through 17 appearances. His 11.4% walk rate is still high but better than what he showed last year. He’s also punched out 34.3% of batters faced, a huge jump, while keeping 44.4% of balls in play on the ground. He’s earned a couple of saves and seven holds already this year. His fastball has been averaging 98.5 miles per hour, and he’s also thrown a changeup, sinker and slider.

What to do with Erceg will be an interesting decision for the A’s. On the one hand, he came into this season with less than a year of service time. That means he’s still nowhere near arbitration and can be retained through 2029. He also has a full slate of options.

They could hold onto him to be a part of their next competitive window and part of the team that debuts in Las Vegas. On the other hand, his unusual path means that he’s now 29 years old, with an uncertain future on account of his strange circumstances. Given the volatile nature of relievers and the fact that Erceg has essentially just been a windfall for them, they might be tempted to make him available in trades and try to secure players with more stable paths forward.

Michael Kelly

Kelly, 31, was drafted by the Padres way back in 2011. Since then, he has bounced to the Orioles, Astros, Phillies and Guardians, mostly in the minor leagues. He was also in indie ball in 2019 and missed the 2020 pandemic year, before resurfacing in affiliated ball in 2021.

He was a starter for most of the early parts of his minor league career but transitioned to the bullpen more recently. In the Astros’ system in 2021, he tossed 50 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.70 ERA. He struck out 29.5% of batters while walking 8.6%.

Kelly was with the Phillies in 2022 and had a 5.29 ERA in 51 Triple-A innings, but he still struck out 29.1% of batters faced along with a 10.6% walk rate. He got to make a brief major league debut with Philly that year, tossing four innings in June and July before being outrighted off the roster.

He signed a minor league deal with Cleveland last year and ended up having a fine season: 16 2/3 innings of major league work resulted in a 3.78 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate. Those walks were obviously on the high side, but Kelly didn’t allow a home run in that time. He also threw 39 2/3 innings in the minors with a 3.40 ERA.

Nevertheless, Kelly was designated for assignment in November and claimed by the A’s. He’s tossed 24 innings for Oakland so far this year with an ERA of exactly 3.00. His 16.2% strikeout rate is well below average, but he’s limited walks to a 7.1% rate and kept 42.3% of balls in play on the ground. He also seems to be doing a good job of limiting damage done by opponents. Per Statcast, his average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate are all in the 92nd percentile or better. He’s thrown his sweeper more than 50% of the time both this year and last year. It’s not leading to huge strikeout numbers, but hitters seem to be struggling to square it up.

Kelly came into this season with less than a year of service, meaning he can be retained well into the future. He still has a couple of minor league options as well, meaning he can be easily sent down to the minors if his results take a turn. The A’s could potentially just hang onto him for years to come but would also likely be open to trades, given Kelly’s age and that he was just a waiver claim.

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Small-sample caveats need to apply to all of this, as we’re still quite early in the season. But for the rebuilding A’s, it would be a nice victory if even a few of the names in this group could maintain their strong starts. The club traded away Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Sean Murphy and others in recent years, with most of the players coming back in those deals having been fairly unimpressive thus far. If they hit the jackpot on a couple of guys in this group from waiver claims and small trades, that would soften the blow of whiffing on those bigger deals. As previously mentioned, rebuilding is mostly painful — but giving shots to journeymen like this is one silver lining, and the A’s have seen some positive results there so far.

Athletics Select Max Schuemann

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The Athletics announced that outfielder Brent Rooker has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a costochondral cartilage injury. Infielder/outfielder Max Schuemann was selected to take Rooker’s place on the active roster. To open a spot for Schuemann on the 40-man, right-hander Luis Medina was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Rooker was removed from Sunday’s game to due abdominal soreness, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com, and hasn’t played since. Costochondral cartilage is connected to the ribs, which tracks with his reported soreness. The club has not provided any timeline for Rooker’s expected absence.

He had a late-bloomer breakout last year at the age of 28, hitting 30 homers for the A’s tough also striking out at a 32.7% clip. He played in eight games this year, starting in right field twice but mostly serving as the designated hitter. His absence will mean the club can rotate various guys through the DH slot and give plate appearances to their young and developing hitters.

It will also allow Schuemann to make it to the majors for the first time in his career, just a couple of months ahead of his 27th birthday, which is in June. A 20th-round selection of the A’s in the 2018 draft, Schuemann didn’t get a lot of attention from prospect evaluators until a breakout season in 2021.

That year, he went from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A, playing 119 games between those three levels. He paired a 10.1% walk rate with a 19.6% strikeout rate and slashed .271/.372/.388 for a wRC+ of 111. He also stole 52 bases in 57 tries and bounced around to various infield and outfield positions.

Going into 2022, Baseball America ranked him the #27 prospect in the system while FanGraphs gave him an honorable mention. That year, he continued to get on base at a decent clip and steal bases at the Double-A level, but he struck out in 39% of his Triple-A appearances. That was in a small sample of 41 trips to the plate over 11 games, but it perhaps suggested he was overmatched at the top level of the minors.

But Schuemann continued to improve in 2023. He finally got an extended stretch of Triple-A playing time, 433 plate appearances in 103 games, and responded well. He only hit nine home runs but drew walks at a 14.3% rate while keeping his strikeouts down to a 20.1% clip. He slashed .277/.402/.429  for a wRC+ of 109 while stealing 20 bases in 29 tries.

Per Melissa Lockard of The Athletic, Schuemann went to the Dominican Republic for some winter ball a few months back but was hit in the head with a pitch in his first game, then sat out the rest of the season. Whatever effects there were from that HBP seemed to have passed by the spring, as he hit .294/.405/.382 during Cactus League play.

During his minor league career, Schuemann has played all four infield positions and all three outfield spots. He’ll presumably plug into that roll for the big league club, bouncing all around the diamond as needed while the rebuilding A’s audition their young players for roles in the future of the club.

As for Medina, he was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in early March. His timeline isn’t clear but he hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment and the club evidently doesn’t expect him back soon. This transfer means he will be eligible to be activated before late May.

Designated Hitter Possibilities For Diamondbacks

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The defending National League champions were among the most aggressive teams early in the offseason. They acquired Eugenio Suárez to address third base and fortified the rotation via a four-year, $80MM contract with Eduardo Rodríguez. Just before Christmas, they reunited with left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a three-year, $42MM guarantee.

Arizona hasn’t made a major league addition since finalizing their new contract with Gurriel a month ago. They’re not done, however. GM Mike Hazen has said a few times the Snakes are looking for a hitter they can plug in at the DH spot. He reiterated that in a chat with Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic not long after the new year, suggesting at the time they felt they were likelier to add another bat in free agency than through trade. While Arizona was focused primarily on right-handed hitters early in the winter, their deals with Suárez and Gurriel have balanced the lineup. Hazen indicated they’re considering DH options of either handedness at this point.

A few of their reported targets remain on the market. Some potential fits:

Right-Handed Free Agents

  • J.D. Martinez: Martinez, who mashed in a two-month stint for Arizona at the end of the 2017 season, remains one of the more productive hitters in the majors. He’s coming off perhaps his best year since 2019. He blasted 33 home runs in only 479 plate appearances for the Dodgers a season ago. His .271/.321/.572 batting line was stellar and he turned in his highest hard contact rate (54.8%) of the Statcast era. The huge power production partially masks an uptick in whiffs, as he struck out at a career-high 31.1% clip. That’s a bit alarming, but teams would happily live with the strikeouts if they anticipate Martinez hitting for that kind of power again. Arizona was tied to Martinez, who did not receive a qualifying offer from L.A., in early December. The Blue Jays, Angels and Mets have also been tied to his market.
  • Jorge Soler: Soler, 32 next month, drilled 36 homers for the Marlins a season ago. His .250/.341/.512 showing was a huge improvement on the .207/.295/.400 mark he turned in during his first year in Miami. Soler made the easy call to decline a $13MM player option in search of a multi-year pact. The Marlins decided not to issue a QO and, according to the slugger, haven’t shown any interest in a reunion. While Soler is one of the sport’s streakiest hitters, he’s near the top of the league in raw power. He draws plenty of walks and trimmed his strikeouts to a managable 24.3% clip last season. Soler should find at least two guaranteed years and has an argument for a three-year pact. Arizona checked in on his market in early December. They’ve been joined by the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Mariners in that regard (although Seattle is probably out of the mix after signing Mitch Garver and reacquiring Mitch Haniger).
  • Justin Turner: Arizona has been linked to Turner in consecutive offseasons. Even at 39, he continues to produce at the plate. He’s coming off a .276/.345/.455 showing with 23 longballs in 626 trips to the dish for the Red Sox. His is a balanced offensive profile. He walks at an average rate, makes a decent amount of hard contact and remains very difficult to strike out (17.6% strikeout percentage last year). Turner is no longer capable of playing every day at third base, but he can factor in at either corner infield spot while logging the bulk of his at-bats at DH. Toronto, the incumbent Red Sox, and Mets have also been linked to him this winter.
  • Rhys Hoskins: Hoskins is the only player in this group to whom the D-Backs haven’t been connected. Perhaps he’s simply not interested in signing as a full-time designated hitter. With Christian Walker at first base, the Snakes would have to push Hoskins into a bat-only role on most days. If he’s open to that possibility, Hoskins makes sense as one of the more consistent offensive players still on the market. The longtime Phillie missed last year after tearing his ACL in Spring Training. Between 2019-22, he hit .240/.349/.479 in more than 2000 trips to the plate. Philadelphia did not issue him a qualifying offer.

Left-Handed Platoon Bats

  • Brandon Belt: While Arizona hasn’t been tied to Belt this offseason, that’s true of essentially everyone. There haven’t been any public revelations on his market despite his strong 2023 season in a platoon capacity for the Blue Jays. The longtime Giant hit .254/.369/.490 with 19 homers through 404 plate appearances. That came almost entirely against right-handed pitching, but he’s still a productive three-true-outcomes hitter when he holds the platoon advantage.
  • Joc Pederson: Last year wasn’t a great showing for Pederson, who hit .235/.348/.416 with 15 homers across 425 trips for the Giants. That’s not what San Francisco envisioned when extending him a near-$20MM qualifying offer last winter. Pederson won’t come close to that kind of salary this time around. Still, he’s only a year removed from a .274/.353/.521 line. Pederson continues to post hard contact rates near the top of the league and has five 20-homer seasons on his résumé.

Trade Possibilities

While Hazen indicated a free agent pursuit was likelier than a trade, they’re not going to close off the latter market entirely. If they don’t find an agreeable price point with any of their targets on the open market, there are a few speculative possibilities on the trade front.

  • Eloy Jiménez: Jiménez is a right-handed hitter who has flashed 30-homer power upside. His career has been interrupted by frequent injuries, including extended absences in 2021 and ’22 (for a ruptured pectoral tendon and a hamstring tendon tear, respectively). Last year was only the second time in his career that he surpassed 100 games. It was also among his least productive seasons, as he hit .272/.317/.441 with 18 homers through 489 plate appearances. Jiménez will make $13MM next year and is guaranteed a $3MM buyout on the first of two club options for 2025-26. The Sox reportedly haven’t found much interest on the trade market as a result.
  • Harold Ramírez: The Rays have floated Ramírez in trade discussions as a potential sell-high candidate. The 29-year-old had an impressive .313/.353/.460 showing last year. He’s up to a .306/.348/.432 slash in nearly 900 plate appearances since Tampa Bay acquired him on the eve of the 2022 season. That production is built around a batting average on balls in play above .350 as opposed to prototypical DH power. While that and an aggressive offensive approach could give some teams pause, he’s a high-contact righty hitter with gap power and the ability to take the ball to all fields. Ramírez is on track to go to an arbitration hearing with Tampa Bay to determine his 2024 salary. He filed at $4.3MM, while the team countered at $3.8MM. He’ll be eligible for arbitration once more after that.
  • Brent Rooker: Rooker, 29, turned in a career year for the A’s. Claimed off waivers from Kansas City last offseason, he popped 30 homers with a .246/.329/.488 showing in 526 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter posted excellent numbers against southpaws (.279/.354/.519) and acceptable production versus same-handed arms (.230/.316/.472). He struck out in nearly a third of his trips but tapped into the huge raw power that made him the 35th overall pick in the 2017 draft. Rooker is still a year from arbitration and under club control for four seasons. The A’s don’t have any urgency to trade him, but they probably wouldn’t consider him a core piece of their long-term rebuild given his age and defensive limitations.

MLB Announces 2023 All-Star Rosters

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The starters for the 2023 All-Star Game were already announced earlier this week, and today the league revealed the reserve selections and the pitching staffs for the National League and American League teams.  Fan balloting determined the game’s starters, while the reserves and pitchers were picked by a combination of the player ballot and selections from the league office.

This won’t be the final list of players involved, as some more substitutions will be announced later for players who are injured or who have opted not to participate.  Every team must have at least one player represented at the Midsummer Classic, and the starting pitchers for the game will be announced on July 10.

Of note, Shohei Ohtani will be in the game as both a DH and as a pitcher for the third consecutive season.  The Braves led all teams with eight All-Stars, while the Rangers weren’t far behind with six players chosen.  This year’s All-Star Game takes place in Seattle on July 11.

National League

American League

The A’s May Have Found A Hidden Gem On The Waiver Wire

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2022 was a year of change for Brent Rooker, who was a member of four different organizations within the span of seven months.  After five years with the Twins, Rooker was dealt along with Taylor Rogers to the Padres for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan in April 2022.  From there, Rooker found himself on the move again at the trade deadline when San Diego sent him to the Royals for catcher Cam Gallagher.  Rooker finished out the season in K.C. but was designated for assignment in November, paving the way for the Athletics to claim him off waivers.

As Rooker noted in a chat with MLBTR readers back in February, the specific timing of the trades made things particularly difficult since “one came on Opening Day of the Major League season and one was the very last deal of the deadline.  I knew it was definitely possible that I was going to get moved at the deadline but once we reached 4:00 [PM EST], I thought I was safe, only to get called about 15 minutes later.”

“The moving around is tough and its hard to get settled or into a routine with so much constant change.  That being said, its just part of the job and something you have to learn to work through.  I’m incredibly excited to be with Oakland and hope to play well and earn some major league opportunities!”

Stability isn’t usually a word associated with an A’s franchise that has made a habit of roster overhauls, including the latest fire sale that has seen the Athletics part ways with several prominent veterans as part of the latest rebuild.  The result hasn’t been pretty, as the A’s entered play today with a league-worst 7-26 record, and the increasing possibility of a move to Las Vegas has led to a lot of public discord amongst Oakland fans.

Though it all, however, Rooker has become a major bright spot in the early portion of the 2023 season.  Entering the year with a career .200/.289/.379 slash line over 270 plate appearances in the majors, Rooker has exploded to hit .333/.442/.726 with 10 home runs over his first 104 PA in an Athletics uniform.  Rooker’s slugging percentage and 218 wRC+ lead all qualifies hitters, and his on-base percentage also leads the American League.

This kind of huge breakout caught even Rooker himself a little off-guard.  “In a vacuum, the numbers themselves are more than I ever thought I could do,” Rooker told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters last week.  “That’s not taking away the confidence I have in myself.  That kind of production for a month’s worth of games is probably past even my expectations of myself, so that’s been a pleasant surprise for me.”

Such high-level production isn’t totally alien to Rooker, who has pretty consistently mashed minor league pitching over five seasons on the farm.  This includes a career .274/.387/.590 slash line over 906 PA at the Triple-A level, which is a standout performance even with the caveat of 273 of those plate appearances coming in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League (with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate).  Rooker also carried some prospect pedigree as the 35th overall pick of the 2017 draft, and he was ranked 92nd on Baseball America’s top-100 prospects list prior to the 2018 season.

Despite this resume, Rooker couldn’t really break though on a Minnesota team that already had multiple up-and-coming outfielders on the active roster or in the farm system all vying for playing time.  Rooker’s cause wasn’t helped when he suffered a fractured forearm in just his seventh big league game in 2020, and his only other extended taste of MLB playing time came in 2021, when he batted .201/.291/.397 over 213 PA for the Twins.

Still, that rough season had just enough glimmers of hope for Rooker that he told Gallegos and company that it has contributed to his big 2023 numbers.  “The last two years, I’ve just been trying to figure out how to extend those good times that I had,” Rooker said.  “I knew I could do it because I’d have weeks in Minnesota where I’d hit really well with a lot of success.  That put it in my head and heart that I was good enough to do it.  I just had to figure out how to do it for longer periods of time.”

It is probably safe to assume that some regression is inevitable, due to both Rookier’s .340 BABIP and the lack of track record to back up his early standing as an elite hitter.  That said, there hasn’t been much luck in what Rooker has been doing, as his .479 wOBA is above his xwOBA….but not by much, as Rooker’s .447 xwOBA is still in the 99th percentile of all hitters.  His barrel rate and walk rate are also both outstanding, and his overall hard-hit ball rate is well above league average.  Strikeouts have been a persistent issue for Rooker throughout his career, but cutting his strikeout rate down to even a modest 22.1% (within the 49th percentile of hitters) has helped greatly, given what Rooker is doing with all that extra contact.

Landing a possible late bloomer on the waiver wire is a dream for any team, particularly a rebuilding Oakland club in sore need of some good news.  Rooker entered the season with only one year and 59 days (1.059) of MLB service time, so he wouldn’t even gain arbitration eligibility until after the 2024 season, and free agency until after the 2017 season.  Naturally, five great weeks doesn’t automatically turn a 28-year-old player into a building block, but if nothing else, Rooker’s presence gives the Athletics something to think about as they approach the trade deadline.

To be clear, all of that team control might make it unlikely that Rooker himself is traded, as the A’s might be intrigued enough to see what they really have in the outfielder beyond 2023.  The idea can’t be entirely ruled out given the Athletics’ scored-earth approach to their rebuild process, but dealing Rooker after a big first half might backfire if Rooker does continue to be a quality regular going forward — “selling high” would perhaps become selling too soon.

Rooker has seen a lot of time at DH, and has seen some time in both corner outfield positions with borderline passable glovework.  Not that Rooker is in any danger of losing at-bats at this point, but if any of Ramon Laureano, Tony Kemp, or Jesus Aguilar are moved at the deadline, that just opens up more playing time for Conner Capel or JJ Bleday, with Rooker picking up any extra at-bats in the corner outfield or at DH.  Kemp and Aguilar are the likeliest to be moved since they aren’t under contract beyond 2023, and while Laureano is arbitration-controlled through 2025, he has received some trade interest in the past.

Cristian Pache Will Not Make Athletics’ Roster; A’s Exploring Trade Scenarios

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The Athletics will not carry Cristian Pache on the team’s Opening Day roster, manager Mark Kotsay announced late last night (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). Because he’s out of minor league options, Pache will need to be traded or placed on outright waivers. The A’s will likely designate him for assignment prior to Opening Day, which would remove Pache from the 40-man roster and buy them a few days to explore possible trades. Outfielders Brent Rooker and Conner Capel will be on the roster, Kotsay added.

Effectively moving on from Pache after one year in the organization is a clearly suboptimal outcome for the A’s, who acquired the slick-fielding center fielder as one of the main pieces (alongside headliner Shea Langeliers) in the trade that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta. The 24-year-old appeared in 91 games for the A’s last year but posted an anemic .166/.218/.241 batting line through 260 plate appearances, exhausting his final minor league option year in the process. Things didn’t go much better in Triple-A, evidenced by a tepid .248/.298/.389 slash (68 wRC+) in an extremely hitter-friendly Las Vegas environment.

That lack of minor league options, lack of production, and the Athletics’ offseason acquisition of speedster Esteury Ruiz sealed Pache’s fate, it seems. Pache has had a productive showing in spring training, hitting .302/.362/.419 in 47 plate appearances, but the A’s already informed Ruiz last week that he’ll make the roster. It’s possible they’re confident in their ability to deal Pache for a return of modest value, but if the eventual transaction is a waiver placement, it’ll be a rather damning outcome for the team, given that Pache was a pivotal part of the prospect return in the A’s latest fire sale.

Pache is still just 24 years old, and he remains an elite defender (5 Defensive Runs Saved, 8 Outs Above Average in just 646 innings in 2022). As recently as the 2020-21 offseason he was considered among the 20 best prospects in the sport. However, his bat hasn’t developed at all, leaving the A’s in a tough spot this spring. The dilemma wasn’t exactly unforeseeable, though, given Pache’s prior struggles in Atlanta and the fact that he had only one option year remaining at the time of the trade.

Kotsay candidly acknowledged back in February that Pache could be showcasing himself for the other 29 teams in baseball this spring, and it appears that’s indeed been the case. The best-case scenario for the A’s would be to find a trade partner, and Kotsay indicated to Kawahara last night that the front office is exploring the possibility. Speculatively speaking, both the Rockies and Marlins have been in search of help at in center for awhile now, though Miami moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the outfield this year in hopes of patching that longstanding need. Rebuilding clubs with injured center fielders like the Royals (Drew Waters) and Reds (Nick Senzel) are also logical fits. It’s also possible certain contending clubs could look at Pache’s glove and see him as a valuable fourth outfielder, even if the bat never comes around.

As far as Oakland is concerned, it seems clear now that Ruiz will get the everyday nod in center field, while Ramon Laureano lines up in right field. The left-handed-hitting Capel and right-handed-hitting Rooker could form a platoon in left field, and many of Oakland’s infielders (Tony Kemp, Seth Brown, Aledmys Diaz) have experience in the outfield as well.

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