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Athletics Designate CJ Alexander For Assignment, Reinstate Michael Kelly

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The Athletics announced a series of roster moves today, as relayed by Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. Right-hander Michael Kelly has been reinstated from the restricted list and left-hander T.J. McFarland has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. In corresponding active moves, the A’s have optioned right-handers Elvis Alvarado and Justin Sterner. To open a 40-man spot, infielder/outfielder CJ Alexander has been designated for assignment.

Kelly was one of four players suspended by Major League Baseball for one year after a league investigation revealed that the quartet had placed small-scale bets on Major League Baseball games while playing in the minor leagues back in 2020-22. Kelly’s bets came in October of 2021, when he was pitching at the Triple-A level in the Astros’ system. He made only ten bets for a total of $99.92, with three of those bets coming on games involving the Astros’ big league club during the postseason.

The one-year suspensions have now been served and all four players are eligible for reinstatement today. The Diamondbacks have already reinstated left-hander Andrew Saalfrank. Padres lefty Jay Groome and Phillies infielder José Rodríguez should be reinstated today as well. None of the four bet more than $749 in total, and none were on the 40-man roster at the time their bets were placed.

That’s the key distinction for that quartet receiving one-year bans as opposed to former Padres/Pirates utilityman Tucupita Marcano, who received a lifetime ban (announced in conjunction with these four suspensions). Marcano wagered more than $150K on 387 bets involving MLB games while he was on a big league roster — including 25 bets on Pirates games while he was on Pittsburgh’s major league injured list (rehabbing a season-ending ACL tear).

Major League Baseball’s rules regarding gambling stipulate that “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” Players, umpires, club officials and league officials who place bets of “any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform” are subject to permanent bans. Further details on the investigation and its findings were provided in a league-issued press release last year at the time of these suspensions.

Prior to his suspension, Kelly had managed to log 52 big league innings for the Phillies, Guardians and A’s. Most of that came just before his absence, as he logged 31 1/3 innings with Oakland last year, allowing 2.59 earned runs per nine. His 17.2% strikeout rate last year wasn’t especially strong but he kept his walks down to a 7.8% level. He’ll now get a chance to build upon all those numbers after having served his suspension.

While on the restricted list, Kelly did not count against the club’s 40-man roster tally. Now that he’s back, Alexander has been nudged off. Alexander will head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the A’s could take as many as five days to explore trade interest.

Alexander was claimed off waivers from the Royals in September. Between those two clubs, he has a .160/.160/.160 batting line in a tiny sample of 25 big league plate appearances. His minor league work has naturally been greater in both quantity and quality. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a .287/.357/.544 batting line and 121 wRC+ in 595 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He has a bit of defensive versatility, with experience at all four corner spots. He can still be optioned to the minors for the rest of this campaign and one additional season. He could perhaps appeal to clubs who have roster space and want some extra position player depth.

Photo courtesy of Neville E. Guard, Imagn Images

A’s Designate Noah Murdock For Assignment

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The A’s designated Rule 5 pick Noah Murdock for assignment, relays Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. Righty Elvis Alvarado was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his spot in the bullpen. Alvarado is already on the 40-man roster, so the move drops their count to 39.

Murdock, 26, was the fourth player selected in last winter’s Rule 5 draft. (The A’s had the fifth pick, but Colorado passed at #2.) The A’s took the reliever out of the Kansas City farm system. Murdock divided his 2024 season between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. He worked to a 2.22 earned run average over 24 1/3 innings at the former level. Murdock posted a 3.76 ERA through 38 1/3 frames in Triple-A. He combined for a 27% strikeout rate and a huge 59.7% ground-ball percentage, though that came with an alarming 15.4% walk rate.

The 6’8″ righty broke camp and has made his first 14 big league appearances. They haven’t gone well, as he’s been blitzed for 25 runs across 17 1/3 innings. The free passes have remained far too problematic. Murdock has walked 20 batters and hit two more among the 98 he has faced. The grounder rates that have been his calling card in the minors haven’t been there against big league competition. Murdock posted a 42.6% ground-ball percentage and a 21.4% strikeout rate — both decent numbers but not nearly enough to offset the free passes.

Teams must keep their Rule 5 picks on the major league roster or injured list for the entire season to gain their long-term contractual rights. The A’s are out to a solid 20-18 start and at the very least look like a fringe Wild Card contender. They decided they could no longer afford to devote a middle relief spot to a pitcher who was struggling to such an extent.

The A’s will trade Murdock or, much more likely, place him on waivers in the next few days. That’ll give the rest of the league an opportunity to acquire him, though they’d assume the same Rule 5 obligations if they do so. If Murdock clears waivers, the A’s would need to offer him back to the Royals for $50K. (Teams pay the former club $100K when they make a Rule 5 pick.) Kansas City would not need to put him on the 40-man roster and could return him to the minor league ranks, probably back in Omaha.

Alvarado receives the first major league call of his career. The 26-year-old righty signed a split major league contract with the Pirates at the start of the offseason. He didn’t last the entire winter on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster, but the A’s claimed him off waivers in January. He’s out to a decent start in Las Vegas, tallying 15 2/3 frames of eight-run ball in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He has recorded 22 strikeouts against four walks while picking up five saves in 14 appearances. His fastball is averaging a blistering 99 MPH. Alvarado has been prone to walks for most of his career, but he’s a power arm with a track record of missing bats in the minors.

A’s Option Esteury Ruiz, J.T. Ginn

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The A’s optioned several names to Triple-A Las Vegas last night, including outfielder Esteury Ruiz, rotation hopeful J.T. Ginn, infielder Darell Hernaiz, and righties Elvis Alvarado and Grant Holman. Infielder Alejo Lopez and lefty Matt Krook, both former big leaguers in camp on non-roster deals, were also reassigned to minor league camp. All of those cuts were announced by the team.

Ruiz, 26, was the Athletics’ primary center fielder in 2023 and swiped a gaudy 67 bases that season but did so while batting only .254/.309/.345 in 132 games (497 plate appearances). Though he was one of several key players acquired in the Athletics’ slate of rebuild-focused trades — regrettably coming over in a three-way deal that sent star catcher William Contreras, whom the A’s could’ve kept, to the Brewers — Ruiz has fallen a ways down the team’s depth chart since that original acquisition.

Injury played a role in his drop down the pecking order, as he missed the bulk of the 2024 campaign with a wrist strain. Ruiz logged 29 games and 65 plate appearances in the majors and delivered only a feeble .200/.270/.382 output at the plate. He hit .345/.425/.596 in 73 minor league plate appearances last year, but he’s long had eye-catching numbers in the upper minors that haven’t carried over to MLB, where he’s a .243/.297/.343 hitter in 598 plate appearances. Ruiz didn’t do himself any favors this spring, hitting .121/.171/.152 in 35 trips to the plate during Cactus League play.

The A’s locked Lawrence Butler up on a long-term extension and saw JJ Bleday turn in a breakout performance at the plate last season. That leaves two of their three outfield spots spoken for in the long-term. Bleday is miscast as a center fielder, so perhaps there’s room for Ruiz to work his way back into that role, but prospects like Colby Thomas, Denzel Clarke and Henry Bolte are all on the cusp of MLB readiness as well. At least for the early stages of the 2025 campaign, it looks like the A’s will go with a left field platoon of Seth Brown and Miguel Andujar.

In the rotation, Ginn heads back to Triple-A on the heels of a tough spring. The righty’s final outing was excellent — four innings of one-run ball with seven punchouts — but he still served up 13 runs (11 earned) in 13 innings while walking 12.5% of his opponents. The 25-year-old is a former second-round pick whom the A’s acquired in the trade sending Chris Bassitt to the Mets. He was hit relatively hard between Double-A and Triple-A last year but turned in a decent blend of strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates (21.2%, 8.8% and 54.1%, respectively). He held his own with a 4.24 ERA in his first 34 MLB frames last summer as well.

With Ginn being sent out, it increasingly appears as though the Athletics’ season-opening rotation will include Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, JP Sears, Osvaldo Bido and Mitch Spence. A late injury could always change that, and the A’s still have one possible rotation alternative in camp in the form of Joey Estes, who’s had a decent Cactus League run this spring.

Hernaiz, acquired in the trade of Cole Irvin to Baltimore, became a long shot for the roster after the A’s signed both Gio Urshela and Luis Urias to major league contracts this winter. Jacob Wilson and Zack Gelof are lined up in the middle infield, while Urias and Urshela can handle third base and move around to multiple infield positions. Hernaiz hit well in Triple-A last year (.331/.376/.493) but mustered only a .192/.261/.242 line in his first 135 MLB plate appearances. His spring output wasn’t much more encouraging — .194/.302/.306 in 43 plate appearances — so he’ll had back to the minors for more work.

Athletics Designate Anthony Maldonado For Assignment

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The A’s announced that they have claimed Elvis Alvarado off waivers from the Pirates, a move that MLBTR covered earlier today. To open a 40-man roster spot, right-hander Anthony Maldonado has been designated for assignment.

Maldonado, 27 next month, was a recent waiver claimee himself. The A’s grabbed him from the Marlins in November, though he has only lasted a few months on the Athletics’ roster. He made his major league debut with the Marlins last year, tossing 19 innings over 16 appearances. He allowed 12 earned runs, leading to a 5.68 ERA in that small sample, striking out just 13.4% of batters faced.

The A’s were surely more interested in his minor league track record, which has naturally been of greater quality and quantity. Over the past four years, Maldonado threw 188 innings across various minor league levels. He had a 3.26 ERA, 32.4% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.

That was enough to attract the interest of the A’s but he’s now been bumped off the roster in favor of Alvarado. Maldonado will now be in DFA limbo for a week at most, giving the club some time to explore trades or put him on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days. Maldonado still has two option years and less than a full season of service time, which could perhaps attract other clubs looking to add some cheap bullpen depth.

Athletics Claim Elvis Alvarado

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2:40pm: The A’s have now officially announced the claim. Righty Anthony Maldonado has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

2:25pm: The Athletics are claiming right-hander Elvis Alvarado off waivers from the Pirates, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Bucs designated him for assignment earlier this week to sign infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier. The A’s have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to complete this claim.

Alvarado, 26 next month, has yet to make his major league debut. He has pitched in the minors for the Nationals, Mariners, Tigers and Marlins over the years without getting the call to the big leagues. He hit free agency and the Pirates somewhat surprisingly gave him a roster spot in December, signing him to a split deal.

The Bucs were presumably willing to give him that roster spot based on a big uptick in strikeouts in 2024, though it also came with some control issues. He tossed 48 1/3 Triple-A innings in the Marlins’ system last year, allowing 2.79 earned runs per nine. He struck out 33.2% of batters faced but also gave out free passes at a massive 17.8% rate.

That was in stark contrast to his previous track record. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 137 2/3 innings on the farm with a 4.58 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate. Per Brooks Baseball, he has been increasing his slider usage over the past two years. In 2023, that was combined with fewer four-seamers and more sinkers. He flipped that in 2024, dropping his sinker usage and getting the four-seamer back up to previous levels.

The specifics of Alvarado’s split deal weren’t reported but such deals often feature a high minor league salary, in part to dissuade other clubs from putting in a claim and/or to stop the player from electing free agency. In this case, it seems the A’s were intrigued by the same minor league numbers that interested the Pirates, so they have grabbed Alvarado to add some pitching depth.

Pirates Designate Elvis Alvarado For Assignment

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The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Elvis Alvarado for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier, whose previously reported one-year deal to return to his original organization has now been formally announced by the team.

Alvarado, 26 next month, has yet to make his big league debut. He signed the with Pirates as a free agent just over six weeks ago but did so on a split major league deal, giving him separate salaries in the majors and minors (paid out in prorated fashion based on where he’s pitching). Today’s DFA doesn’t necessarily preclude him from pitching in the majors, but he’ll first have to clear waivers and, if he does, pitch his way onto the MLB roster either this spring or at some point during the regular season.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Nationals, Alvarado has also pitched with the Mariners, Tigers and Marlins organizations. He spent the bulk of the 2024 campaign with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, where he logged a 2.79 ERA and fanned a whopping 33.1% of his opponents in 48 1/3 innings pitched. However, command issues that Alvarado had experienced in the lower minors and looked to have moved past instead resurfaced; he issued a free pass to a glaring 17.8% of his opponents and plunked five of the 214 batters he faced as well. Overall, 20.1% of his opponents reached base without putting a ball in play.

Alvarado has a major fastball, averaging a blazing 98 mph on the pitch last season and coupling it with an 86.6 mph slider (on average) and 96.1 mph sinker (on average). He threw that heater nearly three quarters of the time, generally overpowering opponents with the pitch but also displaying scattershot command of the strike zone.

The Pirates will have five days to trade Alvarado. He’d have to be placed on waivers at that point, as waivers are a 48-hour process and the DFA window lasts only seven days. If he’s not traded, that split contract he signed will make it likelier that he’s able to pass through waivers. Most teams likely weren’t willing to commit a 40-man spot to Alvarado — and those that were may not have offered as compelling a package in terms of minor league salary. If he does clear, he’ll likely be in camp as a non-roster invitee and hope to impress enough to get a big league bullpen job.

Pirates, Elvis Alvarado Agree To MLB Deal

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The Pirates are in agreement with reliever Elvis Alvarado on a major league split contract, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). The righty gets a 40-man roster spot with the Bucs, a notable development for a minor league free agent.

Alvarado secures a 40-man spot for the first time in his career. The 6’4″ righty has bounced around in minor league free agency. He has appeared in the Nationals, Mariners, Tigers and Marlins systems. Alvarado spent most of the ’24 campaign in Triple-A with Miami. He had a strong season, working to a 2.79 ERA in 48 1/3 innings. He struck out a third of opponents but walked an untenable 18% of batters faced.

The Bucs are clearly intrigued by Alvarado’s swing-and-miss ability. His command remains a serious work in progress. There’s not a ton of downside for Pittsburgh, which has a handful of open 40-man spots. Alvarado has a full slate of minor league options and will probably begin the season at Triple-A Indianapolis. The split deal means he’s paid at differing rates for his MLB and minor league work. He’ll very likely be paid around the MLB minimum for whatever time he spends at PNC Park.

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