A’s Outright Brandon Bielak
Sept. 25: Bielak went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, per the MLB.com transaction log. He’ll almost certainly become a free agent one way or another. He can reject the assignment right now or become a minor league free agent at season’s end, as is his right as a player with three-plus years of MLB service who was removed from a 40-man roster.
Sept. 22: The A’s announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Brandon Bielak for assignment. Right-hander Joe Boyle was recalled to the big league roster in a corresponding move, and Oakland’s 40-man roster now stands at 39.
It’s the second time this year Bielak has been DFA’d by the A’s. He was first removed from the club’s 40-man roster shortly after the club acquired him in a cash deal with the Astros back in May, and the righty was promptly outrighted to Triple-A after just three appearances in the majors. Bielak then struggled with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, with a 6.08 ERA in 66 2/3 innings of work across 16 appearances (13 starts) but nonetheless was selected back onto the roster two weeks ago. He’s made three appearances for the A’s since returning with lackluster results, as he’s surrendered four runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings of work, striking out just two while walking five.
An 11th-round pick by the Astros in the 2017 draft, Bielak pitched for Houston at the big league level in each of the past five seasons before being swapped to Oakland. He served as a solid back-of-the-rotation arm and swing man from 2021-23, with a combined 4.05 ERA (104 ERA+) and 4.78 FIP in 48 games (15 starts) during those years. The righty began to struggle with the club in the majors this year, however, and in ten appearances as a multi-inning reliever surrendered a 5.71 ERA while walking (8.4%) nearly as many batters as he struck out (10.8%). Those struggles have obviously continued with the A’s, and his 2024 season comes to an end with a 5.16 ERA and 5.93 FIP in 29 2/3 innings of work. Assuming Bielak once again clears waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of heading to free agency for the first time in his career.
As for Boyle, the right-hander returns to the club’s roster to close out the season after making just four appearance in the majors since May 5 due to injuries and a stint in the minor leagues. Acquired from the Reds in exchange for Sam Moll at last year’s trade deadline, Boyle impressed with a 1.69 ERA in three starts for the A’s down the stretch last year but has had a rocky campaign this in 2024, which he kicked off by getting lit up for eight runs (seven earned) in 2 2/3 innings during his first start of the year. Boyle would go on to settle in a bit with a 4.13 ERA and a 24% strikeout rate in his next five starts, but his potential turnaround was cut short by a lower back strain that sent him to the IL in early May.
That stint on the shelf didn’t last very long, but Boyle found himself optioned to the minor leagues once he was healthy enough to return and struggled at the Triple-A level with a 5.12 ERA in 15 appearances, including 13 starts. Boyle eventually got called back up to the big leagues last month and struck out an impressive 28.2% of opponents in three starts, but surrendered a 5.40 ERA over that time and was moved to the bullpen, where he was promptly lit up for three runs on three walks and a hit-by-pitch while recording just one out. That disastrous outing resulted in Boyle’s second demotion of the year, but he’s now set to return to the majors in hopes of putting together a finish to the year that improves upon his brutal 7.12 ERA in 43 major league innings this year.
Athletics Outright Kyle Muller
Aug. 15: The A’s announced that Muller went unclaimed on waivers. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Las Vegas and will remain with the organization but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.
Aug. 13: The Athletics announced that Joe Boyle has been recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas. He will start tonight’s game against the Mets, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on X. In a corresponding move, left-hander Kyle Muller has been designated for assignment.
Muller, 26, was one of five players that the A’s received in December of 2022 in the three-team trade that sent catcher Sean Murphy to Atlanta, William Contreras to the Brewers and various other moving pieces. Muller had been considered one of Atlanta’s best prospects in the years leading up to that deal but had struggled to establish himself at the big league level and had just one option remaining.
The A’s gave him a decent amount of runway to take a major league job last year but Muller wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunity. Through May 22, he had made 10 starts at the big league level but allowed 42 earned runs in 47 innings, leading to an 8.04 ERA. The A’s then optioned him to the minors, recalling him for one spot start in early July, but otherwise keeping him in Triple-A until mid-August.
The results on the farm weren’t much better, as he had a 7.26 ERA in his 13 Triple-A starts. He was recalled and worked as a swingman for the final few weeks of the big league season, tossing 25 innings with a 7.20 ERA in that time.
That left him out of options coming into 2024 and the A’s have kept in the bullpen for a long relief role. He missed just over a month on the IL due to left shoulder tendinitis but has logged 42 2/3 innings over 18 outings this year with a 4.22 ERA. That’s obviously an improvement over his results from last year and his 5.1% walk rate is quite strong, but there aren’t many positive metrics apart from that. His 19.7% strikeout rate is still subpar and his Statcast page is mostly blue, with not much to inspire confidence in terms of velocity, whiffs, avoiding barrels, etc.
Keeping him on the roster was going to be a long-term issue due to his out-of-options status and he hasn’t shown enough promise for the club’s decision makers to keep him around. With the trade deadline now passed, the A’s will have to put him on waivers in the coming days.
He has not yet qualified for arbitration and has five years of club control beyond this one, so perhaps some club will be intrigued by his past prospect pedigree, but they would be faced with the same roster restrictions that the A’s were. As recently as 2022, he was able to make 23 Triple-A starts with a 3.41 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate, but the results have been far less impressive since then. He does not have a previous career outright nor does he have three years of service time, meaning he would stick with the A’s as non-roster depth if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.
As for Boyle, it’s unclear if this is just a spot start or if he’s going to get a longer rotation audition. The A’s already had five starters in JP Sears, Ross Stripling, Mitch Spence, Joey Estes and Osvaldo Bido. Perhaps they could run a six-man rotation for a while or send someone down to Triple-A. It’s also possible that they put Stripling on waivers or move him to the bullpen. He’s a 34-year-old impending free agent and the club is out of contention, so they might prefer to give starts to younger guys that are in consideration for roles on next year’s club.
Boyle has a 7.16 ERA in the majors this year and a mark of 5.63 in Triple-A, but his work on the farm has been better of late. Back on June 28, he was demolished in his start against Sacramento, allowing eight earned runs while only recording four outs. Since that pounding, he has thrown 26 2/3 innings with a 2.36 ERA and a massive 51.5% strikeout rate, though a high walk rate of 12.9%.
A’s Place Joe Boyle On Injured List
The A’s announced they’ve placed starter Joe Boyle on the 15-day injured list due to a lower back strain. Left-hander Hogan Harris was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move.
Boyle, 24, won a spot in the season-opening rotation. The Notre Dame product has had a rough beginning to the 2024 campaign, however. He has only tallied 27 2/3 innings over seven starts. That’s in part because of yesterday’s injury, but it also reflects an inordinate number of deep counts. Boyle has issued an American League-high 23 walks, a near-18% rate. He has also uncorked four wild pitches and hit a batter.
Control has been the big question dating back to Boyle’s college days. The 6’7″ righty has huge stuff. His fastball sits in the 96-97 MPH range on average, while his upper-80s slider is capable of missing plenty of bats. Boyle has racked up strikeouts in the minor leagues, but massive walk rates have led most prospect evaluators to project him to the bullpen.
The A’s have kept Boyle in the rotation to this point. He impressed over his first three MLB starts late last season. Acquired from the Reds in the Sam Moll deadline deal, he made his big league debut in September. Boyle punched out 15 and only issued five walks over 16 innings down the stretch.
He’ll need to wait at least a few weeks before he can try to recapture last fall’s form. The A’s are down to Paul Blackburn, JP Sears, Alex Wood and Ross Stripling in the rotation. They’re off on Thursday, so they could get by with a four-man rotation until the middle of next week. At that point, Oakland will need to go beyond their top five starters for the first time all season. Rule 5 pick Mitch Spence has pitched well in a multi-inning relief role and seems the likeliest candidate to move into the rotation after logging 4 2/3 innings behind Boyle yesterday. Harris has been working as a starter in Las Vegas, but he has been tagged for an earned run per inning over 21 frames in the Pacific Coast League.
Joe Boyle To Begin Season In A’s Rotation
A’s right-hander Joe Boyle is set to open the season in the Oakland rotation, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle) this evening. He’ll be the club’s fifth starter behind veterans Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, and Paul Blackburn as well as southpaw JP Sears.
Boyle, 24, was a fifth-round pick by the Reds in the 2020 draft and made his big league debut with the A’s back in September. The hulking 6’7”, 240-pound hurler made the most of a three-start cup of coffee down the stretch in 2023 as he pitched to a sterling 1.69 ERA with a 3.13 FIP across 16 innings of work. In that time, Boyle struck out 25% of batters faced while walking 8.3%. Both of those rates were noticeably lower than his minor league numbers. The right-hander’s powerful arsenal, headlined by a triple-digit fastball, allowed him to breeze through the minor leagues with a career 35.4% strikeout rate at the time of his call-up. That being said, he also struggled badly with his control throughout his time in the minors; his MLB debut was the first time he had walked less than 10% of the batters he faced at any level since his seven-inning stint in rookie ball back in 2021.
Given the excellent start to his big league career back in September, it’s perhaps not a shock to see the A’s offer him a chance to claim a more permanent spot in the rotation to open the season. With that being said, Boyle’s work this spring did little to inspire confidence in his ability to maintain his command as a starting pitcher. Boyle posted a worrisome 5.89 ERA across six starts and 18 1/3 innings of work this spring. While spring training stats typically aren’t particularly indicative of regular season performance, the fact that Boyle walked a whopping 15 batters during camp is sure to raise some eyebrows in conjunction with the control issues he demonstrated during his time in the minor leagues.
It’s not the first time in recent years the A’s have offered a high-octane arm with concerns regarding his command a spot in their Opening Day rotation; right-hander Shintaro Fujinami signed with the club out of Japan last winter and four disastrous starts with the club before being moved to the bullpen. Fujinami walked 12 batters while posting a 14.40 ERA in 15 innings of work across those four turns through the rotation, but after his pronounced struggles to begin the season managed to settle into a bullpen role with a 3.94 ERA and 3.71 FIP in his final 48 frames last year. Should Boyle falter during his time in the rotation, the A’s could take a similar route and see how he performs in relief if they don’t decide to simply option the youngster to the minors and allow him to continue working on his command as a starter.
On the other hand, if Boyle is able to maintain anything close to his big league debut over a full season in 2024, the deadline deal the A’s swung to acquire him from the Reds in exchange for lefty reliever Sam Moll would be nothing short of a coup. Gordon Wittnmyer of the Cincinnati Inquirer discussed this evening the circumstances surrounding the deal, adding that the Reds initially rebuffed Oakland’s proposal of Boyle as the return in a Moll trade with A’s GM David Forst acknowledging that Cincinnati declined to include Boyle “a couple of times” before eventually agreeing to the swap.
Had the Reds not come back to the negotiating table, Wittenmyer notes, it’s possible that Moll could have wound up pitching for the Cubs down the stretch last year. Wittenmyer reports that the club believed they were close to finalizing their own deal for Moll before Oakland landed Boyle. Moll, 32, enjoyed a dominant stretch run of his own with Cincinnati last fall as he pitched to a microscopic 0.73 ERA in 25 appearances with the Reds following the deal. Moll was slowed by shoulder soreness throughout camp this spring and stands to open the season on the injured list but figures to play a key role in the Cincinnati bullpen this season once healthy alongside the likes of Alexis Diaz and Emilio Pagan.
A’s Select Joe Boyle
The A’s selected the contract of right-hander Joe Boyle this afternoon, per a team announcement. In corresponding moves, right-hander Freddy Tarnok was transferred to the 60-day injured list while lefty Sean Newcomb was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left knee.
Boyle, who celebrated his 24th birthday last month, came over from the Reds as the return in the Sam Moll trade earlier this summer. Standing a massive 6’7” and weighing in at 240 pounds, Boyle has shown an impressive power arsenal with a triple-digit fastball and strong breaking stuff that has allowed him to strikeout a whopping 35.4% of batters faced as a professional. Unfortunately, that strong repertoire comes with little in terms of command, as the big righty has posted walk rates of 10% or higher at every full-season league he’s appeared in since being drafted by the Reds in the fifth round of the 2020 draft.
Boyle is now slated to get a chance to show off his big time stuff at the big league level, as he’ll start today’s game against the Padres. Boyle’s posted a solid 3.84 ERA across 25 starts split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season. That’s a particularly noteworthy feat considering he’s posted an ERA of just 2.25 in three starts at the Triple-A level with the A’s, who play in infamously inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.
Making room for Boyle on the active roster is Newcomb, who pitched quite well in a swing role for the A’s this season. Across 15 innings of work (seven appearances), Newcomb posted a 3.00 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate, though his whopping 14.8% walk rate indicates that the control issues that have dogged him ever since he made his big league debut with the Braves back in 2017 haven’t gone away. As for Tarnok, the right-hander underwent season-ending hip surgery toward the end of August, making today’s transfer to the 60-day IL nothing more than a formality.