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Athletics Sign Luis Urias

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The A’s announced Monday that they’ve signed infielder Luis Urias to a one-year contract. There’s a reported $1.1MM guarantee for the Wasserman client. The deal also performance bonuses, including $150K apiece at 200, 300, 350, 400, and 500 plate appearances. Righty Luis Medina, who is recovering from UCL surgery, was moved to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Urias, 27, drew some interest from the Twins within the past couple weeks as well, but they opted to instead add Ty France to their infield mix, ostensibly filling the last spot on their expected roster. He’ll instead give the A’s some cover at multiple positions, providing needed insurance given an infield full of question marks.

The A’s are hoping for rebound efforts from both second baseman Zack Gelof and third base frontrunner Gio Urshela, who inked a big league deal earlier this winter. They’re also relying on young Jacob Wilson at shortstop, and while he’s a former top-10 pick and regarded as one of MLB’s top 50 or so prospects, he still has only 103 big league plate appearances to his credit.

Urias spent the 2024 season with the Mariners but fared poorly in a platoon setup with Josh Rojas. In just 109 big league plate appearances, the former Padres top prospect hit .191/.303/.394. That was the second straight season with a sub-.200 average for Urias. He was an above-average producer in a near full-time role with the Brewers from 2021-22, hitting .244/.340/.426 with 39 homers in 1042 plate appearances, but Urias has seen his strikeout, ground-ball and pop-up rates spike in the two years since that solid run.

Defensively, Urias has more than 1000 innings of big league experience at each of second base, shortstop and third base. Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average cast him as a substantially below-average defender at short, however, and the Brewers clearly agreed, moving him off the position permanently back in 2022. He’s been average at second per both DRS and OAA, while the former metric pegs him as plus at third base to the latter’s slightly negative review.

That versatility could also line Urias up to fill a traditional utility role. The A’s currently have light-hitting Max Schuemann and prospect Darell Hernaiz as options for that role on the 40-man roster. Neither has hit in the majors, however, and both have just a year of big league time under their belts (slightly less for Hernaiz, actually) — despite the fact that Schuemann is only eight days younger than Urias.

Martin Gallegos of MLB.com first reported that Urias was in the A’s clubhouse. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 had the salary and bonuses.

The Athletics’ Rotation Options

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The A’s entered the offseason with virtually no certainty in their rotation. Despite a host of trades aimed at acquiring pitching help throughout the course of their most recent rebuild, lefty JP Sears was the only prospect acquired who’s stepped up, stayed healthy, and pitched well enough to lock down a rotation job. Sears has hardly been an ace, but 64 starts and 353 innings of 4.46 ERA ball over the past two seasons will play. He’s not an exciting arm, necessarily, but Sears looks like a volume-based fourth starter with good command who’ll average 5 2/3 innings per outing and keep his club in the game more often than not. He’s a starting point.

In the months that have unfolded since, the Sacramento-bound A’s have made a pair of meaningful additions. Luis Severino signed a three-year, $67MM contract and immediately became the team’s top rotation arm upon doing so. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs came over from the Rays not long after, in a trade sending righty Joe Boyle, minor leaguers Jacob Watters and Will Simpson, and a competitive balance draft pick back to the Rays. There’s injury risk with both players — Severino averaged 42 innings per year from 2019-23; Springs missed most of 2024 recovering from UCL surgery — but both are quality arms when healthy. Springs, in particular, quietly turned in ace-caliber results in Tampa Bay from 2021-24.

That pair of additions gives the A’s a set top-three in the rotation, albeit somewhat by default at the moment. General manager David Forst has said he’s open to further additions and is hopeful of adding another starter. That comment came just over a month ago, however, and nothing has come to fruition (nor have there been any real rumblings connecting the A’s to available pitchers).

The A’s very much should add to this group if they’re intent on playing the role of a surprise contender, as many of their offseason dealings suggest. There are still several solid veteran arms available, both via free agency and trade. As things stand, it seems likelier by the day that they stick with what they have in-house. Let’s run through the options.

The Rule 5 Favorite

Mitch Spence, RHP: Spence might not have turned many heads with last year’s performance, but there aren’t too many Rule 5 picks who even make it through a whole season — let alone put themselves into legitimate competition for a rotation job the following year. Spence has done just that. The 26-year-old (27 in May) opened the 2024 season in a long relief role but pushed his way into rotation consideration with a nice start. He wound up making 24 starts and 11 long relief outings, working a total of 151 1/3 innings. Spence turned in a 4.58 ERA with a below-average 19.4% strikeout rate but strong walk and ground-ball rates of 6.8% and 48.4%, respectively.

Unlike many rookie pitchers, Spence didn’t fade down the stretch; he got stronger. That’s surely due in part to the fact that he tossed a hearty 163 innings of Triple-A ball in 2023 prior to being taken by the A’s in the Rule 5. But Spence came out strong in the second half of the 2024 season, looking like a pitcher who’d found his footing. From July 20 through Sept. 17, Spence made 11 starts with a 3.66 ERA. His strikeout and walk rates didn’t make any huge gains, but he was throwing more sinkers and curveballs and getting far more grounders (and yielding fewer homers) as a result. He allowed nine runs in his final nine innings — a sour ending note — but Spence in many ways looked like a right-handed version of Spears.

What’s left of the Rebuild Arms

Ryan Cusick, RHP: The A’s moved Cusick to the bullpen last year and watched him rattle off a 1.73 ERA and 31-to-4 K/BB ratio over his final 26 innings of the season. He’s likely bullpen-bound again, both due to that success and his struggles in the rotation. He’s unlikely to factor into the starting mix this year, but based on his past usage, we’ll include him in case they reverse course. Cusick had a 4.95 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate and dismal 15.2% walk rate in 100 innings as a starter in 2023.

Joey Estes, RHP: Estes held a rotation spot the vast majority of the 2024 season, making 24 big league starts in addition to one relief appearance. The results weren’t great, though. The former Braves draftee (acquired alongside Cusick, Shea Langeliers and Cristian Pache for Matt Olson) logged a 5.01 ERA with below-average velocity and subpar strikeout, ground-ball and home run rates. Homers have been a problem for Estes even in the minors, but he’s limited walks nicely and at the very least proven himself to be a pretty durable arm. He still has two minor league options remaining.

J.T. Ginn, RHP: Ginn was the more notable of the two prospects the Mets sent to Oakland for Chris Bassitt a few years back. The former second-rounder posted a 4.24 ERA in 34 innings during last year’s MLB debut but has posted an ERA north of 5.00 in all three of his minor league seasons with the A’s. Ginn averaged what these days is a pedestrian 92.9 mph on his sinker and did log a solid 47.4% ground-ball rate while displaying solid command. Even with the trio of rough minor league seasons an lackluster debut, Baseball America ranks him 11th in the A’s system and calls him a potential back-end starter with a high floor but limited ceiling.

Gunnar Hoglund, RHP: Yet to make his big league debut, Hoglund was the headline prospect in the trade sending Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays. He only has five starts above the Double-A level, coming late last year, and they didn’t go that well. His Double-A work was outstanding, however. The former first-rounder pitched 104 2/3 innings with a 2.84 earned run average, 23.4% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate, 40% grounder rate and 1.03 HR/9. His stock is down quite a ways since he was the No. 19 overall pick, and he’s unlikely to be in the mix for an Opening Day job — but he could make his debut sometime this summer.

Others on the 40-Man Roster

Brady Basso, LHP: The Athletics’ 16th-round pick in 2019, Basso signed for $75K and has never landed inside the team’s top-20 prospects at Baseball America. They rank him 25th this year after he debuted in 2024 and pitched 22 1/3 innings with a 4.03 ERA, sub-par strikeout numbers, strong command and an average ground-ball rate. Basso dominated Double-A opponents last year before being hit hard in Triple-A and posting middle-of-the-road numbers in a brief MLB debut. Basso, who averaged 92.2 mph on his fastball this past season, still has two minor league option years remaining.

Osvaldo Bido, RHP: Bido made his big league debut as a 27-year-old with the 2023 Pirates and was cut loose after logging a 5.86 ERA in 50 2/3 innings. The A’s signed him to a major league contract last winter, and in 63 1/3 frames he logged a 3.41 ERA with an above-average 24.3% strikeout rate but a rough-looking 10% walk rate. Bido misses bats and induces chases at lower rates than his raw strikeout percentage would suggest. He posted a 4.50 ERA in 10 Triple-A outings last year. He could be a swingman or a fifth starter and has a minor league option remaining.

Jacob Lopez, LHP: Acquired alongside Springs in the Athletics’ trade with the Rays, Lopez will turn 27 in March. He’s a soft-tossing lefty a low arm slot who relies more on deception than on power stuff. Righties have hit him better than lefties but haven’t exactly torched him (.218/.319/.391 in 2024; .197/.316/.343 in 2023). Baseball America ranked him 28th among Rays prospects last year and likened him to a Ryan Yarbrough type of bulk pitcher (behind an opener) or multi-inning reliever.

Hogan Harris, LHP: The A’s took Harris with the No. 85 pick back in 2018. He’s pitched in three Triple-A seasons and posted an ERA north of 6.00 in each. He made his big league debut in 2023 and was similarly rocked for a 7.14 ERA in 63 innings. Ouch. Las year, however, Harris found his most success since he posted a sub-2.00 ERA between High-A and Double-A back in 2022. The 6’3″, 230-pound southpaw posted a terrific 2.86 ERA in 21 big league appearances — nine of them starts — totaling 72 1/3 frames. His 20% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 37.3% grounder rate were all worse than average. Harris thrived in part due to some good fortune on home runs (8.5% HR/FB) and a 78.9% strand rate he’s not likely to sustain.

Down-the-Road Considerations

Mason Barnett, acquired from the Royals as part of last summer’s Lucas Erceg swap, was outstanding in Double-A post-trade and has become one of the system’s top arms. He could debut this summer but isn’t likely to break camp on the club. Jack Perkins, the Athletics’ 2022 fifth-rounder, hasn’t advanced beyond Double-A but posted a sub-3.00 ERA there last year. He’s a fastball/slider-heavy right-hander with shaky command, evidenced by a huge 32% strikeout rate but 11% walk rate last year.

Left-hander Ken Waldichuk and righty Luis Medina are both technically on the 40-man roster, but not for long. They both had Tommy John surgery midseason — Waldichuk in May, Medina in August — and will be on the 60-day IL when the A’s need roster spots. Waldichuk could make it back late this season. That’s unlikely for Medina.

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It’s not necessarily a bad collection of depth arms, and names like Barnett, Hoglund, Ginn and Perkins create varying levels of legitimate MLB rotation upside. However, the Athletics’ current contingent of big league arms carries plenty of injury risk, most notably in Severino and Springs, who both recently had notable arm troubles. One injury in the top three, and the group looks increasingly questionable. Between that and the fact that a number of the 40-man options profile best as fifth starters, it’s understandable that the A’s are open to adding some veteran stability and arguable that they should be aggressively seeking it.

The free agent market still has Andrew Heaney, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana, Spencer Turnbull, Cal Quantrill and — if the A’s can stomach surrendering another draft pick — Nick Pivetta. The trade market includes Marcus Stroman, Jordan Montgomery Taijuan Walker and (to a lesser extent) Steven Matz as salary dump candidates. Chris Paddack could perhaps be had for a modest return.

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

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Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.

Angels: Robert Stephenson

Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.

Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa

Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.

Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk

Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.

Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah

The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.

Braves: Joe Jiménez

Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.

Brewers: Robert Gasser

Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.

Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson

Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.

Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan

Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.

Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan

Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.

Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar

Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.

Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez

Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.

Mets: Christian Scott

Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.

Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson

Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.

Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells

Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.

Padres: Joe Musgrove

Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.

Pirates: Dauri Moreta

Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.

Rangers: Josh Sborz

Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.

Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim

The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.

Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy

Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.

Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson

Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.

Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long

Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.

White Sox: Jesse Scholtens

Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.

Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga

Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.

Athletics Reinstate Darell Hernaiz

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The Athletics announced today that infielder Darell Hernaiz has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, infielder Brett Harris was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas and right-hander Luis Medina was transferred to the 60-day IL. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 40.

Acquired from the Orioles in the 2023 Cole Irvin trade, Hernaiz was added to Oakland’s 40-man roster in November of last year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He then made the club’s Opening Day roster here in 2024 but hit just .182/.243/.182 in his first 75 major league plate appearances. In early May, he landed on the IL due to a severe left ankle sprain that has kept him out of action for roughly the past three months.

The A’s will naturally be hoping for more offense now that he’s healthy. Considering he’s slashed .300/.376/.418 at the Triple-A level between last year and this year, it’s a reasonable expectation on their part. He’s capable of playing second base, third base and shortstop and will likely rotate between those spots.

As for Medina, this transfer was inevitable as it was reported last week that he would require Tommy John surgery. He’ll remain on the 60-day IL for the remainder of the year but will need to be reinstated after the season is over, as there’s no IL between the World Series and Spring Training.

Luis Medina, Alex Wood To Undergo Season-Ending Surgeries

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The 2024 season is over for a pair of A’s starters. Manager Mark Kotsay told reporters on Thursday that right-hander Luis Medina will undergo Tommy John surgery next month. Meanwhile, veteran southpaw Alex Wood is headed for a shoulder procedure to address rotator cuff tendinitis (via the MLB.com injury tracker).

Neither development is all that surprising. The A’s announced earlier this week that Medina had suffered ligament damage in his elbow.  While he went for additional evaluation in the hope of avoiding surgery, that’s generally something of a long shot. Medina is now set to miss most or all of next season.

Acquired as part of the Frankie Montas trade with the Yankees, Medina has pitched in parts of two seasons for Oakland. He turned in a 5.42 ERA across 109 2/3 innings as a rookie. The 25-year-old made eight starts this year, allowing 5.18 earned runs per nine through 40 frames. He struck out 17.8% of opponents while walking more than 11% of batters faced. Medina will collect service time while he’s on the injured list. The A’s can move him to the 60-day IL during the season to open a spot on the 40-man roster. They’ll need to put him back on the 40-man or waive him next winter.

Wood signed an $8.5MM free agent deal in February. The A’s were hoping for a rebound year from the veteran southpaw, who could have been a midseason trade chip if healthy. That unfortunately was not to be. Wood pitched nine times, allowing a 5.26 ERA over 39 1/3 innings. He posted subpar strikeout and walk numbers before going on the IL in mid-May. Oakland transferred him to the 60-day injured list a few weeks later.

It’s a third straight disappointing season for Wood, who last managed a sub-4.00 ERA with the Giants in 2021. He’ll return to free agency at the start of the offseason and turns 34 in January. It’s possible he’s limited to minor league offers heading into next season. The A’s didn’t provide much detail on the nature of the shoulder surgery nor specify whether Wood is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Athletics’ Luis Medina Being Evaluated For UCL Injury

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The A’s received a pair of unwelcome injury updates over the weekend, when righty Luis Medina was diagnosed with an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and outfielder Esteury Ruiz was pulled back from a minor league rehab assignment due to lingering discomfort in his ailing wrist (links to X via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Medina is headed for a second opinion on his elbow. Ruiz’s wrist will be reevaluated by a doctor today.

The 25-year-old Medina came to the A’s alongside lefties JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. As it’s turned out, four of the five pitchers involved in that swap — Medina, Waldichuk, Montas, Trivino — have incurred significant injuries since the deal came together. Waldichuk and Trivino both had Tommy John surgery. Montas underwent shoulder surgery. Medina is now facing a prolonged absence himself, in all likelihood.

Medina started 17 games for the A’s last season. He struggled to an ERA north of 5.00 on the season as a whole but was generally solid after a shaky start. In his final 80 innings last year, the hard-throwing right-hander posted a 4.39 ERA (3.82 FIP, 4.75 SIERA) with a 22.3% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate and 44.3% ground-ball rate. Command has been an issue for Medina in the majors and upper minors alike, but that decent stretch over the final three months of the ’23 campaign was enough to land Medina a rotation opportunity in 2024.

He missed the first two-plus months of the season after sustaining a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during spring training, but upon returning, Medina looked similar to that June through September form from last summer. From June 2 through July 6, Medina pitched 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball across seven starts. His strikeout rate (15.9%) was down, as was his velocity (only by about 0.4 mph), but neither seemed like a major red flag for a pitcher returning from a notable knee injury. He was pulled mid-inning after giving up six runs in five frames against the Red Sox on July 11, however, and placed on the injured list with an elbow sprain shortly thereafter.

A confirmed UCL injury and second opinion from an external source are never good signs for any pitcher. There’s no indication yet that Medina will require surgery, but a the majority of UCL sprains culminate in Tommy John surgery, an internal brace procedure, or a hybrid of the two. There are certainly cases of pitchers rehabbing a UCL sprain and never requiring surgery — Medina’s own teammate, Mason Miller, missed four months with a sprain last year and has been dominant since returning — but those are more the exception than the rule. If Medina ultimately requires surgery, it could knock him out for a year or more, but he and the A’s will be hoping he can emulate Miller’s path.

As for Ruiz, he swiped 67 bases in 132 games last season but did so with a well below-average .254/.306/.345 batting line. He posted an even rougher .200/.270/.382 slash in 65 plate appearances this season. The A’s optioned him to Triple-A on April 1, and he hit .326/.423/.581 with three homers and seven steals in 11 games before being recalled to the majors and continuing to struggle at the plate. He’s been out since May 22 with a left injury that apparently hasn’t healed all the way just yet.

Ruiz’s gaudy minor league numbers continue to impress, but he’s yet to establish himself as a viable big league hitter (.243/.297/.343) and has thus far looked more the part of a fourth outfielder than a starter. He’s been leapfrogged by fellow trade acquisition JJ Bleday on the center field depth chart. Bleday is hitting .233/.314/.432 (114 wRC+) with a dozen homers in 405 plate appearances.

A’s Designate Aaron Brooks For Assignment

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The A’s announced this morning that they’ve activated right-hander Luis Medina from the 60-day injured list. To make room for Medina on both the club’s active and 40-man rosters, right-hander Aaron Brooks was designated for assignment.

Brooks, 34, signed with the A’s on a minor league deal over the winter and was called up last month to help fill out the club’s rotation mix amid a number of injuries to key veterans such as Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, and Paul Blackburn. He ultimately made four starts for the A’s, pitching to a 5.82 ERA with a 5.59 FIP in 21 2/3 innings of work with a strikeout rate of just 10% against a 6% walk rate. With potential long-term pieces like JP Sears and Mitch Spence currently filling out the rest of the club’s rotation mix, Brooks’s mediocre performance wasn’t enough to justify a rotation spot for the righty now that Medina is healthy enough to take the mound.

Going forward, the A’s will have one week to either trade Brooks or attempt to pass the veteran righty through waivers. Should he clear waivers, the veteran would have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he wish to do so. Despite his lackluster results this year, it’s feasible that a club in need of starting pitching depth could have interest in the righty. After all, he’s a veteran of six major league seasons who has compiled 56 appearances and 32 starts in the majors during that time as a back-end starter and long reliever who enjoyed some success overseas while pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2020-21.

Brooks’s spot both on the 40-man roster and in the starting rotation will be taken by Medina, who the A’s acquired alongside Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the Frankie Montas trade at the 2022 trade deadline. The 25-year-old made his big league debut with the A’s last year and struggled to a 5.42 ERA in 23 appearances, 17 of which were starts. Medina’s difficulties at the big league level were primarily attributable to his unsightly 11.5% walk rate, which clocked in less than ten points below his 21.4% strikeout rate.

Despite those ugly peripheral marks, Medina’s 96.1 mph average velocity on his fastball offers plenty of reason for excitement about his abilities if he figure out his command, and his performance improved as the 2023 season continued with a 4.22 ERA and 4.04 FIP in his final 70 1/3 innings of work last year. Medina’s tantalizing upside made him a strong candidate for the fifth starter role in Oakland entering the season until he found himself sidelined by a grade 2 MCL sprain in early March. Medina has been shelved ever since, but now is healthy enough for the A’s to once again offer him the opportunity to join their rotation alongside Sears, Spence, Joey Estes, and Hogan Harris.

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.

Athletics Select Kyle McCann

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The Athletics announced a series of Opening Day roster moves today. They selected the contract of catcher Kyle McCann and placed left-hander Sean Newcomb and infielder Aledmys Diaz on the 60-day injured list. Those two IL placements open spots for McCann and for lefty T.J. McFarland, who was acquired from the Dodgers earlier this week. Pitchers Scott Alexander, Luis Medina and Freddy Tarnok were placed on the 15-day IL while outfielder Miguel Andújar was placed on the 10-day IL.

McCann, 26, cracks a big league roster for the first time. A fourth-round pick from the 2019 draft, he was considered one of the club’s top 30 prospects in 2020 and 2021 but fell off after he struggled mightily in first taste of Double-A. He played 93 games there in 2021 but hit just .166/.283/.275, striking out in 37.1% of his plate appearances.

Since then, the strikeout problems have lingered but things have gone a bit better when he does put the bat on the ball. He split 2022 between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 20 home runs that year while slashing .234/.338/.444. He struck out at 33.4% clip but also drew walks 12.2% of the time and his overall performance translated to a 100 wRC+, exactly average.

Last year, he struck out in 32.2% of his appearances, all at Triple-A, but hit 17 homers and slashed .270/.351/.474 for a wRC+ of 97. In this year’s Spring Training, he was punched out in 40.6% of his 32 plate appearances but also drew walks 15.6% of the time and hit two dingers for a .231/.375/.500 batting line.

Prior to this move, the A’s only had two catchers on their 40-man roster in Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom. The latter was optioned to Triple-A a couple of weeks ago, with the club seemingly preferring for him to have regular playing time as opposed to sitting on the bench as the backup to Langeliers. McCann will get to join the big league club and will be making his debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Newcomb has been battling soreness in his surgically-repaired left knee and it seemed the A’s don’t expect him to be able to return between now and late May. The same goes for Díaz, who has dealt with both a groin strain and a calf strain this spring.

Luis Medina Diagnosed With Grade 2 MCL Sprain; Freddy Tarnok Shut Down

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12:20pm: The A’s have also shut Tarnok down for the time being, tweets Gallegos. The 25-year-old experienced a “flare-up” in his surgically repaired right hip and isn’t throwing at the moment. Tarnok underwent surgery to repair the labrum and some cartilage in his hip last August.

With just over three weeks until Opening Day, this update likely takes Tarnok out of the mix for a rotation job. The former Braves farmhand, acquired as part of last offseason’s Sean Murphy trade, missed the first few months of the ’23 season with a shoulder strain and pitched only 36 1/3 innings between the minors and the big leagues last year. Baseball America ranked Tarnok 25th among Oakland prospects this season, noting that a lack of durability and sub-par command point more to a future in the bullpen than the rotation ceiling that looked viable earlier in the righty’s minor league tenure.

11:03am: Athletics righty Luis Medina will begin the season on the injured list after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, manager Mark Kotsay announced this morning (X link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Medina exited his most recent spring start with a knee sprain of unknown severity and was seen in the A’s clubhouse on crutches this morning. There’s no firm timetable for Medina’s return to the Oakland roster, but a Grade 2 sprain likely comes with an absence of some note.

Acquired alongside JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino from the A’s to the Yankees, Medina may have had the inside track on the Athletics’ fifth starter job this spring. Sears, Paul Blackburn and offseason pickups Alex Wood and Ross Stripling are locked into the top four spots, but Medina had more success in the majors than the remainder of the (non-Sears) pitchers the A’s have landed over the course of their current rebuild.

Looking strictly at last year’s 5.42 ERA in 109 2/3 innings, that might not seem to be the case, but Medina was shelled early in his debut campaign before finishing the year on a more solid stretch. Over his final 11 starts and four long-relief appearances, Medina pitched 70 2/3 frames with a 4.22 ERA, albeit with shakier secondary marks.

Medina averaged better than 96 mph on his heater and posted a quality 11.4% swinging-strike rate, but those positives were undercut by subpar command. The right-hander walked more than 11% of his opponents, and that lackluster command contributed to a below-average 21.6% strikeout rate that checks in lower than one would expect for a pitcher with Medina’s velocity and bat-missing ability.

Medina will join Waldichuk (flexor strain/UCL sprain) on the injured list to begin the season. That pair’s subtraction from the team’s Opening Day rotation mix creates some additional competition in camp. Oakland has already optioned rotation hopefuls Adrian Martinez, Hogan Harris and Osvaldo Bido to Triple-A. Righties Joe Boyle, Freddy Tarnok, Joey Estes and Royber Salinas are all still in camp and are all already on the 40-man roster, as is lefty Kyle Muller. Rule 5 right-hander Mitch Spence is also in the mix for a rotation spot.

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