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Athletics Release Aledmys Díaz, Sean Newcomb

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Today: The Athletics have released Aledmys Díaz and Sean Newcomb according to their player pages on MLB.com.

July 2: The Athletics announced today that they have recalled right-hander Tyler Ferguson and infielder Brett Harris from Triple-A Las Vegas. Left-hander Sean Newcomb and infielder Aledmys Díaz were designated for assignment in corresponding moves.

Díaz, 33, had a solid run as a productive major leaguer from 2016 to 2022, suiting up for the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Astros. The A’s signed him going into last year, giving him a $14.5MM guarantee over two years, ideally hoping that he could serve as a stable veteran presence on a rebuilding club full of younger and less experienced players.

The first season of the deal was undoubtedly a disappointment. Díaz carried a career batting line of .266/.320/.443 into the year but ended up slashing just .229/.280/.337 in 2023. While the former line translates to a wRC+ of 105, the latter put him at just 72, going from a bit above average to well below.

This year has been far worse. Díaz dealt with a groin and a calf strain in Spring Training and landed on the 60-day injured list to start the year. He was reinstated at the end of May but has slashed .103/.133/.103 since then. He wasn’t getting much playing time, with just 30 plate appearances so far this year and just three in the past week.

Rather than keeping him on the bench for the final three months of his contract, the club will let him pursue opportunities elsewhere while giving his roster spot and playing time to younger players that could perhaps be part of the club’s future. Max Schuemann has been getting the bulk of the playing time at shortstop and will likely continue to do so, with players like Harris and Armando Alvarez capable of filling in from time to time. Darell Hernaiz is on the IL but Nick Allen is on the 40-man and could be recalled at some point. Jacob Wilson is a shortstop and one of the club’s top prospects. He only has 11 games of Triple-A experience and just 22 at Double-A, but he keeps putting up huge numbers and could be an option at some point.

The A’s will technically have five days to work out a trade with Díaz but the interest from other clubs figures to be close to zero, given his contract and recent performance. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and will likely be released in the coming days, leaving the A’s on the hook for the remainder of his salary.

At that point, another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the A’s pay. Though given his recent form, he will likely have to settle for minor league offers.

As for Newcomb, 31, he also began the year on the 60-day injured list. In his case, it was due to irritation in his surgically-repaired left knee. He was reinstated from the IL about a month ago and has since tossed 10 innings over seven appearances, allowing seven earned runs. He struck out seven opponents but also issued eight walks.

He once seemed like a building block in Atlanta earlier in his career, tossing 264 innings in 2017 and 2018 with an earned run average of 4.06. He pitched primarily out of the bullpen in 2019 but continued having good results with a 3.16 ERA.

Unfortunately, things took a nosedive from there. He posted a 7.45 ERA over the 2020 to 2022 seasons, including a stint with the Cubs. The A’s gave him some time on the roster late last year with encouraging results, as he logged 15 innings with an ERA of 3.00.

The A’s took a shot on Newcomb carrying that over, avoiding arbitration by agreeing to give him a $1MM salary for 2024, even after he had undergone surgery on that left knee. But things haven’t gone according to plan and he’s been bumped off the roster.

Newcomb came into this year with his service time count at four years and 113 days, leaving him 59 days shy of the five-year mark. Since players collect service time on the minor league IL, he crossed over that threshold earlier this year. That means he now has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while keeping his salary in place.

That makes it likely that, just like Díaz, he will end up released in the coming days. The A’s will be on the hook for what’s left of his salary and any other club could potentially sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the A’s pay.

A’s Place Lucas Erceg On IL With Forearm Strain

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TODAY: The A’s have now made it official, placing Erceg on the IL today and also optioned right-hander Tyler Ferguson to Triple-A. In corresponding moves, right-hander Dany Jiménez and left-hander Brady Basso were recalled. Additionally, infielder Tyler Nevin was outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

MAY 30: The A’s will place setup man Lucas Erceg on the 15-day injured list, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters on Thursday afternoon (via the MLB.com injury tracker). The right-hander experienced forearm tightness while warming up on Tuesday. He’s headed back to Oakland for further evaluation.

While Erceg isn’t as dominant as late-inning bullpen mate Mason Miller, he has been a key leverage arm in his own right. He’s carrying a 2.86 ERA with a 31% strikeout rate over 22 innings. Half the batted balls he has allowed have been hit on the ground. Erceg has averaged nearly 99 MPH on his fastball and has gotten swinging strikes on almost 13% of his offerings. He’s second on the team behind Austin Adams with eight holds and has picked up a pair of saves.

This has the makings of a breakout season for Erceg, who turned 29 earlier this month. He began his career as a reasonably well-regarded third base prospect in the Milwaukee system. When his bat plateaued in Triple-A, the Brewers moved him to the mound. Milwaukee abandoned the experiment when they traded Erceg to Oakland for cash last May. The A’s lived with some inconsistent results in his rookie campaign — a 4.75 ERA with a huge 14.3% walk rate over 55 innings — and have been rewarded through this year’s first couple months.

A healthy Erceg would make for an interesting trade candidate this summer. The A’s certainly don’t need to move him. He has five more seasons of team control and won’t get to arbitration until the end of 2025. There’s clear appeal to a Miller/Erceg pairing in the late innings. If the A’s decide to stretch Miller back out as a starter next year, Erceg could be their first choice to close.

Still, there’s also an argument for trying to sell high on Erceg. His winding career path means he’s well into what would typically be a pitcher’s prime (although it’s possible he’ll develop later than most because of his relative inexperience on the mound). Relief pitching tends to be volatile and Erceg’s command is still a work in progress. While this season’s 9.2% walk rate is average for a reliever, he had generally walked between 13-15% of opponents before this year.

Trade speculation is conditional on him being on the mound in July. He’s set to be out at least into the middle of June. The upcoming testing will reveal whether he’s in line for a longer absence and if there are any structural concerns.

Athletics Place Ross Stripling On 15-Day IL, Designate Brandon Bielak

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The A’s announced that right-hander Ross Stripling has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a strained right elbow.  Right-hander Brandon Bielak has also been designated for assignment, opening up a 40-man roster spot for Jack O’Loughlin, whose promotion was reported earlier today.  In addition to selecting O’Loughlin’s contract from Triple-A, the Athletics also called up righty Tyler Ferguson from Triple-A to take the other 26-man roster spot.

Stripling allowed six runs over 3 2/3 innings in yesterday’s 6-3 loss to the Astros.  Even if it is fair to assume that the elbow strain impacted Stripling’s performance in some fashion, it was another in a string of tough outings for the veteran, as he has a 5.82 ERA across 55 2/3 innings and 11 starts for Oakland.  His SIERA is a somewhat more palatable 4.66 and Stripling hasn’t enjoyed any batted-ball (.359 BABIP) or strand rate (56.4%) luck, plus his .328 xwOBA is well below his .364 wOBA.  The righty’s 4.8% walk rate has been excellent and he has done a very good job of limiting hard contact, though his 13.9% strikeout rate ranks in only the seventh percentile among all pitchers.

Even if the results have been spotting, Stripling has been able to take the ball every fifth day, which is the kind of stability the A’s were hoping to receive when they acquired him in an offseason trade with the Giants.  It was widely expected that the Athletics would also be shopping Stripling in advance of the trade deadline, yet this injury now casts doubt on that scenario, and potentially Stripling’s availability for the remainder of the season.  More will be known about the severity of the elbow sprain soon, though it is worth noting that Stripling underwent a Tommy John surgery back in 2014 when he was pitching in the Dodgers’ farm system.

The more immediate impact of Stripling’s injury is that Oakland is now down yet another starting pitcher.  Paul Blackburn (stress reaction in his right foot), Alex Wood (rotator cuff tendonitis), and Joe Boyle (lower back strain) are already all on the 15-day IL, meaning that of the five A’s pitchers who have made the most starts in 2024, JP Sears is the only fit hurler of the group.  O’Loughlin has been a regular starter at Triple-A Las Vegas and will join Sears, Mitch Spence, Joey Estes, and Aaron Brooks in the makeshift rotation.  The Athletics have off-days on each of the next two Mondays to allow for some flexibility in figuring out the pitching staff, and in perhaps buying time until at least one of their injured starters is healthy.

Given the short-handed rotation, it seems surprising that the A’s are parting ways with Bielak just nine days after acquiring the righty in a trade with the Astros.  Bielak has a 3.18 ERA over 5 2/3 relief innings since coming to the Athletics, and while he has worked exclusively as a reliever over 13 total appearances for Oakland and Houston this season, he started 13 of his 15 games with the Astros in 2023.

Bielak’s Statcast numbers have been troubling in each of the last two seasons, so he might be fortunate to have even the 4.11 ERA he has posted over 103 innings since Opening Day 2023.  Still, for a team that is so thin on starting pitching at the moment, designating a swingman with MLB experience puts even more pressure on the Athletics’ internal arms to pick up the slack.  The A’s weren’t able to simply move Bielak to Triple-A since he is out of minor league options, and it is possible another team might again look to work out a trade or just claim Bielak in his latest trip to DFA limbo.

A’s Select Tyler Ferguson, Designate Lazaro Armenteros For Assignment

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The A’s announced they’ve selected reliever Tyler Ferguson onto the major league roster. Dany Jiménez was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, Oakland designated Lazaro Armenteros for assignment.

Ferguson gets his first major league call at age 30. A Vanderbilt product, he entered the professional ranks in 2015 as a sixth-round pick of the Rangers. Ferguson topped out at High-A in the Texas system and was released shortly before the start of the 2019 season. He bounced between the independent Can-Am and American Associations between brief affiliated stints in the Dodgers and Braves systems. Ferguson made it as high as Triple-A with Atlanta before qualifying for minor league free agency.

The right-hander spent last season working in multi-inning relief with Arizona’s top farm team in Reno. He posted a 5.49 ERA over 78 2/3 innings and returned to free agency. The A’s signed him to a minor league deal with an invitation to MLB camp early in the winter. He tossed 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball this spring and opened the regular season in Vegas.

Ferguson has logged 15 frames over 14 appearances for the Aviators. He has allowed eight runs (only four of which were earned) while striking out 24 hitters. That strong start was enough to crack the A’s bullpen after a nearly decade-long climb through the professional ranks. He steps in for Jiménez, who has walked 13 of his first 67 opponents.

Armenteros, 25 this month, has yet to reach the big leagues. The right-handed hitting outfielder was a high-profile amateur signee out of Cuba back in 2016. Massive strikeout totals have long since damaged his prospect stock. Even though Armenteros hadn’t shown signs of significantly improving his contact skills, the A’s surprisingly added him to the 40-man roster to keep him from getting to minor league free agency at the start of last offseason.

The A’s assigned Armenteros to Triple-A for the first time this year. He has punched out a staggering 37 times in 72 plate appearances, making him the only Triple-A hitter (minimum 50 PAs) to strike out more than half the time. He’ll likely end up on waivers in the next few days. Assuming he goes unclaimed, the A’s could assign him back to Las Vegas without keeping him on the 40-man roster.

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