Rangers Claim Willie MacIver, Michel Otañez
The Rangers announced that they have claimed catcher Willie MacIver and right-hander Michel Otañez from the Athletics. Additionally, Texas has outrighted outfielders Dustin Harris and Billy McKinney. Both outfielders have elected free agency.
There wasn’t any previous indication that the A’s had put anyone on waivers or designated anyone for assignment. However, roster maintenance is common at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series, which can often lead to roster crunches.
MacIver, 29, is a longtime depth catcher who just made his major league debut. He was initially drafted by the Rockies back in 2018 and finally got to the show with the A’s in 2025. He got into 33 games and slashed .186/.252/.324. His Triple-A work this year was much better, as he put up an eye-popping line of .362/.426/.541. That took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and was aided by a .428 batting average on balls in play, but it was nonetheless enough to intrigue the Rangers.
Texas has Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka on the roster. MacIver is the clear #3 catcher on the roster for now. He still has options and can be kept in Triple-A as depth, though his path to big league playing time could open up if the Rangers decide to shake things up with a trade. For the A’s, they still have Shea Langeliers as their primary backstop. Austin Wynns is also on the roster for now but he’s a non-tender candidate, so perhaps they will look to add more depth this winter.
Otañez, 28, has been on the Athletics’ 40-man since the summer of 2024. He has thrown 39 1/3 big league innings with a 4.81 earned run average. His 34.1% strikeout rate is impressive but he’s also walked 14% of batters faced. He has also tossed 55 minor league innings since the start of 2024 with a 6.05 ERA, 31.8% strikeout rate and 16.5% walk rate. The righty has powerful stuff, averaging in the upper 90s with his fastball, but clear control issues. He is still optionable, so the Rangers could keep him in the minors as they try to help him harness his arsenal.
Harris, 26, was once a notable prospect but his stock has faded in recent years. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has taken almost 2,000 minor league plate appearances with a .268/.364/.428 line and 103 wRC+. He has also stepped to the plate 50 times in the majors with a .217/.280/.435 line. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. The Rangers outrighted him to the minors in August but re-selected him later. Since this is his second career outright, he has the right to elect free agency.
McKinney, 31, is somewhat similar. He is also a former prospect who hasn’t delivered much on the hype. He has received almost 1,000 big league plate appearances but has produced a .209/.283/.382 line and 79 wRC+. He was added to the Texas roster late in the year as they were playing out the string. He has the right to elect free agency both due to having a previous career outright and three years of big league service time.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Athletics Select Colby Thomas
The Athletics announced a series of roster moves Monday, notably selecting the contract of well-regarded outfield prospect Colby Thomas from Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s also reinstated Shea Langeliers from the 10-day injured list, recalled reliever Justin Sterner from Vegas and optioned outfielder JJ Bleday, righty Tyler Ferguson and catcher Willie MacIver to Triple-A.
Thomas, 24, was the Athletics’ third-round pick in 2022. He’s steadily climbed the minor league ranks and currently sports a .297/.365/.542 slash with Las Vegas, although given the extraordinarily hitter-friendly setting, that’s only about 11% better than league average (111 wRC+) when adjusted for home park and league run-scoring environment. Thomas’ 26.3% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and massive pop-up rate — a staggering 28% of his fly-balls are infield flies — aren’t ideal, but he’s also hitting plenty of line drives.
Baseball America and MLB.com both list Thomas among the system’s top-five prospects, whereas FanGraphs had Thomas way down at 27th in the system citing concerns over his hit tool and overaggressive approach at the plate. Both BA and MLB raise those flaws as well, but Thomas’ raw tools — above-average to plus grades on his power, speed, outfield defense and arm strength — lead to a more favorable overall rating at both outlets, questions in the batter’s box notwithstanding.
Thomas joins an outfield mix that includes Lawrence Butler in right field, defensive standout Denzel Clarke in center and slugger Tyler Soderstrom in left. Designated hitter Brent Rooker can cycle into the corners as well but has just 202 innings on defense dating back to Opening Day 2024. Thomas’ right-handed bat could serve as a complement to the lefty-swinging Soderstrom, who’s batting just .205/.235/.269 against lefties this year (81 plate appearances) but .268/.367/.485 versus righties.
Langeliers returns after missing nearly four weeks with an oblique strain. He batted .237/.300/.430 with 10 homers in 230 plate appearances prior to the injury, continuing his trend of providing low average/OBP marks with above-average pop.
Ferguson was solid for the A’s in 2024 but has seen his velocity, strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate, walk rate and home run rate all trend in the wrong direction in 2025. He’s currently sitting on a 6.69 ERA in 35 innings.
Last year, Bleday looked to have broken out as a quality hitter and potential core piece with the A’s. His glovework in center field was brutal, but Bleday slashed .243/.324/.437 with 20 homers in 642 plate appearances. He’s drawing tons of walks with slightly above-average power again in 2025, but Bleday’s contact rate, strikeout rate and infield fly rate have all trended the wrong way in ’25. This is now the second time he’s been optioned, and went just 5-for-37 between minor league stints before being sent back down. There’s still room for him to bounce back and reclaim a spot in the Athletics’ long-term plans, but right now his stock is down considerably relative to 2024.
Athletics Designate Seth Brown For Assignment, Option JJ Bleday
The Athletics announced a huge batch of roster moves today. They selected the contracts of catcher Willie MacIver and infielder Logan Davidson. They also recalled left-hander Jacob Lopez, infielder CJ Alexander and outfielder Denzel Clarke. Infielder Gio Urshela was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring, opening one spot. They opened three more by optioning right-hander Carlos Durán, catcher Jhonny Pereda and outfielder JJ Bleday to Triple-A Las Vegas. They opened a fifth active roster spot by designating infielder/outfielder Seth Brown for assignment. That also opened one 40-man spot for MacIver/Davidson. A second was opened by transferring infielder Zack Gelof to the 60-day IL.
The Clarke, Urshela and Davidson moves had been previously reported. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the Clarke promotion last night and hinted that more moves could be coming, with the A’s looking to shake things up and snap a nine-game losing streak. That has certainly come to pass.
Brown, 32, has been a productive player for the A’s before but has fallen off. He hit 45 home runs between the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, slashing .224/.294/.457 for a 111 wRC+. However, he has a line of .224/.286/.385 and a wRC+ of 90 since then. That includes a .192/.311/.288 line and 79 wRC+ this year.
He was outrighted off the roster last summer but earned his way back to the big leagues. He played well enough in the second half that the A’s tendered him an arbitration contract for 2025 and the two sides avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.7MM salary.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Brown is not quite in a position to both elect free agency and keep that money coming to him. Players with at least three years of big league service have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but players with less than five years have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to do so. Brown came into this year with four years and 96 days of service time, putting him 76 days shy of the five-year mark. 57 days have passed in the 2025 season so far. Based on his performance, he probably won’t get claimed off waivers. More likely, he will clear and accept an outright assignment, allowing the A’s to keep him around as non-roster depth.
Bleday, 27, seemed to be having a breakout last year. The former top prospect hit 20 home runs and slashed .243/.324/.437 on the year for a 120 wRC+. Defensively, he was miscast as a center fielder but the offensive performance was certainly encouraging. Unfortunately, he is slashing .204/.291/.365 for an 86 wRC+ so far this year.
It’s possible there’s some luck in there. His batting average on balls in play was .279 last year but is down to .231 here in 2025. His barrel rate is down but his average exit velocity and hard hit rate are actually higher than last year. His strikeout rate has ticked up a bit but he’s also been walking more.
Regardless, the A’s are seemingly going to try Clarke in center for a while. Bleday can try to get into a groove in the Pacific Coast League and perhaps return to the big leagues after a bit of a refresher. He came into this season with his service count at 2.055. If he stays down the rest of the year, he won’t get to the three-year mark in 2025, delaying his path to free agency. But if he’s recalled in the not-too-distant future, he’ll still have a shot to get there.
Amid the rest of the shuffle, MacIver gets called to the big leagues for the first time. The A’s have Shea Langeliers as their primary catcher but Pereda has been backing him up lately. With today’s swap, it seems MacIver will get a shot at holding that backup job.
The 28-year-old MacIver was drafted by the Rockies way back in 2018, in the ninth round, and has been grinding in the minors since then. He reached free agency after 2024 and signed a minor league deal with the A’s coming into 2025. He has put up a monster .389/.469/.548 line in 147 Triple-A plate appearances this year. His .480 BABIP is surely not sustainable but his 12.2% walk rate and 18.4% strikeout rate are both good figures.
As for Gelof, he began the season on the 10-day IL due to hamate surgery. He started a rehab assignment at the end of April but that lasted just three games before he was pulled off due to a stress reaction in his ribs. He hasn’t started a new rehab assignment yet. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so is technically eligible for reinstatement a few days from now. However, that doesn’t seem likely, as he’ll surely need a few weeks of minor league games at some point to get into game shape.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images