12:27pm: The A's designated Phil Humber for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Moscoso, according to the team. Humber was claimed off waivers from the Royals last month.
11:44am: The Athletics have acquired Guillermo Moscoso from the Rangers, reports Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter). Oscar Prieto Rojas first reported the deal (on Twitter). Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News tweets that Texas will receive minor league right-hander Ryan Kelly.
The 27-year-old Moscoso was designated for assignment just yesterday. He spent the majority of 2010 pitching for Texas' Triple-A affiliate, posting a 5.18 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 123 1/3 innings. He has a 3.46 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in parts of six minor league seasons, and his brief major league career features a 4.30 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 in 11 appearances. The Rangers originally acquired Moscoso from the Tigers in exchange for Gerald Laird.
Oakland acquired Kelly from the Pirates in exchange for Corey Wimberly just last month. The 23-year-old had a 4.20 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 75 innings for Pittsburgh's Single-A affiliate in 2010, almost all in relief.
And now with this massive, major acquisition, the A’s are the favorites in the West! MUahahahahaha sobcryingbawwww…
Ohhh an intra-division trade!
Very rare to see 2 teams who will battle it out for next year in the same division make a trade with one another. Now if it was with the Mariners, I’d understand. But this is very odd to me at least.
They made a minor trade back in March, also. Gregorio Petit for Edwar Ramirez.
True, but I’m sure by many, they were predicted to finish 3rd and 4th that season as opposed to 1 and 2.
Minor trade. less than 10% chance either of these players make it to the majors.
There is a 100% chance Moscoso has already played in the majors.
Moscoso was designated for assignment. Better than to let him go to a division rival and get something in return than to let him go for nothing when that division rival could have very well picked him up for free on waivers.
The A’s just keep picking up the Rangers leftovers…McCarthy, Harden, and now Moscoso…great moves A’s this will def make you favorites to win the west!!! Sarcastically speaking…
To be fair…Harden was already the A’s leftovers…
Not to mention, Harden was the one who reached out to the A’s about returning because he has a great rapport with their new pitching coach.
It’s not like the A’s were kicking in his door.
That is true, I agree, but even after the Rangers gave him a second chance he failed and still the A’s picked him up. I wish Harden the best.
The Rangers gave him $7.5 million.
The A’s are giving him $1.5 million and have acknowledged that their expectations aren’t high.
And the A’s are the ones who look bad for signing him?
Yep. You’ve uncovered their master plan. I’m sure they’re thinking that acquiring those three guys will make all the difference.
Their competitive offers to Beltre and Berkman, and their acquisitions of DeJesus, Matsui and Willingham were probably just for the heck of it.
Explain whats wrong with getting these 3? Perhaps you’re overlooking what the A’s have really done this off-season, which is acquire 3 very good bats. Their pitching staff is one of the top 5 in the game. And Harden, McCarthy, and Moscoso are all low risk acquisitions. Don’t see why you can criticize that when every team has made signings/trades like that this off-season already.
You must be a unknowledgeble s.f giants fan
Or he was making a joke.
Nice little under the radar move. Moscoso has better upside than Humber, in my opinion. And perhaps more importantly, I’m pretty sure Moscoso still has an option left (unlike Humber). And Kelly isn’t likely to ever be missed.
Serious question. If he was designated for assignment, then how could he have had options left? Seems to me that if he did, Texas could’ve just sent him to the minors. Or am I wrong?
You’re not wrong. It’s just slightly complicated.
When a player has options remaining, they can be sent to the minors without being exposed to waivers. But they have to be kept on the 40-man roster to stay protected, and in this case Texas needed to make room for Adrian Beltre, so they had to make someone (Moscoso) expendable.
Hope that makes sense. I didn’t understand exactly how it worked for a long time, either
Thank you! You were a lot more clear about that than wikipedia.
Moscoso was superb at AAA in 2009, what happened?