The Athletics have signed Andy LaRoche to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training according to the team's Twitter feed. The 27-year-old elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Pirates back in November.
Adam's younger brother went to Pittsburgh in the Manny Ramirez trade, and is a .224/.304/.338 hitter in a little over 1,200 big league plate appearances. Oakland tried to upgrade their third base situation by signing Adrian Beltre this offseason, but LaRoche will have to overcome Kevin Kouzmanoff to land the job. In addition to the hot corner, he has also played first and second bases in his young career.
Always thought Andy LaRoche would end up an Athletic eventually. Has AAAA player written all over him.
i would say super sub written all over him not AAAA…although AAAA is just one step behind super sub
Would have been a nice pickup for the Blue Jays on a minor league deal. It’s unlikely at this point, but there’s always some small possibility he remembers how to play baseball like he did when he was a top prospect. If he somehow seems to be figuring things out, the Jays could use a third baseman.
Good pickup for Oakland though, as they’re in a similar spot.
Guys have “figured it out” at much older ages
Very true. Jose Bautista, Nelson Cruz, Ryan Ludwick… Not saying he’ll ever be in the league of those guys, but I can still see Andy becoming a solid utility guy.
Carlos Pena
Why weren’t the Angels in on this? Even worse, he went to a division rival on a minor league deal!!
They got Vernon Wells, what else do they need.
3rd base, ss, second base, left. right field, pitching, bullpen, bench….umm thats all i can think of now that they need
Angels are probably too busy trying to take the Alfonso Soriano contract off the Cub’s hands.
wells in center, tori in right, bobby in left, and soriano at DH would actually not be that bad expensive and old yes but not that bad……and amazing if your playing 06 the show
Stephen Parker is starting at AA it looks like, interesting.
The writer didn’t care to mention that Andy is an ABYSMAL FIELDER at third base. What was it, like 17 errors he made lasy year.?
He’s also a HORRIBLE HITTER who can’t turn on an inside 95 MPH fastball. He was a major disappointment in Pittsburgh, and we should have traded him last year for Ryan Sweeney when Beane inquired about him. Oh, but wait, you guys in the media would have bashed and crucified the Pirates because Laroche led the team in RBIs in 2009.
He was a huge dissapointment and I think Kouzmanoff wins this battle by a large margin!!!
Good god!! It’s not like he has the potential to be Adrian Beltre!!
Please, I already hate the Angels’ decisions this offseason as it is; signing Laroche would excaberbate their situation even worse.
You do realize there is virtually no risk in this type of thing? Calm down dude, it will be okay
I remember once upon a time when Andy still had some value the Pirates and A’s were trying to get a deal to come to fruition. It would have sent Andy to the A’s in exchange for GIO GONZALEZ OF ALL PLAYERS! But no the Pirates pulled out and figured baby LaRoche had too much ceiling to part ways with. At the time it didn’t seem to unfeasible but now in hindsight it couldn’d look any worse. All in fairness though, looks like the A’s finally got what they wanted without shipping off a promising young player. Quite frankly, I hope Andy still can show a little life with the bat. You never (no matter the circumstances) want to see a once highly touted prospect sputter so far into oblivion that they’re never heard from again. I truly hope he can crack the lineup somehow out of ST.
Actually pirates wanted both gio and ryan sweeney which A’s turned down. Not soon after they made they kouzmanoff trade with padres.
Exactly. And I would have loved to have seen the look on Beane’s face when they asked for those two. Must have been priceless.
You know what? I thought that’s what it was. But I think that could have been a counter offer in the sense of a “it will take your best players in oder to pry Andy away from us” type thing. But initially that was the deal. Either way it would have never happened.. Wish it would have though.
I remember all that very vividly, because the A’s had a black hole at 3B, so they looked into LaRoche, Callaspo, tried to sign Beltre, and then eventually got Kouzmanoff.
I also remember wondering at the time why the Bucs didn’t ask for Jemile Weeks or Adrian Cardenas. Didn’t the Bucs need a 2B prospect more than an OF? I’m surprised the two sides didn’t explore something like that at the time.
This is an infield depth deal. It doesn’t solve either the problem fans think Beane has (no good hitter at 3B) or the one lurking in the background (shortstop depth is worrisome with both Pennington and Rosales coming off surgery).
he’s not there to win the job from KK – he will be the back up 3b and utility player while Rosales starts the season on the DL. Then we’ll see.
How the hyped have fallen.
The A’s need more power. It is rare that a team makes the playoffs without power. The Rangers are still there. If the Angels get hitting, they will be there. The A’s are the pick this year, like the M’s and D’Backs were last year.
Not that simple. Chris Carter has all the power in the world, but do they really want to pay for it in strikeouts and defense?
Carter’s defense is concerning. But trust me, few people will ever care how many times he strikes out, so long as his OPS is always nice and high.
I’ve heard that line before about an A’s player. His name was Jack Cust and most A’s fans hated him.
Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena, Justin Upton, Adam LaRoche, Dan Uggla, etc, all strike out a ton also. And if Carter turns out well enough to be mentioned among those names, I seriously doubt many people will hate him.
I really don’t know that they do need more power. They added Matsui (who is a wash with Cust) and Willingham, and they were .500 last year. They don’t have good power, but they have enough.
Remember when Neal asked for Gio Gonzalez and Ryan Sweeney for him? Yeah, about that…
I feel bad for you guys. Andy Laroche is a AAA player with warning track power. He had some nice plays at 3rd, but don’t expect him to make the ML roster
Feel bad? Why? This is a low-risk depth acquisition, and nothing more. Every team in the league signs multiple players to deals like this every winter. Most people have just never heard of 90% of the players who get minor league deals with spring training invites.
andy is a good guy in the community and for charity