2:10pm: Rosales’ contract will guarantee him $1.25MM, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
12:06pm: The Athletics announced on Wednesday that they’ve signed veteran infielder Adam Rosales to a one-year, Major League deal. MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets that left-handed pitcher Dillon Overton has been designated for assignment to clear a spot on the roster.
[Related: Updated Oakland Athletics Depth Chart]
Rosales, 34 in May, is certainly no stranger to the Athletics, having spent parts of four previous seasons in Oakland. The Hilliard Sports Management client was notoriously involved in a rapid waiver cycle with the A’s and Rangers back in 2013, during which he went from Oakland to Texas, back to Oakland and back to Texas in a span of 10 days.
Most recently, however, Rosales had a late breakout with the Padres in 2016. Long known for his defensive versatility, Rosales was an unexpected source of power for the Friars last season, batting .229/.319/.495 with 13 homers and 12 doubles in just 248 plate appearances. In particular, Rosales was a weapon against left-handers, as he slashed .237/.348/.495 with six homers in 115 PAs while holding the platoon advantage.
The bulk of Rosales’ defensive work with San Diego came at second base and third base, though he also saw some time at shortstop, in left field and a singular inning at first base. Throughout his career, Rosales has logged more than 1000 innings at second base, more than 900 innings at third base, more than 600 innings at shortstop and more than 500 innings at first base. He’ll give A’s manager Bob Melvin a versatile defensive option to match up with left-handers over the course of the 2017 season.
The 25-year-old Overton was Oakland’s second-round pick back in 2013 and made his MLB debut last season, struggling to an ERA of 11.47 in 24 1/3 innings. The Oklahoma product did have a solid campaign in Triple-A Nashville, where he tossed 125 1/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball and averaged 7.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 to go along with a 34.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Overton ranked as Oakland’s No. 8 prospect as recently as the 2015-16 offseason, per Baseball America, whose scouting report on the southpaw noted that his success would ultimately be determined by how much velocity he could regain following 2013 Tommy John surgery. Overton worked in the mid-90s in college but was in the upper 80s following his operation. The velocity seemingly never returned, as he averaged just 88.3 mph on his heater last year. BA’s report on him did note that he could potentially become a “finesse, back-of-the-rotation lefty,” so perhaps a team with uncertainty in the fourth and fifth spot of its rotation will take a flier on him. He’s performed well at every minor league stop he’s had in spite of the velocity decrease.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
seriously the Rosales saga continues???
Overton is possibly the worst pitcher I’ve seen in the last 5 years. How he even made it to the bigs is beyond me. Crazy to think he was once a top draft prospect.
Hey genius, go here:
baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=over…
and explain why those minor league numbers make you think he’s the worst pitcher youve seen in the last 5 years. Yeah so what he didnt perform in his first foray into MLB, tons of pitchers don’t. Overton is probably going to be a late bloomer and whoever gets him needs to view him as such.
Exactly, I think he could be next arrieta. And to see him DFA’d for more crud from Rosales is very frustrating.
Could be the next Arrieta? Have you ever watched either of them pitch? Arrieta always had upper 90s velocity and a nasty breaking ball. He just couldn’t locate in Baltimore and wasn’t allowed to throw his slider. Overton throes 87 mph…. Dude will never be anything.
A late bloomer who throws 87 mph. Not really gonna cut it unless he learns to locate with exact precision. Otherwise he’ll just be a BP pitcher.
Jamie Moyer.
What now?
Lmao… He throws 87 mph. It’s literally BP up there. He will never be anything and Oakland DFAing him proves they agree with me
I bet he has a more successful baseball career than you do. Not judging , just saying…
Pathetic signing, A’s fans need to ask more from their front office.
He wasnt that bad last year for a bench guy
Right, he had an outlying career year. Those don’t repeat.
He’a a lot better fit than Jed Lowrie (who I assume will be cut soon)
So that means no one should sign him to be a bench bat? At 1.25M, all hes really guaranteed is a roster spot
A guy with an .814 OPS is a pathetic signing?
And for only $1.25 mil which is literally pennies to MLB teams. People like to freak out for no reason lol
In limited duty and platooned. Career 81 OPS . But I guess if you are comparing apples and oranges it’s okay to cherry pick…?
Cue Westcoastryan trying to tell everyone Rosales is one of the best hitters in baseball. Have fun Oakland.
Oakland didn’t have fun the first time Rosales played there – altho he was booted off the team by the breaking out Donaldson lol
Sure they had a great time. That 2012 team was the most fun A’s team ever.
Cue you trying to tell everyone he’s one of the worst hitters in baseball
Well he had a really good year last year
Nooooooooooooooo! I thought we were finally done with him. Ground hog day continues
The A’s should change their logo to simply a picture of Adam Rosalez he’s the perfect symbol of who the A’s are as a team
Screw off Billy Beane.
We’re so far from contention and we’re signing a journeyman defensive MI and designating another decent valued young player? I mean if Rosales could fetch anything at the deadline, cool. But he can’t. He’ll likely be waived before the end of the season just like Nick Punto and all the other failed middle infielders we’ve signed the past 5 years.
I’m just so tired of this style.. can we full on rebuild, please? And stop wasting 40 man slots on 31 year old career minor leaguers?
I disagree, I think they are very close to contention due to the massive, massive amounts of good pitching they have in the minors, what makes this infuriating is the attempting signing of Encarnacion – to show they actually do have 50 mill to give to the right guy – but instead lose out on EE and sign absolutely horrific, aging, worthless players when they could have had a plan to contend in 2017 instead of no plan for 2017, which moves like this prove is the case.
Beane has officially fallen off.
It’s $1.25 mil for a bench bat… Why the hell are you freaking out so much? This has nothing to do with Edwin. It’s a low risk low upside play for a bench player who can play multiple positions and is coming off a good year. Chill out.
Haven’t you heard? A’s fans have been inspired by Chicken Little.
Why? We already have Jed, Wendle, and Barreto…why not a lefty bullpen pitcher, or OF??
andd pinder
Nunez, Chapman, sack of wet mice…
The 2017 Reunion of Failed A’s Players continues! Adam Rosales is back to warm the bench. I hear he’s a good guy, so it’s important to like your .227 MLB lifetime hitters.
This totally baffles me. The A’s waste a 40-man spot. Why didn’t they burn the roster pick on a Rule 5 guy back in December? Get some flame throwing reliever? Or some slick fielding, projected .227 batting utility infielder who is 8-10 years younger with some upside?
All those are trash, I’d rather they just have signed Chase Utley for 1/$10M.
That works for me, too, as a potential flip to contender at the deadline. I was just making the point that the Rule 5 / young fielder was less stinky trash than re-signing Rosales.
You’re criticizing Beane but you would want the A’s to give Utley $10 mil? Lmfao! Wendle/Lowrie is just as good as utley why would they waste $10 mil on a mediocre veteran who can’t hit lefties?
Hey rols1026, you make a good point. I would rather go the minimum salary prospect route and give them ABs/IPs to prove/develop themselves than Utley. But Utley with that salary may end up a better investment than Rosales eating a 40-man spot. Rosales is waiver wire fodder. Utley might get you better return on investment.
Utley is fertilizer
The Blue Jays need starting pitching depth. I wouldn’t mind signing Overton to a minor league deal to pitch at AAA Buffalo.
You should mind because Overton is really terrible. Shouldn’t pitch in the MLB again unless he gains 3-5 mph on his fastball.
The only way Overton succeeds is if he turns into Tom Glavine or becomes a somewhat serviceable LOOGY. I see the latter if I squint hard enough I guess.
Not an A’s fan but I live in the market so I catch a little bit of their news. Isn’t Rosales the guy who went back and forth from the A’s-Rangers like 10x in the past few years?
There are multiple guys who did that. Andy Parrino is another one
Yes
• Claimed on waivers by Rangers from Athletics, Aug. 2, 2013
• Claimed on waivers by Athletics from Rangers, Aug. 8, 2013
• Claimed on waivers by Rangers from Athletics, Aug. 12, 2013
Per Baseball America. It just seemed like 10x.
Some of these comments… WOW. Seems like there are lots of very frustrated A’s fans that are going to criticize every move Billy and Co make– pretty counter productive thing to do. Isn’t it more fun to take the approach as to speculating why he makes these moves? Also this is as close to a non move as possible; potentially useful vet with a reputation for being a good clubhouse guy gets signed for peanuts. Lastly, Overton was a prospect when he threw 95, unfortunately TJ ran that train off the tracks.
Hello failedstate (BTW, great username), as a long-time A’s fan from the early 1980s, the frustration is that the A’s seem directionless. They are not embarking on a full rebuild, just seemingly rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The Addison Russell trade was a killer, and then Beane seemed petty in dumping Donaldson simply for spite.
I get it but at the time the Russell trade looked like a shrewd move and was pretty well received. I’ve heard rumors that Billy and JD had issues, was this confirmed?
This is a better signing for the A’s than the Eric Young Jr signing is for the Angels.
I love the way this guys plays, you can see his love of the game. His walks and HRs are especially a joy to watch, sprinting as if he’s legging out a double… Kudos to you Adam.
Adam is fun to watch… Overton? Over rated it… Lowrie? C’mon… Barreto, others? Up!
This reminds me of the Nick Punto signing a couple of years ago. Former A, has one good year with an NL West team and back to Oakland. Hopefully this one works out
Will join other former great Padre Yonder Alonso
fangraphs.com/blogs/baseball-is-amazing-and-stupid…
Everyone should check this out. Probably doesn’t mean much but pretty crazy all the same…
Haha
So, with Kelly Johnson out there for cheap and guys like Johnny Giavotella or even simply keeping Tyler Ladendorf – the A’s went out of their way to sign Rosales. Why not get Grant Green who the A’s wasted a first round draft pick on?