The Athletics announced a series of roster moves Thursday, activating righty Paul Blackburn from the 60-day DL and transferring outfielder Boog Powell from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL in his place. To make room on the active roster for Blackburn, who’ll start tonight’s game, Oakland optioned catcher Bruce Maxwell to Triple-A Nashville.
Maxwell became a controversial figure last season as the first (and still only) MLB player to take a knee during the National Anthem, but he received quite a bit more negative attention months later when he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. (He reached a plea agreement in mid-April.) While the Athletics front office publicly voiced support for Maxwell as a player, the team also went out and signed Jonathan Lucroy to a one-year deal, supplanting Maxwell as the starter.
Thus far, that looks to have been a wise move. Maxwell didn’t hit much in two previous seasons with the A’s, and he’s off to a dismal .182/.207/.309 start to the season, albeit in a small sample of just 58 plate appearances. Lucroy, meanwhile, has posted a solid .263/.320/.359 slash, though that respectable production is still light years away from his peak form. He’ll continue to handle the bulk of the catching duties, and it seems that Josh Phegley will now serve as his primary backup for the time being.
Blackburn, meanwhile, has yet to pitch in the Majors this season due to a forearm strain suffered in Spring Training. Now healthy, he’ll look to step up in an injury-plagued Athletics rotation that has lost Jharel Cotton for the season and currently has Andrew Triggs, Daniel Gossett and Brett Anderson on the MLB disabled list.
Blackburn delivered mixed results for the A’s in 10 starts last season. On the one hand, he posted a very strong 3.22 ERA with a terrific 56.3 percent ground-ball rate and just 2.45 walks per nine innings pitched in 58 2/3 innings. On the other hand, he missed fewer bats than any pitcher in MLB, averaging just 3.38 strikeouts per nine innings pitched and turning in a 5.8 percent swinging-strike rate. Fielding independent pitching metrics all felt his true talent level was more than a run higher, with SIERA most bearishly pegging him at 5.15.
As for Powell, he’s been out since early April with a sprained right knee. He’s already missed nearly two full months of action and has yet to go out on a minor league rehab assignment, so today’s transfer is purely a procedural move to open a 40-man spot for Blackburn. Powell has already spent 60 days on the DL anyhow, and the move to the lengthier DL doesn’t reset his eligibility for activation.
Hopefully we never see this piece of trash again
What did Boog Powell ever do to you?
(Puts on her glasses) Hey! You’re Boog Powell!
I think he means Maxwell, not Powell.
Strange that Blackburn only pitched one rehab game (first this year) and they’re already declaring him ready to rejoin the rotation.
Lol. They need a warm body ASAP
because the other option was Chris Bassitt who’s been awful since coming back from TJ
and now your post looks foolish because he threw a 6 inning, 67 pitch 3 H 1 ER gem last night, lol
Maxwell wouldn’t have been the best hitter on his prison softball team.
But hey, I hope he enjoys taking a knee in the indies.
Maxwell is the worst type of bully, using a gun to intimidate a women already much smaller than him.
I’m sure he’ll protest the injustice of using his wealth and position to get a slap on the wrist instead of the prison time he deserves, though.
Thank you I’ve been saying that for months and the sjw crowd here attacks me
Wealth? He makes the minimum baseball wage. He probably blew most of that on lawyers. He still could come back and be a back up catcher but he is such a head case this will probably be the last you hear of him.
MLB minimum wage = 10 times larger than the median US household income.
Plus signing bonus.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if the team has counsel on retainer.
We can only hope he rots away in the minors or gets non-tendered and forgotten rather quickly
Oh please don’t forget that piece of trash Maxwell lied about a waiter refusing to serve him. Tried to ruin the kids life and was found to be lying. No apology for it of course.
Funny he whined about injustice yet used his money and privilege to avoid jail time all of is would’ve received. Oh and MLB nor the A’s had the guts to suspend him. Hope he never comes back
I’m waiting for that bleeding heart David to chime in.
“ . . . used his money and privilege to avoid jail time . . . “
According to his bb-ref page Maxwell was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, which strongly suggests a military family. He was a second round pick and is making ~ the league minimum. So um, what wealth are you referring to?
“ . . . all of is would’ve received.” (sic)
You know this how? You examined sentencing guidelines and sentences for the identical crime in the same jurisdiction and found that all or most others were sentenced to jail? If not you shouldn’t be so certain about things that you really can’t be certain about.
So he got a six figure signing bonus and made over 10 times as much as the average US household last year.
I’d say that’s enough wealth to get top lawyers and special treatment.
He makes 550000 a year plus his signing bonus which for a 2nd rounder is 6 figures.
So take your defense of this turd and stick it
“Take your defense of this turd and stick it.”
What part of my comment was a defense of the player? Go ahead, quote the part where I defended him. And eff yourself whilst you’re at it.
“He makes 550000 a year plus his signing bonus . . . “
The player has sufficient resources to afford the lawyer of his choice and whatever counseling/rehab services may be appropriate. That makes him better off than many defendants but not particularly unique. Your claim that the player is being treated differently because of his wealth and privilege is as fact free as your claim that I was defending him. Troll better next time, tank52.
You tried and failed to defend him. So you’re right, you didn’t.
“You tried and failed to defend him.”
You’re lying again, TrimReaper. Not a good look for you.
they won’t suspend him until after his court date, which is next week
He already plead guilty
he hasn’t been sentenced yet, proper action will be taken after that
Chapman was never even arrested and got suspended
I doubt they’ll suspend this turd because of the protest
Of course they wouldn’t. How could you possibly suspend somebody for a protest?
tank probably should have referred to Maxwell catching a case rather than a two seam fastball.
tank62 just outed himself as a racist lol
I said they wont suspend him for his crime because he was the protester read clown. Theyll give him cover.
What exactly was racist you idiot
Maxwell shouldn’t be playing professionally. Fire his ass already.
Maxwell is a P.O.S. – I don’t know why the A’s are bothering with him – more trouble than he is worth. Gross person.
you are worse
Were all you cowards in this thread bringing this same energy when convicted violent rapist Josh Lueke was in MLB? Just wondering. Probably not because Maxwell isn’t white, huh? So many outed racists in this thread. You all act like Maxwell taking a knee is worse than what Lueke did, and its not even in the same galaxy. Pathetic. Maxwell didn’t even do anything other than threaten someone.
He sucks at baseball though, so we all can agree on that, but jeez, calm down with the insults. He took a knee because African American men get unjustly discriminated with violence from police, and no matter what you think about it, that is wrong. You probably hate steroid users in baseball too, but are totally fine with roid-raging police and the unspoken steroid epidemic causing all this police violence to begin with. YOU. SUCK.
I killed Lueke on Twitter the whole he was around. Nice try. Look i also killed any team thinking of drafting pedophile Heimlich
Nice try
His taking a knee has zero to do with the fact that he stuck a handgun in the face of somebody who was simply trying to deliver him his food order. To think people are up in arms because he protested against police brutality instead of putting a firearm in the face of a complete stranger is ridiculous.. That type of behavior is reprehensible no matter what color your skin is and racism does not belong in this discussion. A food delivery driver is just about as far from a “roid-raging police” officer as you can get.
That is what ive been talking about thecoffinnail But to say “he only threatened someone ”
What if was your sister he did that to?
That and he lied about sn encounter with a waiter who just did his job. Maxwell is a turd. Has zero to do with race
Agree with you “thecoffinnail”. Major character issues – maybe he is mentally ill?. Good chance he doesn’t end up with a career in baseball with his personal problems.
Exactly he seems like just a flat out bad guy
Bye bye maxwell