The A’s have selected the contract of left-hander Sean Newcomb, the team announced. Fellow lefty Hogan Harris was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas in his place, while left-hander Richard Lovelady was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Oakland just acquired Newcomb from the Giants yesterday in a trade sending minor league outfielder Trenton Brooks back to San Francisco.
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As noted at the time of the trade yesterday, it seemed quite likely Newcomb would be in line for a look at the big league level with the A’s sooner than later. He’d be a free agent at season’s end if not added to the 40-man roster, so there was little sense in making a trade to acquire him if the plan wasn’t to see if he could contribute for them. He has 4.073 years of big league service, so he won’t have enough time remaining this season to get to five years. As such, if Newcomb can pitch well enough to hold a 40-man spot, the A’s would control him for an additional two seasons beyond the current year.
The 30-year-old Newcomb has pitched to a 3.16 ERA and fanned 30.5% of his opponents through 31 1/3 Triple-A frames this season, though his longstanding command issues have persisted as well (15.3% walk rate). Traditionally more of a fly-ball pitcher, Newcomb is sporting a huge 59.4% ground-ball rate in Triple-A this season.
In 406 big league innings, Newcomb has a 4.52 ERA, though he’s now nearly five years removed from the majority of his MLB success. The headline prospect acquired by the Braves in the trade that sent Andrelton Simmons to Anaheim, Newcomb posted a combined 3.87 ERA and 23% strikeout rate in his first 332 1/3 Major League innings. He looked to have cemented his status on the Braves’ pitching staff at that point, but Newcomb was blasted for 17 runs in 13 2/3 innings over four starts in the shortened 2020 season and has yet to recover. Dating back to 2020, he has a 7.45 ERA in 73 2/3 frames at the big league level.
The A’s, on the lookout for pitching help they can control beyond the current season, will see whether Newcomb’s new ground-ball approach can lead to better results in the big leagues. He’ll still need to improve his command, but Newcomb’s blend of missed bats and grounders is at least somewhat intriguing.
Yay hopefully Newcomb can find his ways with the young A’s. If he needed more opportunities then Oakland is the place to prove value right now regardless of an uneventful season…
Why do I get the sense that every player the A’s call up is just an audition to see if there is interest from other teams in trading for him in the offseason?
Like it or not, now a days players for professional sports teams are treated like commodities by ownership.
Like it or not, players treat themselves like commodities. In free agency, that’s exactly how their agents market them.
Fisher has successfully sabotaged the Athletics future in Oakland. Now the plan progresses to furiously building back up to .500 for 2025, for pennies on the dollar. Oakland has a three season upswing ahead of them and after that, who knows? The limited Vegas fanbase will tire of his antics quickly.
I checked today and Fisher still does not have financing secured to build the stadium in Las Vegas, Bally’s has not applied for permits to demolish the Tropicana to make way for the stadium. Fisher has received no money from the state of Nevada or Clark County, and he has not applied to MLB to move yet.
His I am getting the impression that he is cash poor and is having major difficulties finding the investment grade (BBB+) financing that is required by Nevada to get the special deal.
Because that’s how they’ve run their organization for the last decade.
Angels scouting failure at its worst!
Money Ball
Hard to believe Simmons is out of baseball at 33. I know he hasn’t done anything with his bat in a long time, but he’s one of the best defensive shortstops of ALL TIME. Hard to believe that isn’t valued more.
Infield defense is less important if there’s less ground balls being hit, and more fly balls.
Plus most teams have a Catcher and CF with an atrocious bat. Can’t have 3 players with that