Aledmys Diaz is likely going to require a trip to the 10-day injured list after suffering a hamstring injury in today’s game, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters. After delivering an RBI single in the second inning, Diaz stole second base and then advanced to third on a Jordan Diaz single before being replaced by pinch-runner Kevin Smith (who then took over for Diaz at shortstop in the top of the third inning).
Athletics Rumors
Athletics Reinstate Ramon Laureano, DFA Tyler Wade
The Athletics announced they’ve activated outfielder Ramon Laureano from the injured list, and designated utilityman Tyler Wade for assignment.
Laureano’s return is a welcome boost for an A’s team that’s slumped to a 5-22 record entering play Saturday. The 28-year-old was hitting .218/.295/.436 with two home runs to begin the season before he hit the shelf with a left groin strain. That move came on April 19, so Laureano will be activated after spending the minimum ten days on the IL. While he’s put up ho-hum numbers at the plate, Laureano has excelled in a small sample of work in right field, collecting four Defensive Runs Saved on the young season.
The A’s will part ways with the speedy Wade, who’d picked up just one hit in 16 plate appearances. Known for his speed and defensive versatility, Wade had picked up four stolen bases and appeared at four positions for Oakland. Signed to a minor league deal, he’ll now be exposed to the rest of the league via the waiver wire, and while the hitting numbers don’t inspire a lot of confidence, there’s a chance a team puts in a claim to bring him in as a cheap pinch runner/defensive sub off the bench.
A’s Outright Dermis Garcia
Athletics infielder Dérmis Garcia has been outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That indicates he’s gone unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday.
Garcia, 25, signed a minor league contract with Oakland heading into 2022. A longtime Yankee farmhand, the right-handed hitter had topped out at Double-A in the New York system. Garcia hit well with Las Vegas to earn his initial MLB call last July. He got into 39 games and tallied 125 plate appearances but struggled in his first crack at big league arms. Garcia hit .207/.264/.388 with five home runs, showing solid power but punching out at an unacceptable 44% clip.
The A’s carried him on the 40-man roster for the entire offseason. He was optioned to Las Vegas to start this year. He’s off to a .242/.329/.500 start in 70 plate appearances with the Aviators. That’s a reasonable line on the surface but a little below-average in one of the minors’ most favorable home parks for hitters. Garcia had also struck out 24 times (34.3%) while drawing only five walks through the first few weeks of the year.
Garcia has never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service. As a result, he doesn’t have the right to refuse the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain in Las Vegas and try to work his way back onto the 40-man roster at some point during the season. Garcia would be eligible for minor league free agency at the end of the ’23 campaign if he’s not added back to the roster.
Athletics Promote Luis Medina, Option James Kaprielian
The Athletics announced that they have recalled pitching prospect Luis Medina, and optioned right-hander James Kaprielian in a corresponding move. Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reported on Medina’s promotion before the official announcement, noting that Medina is expected to make his major league debut tomorrow.
Medina, 24 next month, was signed by the Yankees as an international amateur in 2015 and quickly got himself onto the radar of prospect evaluators. By the start of 2018, he was considered the #7 prospect in that club’s system by Baseball America. As he worked his way up towards the majors, he stayed roughly in that range, bouncing between the #7 and #11 spots.
After the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020, Medina split 2021 between High-A and Double-A, posting a 3.39 ERA in 106 1/3 innings. His 13.3% walk rate was certainly on the high side, but he paired that with a 29.5% strikeout rate. He returned to Double-A in 2022, registering a 3.38 ERA in 17 starts with similar peripherals.
He then came to the Athletics, one of four young players who came over in the deadline deal that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. His first stint with his new club didn’t go so well, as he had an 11.76 ERA in seven starts after the trade last year. But he seems back on track here in 2023 as he’s made three Triple-A starts with a 3.86 ERA, though the control continues to be an issue as he walked 20% of batters faced.
Despite the lack of command, Medina continues to be touted on account of his high octane stuff. BA ranked him #13 in the A’s system coming into this year. They note that he routinely touches triple digits with his fastball, in addition to having a curveball and a changeup. The Yankees added him to their 40-man roster way back in November of 2019, to protect him from that year’s Rule 5 draft, but the A’s were given a fourth option year that allowed them to send him to Triple-A this year.
He’ll now get a crack to test his stuff against big league hitters. The A’s have very little cemented in their rotation, having traded away their established players in recent years. On top of that, players like Paul Blackburn, Drew Rucinski and Freddy Tarnok have yet to appear this season due to injuries. Shintaro Fujinami struggled enough that he’s being moved to the bullpen now. Medina will jump up to join a rotation that currently consists of JP Sears, Mason Miller, Ken Waldichuk and Kyle Muller, though Rucinski is on a rehab assignment and could be in the mix soon.
Kaprielian seemed like a potential mainstay of the rotation not too long ago, making 21 starts for the A’s in 2021 and 26 more last year, posting ERAs just north of 4.00 in each of those campaigns. However, he underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and has been lit up for a 12.94 ERA through three starts and three relief outings in the early going this year. He’ll head to Triple-A and try to get back on track.
A’s Move Shintaro Fujinami To Relief
The Athletics are moving right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the rotation to a relief role, manager Mark Kotsay told reporters before tonight’s game against the Angels (relayed by Martín Gallegos of MLB.com). Kotsay left open the possibility for an eventual move back to the starting staff but suggested the club would first “assess” Fujinami in shorter stints.
Oakland signed Fujinami to a one-year, $3MM deal over the winter. It was one of the more intriguing low-cost dice rolls of the offseason. Fujinami had shown excellent arm speed and quality strikeout stuff at times in his career in Japan. That had often been paired with huge walk totals to the point that his NPB club, the Hanshin Tigers, frequently moved him between the top roster and their minor league club.
The A’s gave Fujinami a crack at a rotation job to bring him to Oakland. The 6’6″ hurler issued 17 walks in 18 2/3 innings in Spring Training, yet the A’s stuck with the plan to keep him in the Opening Day starting staff. Fujinami has taken four times through the rotation but has yet to find any success. He’s allowed 24 runs in only 15 innings, walking 12 batters and surrendering 19 hits. Fujinami only once made it past the fifth inning and took the loss in all four outings.
It’s obviously not how the team nor the 29-year-old had envisioned his first few weeks in the majors. They’ll hope for better results in short stints, where Fujinami’s power arsenal could be more effective. He’s averaged just under 97 MPH on his fastball and gotten a decent number of swinging strikes on both his splitter and slider. He’s issued far too many walks and given up plenty of hard contact out of the rotation though.
The A’s lost a member of their relief corps to injury, as righty Adrián Martínez landed on the 15-day injured list with a strain in his throwing elbow. Kotsay told repairers that Martínez underwent an MRI and is shut down from throwing for the next few days while the club awaits imaging results (Gallegos link). A more specific timeline will be dependent on the MRI but it’d seem likely he’ll be out beyond two weeks.
Fujinami and recent trade acquisition Sam Long offer the ability to work multiple innings in relief. Meanwhile, it seems as if another offseason pickup — KBO signee Drew Rucinski — could take the vacated rotation spot. Rucinski has been on the IL all season due to a hamstring issue. He’s now made three rehab starts with Triple-A Las Vegas, reaching five innings and 72 pitches yesterday. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s reinstated to make his A’s debut later this week.
A’s Designate Dermis Garcia For Assignment
The Athletics announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman Dermis Garcia for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to lefty Sam Long, whom they acquired from the Giants in exchange for cash yesterday. Long is going directly onto the active roster, and in a corresponding move, righty Adrian Martinez has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain.
Garcia, 25, was a longtime Yankees prospect who never got a call to the big leagues before reaching minor league free agency. He signed with the A’s in March of 2022 and parlayed a .264/.349/.498 showing (106 wRC+) into his big league debut. He got into 39 games with the 2022 A’s, batting .207/.264/.388 with five home runs, a 6.4% walk rate and a dismal 44% strikeout rate.
Making contact has long been an issue for Garcia, who has regularly shown above-average power but has also regularly punched out in more than 30% of his plate appearances in a given season. Overall, he’s fanned in 33.4% of his minor league plate appearances. The A’s will have a week to trade Garcia or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
The injury to Martinez is a concerning development for an A’s club that has struggled immensely to develop pitchers and has thus far received underwhelming results from the early stages of its current rebuild. The 26-year-old Martinez, one of two players acquired from the Padres in exchange for Sean Manaea, posted sharp minor league numbers for the majority of his time with the San Diego organization but has been hit hard with the A’s — both in limited MLB action and in their ludicrously hitter-friendly Triple-A Las Vegas setting.
Oakland has had the worst starting staff in baseball this season, and it hasn’t been particularly close. Martinez has been working primarily out of the bullpen for them in 2023 but has done so in multi-inning stints, logging 17 1/3 frames of relief with a 6.75 ERA.
Martinez started the season quite strong, with a 3.27 ERA through 11 innings, but he’s been torched for nine runs in a combined 6 1/3 innings over his past two appearances. The Venezuelan-born righty actually has a decent 20.1% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate in 75 Major League frames, but he’s been undone by a sky-high 1.92 HR/9 mark. The A’s haven’t announced a timetable for his return. Given that Martinez threw as many as 70 pitches in a single relief outing, it’s feasible that he could have eventually been a rotation option for the team if needed. That may still be the case, but it’s now dependent on how long he’ll be sidelined. The A’s have not yet announced a potential timetable or any details beyond the initial diagnosis.
Athletics Acquire Sam Long From Giants
The A’s announced that left-hander Sam Long has been acquired in a trade with the Giants, with cash considerations heading San Francisco’s way. Long was designated for assignment by the Giants earlier this week after the club acquired Cal Stevenson (another DFA’ed player) from the Athletics for money, essentially making the pair of transactions into a Stevenson-for-Long swap.
Long made his MLB debut in 2021, and the Giants shuttled him back and forth from Triple-A several times over the course of the last two seasons, with Long amassing 83 big league innings in total. The lack of stability probably didn’t help Long get too comfortable in the Show, but after posting a 5.53 ERA over 40 2/3 frames in 2021, he improved to a 3.61 ERA in 42 1/3 innings last year.
Fielding-independent metrics indicated Long was pretty similar in both seasons, and his career 4.55 ERA came close to the midpoint between his 4.80 xFIP and 4.35 SIERA. Long has done a good job of limiting walks but he hasn’t missed many bats, and he has been tagged for 13 home runs in his 83 MLB innings. The results haven’t been there in the minors this season, however, as Long has a 9.90 ERA over 10 innings with Triple-A Sacramento.
This was enough for the Giants to part ways, and the A’s will now see if Long can provide any relief depth either in the minors or in their Major League bullpen. The Athletics have been struggling in all facets of the game and the relief corps is no exception, so Long might find some opportunity on a club desperate for any help. Sam Moll and Richard Lovelady are the current left-handed options in Oakland’s pen.
Two transactions within a week counts as a huge flurry of activity in the limited trade history between the A’s and Giants. The two Bay Area rivals last connected on an actual player-for-player trade in December 1990, with five player-for-cash swaps happening in the interim.
A’s, Francisco Perez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Athletics have signed reliever Francisco Pérez to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. The left-hander had been released from a non-roster deal with the Nationals during Spring Training.
Pérez has pitched in the majors in each of the last two seasons. He debuted with Cleveland late in the 2021 campaign, appearing in four games. The Nationals snagged him off waivers at the end of that year. Pérez held his 40-man roster spot for a season and got into 10 MLB contests with Washington last year. The Nationals ran him through outright waivers at the end of last season.
In 14 career appearances, the Dominican Republic native has tallied 15 1/3 innings of 10-run ball. He’s issued 12 walks while punching out 12 hitters in that rather brief look. He’s leaned heavily on a four-seam fastball that averages around 93 MPH while using a mid-80s slider as his top secondary offering.
Pérez spent the bulk of the 2022 season with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. He worked 46 2/3 innings over 45 outings for the Red Wings, allowing a 4.82 ERA. The 25-year-old punched out a strong 29.9% of batters faced at the top minor league level, though he also dished out free passes at a huge 15.7% clip.
The Nats were sufficiently intrigued by the bat-missing numbers in Triple-A to re-sign Pérez to a minor league deal over the winter. He only got into two Spring Training contests before being reassigned to minor league camp and subsequently released. He now joins the third organization of his career, where he’ll presumably head to Triple-A in search of a new opportunity.
Oakland has a pair of left-handers in the MLB bullpen: Sam Moll and Richard Lovelady. They recently turned to Hogan Harris for his MLB debut in relief, though he’s worked as a starting pitcher in the minors. The only other left-handed reliever who’d have a 40-man roster spot is Kirby Snead but he’s on the 60-day injured list after suffering a shoulder strain in Spring Training. Former Marlin Jake Fishman is at Triple-A Las Vegas as a non-roster depth pitcher but landed on the minor league IL two weeks ago.
Latest Details On A’s Stadium Process
A potentially monumental change to the MLB landscape was announced late last night. A’s team president Dave Kaval confirmed the club was firmly turning its attention to Las Vegas in its stadium search after months of parallel discussions with both Vegas and Oakland.
The A’s entered into an agreement to purchase 49 acres in Las Vegas for what they hope to be the location of their next stadium. That led Oakland mayor Sheng Thao to announce the end of negotiations between the city and the franchise regarding a potential new Howard Terminal ballpark in Oakland.
Given yesterday’s events, it now seems very likely the A’s will relocate to Vegas within the next few years. Nothing has yet been finalized, however; the franchise’s land purchase is not the same as a binding stadium agreement, which involves many more hurdles at the government level. A’s leadership and Nevada politicians have both expressed general optimism about a stadium agreement getting done, though there’s still plenty of work to be done in sorting out the details.
Howard Stutz, Tabitha Mueller and Sean Golonka of the Nevada Independent shed more light on the proposal the A’s are likely to put in front of the state legislature within the next couple months. The A’s would invest around $1 billion for the construction of the new ballpark. The organization is seeking the creation of what Kaval calls an “incentives package” for half a billion dollars in public funding. According to the Nevada Independent, the general idea would be to use tax dollars created by the stadium project itself — primarily sales taxes of consumers at the new stadium and its surrounding area (Kaval suggested the end goal would be to create a mixed use development reminiscent of Atlanta’s Battery) — to pay off $500MM worth of bonds issued by the county.
According to the Independent’s report, Nevada legislators have been generally briefed on the proposal. They haven’t yet received concrete details nor made any firm commitments on the project. Various reports have suggested Nevada governor Joe Lombardo is generally supportive of the project, though a spokeswoman tells the Independent that “(t)here is no set timeline (for an official stadium agreement). The financial elements of the concept are still being discussed.” Stutz, Mueller and Golonka note that the legislature remains in session through June 5. If no agreement is in place by then, the legislature could call a special session to continue negotiations into the summer.
The A’s lease at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland runs through the end of next season. Kaval has pegged 2027 as a target date for a new facility in Las Vegas. He told reporters last night the organization was hopeful of having a binding stadium contract in place by the end of this year and breaking ground on the stadium in 2024. (Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the A’s need to have a stadium agreement signed by next January 15 or they’d forfeit their status as revenue sharing recipients.)
Obviously, there’d be a two-year gap between the end of the A’s lease at the Coliseum and the target date for the new facility in Vegas. Kaval addressed that this afternoon, telling the media the organization was open to both extending their lease at the Coliseum by two years or finding a temporary home in Las Vegas (as relayed by Shayna Rubin of the Bay Area News Group). The A’s Triple-A club, the Aviators, play in Vegas and could potentially house the MLB team while ballpark construction is ongoing.
Kaval made clear the club has no plans to displace the Triple-A team over the long term (link via Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal). “The Aviators are going to stay as part of this,” Kaval said. “Kind of like how there’s the Golden Knights and Silver Knights, we’re going to have the A’s and Aviators both in the community. We’re going to have our major league team and our Triple-A team co-located.” He pointed out the Astros (Houston to Sugar Land) and Twins (Minneapolis to St. Paul) both have their top affiliates in close proximity to the major league club.
While there’s obvious optimism on the part of A’s leadership about their next steps in Las Vegas, there’s predictably disappointment and anger among some in Oakland. The Oakland mayor was critical of the A’s negotiating tactics in announcing the end of discussions regarding the Howard Terminal project last night. Thao doubled down this morning, accusing the franchise of pulling the rug out from under talks at a time when city officials perceived they were making progress.
“Based on the A’s desire to achieve certainty in 2023, we laid out a detailed and specific plan to bring the project forward to a City Council vote this summer,” she told reporters (link via Rachel Swan and Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle). “But it has become clear that we are not able to reach acceptable terms and that the A’s are not good partners in the effort.” She added the city had recently hired a mediator to shepherd daily negotiations throughout this week, saying the sides “were the closest we had ever been to making a deal” until Kaval informed the city about the land deal in Vegas yesterday evening.
Swan and Ravani note that Thao has left open the possibility of reopening negotiations. That’d presumably require a major setback in the A’s efforts in Las Vegas at this point. For now, the organization’s focus is clearly on getting a stadium agreement hammered out in the Nevada legislature, which would then allow the A’s to petition MLB for relocation. Commissioner Rob Manfred has already expressed his support for the A’s efforts in Las Vegas, announcing last year the league would waive the A’s relocation fee if they went there. Formal relocation requires approval from 75% of the league’s ownership groups.
A’s Turn Attention To Las Vegas, Agree To Land Purchase For Nevada Stadium Site
The Athletics appear on track to relocate to Las Vegas by 2027. According to a report from Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the A’s have agreed to a land deal to purchase 49 acres (with an option for an additional eight acres) just west of the Las Vegas strip. The land deal is the only official step to this point. There is no formal stadium agreement yet, but it’s clear the franchise is firmly turning its attention away from its current home.
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” team president Dave Kaval told Akers. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the news in a statement to the Review-Journal: “We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year.”
Oakland mayor Sheng Thao confirmed that negotiations between the A’s and its current city are ending (via Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle). There’d been reports of progress between the sides in recent months as they negotiated over a possible Howard Terminal stadium in Oakland’s Jack London Square. With the revelation that won’t come to be, the mayor excoriated franchise leadership, accusing them of using negotiations with Oakland merely “to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas.”
“I am deeply disappointed that the A’s have chosen not to negotiate with the City of Oakland as a true partner, in a way that respects the long relationship between the fans, the City and the team,” Thao said. “The City has gone above and beyond in our attempts to arrive at mutually beneficial terms to keep the A’s in Oakland. In the last three months, we’ve made significant strides to close the deal. … In a time of budget deficits, I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents. Given these realities, we are ceasing negotiations and moving forward on alternatives for the redevelopment of Howard Terminal.”
Howard Stutz and Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent first reported late Wednesday night that the A’s and Las Vegas lawmakers have neared agreement on a stadium deal. Both the Nevada Independent and the Review-Journal report the plan is for a 35,000-seat facility with a partially retractable roof. Kaval confirmed to Akers the site is located roughly a mile north of Allegiant Stadium, home to the Raiders, and around a mile west of the Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s really in the sports district,” Kaval said. “So you have all the stadiums kind of clustered in one spot. I think that creates a powerful zone, a kind of energy to it that will benefit the community and also help us be successful running a baseball team.”
The club has not yet gotten official sign-off from state and local legislators. Both reports indicate that Nevada governor Joe Lombardo and top state lawmakers are in general support of the A’s plans, however. The team will make a formal proposal to state and local officials at a later date, though there no longer seems to be much doubt regarding its eventual approval. That the A’s have already entered into the land agreement points to the franchise’s comfort in getting a stadium deal done.
Once an agreement is finalized with the Nevada legislature and governor’s office, the A’s will be able to formally apply to MLB for relocation. Given Manfred’s comments, there’s no reason to believe that won’t receive a stamp of approval. MLB has previously set January 15, 2024, as a deadline for the A’s to have a binding stadium agreement in place if they’re to retain their status as revenue sharing recipients.
Assuming a deal with Las Vegas is indeed finalized by next January, Kaval confirmed plans to begin stadium construction at some time next year. The goal is for the facility to be ready for the opening of the 2027 season.
According to Stutz and Mueller, the plan is for the A’s to cover costs of the stadium. They’d be aided by the creation of a new taxation district covering the area which would allow for the reinvestment of sales tax proceeds and various tax credits. That plan still needs formal legislative approval from both the state and county. The parties will surely work on the specifics over the coming months.
It’s a monumental development for the sport, one that all but ensures the franchise’s forthcoming relocation. It’ll be the first time a club has changed cities in nearly two decades; the most recent relocation occurred in 2005, when the Montreal franchise moved to Washington and rebranded from the Expos to the Nationals. Previously, there’d been no relocations in MLB since 1972.
If the club’s final season in Oakland indeed turns out to be 2026, it’ll end a nearly six-decade run. The A’s first moved to Oakland in 1968, relocating from Kansas City. They’d go on to win four World Series, including a stretch of three consecutive titles within their first six years. They’ve played in the Coliseum for the entirety of that run. Now the fifth-oldest active park in MLB, the Coliseum has been a source of derision from the likes of players, fans and broadcasters in recent years.
Stadium situations for the A’s and Rays have become a significant concern for the league. The Rays have made progress in the past few months on a potential deal to stick in the Tampa area beyond the expiration of their lease in 2027, though nothing is yet official. With the A’s now set on relocation, it seems there’ll be official resolution on both situations within the next three to four years. Manfred has previously suggested the league wouldn’t consider expansion until those stadium issues are sorted out.
The A’s departure comes at a time when the organization has slashed spending and embarked on a full rebuild. No team opened the season with a lower player payroll than their approximate $56.8MM mark, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. The on-field results have been dismal. They’ve started the season 3-16 and been outscored by a league-worst 86 runs.
The franchise’s likely move from Oakland to Las Vegas aligns with very different trajectories for the broader sports landscape in those cities. Oakland will have lost each of its NBA, NFL and MLB franchises dating back to 2019. The Warriors stayed in the Bay Area but moved to San Francisco; the Raiders preceded the A’s in departing Oakland for Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, the Nevada metropolis will have picked up franchises in each of the NHL, NFL and MLB since 2016. Vegas was granted the Golden Knights as an expansion franchise seven years ago before the Raiders’ relocation took effect in 2020.
