Esteury Ruiz

Esteury Ruiz Undergoes Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

By Anthony Franco | September 24, 2024 at 8:51pm CDT

A’s speedster Esteury Ruiz underwent arthroscopic surgery to fix the patellar tendon in his right knee this afternoon. The team announced that Ruiz “will complete post-surgical rehabilitation in the offseason to prepare for 2025 Spring Training,” suggesting this shouldn’t impact his availability next season.

This was essentially a lost season for the 25-year-old outfielder. The A’s demoted Ruiz to Triple-A a few days into the season. While they recalled him a couple weeks later, he worked mostly in a bench role before suffering a left wrist injury that sent him to the injured list. Ruiz never made it back, as he battled renewed soreness in the wrist when he tried to ramp up on a rehab stint. The timing of the knee injury is unclear.

Ruiz was limited to 29 MLB contests — all of which came before the end of May. He hit .200 with 20 strikeouts in 65 plate appearances. It certainly wasn’t the step forward which the A’s had envisioned after Ruiz paced the American League with 67 stolen bases in 2023. That came with a middling .254/.309/.345 batting line and poor defensive grades in center field. Ruiz has yet to demonstrate he’s an especially effective all-around player, even if his speed makes him an elite baserunner.

The A’s built their return in the three-team Sean Murphy trade around Ruiz. Oakland looped in the Brewers as part of the deal, indicating they valued Ruiz more highly at the time than they did catcher William Contreras (who went from Atlanta to Milwaukee). Even with Shea Langeliers in the fold, that was an odd decision, since the A’s could have flipped Contreras elsewhere. It looks even worse in hindsight, as Contreras has developed into one of the game’s top catchers.

JJ Bleday has stepped up as the A’s primary center fielder. There should still be time for Ruiz to play his way back into center field work while pushing Bleday into a corner opposite Lawrence Butler. He’ll need to take steps forward on both sides of the ball to avoid falling into fourth or fifth outfielder territory.

Athletics Claim CJ Alexander

By Darragh McDonald | September 4, 2024 at 4:50pm CDT

The Athletics announced that they have claimed infielder CJ Alexander off waivers from the Royals and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas. Alexander was listed as released on the MLB.com transactions logs but it appears he was still on waivers. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

Alexander, 28, was drafted by Atlanta back in 2018 but was one of three players who came to the Royals in the July 2022 trade that sent a Competitive Balance draft pick the other way. The Royals selected him to their roster this summer and he has a small sample of major league experience. He has been sent to the plate eight times with three strikeouts and one hit, a single.

The A’s are surely more interested in his larger sample of work in the minors. That includes 350 Triple-A plate appearances this year with 16 home runs and a line of .303/.352/.554. That production leads to a 130 wRC+, indicating that Alexander was 30% above league average even in the heightened offensive environment in the International League this year.

That production is likely propped up a bit by a .355 batting average on balls in play that will be hard for him to maintain. But even with a bit of regression, his bat could perhaps still be an asset and he also provides some defensive versatility as he is capable of playing all four corner positions. He will still have two option years remaining after 2024, so the A’s don’t need to add him to the active roster any time soon. He also has just a few days of major league service time, meaning he has plenty of cheap club control remaining.

The club effectively had a free roster spot due to the status of Ruiz. He landed on the 10-day IL back in May due to a strained left wrist, so he’s already been out well beyond 60 days already. He is eligible to be reinstated at any point, but that won’t be happening. He began a rehab assignment in July but was shut down due to continued soreness in the wrist. Manager Mark Kotsay said last week that Ruiz won’t be able to return this year, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on X.

Ruiz will stay on the 60-day injured list for the remainder of the season, collecting major league pay and service time. There’s no IL from five days after the World Series until the start of Spring Training, so Ruiz will need to retake a roster spot in the offseason.

Athletics’ Luis Medina Being Evaluated For UCL Injury

By Steve Adams | July 22, 2024 at 4:04pm CDT

The A’s received a pair of unwelcome injury updates over the weekend, when righty Luis Medina was diagnosed with an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and outfielder Esteury Ruiz was pulled back from a minor league rehab assignment due to lingering discomfort in his ailing wrist (links to X via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Medina is headed for a second opinion on his elbow. Ruiz’s wrist will be reevaluated by a doctor today.

The 25-year-old Medina came to the A’s alongside lefties JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. As it’s turned out, four of the five pitchers involved in that swap — Medina, Waldichuk, Montas, Trivino — have incurred significant injuries since the deal came together. Waldichuk and Trivino both had Tommy John surgery. Montas underwent shoulder surgery. Medina is now facing a prolonged absence himself, in all likelihood.

Medina started 17 games for the A’s last season. He struggled to an ERA north of 5.00 on the season as a whole but was generally solid after a shaky start. In his final 80 innings last year, the hard-throwing right-hander posted a 4.39 ERA (3.82 FIP, 4.75 SIERA) with a 22.3% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate and 44.3% ground-ball rate. Command has been an issue for Medina in the majors and upper minors alike, but that decent stretch over the final three months of the ’23 campaign was enough to land Medina a rotation opportunity in 2024.

He missed the first two-plus months of the season after sustaining a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during spring training, but upon returning, Medina looked similar to that June through September form from last summer. From June 2 through July 6, Medina pitched 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball across seven starts. His strikeout rate (15.9%) was down, as was his velocity (only by about 0.4 mph), but neither seemed like a major red flag for a pitcher returning from a notable knee injury. He was pulled mid-inning after giving up six runs in five frames against the Red Sox on July 11, however, and placed on the injured list with an elbow sprain shortly thereafter.

A confirmed UCL injury and second opinion from an external source are never good signs for any pitcher. There’s no indication yet that Medina will require surgery, but a the majority of UCL sprains culminate in Tommy John surgery, an internal brace procedure, or a hybrid of the two. There are certainly cases of pitchers rehabbing a UCL sprain and never requiring surgery — Medina’s own teammate, Mason Miller, missed four months with a sprain last year and has been dominant since returning — but those are more the exception than the rule. If Medina ultimately requires surgery, it could knock him out for a year or more, but he and the A’s will be hoping he can emulate Miller’s path.

As for Ruiz, he swiped 67 bases in 132 games last season but did so with a well below-average .254/.306/.345 batting line. He posted an even rougher .200/.270/.382 slash in 65 plate appearances this season. The A’s optioned him to Triple-A on April 1, and he hit .326/.423/.581 with three homers and seven steals in 11 games before being recalled to the majors and continuing to struggle at the plate. He’s been out since May 22 with a left injury that apparently hasn’t healed all the way just yet.

Ruiz’s gaudy minor league numbers continue to impress, but he’s yet to establish himself as a viable big league hitter (.243/.297/.343) and has thus far looked more the part of a fourth outfielder than a starter. He’s been leapfrogged by fellow trade acquisition JJ Bleday on the center field depth chart. Bleday is hitting .233/.314/.432 (114 wRC+) with a dozen homers in 405 plate appearances.

AL West Notes: Evans, Seager, Tucker, Athletics

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2024 at 6:23pm CDT

A few players from the 2023 draft have already made their MLB debuts, and Mariners prospect Logan Evans could potentially be coming soon due to his recent move to relief pitching. As Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently called Evans with the idea of shifting from the Double-A rotation to the bullpen, since the M’s are currently in the enviable position of having a loaded rotation. Working as a reliever could put Evans on the fast track to the Show, and give the Mariners an extra hard-throwing arm in an injury-depleted pen.

A 12th-round pick out of Pitt, Evans has a sparkling 1.16 ERA over 54 1/3 innings for Double-A Arkansas this season, with a 23% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a 53.6% grounder rate. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report also notes that the Mariners received trade interest in Evans as early as last offseason, after he posted an 0.60 ERA in his first 15 pro innings.

A’s Designate Jordan Diaz For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald and Steve Adams | May 23, 2024 at 12:35pm CDT

The A’s announced a series of roster moves Thursday, placing outfielder Esteury Ruiz on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist strain, selecting the contract of Daz Cameron from Triple-A Las Vegas and designating infielder Jordan Diaz for assignment to open 40-man space for Cameron.

Diaz, 23, was an international signing out of Colombia and eventually jumped onto Baseball America’s list of top 30 prospects in the Oakland system in 2019, the first of five straight years he was featured on that list. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2021, keeping him out of the Rule 5 draft. That roster spot came to Diaz after he hit 13 home runs in 90 High-A games that year, slashing .288/.337/.483 overall.

Unfortunately, the results since then haven’t been quite as impressive. He’s hit ten home runs in his 344 major league plate appearances but walked just 5.5% of the time, leading to a line of .227/.276/.358. That production translates to a wRC+ of 79, indicating he’s been 21% worse than league average.

His minor league production was still strong in the past two years but has fallen off a cliff here in 2024. He hit .321/.363/.513 on the farm over 2022 and 2023 but his line is just .204/.288/.327 so far this year. His 9.9% walk rate in 2024 is actually an improvement for him but he has just two home runs in 111 trips to the plate and the batting average is clearly not ideal.

He is now in his final option year, so there was a sort of ticking clock in the background for him this year. Since he’s gotten out to such a poor start, the A’s have nudged him off the roster now in order to open up a spot. They will have a week to try to trade Diaz or pass him through waivers. Perhaps a rival club looking for infield depth will be interested based on his previous seasons. Diaz can play the three non-shortstop infield positions and has even received very brief looks at catcher and left field. He can be kept on optional assignment for the rest of the year and has less than a year of service time at the moment.

Bumping Diaz off the 40-man opens a spot for Cameron, who will replace Ruiz in the club’s outfield rotation. The 27-year-old Cameron signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and been playing very well in Triple-A this year. He has drawn a walk in 16.4% of his 165 plate appearances and also hit six home runs, leading to a .307/.424/.577 batting line. Even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that’s still 46% better than league average. He’s also stolen eight bases in ten tries.

Cameron has impressed in the minors before but has struggled in his attempts to carry that kind of production over to the majors. He received 244 plate appearances with the Tigers over the 2020-22 period but hit just .201/.266/.330 in that time, striking out at a 31.6% clip.

He exhausted his option years in that time and has been in the minors since then, with the Orioles last year and with the A’s so far this year. If things click for him in the majors this time, he can be kept around by the A’s since he has less than two years of service time. For now, he’ll join the club’s outfield mix alongside JJ Bleday, Brent Rooker, Seth Brown and Tyler Nevin.

Athletics Option Esteury Ruiz

By Darragh McDonald | April 1, 2024 at 5:35pm CDT

The Athletics announced that outfielder Esteury Ruiz has been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. His spot on the active roster goes to infielder Tyler Nevin, who was claimed off waivers from the Orioles yesterday.

Ruiz, 25, has been a key component of the Oakland roster in recent years, having been a notable part of their return in the Sean Murphy trade going into the 2023 season. He missed about a month of last year due to a right shoulder subluxation but otherwise spent the whole year in the majors, getting 497 plate appearances over 132 games. He stole 67 bases in that time but hit just five home runs and walked in just 4% of his trips to the plate. His .254/.309/.345 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 86, indicating he was 14% worse than league average.

This has generally been the profile of Ruiz as a prospect. His blazing speed has always allowed him to provide a level of dynamism on the field but there have always been questions about whether he can hit enough to make use of that. He seemed to take a step forward in 2022, walking in 12.2% of his minor league plate appearances and hitting 16 home runs, which is perhaps why the A’s took a shot on him.

The fact that he didn’t immediately hit the ground running against big league pitching isn’t necessarily an indictment of his future, as many prospects go through an adjustment period after first being promoted. But given that the concerns around his lack of power and on-base ability predate his arrival, it does perhaps raise a least a little concern that the step forward in 2022 was more a fluke than a true sign of change.

Despite his incredible speed, his defense hasn’t been given amazing grades thus far. Outs Above Average has him at just +2 in his career while Defensive Runs Saved has him way down at -22. His -20 DRS last year was the second worst among all outfielders, with only Kyle Schwarber beneath him.

Ruiz started the 2024 season hot, having hit .429/.375/.857, though that’s a tiny sample size of eight plate appearances in three games. He only hit .236/.295/.400 during Spring Training so it’s tough to draw any meaningful conclusions from the good results in three regular season games.

Despite the imperfections in his game, it’s surprising to see Ruiz get sent down rather than stick around for more reps in the majors. The club isn’t expected to be competitive this year and will largely be using the 2024 season to evaluate players to determine the path forward. The majority of the position players on their active roster can be optioned, with J.D. Davis, Abraham Toro and Nevin the only exceptions.

Ruiz has clearly been a priority for the club but will now go get his at-bats at the Triple-A level as the club assesses whether he can find another level at the plate or not. Depending on the length of his stay, it could have repercussions for his path to free agency and/or arbitration. He came into this season with one year and 29 days of service time, meaning that he could come up shy of the two-year mark if he’s down for a significant period of time. Players need six years of service to reach free agency and three years to automatically qualify for arbitration, though some can reach arbitration earlier as Super Two players.

Ruiz was the primary center fielder last year but has been in left field so far this year, with JJ Bleday in center. The departure of Ruiz will open up some left field playing time for guys like Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker and Nevin.

The Brewers’ Offseason Heist Is Paying Off

By Nick Deeds | August 20, 2023 at 10:58pm CDT

When a three-team deal was announced last December that saw ten different players change hands, it was hardly surprising that Sean Murphy’s move to Atlanta received the lion’s share of the focus, particularly considering the fact that Murphy inked a six-year extension with the Braves just two weeks later. After all, rumors of the A’s looking to move on from their franchise catcher had circulated for weeks at that point and the Braves, who were coming off a 101-win season that was ultimately cut short during the NLDS, were an interesting landing spot.

Nine months later, it’s unlikely the Braves have any regrets about the deal. Murphy has taken a step forward with the bat in Atlanta, slashing a sensational .278/.387/.538 with a career-best wRC+ of 149 that when combined with his typical stellar defense behind the plate has allowed the 28-year-old All-Star to rack up 4.3 fWAR in just 87 games this season. Meanwhile, the Braves are the consensus best team in baseball with Fangraphs’ playoff odds giving the club an incredibly 26.5% chance at winning the World Series this year.

While Atlanta’s success both in this season and in landing Murphy is impressive in its own right, the Braves are not the only winner of this trade to this point in the season. Indeed, they may not even be the biggest winner of the deal so far. That’s because the Brewers, the requisite third team needed to help facilitate the deal, managed to turn their #8 prospect in outfielder Esteury Ruiz into five seasons of an All-Star catcher of their own, plus an excellent set-up man and an additional pitching prospect to boot.

En route to a breakout season with Atlanta during which he made his first career All-Star appearance, catcher William Contreras shared time behind the plate with Travis d’Arnaud while also mixing in at DH and even in the outfield. In all, he slashed an impressive .278/.354/.506 with 20 home runs in just 376 trips to the plate.

While that impressive display of power combined with Contreras’s 10.4% walk rate was enough to make him the 12th most valuable catcher in all of baseball last year, there were reasons to wonder if the youngster would be able to maintain his production going forward. Contreras’s 27.7% strikeout rate left plenty of reason for concern, as was a massive .344 BABIP. With those potential red flags signalling possible regression in Contreras’s future, it’s hardly a surprise to find that his .370 wOBA in 2022 outstripped his .347 xwOBA considerably.

Far more concerning than his offensive numbers, which were excellent for a catcher even if they regressed to match his expected numbers, was his glovework behind the plate. In 2022, Contreras was worth -7 runs per Statcast’s catcher defense metric, with negative marks in each of framing, stealing, and blocking. His framing, in particular, left much to be desired, as he landed in just the 20th percentile of all catchers in terms of catcher framing runs, with only 3 catchers in the sport posting a worse figure than Contreras’s -3 without receiving more pitches than him. Fielding Bible’s DRS agreed with that assessment, as Contreras’s -4 mark put him in the bottom 20 of all catchers last year.

With so many questions regarding Contreras’s fielding and his ability to maintain last year’s excellent offensive production, it makes perfect sense for the Braves to prefer a fully developed, surefire starting catcher in the form of Murphy. That preference created a window of opportunity for the Brewers, however, who had just lost their current starting catcher, Omar Narvaez, to free agency. The club had a history of helping bat-first catchers develop defensively, including with Narvaez himself.

This year, Milwaukee has managed to add Contreras to their list of defensive success stories behind the plate. It’s been a transformational year defensively for Contreras, as the youngster has soared to an excellent +8 runs per Statcast, with his catcher framing runs in particular leaping from -3 all the way up to +7, the seventh-best mark in the sport this year behind only defensive stalwarts like Murphy, Austin Hedges, and Jonah Heim. Once again, DRS backs up Contreras’s improvement behind the dish as well, as his +7 DRS leaves him as the eighth most valuable defensive catcher in baseball according to the metric, even clocking in ahead of Murphy.

Contreras’s defense is clearly the star of the show when discussing his year-to-year improvement, but his offensive adjustments deserve a mention as well. While he has undergone some expected offensive regression from his All-Star campaign in 2022, particularly in the power department, his current production is not only still excellent for a catcher (his 113 wRC+ ranks 6th among catchers with at least 300 PA this season) but also appears far more sustainable going forward. His BABIP has dipped to a less outlandish .327 figure, but most importantly, Contreras has cut his strikeout rate to just 20.4%, a figure that’s actually better than league average. While his walk rate has dipped slightly and he isn’t hitting for as much power this season, this new version of Contreras is posting a strong .341 wOBA that matches his .338 xwOBA, indicating a level of sustainability that couldn’t be found in last season’s power-driven numbers.

Contreras isn’t the only player the Brewers received in last year’s trade, of course. While pitching prospect Justin Yeager has managed just 2 1/3 innings of work this season while spending almost the entire year on the injured list, right-handed reliever Joel Payamps has also proved to be a revelation with Milwaukee, though not quite as impactful of one as Contreras. Payamps came to the Brewers as a solid if unexciting middle reliever, with a career 3.35 ERA and 4.19 FIP in 113 innings of work with the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Royals, and A’s.

Since joining the Brewers, however, he’s looked like a different pitcher entirely. His walk rate dipped from a career 7.6% mark entering 2023 to just 5% this season, while his strikeout rate ballooned from a career mark of just 17.6% entering the year to an incredible 29.3% figure with Milwaukee. Those improvements are seemingly thanks to a combination of across-the-board velocity gains and change in his pitch-mix to emphasis his slider. Payamps’ step forward has allowed the Brewers to rely on him as the primary set-up man to closer Devin Williams, forming a lethal duo at the back of the club’s bullpen.

As with any trade, a few months isn’t enough time to understand the full scope of the impact last year’s three-team blockbuster will have on the clubs involved. Ruiz, who has posted a wRC+ of just 81 with Oakland this year but has offered plus defense in center field and swiped a whopping 48 bags, could prove to be a valuable piece in the coming years and change the perception of the deal. True as that may be, however, Milwaukee’s front office is surely delighted with the early returns on the deal, particularly considering they control Payamps through the end of the 2026 campaign and Contreras through the end of 2027.

Athletics Designate Ramon Laureano, Release Manny Pina

By Mark Polishuk | August 5, 2023 at 10:55pm CDT

The Athletics announced a series of moves, including the news that outfielder Ramon Laureano has been designated for assignment. As for two other players recently DFA’ed by Oakland, catcher Manny Pina was released and utilityman Tyler Wade was outrighted to Triple-A. The moves create roster space for some injured list activations, as Esteury Ruiz is back from the 10-day IL and Dany Jimenez was activated from the 60-day IL. Kevin Smith was also reinstated from the 10-day IL and optioned to Triple-A, while the A’s also optioned right-hander Tayler Scott to Triple-A.

Laureano has been on the injured list twice this season, missing about six total weeks due to a groin strain and a fractured hand suffered while sliding into a base. This has continued a pattern of injuries that have plagued Laureano over the last few years, to say nothing of the 80-game PED suspension that cost him portions of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Since returning to action in 2022, Laureano has hit only .212/.285/.371 over 629 plate appearances.

It stands to reason that if it wasn’t for the health concerns and the lack of production, Laureano would have joined the many other notables traded during Oakland’s fire sale. Laureano is still controlled through the 2025 season, making him an interesting possibility for a team looking for outfield help — he could draw a waiver claim from a contender looking to add depth, or a non-contender just looking to add a controllable asset. The fact that the A’s didn’t move him before the deadline for at least a token return might speak to a general lack of trade interest, or an interested team might not have wanted to give anything up in a deal, betting that Laureano might come available on the DFA wire.

Ruiz missed about a month due to a right shoulder subluxation, so a month-long absence ended up being a welcome scenario given the potential seriousness of such a shoulder problem. He’ll return to his customary spot in center field and continue a rookie season that has seen Ruiz hit .257/.310/.329 over 369 PA. Even despite missing a month, Ruiz is still the AL leader in stolen bases with 43, and Ronald Acuna Jr. (51) is the only player in baseball with more swipes than the speedy Ruiz.

Jimenez hasn’t pitched since April 16 due to a right shoulder strain, so he has only 6 2/3 innings (and a 5.40 ERA) on his ledger for the 2023 campaign. Shoulder problems also interrupted Jimenez’s rookie season, though he managed a 3.41 ERA over 34 1/3 innings for the Athletics last year and entered the spring as a contender for the closer role. While the A’s probably won’t immediately insert Jimenez into the highest of high-leverage situations, there’s plenty of time left in the season for Jimenez to post some good results and get himself into the rebuilding team’s plans for 2024.

This is the third time Wade has been DFA’ed, cleared waivers, and outrighted off of the Athletics’ 40-man roster. He again has the right to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, though it stands to reason that he might again opt to remain with the A’s and await another opportunity.

Pina’s first season with the A’s has seen him play in only four games, as he has again battled wrist injuries for the second consecutive year. All told, Pina has suited up in only nine MLB games since the start of the 2022 season, with these injuries coming on the heels of a six-year as a part-time catcher with the Brewers. The Athletics acquired Pina last winter from the Braves as part of the Sean Murphy deal, and the A’s are still responsible for the roughly $1.5MM remaining on Pina’s contract for 2023. If Pina does sign elsewhere, his new team will only owe him a prorated MLB minimum salary for any time he spends on an active roster, with that salary subtracted from the Athletics’ $1.5MM tab.

Athletics Place Esteury Ruiz On IL With Shoulder Subluxation

By Darragh McDonald | July 7, 2023 at 2:15pm CDT

The Athletics announced a series of roster moves today, recalling right-hander Angel Felipe and selecting the contract of outfielder Cody Thomas. In corresponding moves, outfielder Esteury Ruiz was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder subluxation while right-hander Rico Garcia was designated for assignment.

Ruiz appeared to injure himself while diving back into first base in a game earlier this week. To this point, the A’s haven’t provided any kind of timeline on his expected absence, but the diagnosis is potentially significant. To use a recent example, Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell suffered a subluxation in April and required surgery that he likely won’t be able to come back from this year. That’s not to say that the same thing will happen to Ruiz, but it demonstrates the potential seriousness.

Acquired from the Brewers as part of the three-team Sean Murphy trade, Ruiz has had a season that more or less lines up with preseason expectations. One of the fastest players in the league, his baserunning is his standout trait, which has been on display this year. Offensively, he’s hit just one home run and walked at a paltry 3.8% clip, with his .257/.310/.329 batting line amounting to a wRC+ of 85. But he’s been on base enough to try stealing a base 51 times, succeeding in 43 of those, placing him two ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr. for the major league lead.

Despite his excellent speed, advanced defensive metrics are conflicted about his glovework. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -15 for the year, Ultimate Zone Rating at -7.6 but Outs Above Average is far kinder at +1. The A’s are the worst team in baseball right now with a record of 25-64, meaning this injury won’t impact their nonexistent competitive chances, but it’s surely unwelcome for a young player with excellent natural gifts to potentially be missing out on important development time.

Thomas, 28, was selected to Oakland’s 40-man roster going into 2022. He got that roster spot on the heels of a huge .289/.363/.665 showing at Triple-A in 2021. Unfortunately, he missed most of 2022 due to Achilles tendon surgery, only taking 32 big league plate appearances on the year and 39 more in Triple-A.

He was designated for assignment in the offseason and outrighted, sticking with the organization in a non-roster capacity. This year, he’s been mashing in Triple-A again, launching 17 home runs and producing a .308/.367/.576 batting line. That performance will get him back to the show for another crack at hitting against big league pitching. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots but has spent more time in the corners. JJ Bleday played center yesterday and could perhaps get an extended audition there with Ruiz out.

Garcia, 29, signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster in May. He has an 8.31 ERA in 8 2/3 major league innings this year but a much more palatable 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 Triple-A innings. He’s struck out 29.2% of hitters in the minors this year but walked 18.6% of them. The A’s will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency in the event he clears waivers.

Felipe, 25, will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He’s only been with the A’s a short time, having been claimed off waivers from the Padres about two weeks ago. He had a 6.20 ERA in Triple-A when the Padres designated him for assignment but has a much nicer 1.80 ERA since being claimed. He posted huge strikeout numbers in both organizations but his walk rate fell from 14.9% with El Paso to 5.9% with Las Vegas. Control has been an ongoing concern for him so it remains to be seen if that’s a small sample blip or if he’s made some kind of adjustment.

Cristian Pache Will Not Make Athletics’ Roster; A’s Exploring Trade Scenarios

By Steve Adams | March 28, 2023 at 9:29am CDT

The Athletics will not carry Cristian Pache on the team’s Opening Day roster, manager Mark Kotsay announced late last night (link via Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). Because he’s out of minor league options, Pache will need to be traded or placed on outright waivers. The A’s will likely designate him for assignment prior to Opening Day, which would remove Pache from the 40-man roster and buy them a few days to explore possible trades. Outfielders Brent Rooker and Conner Capel will be on the roster, Kotsay added.

Effectively moving on from Pache after one year in the organization is a clearly suboptimal outcome for the A’s, who acquired the slick-fielding center fielder as one of the main pieces (alongside headliner Shea Langeliers) in the trade that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta. The 24-year-old appeared in 91 games for the A’s last year but posted an anemic .166/.218/.241 batting line through 260 plate appearances, exhausting his final minor league option year in the process. Things didn’t go much better in Triple-A, evidenced by a tepid .248/.298/.389 slash (68 wRC+) in an extremely hitter-friendly Las Vegas environment.

That lack of minor league options, lack of production, and the Athletics’ offseason acquisition of speedster Esteury Ruiz sealed Pache’s fate, it seems. Pache has had a productive showing in spring training, hitting .302/.362/.419 in 47 plate appearances, but the A’s already informed Ruiz last week that he’ll make the roster. It’s possible they’re confident in their ability to deal Pache for a return of modest value, but if the eventual transaction is a waiver placement, it’ll be a rather damning outcome for the team, given that Pache was a pivotal part of the prospect return in the A’s latest fire sale.

Pache is still just 24 years old, and he remains an elite defender (5 Defensive Runs Saved, 8 Outs Above Average in just 646 innings in 2022). As recently as the 2020-21 offseason he was considered among the 20 best prospects in the sport. However, his bat hasn’t developed at all, leaving the A’s in a tough spot this spring. The dilemma wasn’t exactly unforeseeable, though, given Pache’s prior struggles in Atlanta and the fact that he had only one option year remaining at the time of the trade.

Kotsay candidly acknowledged back in February that Pache could be showcasing himself for the other 29 teams in baseball this spring, and it appears that’s indeed been the case. The best-case scenario for the A’s would be to find a trade partner, and Kotsay indicated to Kawahara last night that the front office is exploring the possibility. Speculatively speaking, both the Rockies and Marlins have been in search of help at in center for awhile now, though Miami moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the outfield this year in hopes of patching that longstanding need. Rebuilding clubs with injured center fielders like the Royals (Drew Waters) and Reds (Nick Senzel) are also logical fits. It’s also possible certain contending clubs could look at Pache’s glove and see him as a valuable fourth outfielder, even if the bat never comes around.

As far as Oakland is concerned, it seems clear now that Ruiz will get the everyday nod in center field, while Ramon Laureano lines up in right field. The left-handed-hitting Capel and right-handed-hitting Rooker could form a platoon in left field, and many of Oakland’s infielders (Tony Kemp, Seth Brown, Aledmys Diaz) have experience in the outfield as well.

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