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Athletics Designate Stephen Vogt

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The Athletics have designated veteran catcher Stephen Vogt for assignment in the team’s latest future-oriented move, per a club announcement. Catcher Bruce Maxwell and first baseman/outfielder Matt Olson have been called up from Triple-A, with third baseman Matt Chapman hitting the DL.

[RELATED: Updated Athletics Depth Chart]

Chapman had only just been called up himself, taking over at third base with veteran Trevor Plouffe being designated and later traded to the Rays. The A’s are now calling upon two additional youthful players while making the somewhat surprising decision to part with Vogt — one of the organization’s longest-tenured players.

Vogt earned All-Star nods in each of the past two seasons. He was also a fan favorite and noted clubhouse leader in Oakland. But the 32-year-old was struggling early in 2017. Through 174 plate appearances, he owns a marginal .217/.287/.357 batting line with four home runs.

Despite those tepid results, it stands to reason that the left-handed hitter will draw interest from other organizations. Vogt is earning just $2,965,000 this year and has two arb-eligible seasons still to come. It seems possible, though hardly certain, that he could be claimed on waivers; more likely, perhaps, is some kind of trade.

Vogt’s difficulties at the plate are only part of the story. After all, he has been a bit unlucky to carry a .244 BABIP — though his 28.3% soft contact rate also represents a low point. But there are also questions about his defensive capabilities behind the dish; Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) continues to rate Vogt as a negative in the pitch-framing department while also grading him as below-average in controlling the running game. Vogt has also played first base and a bit of corner outfield in the past, so he does come with some defensive versatility.

Whatever happens with Vogt, the A’s seem clearly to be open for business with regards to other veteran players. First baseman Yonder Alonso, righty Sonny Gray, and infielder Jed Lowrie all seem to be clear trade candidates along with relievers Ryan Madson, Sean Doolittle, and Santiago Casilla — among other players.

While exploring deals in a market that currently features relatively few clear sellers, the A’s will begin to see what they have in some younger options. Maxwell, 26, has already tasted the majors in each of the past two years and has slashed a robust .310/.378/.516 over 312 total plate appearances at the highest level of the minors (after largely scuffling at the plate earlier in his professional career). The 23-year-old Olson has also received brief MLB time already. He has dominated the PCL pitching thus far in 2017, putting up a .271/.365/.561 batting line with 17 home runs through 249 trips to the plate on the year.

AL Roster Notes: Travis, Faria, Kinsler, Hahn

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Devon Travis has suffered a new bone bruise and cartilage damage in his surgically repaired right knee that has prompted the Blue Jays to place him on the 10-day disabled list, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The injury is rather mysterious, it seems as Travis felt fine when boarding a flight to Oakland on Sunday evening but was unable to bend his knee without discomfort when the plane landed. He’ll be examined by the same specialist that performed his offseason knee surgery in the near future, and manager John Gibbons acknowledged to Davidi and other reporters that Travis’ injury won’t be a quick one. There’s no timetable for the return of Travis, who has batted .259/.291/.438 with five homers, four steals and strong defense at second base through his first 50 games of the season.

Here are a few quick roster moves from around the American League.

  • The Rays will promote righty Jacob Faria to make his big-league debut Wednesday in a start against the White Sox, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The 23-year-old Faria has never been regarded as an upper-echelon prospect (he currently ranks ninth among Rays prospects, according to MLB.com), but he’s in the midst of a strong season at Triple-A Durham, with a 3.07 ERA, 3.4 BB/9 and an outstanding 12.9 K/9 in 58 2/3 innings thus far. MLB.com notes that he works in the low 90s, keeps the ball down and has a promising chanegup, although his breaking stuff is usable but below average. Having Faria start Wednesday will give Rays starters Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb and Erasmo Ramirez an extra day of rest.
  • The Tigers have announced that they’ve reinstated second baseman Ian Kinsler from the 10-day DL and optioned outfielder JaCoby Jones to Triple-A Toledo. They also announced that catcher James McCann, who suffered a hand laceration after being hit by a pitch late last month, would begin a rehab assignment with Toledo tonight. The Tigers placed Kinsler on the DL on May 27; it appears the hamstring strain that landed him there isn’t especially serious, because he’s back after the minimum time. The 34-year-old is off to a slow start this season, batting .234/.331/.365.
  • The Athletics have announced that they’ve reinstated righty Jesse Hahn (triceps strain) from the 10-day DL and optioned 1B/OF Matt Olson to Triple-A Nashville. Hahn will start tonight against the Blue Jays. Like Kinsler, Hahn spent the minimum required time on the DL. He even made one rehab start with Class A+ Stockton in his brief time on the shelf. The 27-year-old has a 3.81 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 49 2/3 innings in the big leagues this season. Olson, once one of the Athletics’ top prospects, has collected just four plate appearances in two stints with the big club this year despite batting a terrific .285/.374/.575 in 206 plate appearances for Nashville.

West Notes: Bumgarner, Jefferies, Athletics, Mariners

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Madison Bumgarner’s injury could mark the end of an era for the Giants, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News writes. The short-term implications of the injury are clear — Bumgarner’s dirt bike crash will make it that much harder for the Giants to climb out of the 6-11 hole they’ve already dug. But Kawakami doesn’t suggest the injury even extinguishes the Giants’ playoff hopes. Rather, he thinks the rather silly cause of the injury upends Bumgarner’s nearly mythical status — Kawakami compares the old Bumgarner, the one who helped the Giants to three World Series wins and carried the team on his back  in 2014, to Paul Bunyan. It also suggests that the Giants as a team no longer warrant the presumption that they’ll win just because they’ve done so in the past. Here’s more from the West divisions.

  • Athletics prospect Daulton Jefferies will undergo Tommy John surgery, Scout.com’s Melissa Lockard writes. Jeffries was the 37th overall pick in last year’s draft out of UC-Berkeley despite missing part of the 2016 season due to a shoulder injury. The righty made five brief starts in rookie ball last year and had made two appearances with Class A+ Stockton this season. MLB.com currently rates him at the Athletics’ No. 8 prospect, praising his athleticism and delivery and noting he could eventually become a No. 4-type starter in the big leagues.
  • Yesterday, the Athletics promoted 1B/OF Matt Olson and optioned righty Cesar Valdez to the minors, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweeted. Olson gives the A’s an extra bench option, with Valdez heading to the minors after a spot start Thursday (a start that was, remarkably, his first big-league action since he was with Arizona in 2010). Once one of the Athletics’ top prospects, Olson’s stock has fallen somewhat as he’s risen through the system, but he still has an impressive 105 career minor-league home runs, and his abilities to play first and right field, and perhaps third base in a pinch, could help the A’s.
  • Before last night’s game, the Mariners announced that they recalled righty Chase De Jong from Triple-A Tacoma and optioned righty Dan Altavilla to Tacoma. Altavilla had allowed three runs the previous night against the A’s, and De Jong had fared well in two Triple-A starts. The Mariners acquired De Jong from the Dodgers near the beginning of Spring Training, and he figured to contribute to their starting depth after pitching 147 innings with a 2.82 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in a strong 2016 season in the high minors of the Dodgers’ system.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/12/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Phillies announced that infielder Taylor Featherston, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster. The former Rule 5 pick (Angels, 2014) came to Philadelphia this past winter in exchange for cash considerations — a minor trade executed by first-year Phillies GM Matt Klentak, who presumably had a role in the Angels’ decision to select Featherston in the Rule 5 Draft whilst serving as an assistant GM in Anaheim. Featherston appeared in 19 games for the Phils but tallied just 28 plate appearances and collected three hits. He’s been a glove-first player at the big league level, though he enjoyed his best offensive season to date with Triple-A Lehigh Valley when he batted .254/.311/.428 with 13 homers in 99 games this season.
  • The Athletics announced that they’ve selected the contract of first baseman/outfielder Matt Olson from Triple-A Nashville. Olson entered the season ranked as MLB.com’s No. 100 prospect and struggled mightily through the end of June before hitting .260/.349/.462 over the final couple of months of the Triple-A season. With Billy Butler already having been released and the possibility of Danny Valencia meeting the same fate, the A’s could find increased at-bats for Olson and other young corner options like Renato Nunez (also recalled today) and Ryon Healy, though the latter of that pairing has been playing on an everyday basis since his promotion earlier this summer.

AL West Notes: Perez, Astros, Weaver, Prospects

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Earlier today, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported that the Astros have reached an agreement with Cuban southpaw Cionel Perez on a $5.15MM signing bonus (which will cost the team a total of $10.3MM after luxury tax considerations). Ben Badler of Baseball America provides an updated scouting report on the newest member of the Astros’ farm system, noting that since leaving Cuba he’s added a two-seam fastball to his repertoire and made improvements to his slider. Badler also adds that Perez had been slated to pitch in the Dominican Winter League this summer, though it’s possible that the new signing could impact that schedule. Moreover, Badler reports that Houston has already reduced the bonuses of two high-profile international prospects — Anibal Sierra and Freudis Nova — after their physicals revealed some causes for concern. With Perez’s deal still pending a physical, it’s possible that his bonus could change.

Here’s more from the AL West…

  • ESPN’s Buster Olney opines that even with the postseason eligibility deadline having passed, the Astros should pursue trades for rotation upgrades to help ensure that they’re even able to reach the playoffs. With the Pirates recently suffering a sweep and falling six back in the NL Wild Card race and the Marlins presently five back in that same hunt, Olney suggests right-handers Ivan Nova and Andrew Cashner as possible targets for Houston. Of course, neither would be likely to make more than three starts for Houston anyhow, and the Astros themselves aren’t in much better shape than Pittsburgh or Miami. Houston currently sits 3.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race, and they’re trailing Baltimore, Toronto, New York and Detroit in the standings at the moment.
  • Jered Weaver is dealing with more uncertainty than he ever has in his professional career, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, as the lifetime Angels right-hander doesn’t know whether he’ll be back with the team next season. “It’s definitely a ball of confusion going on in my head, but I’m trying to focus on going out and pitching,” said the 33-year-old. Per Fletcher, even the Angels may be uncertain as to whether they’re truly interested in re-signing Weaver, as that interest level is likely dependent on whether ace Garrett Richards ultimately requires Tommy John surgery or not. Weaver’s diminishing velocity has been a notable storyline in Anaheim for the past couple of seasons, though as Fletcher points out, it’s actually ticked upward late in the 2016 campaign. Weaver has a 3.97 ERA and a 21-to-5 K/BB ratio over his past four starts, so perhaps even getting his heater back up into the mid-80s is enough for him to rediscover success. However, he’s also currently leading the league with 195 hits and 35 homers allowed, which has resulted in a 5.25 earned run average.
  • The Mariners are likely to recall first base prospect Dan Vogelbach, whom they acquired in the trade that sent Mike Montgomery to the Cubs, per Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (Twitter link). While Vogelbach didn’t hit quite as well as he did in the Cubs’ minor league system following the trade, he did slash .240/.402/.422 with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, demonstrating a keen eye at the plate and some pop to go along with it. Vogelbach could factor into the picture for the Mariners at first base and/or DH next season, so getting a look at him over the final few weeks of the year, even if it’s in a limited capacity, should give the Seattle front office a chance to plan for the 2017 season.
  • Meanwhile the Athletics are bringing up even more young players now that the Triple-A season has ended, announcing that Renato Nunez and Matt Olson are joining the club. (Olson’s contract was selected to the 40-man roster and will fill the spot that was vacated by Billy Butler’s release.) Both players rank among Oakland’s top 15 prospects, with Nunez in particular receiving high praise from outlets like MLB.com and Baseball America. Nunez struggled somewhat as one of the youngest players in the Pacific Coast League, slashing just .228/.278/.412, and his primary position (third base) is presently occupied by fellow youngster Ryon Healy. However, Nunez has seen some time at first base and in left field in the minors and could be evaluated for a potential fit at either spot. Olson, meanwhile, entered the season as a Top 100 prospect at MLB.com (No. 100, to be exact) but struggled through the first half before salvaging his season with a .260/.349/.462 batting line from July 1 through season’s end. He’s seen more time in right field than at first base this season but has plenty of experience at both spots.

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