By Jason Wojciechowski on December 22, 2018 at 12:04 PM

The A's have Made Some Moves the last few days, one of which fills a hole I didn't realize the team had and the other of which was wildly necessary, if uninspiring. This means it's a good time to take stock of the roster, even though more moves are surely to come. (There remain, for instance, more than 30 starting pitchers unsigned at all levels of the market, from Kendall Graveman through Dallas Keuchel.)

At catcher, the roster right now contains Josh Phegley, who hits righty and is essentially a replacement-level player, and Chris Herrmann, a new acquisition who bats lefty and doesn't do much more on defense but does play the outfield. Both are out of options. That sounds like a platoon, with the hope perhaps being that Sean Murphy will arrive and push Phegley off the roster on the sooner side of later. The best remaining free-agent catcher is Yasmani Grandal, who is not a realistic option; the best remaining free-agent catcher is probably Martin Maldonado or Matt Wieters, depending on whether you prioritize offense or defense. You're probably not going to sign either one only to shove them aside for Murphy the way you can Phegley; on the other hand, Murphy could probably use a full season at Triple-A anyway, and Phegley probably isn't helping a playoff push the way Maldonado or Wieters might.

Around the infield, three positions appear set the same way they were in October: Matt Chapman at third, Marcus Semien at shortstop, and Matt Olson at first. Chad Pinder is around to back up everywhere, Mark Canha can help out at first base (especially if the A's decide they can't tolerate Olson's .381 career slugging against lefties), and the newly acquired Jurickson Profar can also slide around everywhere. Second base is presumably Profar's main slot, but if Franklin Barreto is still on the squad come March, it's possible he could play himself into a starting role that has Profar lining up as a super-utility player. If Barreto makes the squad, it will come at the expense of either Canha or Chad Pinder (both of whom have options), so Profar would likely play against all lefties (covering for Nick Martini or Olson or Dustin Fowler, depending on what kind of configuration the A's carry) and could otherwise rotate around giving days off to Barreto, Semien, Chapman, Stephen Piscotty, and even Ramon Laureano (with someone else, presumably, sliding into center field), as well as stepping into the lineup full time every time there's an injury. You're probably not going to get 500 plate appearances out of him this way, but maybe you don't need to if you're paying him $3–4 million and gave up a decent draft pick and a mediocre prospect for him.

Even if Profar is the full-time second baseman, Barreto could see opportunities via injury similar to Jed Lowrie swapping over to third base last year to cover Matt Chapman's absence, except that this time, Barreto could fill in for Profar while Profar covers almost any position.

In the outfield, Ramon Laureano probably earned the Opening Day center field job with his 2018 performance, and Stephen Piscotty is your every-day right fielder. In left, it's hard to say no to Nick Martini's .397 OBP, though Baseball Prospectus' new metric, Deserved Runs Created, is skeptical. Dustin Fowler will get more chances to win a major-league job, and his defense might be a better fit in the corner anyway. There's always Canha, too. If the A's don't like the looks of a Martini-Fowler-Canha battle, they could look to the middle range of the free-agent market: Melky Cabrera, Derek Dietrich (who also has positional flexibility), Curtis Granderson, and Robbie Grossman remain available. If these players underwhelm, well, that's the A's.

On the pitching side, who the hell knows. Part of the problem is that we don't know, and probably won't know until the roster really solidifies, what kind of strategy the A's are going to roll out. All openers all the time? Two openers, two normal starters, and one bullpen day?

What we can say is that there are a number of near-locks for the roster: Blake Treinen, Joakim Soria, Fernando Rodney, Lou Trivino, Ryan Buchter, Yusmeiro Petit, Daniel Mengden, and Mike Fiers all have some combination of talent, contract, and options that make it likely, from where things stand at present, that we'll see them on Opening Day. That's five short-burst folks, one multi-inning guy who's still clearly a reliever, and three more traditional starters. That leaves five spots open, and at present it seems likely that they'd be filled with Liam Hendriks (who's out of options and who pitched well after his DFA last year) and some mix of Frankie Montas, Aaron Brooks, Chris Bassitt, Ryan Dull, JB Wendelken, Tanner Anderson, and Paul Blackburn. Montas, Brooks and Bassitt are out of options, but would not be huge losses if they were cut, except that the A's don't have anyone around to replace them. James Kaprielian could put himself in the mix if he's healthy, notwithstanding that he hasn't pitched above High-A, and Jesus Luzardo seems certain to debut at some point this year, but seems just as certain to be held down for at least a few weeks, and more likely a few months. AJ Puk could be an option later in the year as well.

What that adds up to is that it's impossible to imagine the A's not making at least one more pitching move this offseason, whether through trade or mid-level free-agent deal. The A's best starter right now, Fiers, is a no. 4. The rest of the "rotation" are no. 5s at best. The situation is dire enough to make one grumble about missing out on the chance to give Lance Lynn a three-year deal.

Just as much as the position side seems more or less set from 1 to 12, outside of some wiggle at catcher and questions about left field and second base (all of which can be answered competently in-house without any more moves being made), the pitching situation remains incredibly fluid, and almost not worth speculating on outside of pointing to Treinen in the closer role and Soria as the main setup guy. And even then, might this be the year, with no fewer than three Proven Closers on board, that the A's get wild with the bullpen roles and put Treinen into more of an Andrew Miller/Josh Hader position? I won't necessarily suggest that's the right approach, but it's certainly a possible one, and therefore highlights just how little we know what the A's pitching staff is going to look like four months from now, much less six or eight.

By Jason Wojciechowski on August 9, 2018 at 8:54 PM

rofl

By Jason Wojciechowski on July 17, 2018 at 8:04 AM

By Jason Wojciechowski on May 14, 2018 at 7:59 PM

The following is what the above says: if you gave each MLB manager a full season of playing time at the position they played in their playing days, how many WAR would they achieve? I'm not going to tell you how many WAR, but I am going to rank them.

  1. Mickey Callaway
  2. Gabe Kapler
  3. Alex Cora
  4. Craig Counsell
  5. Mike Matheny
  6. Aaron Boone
  7. Dave Roberts
  8. AJ Hinch
  9. Kevin Cash
  10. Andy Green
  11. Paul Molitor
  12. Scott Servais
  13. Bud Black
  14. Dave Martinez
  15. Torey Lovullo
  16. Don Mattingly
  17. Rick Renteria
  18. Terry Francona
  19. Mike Scioscia
  20. Bruce Bochy
  21. Jeff Banister
  22. Bob Melvin
  23. Clint Hurdle
  24. John Gibbons
  25. Ned Yost
  26. Jim Riggleman
  27. Brian Snitker
  28. Buck Showalter
  29. Ron Gardenhire
  30. Joe Maddon

By Jason Wojciechowski on May 2, 2018 at 7:29 PM

Emilio Pagan was the chosen loser in the race to stay in the bullpen when Brett Anderson joined the squad. You'll recall, or you'll scroll down, that I had him second on the list of likely demotions. I'm gonna call it a win.

By Jason Wojciechowski on April 29, 2018 at 2:36 PM

The A's have had to make some moves lately on the pitching staff for a variety of reasons. Quickly:

  • Lou Trivino was called up when Yusmeiro Petit had to go help his ailing mother, was optioned when Petit came back, was called back up again when Petit went on the bereavement list due to his mother's death, but then stuck around when Petit came back the second time
  • Trevor Cahill came up when the A's needed a fifth starter and is now in the rotation
  • Danny Coulombe was optioned after the team burned through the whole bullpen and needed fresh arms, but was then recalled after less than the normal requirement of 10 days in the minors because Ryan Buchter went on the disabled list
  • Chris Bassitt came up as part of the "let's get some fresh arms," but went back to Nashville a week later, as the A's preferred Danny Coulombe and Wilmer Font to him
  • Josh Lucas came up with Bassitt, but only stuck around for a day
  • Wilmer Font was acquired from the Dodgers and added to the active roster; he's out of options
  • Kendall Graveman, who actually pitched a decent game his last time out, was optioned. The A's can run with the four starters they have on the roster presently until Saturday, May 5, but Susan Slusser says it's more likely someone will be called up on Wednesday, 5/2

In table form, here's the pitching roster as of the last time I blogged, and the roster today:

Role 4/17 4/29
SP Kendall Graveman Trevor Cahill
SP Sean Manaea Sean Manaea
SP Daniel Mengden Daniel Mengden
SP Andrew Triggs Andrew Triggs
CL Blake Treinen Blake Treinen
RP Yusmeiro Petit Yusmeiro Petit (but with some absences)
RP Emilio Pagan Emilio Pagan
RP Chris Hatcher Chris Hatcher
RP Ryan Dull Ryan Dull
RP Danny Coulombe Danny Coulombe (but with some absences)
RP Santiago Casilla Santiago Casilla
RP Ryan Buchter Lou Trivino
RP Trayce Thompson, essentially Wilmer Font

So for all the noise in the last two weeks, the current roster is actually not much different than it started out. Ryan Buchter is hurt, and Kendall Graveman is terrible, so each of them have been replaced, but otherwise, the roster spots are mostly the same.

The usage is changing a little, but that's natural and expected, regardless of roster flux. The big move is that Casilla's good work is earning a little more trust from Bob Melvin, though that's only been reflected in one game so far, when Melvin chose him for the one-run save against the Rangers when Treinen was knocked out by a come-backer.

The interesting question is who starts on Wednesday or Saturday. It can't be Graveman quite yet; absent an injury, the earliest he can come back would be Sunday, May 6, I think—you have to go down for at least 10 days, so if the Thursday that Graveman was optioned counts as one of the days, then that makes Saturday, May 5 the 10th day. The possibilities:

Pitcher Comments
Wilmer Font Has no major-league starts, but was a minor-league starter the last two years, in the Dodgers and Blue Jays systems (as well as independent ball), and he had a really nice season in Triple-A last year
Daniel Gossett Opened the year in the major-league rotation and was as hittable as ever. He's missing bats in Triple-A, but also walking everybody. He pitched today, so he'd be on short rest Wednesday
Brett Anderson Unbelievable numbers to start the year in Nashville (25 strikeouts to two walks in 19 innings across four starts). He's scheduled to pitch Monday, so he couldn't go Wednesday if he pitches a normal game. He's not on the 40-man, but the A's have an empty slot
James Naile Slusser noted that he's on turn for Wednesday. He was a 20th-rounder out of college in 2015 and pitched mostly in Double-A last year. Baseball America rated him 26th in the A's system coming into the year, and noted that he's a sinkerballer without overwhelming stuff who's around the strike zone and fields his position well. He's also not on the 40-man

Assuming we're looking at Wednesday, Gossett can pretty much be ruled out as it is, which is fine by me. I think it's clear at this point, much as I hate to bury a guy, that he's not a major-league starting pitcher. Anderson we'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. The A's seem to feel, per Slusser's reporting of comments by Bob Melvin, that Graveman won't be down long. It's a trip to get himself right in a low-pressure environment, not something larger. So the two most obvious ways to accomplish this are:

  • Font starts the game, then heads back to the bullpen, then Graveman comes back for the next turn in the rotation, and either Trivino or Pagan catch an option or Hatcher or Font find themselves waived
  • Naile is added to the 40-man (no cost), and the 25-man (same 25-man choices as above), starts the game, then is immediately optioned back to Nashville and a new reliever is added, either Josh Lucas (who is already on the 40-man and will hit 10 days in the minors on Monday, April 30) or one of the non-40-man options, with the latter being possible despite Naile taking up spot no. 40 if the A's remove Hatcher or Font at that point. Those options include Frankie Montas (bad results as a starter so far this year), Eric Jokisch (same), Anderson, Raul Alcantara (not striking anyone out in the bullpen), Simon Castro (walking everyone), Bobby Wahl (preposterous numbers in relief so far), Kyle Finnegan (no idea), or Jeremy Bleich (same). Anderson, Alcantara, and Castro could not be optioned back to Nashville when Graveman rejoins the team, though

Do you want my vote? My vote, if he's capable, is for Font to start the game and Hatcher to catch his release. If it wouldn't be safe for Font's arm for him to start the game, then I like the Naile option, saving Brett Anderson for when he's needed on a more permanent basis, with Hatcher being cut to make room when Naile comes up and Josh Lucas joining the bullpen for four days until Graveman's next start. Please listen to me, Billy.