All my protestations to the contrary, the A's did indeed designate Trayce Thompson for assignment today to make room for Trevor Cahill to join the team as their fifth starter. The move was for 25-man purposes, not 40-man, as Cahill was already on the team on a major-league deal, but Thompson was optioned by his prior teams in 2014 (White Sox), 2015 (same), and 2017 (Dodgers), thus exhausting the years in which he could be optioned. The Dodgers and Yankees have each already waived Thompson this year, the former on March 27 and the latter on April 5, and he was claimed each time, so there's clearly some demand out there for his services. The odds he gets claimed seem great, but if he manages to pass through waivers, I believe the A's can assign him outright to the minors without him having the ability to elect free agency, since he has not previously been outrighted.

You know my feelings on Mark Canha, who the A's chose to keep over Thompson despite having options, by this point, but the team clearly believes he can handle center field (tonight marked his third consecutive start there) and he is, even I would admit, clearly a better hitter than Jake Smolinski.

In the end, I'm probably going to be embarrassed by how many bloggies I spent on the A's center-field situation in light of the six years of Certain Glory we're going to experience from Dustin Fowler or Jorge Mateo. "Jason why did you blog so much about Jake Smolinski in April 2018?" "I don't knoooooowwwwwwwww I just diddddddd."

Also, Yusmeiro Petit has a family situation back home and has been placed on the family emergency, so Lou Trivino, who the A's drafted in the 11th round in 2013, will come to the majors for the first time to help out in the bullpen. The big thing that jumps out at you from his stat sheet is the one (1) homer allowed over 128 innings at three levels the last two seasons. Make that one (1) homer over 132 innings if you count this year. Take that one step further, back to 2015, when he left the rotation for good on June 2, and he has allowed two (2) homers in 182 innings since becoming a reliever, all at High-A and above. He debuted tonight, but I haven't watched the game yet. Be not afraid: you will hear my thoughts when I have them.