Like ratatouille, one of Cindi’s culinary specialties featuring fresh grated rat. Or riddance, as in a good one, Kaval. “R” sure is a fun letter with which to ring in 2025, so let’s explore a little R & R on this lazy New Year’s day...
Esteury Ruiz
Ruiz made my projected 26 man roster for Opening Day, largely on the strength of being on the 40-man roster with no further outfield transactions currently in sight. But there are multiple reasons why it’s not ideal for the A’s — why they might still want to look for an outfielder even if it’s a “5th outfielder”.
One reason is that Ruiz’ development arc in 2024 was stunted when he lost almost the entire season to injury. Remember that though he made the Opening Day roster, Ruiz was quickly optioned back to AAA with some tasks to work on.
The A’s wanted to see him regain some of the patience that helped him build a gaudy .447 OBP across AA and AAA in 2022. They also hoped he could figure out a way to drive the ball harder than the modest 1st percentile exit velocity that birds laugh at as they dive towards his “line drives” just for fun.
Not specifically mentioned, but certainly also a concern, is that Ruiz still needs to greatly improve his reads and routes if he is to be a passable outfielder let alone a good one. So it would be to his benefit to start the year at AAA where he was supposed to be when his season was interrupted and never restarted.
Separately, with the A’s current outfield mix what they most need in a backup outfielder is a strong defender. Left field looks to be patrolled by Seth Brown and Miguel Andujar, both sluggers who leave a lot to be desired defensively. (Brown has, at times, been average but as he is aging he is slipping into “below average” territory.) JJ Bleday was -19 DRS in CF last year and we’ll leave it at that.
So while it’s great to have a bench player who can steal bases, the A’s would be better served right now to have a strong defender who can come in for Brown or Andujar, ideally a CFer who can move Bleday over to LF. Michael A. Taylor would be a cheap option who could both improve the team in one specific way (late inning outfield defense), also serve as a useful pinch runner, and importantly allow Ruiz development time in AAA to try regain his 2022 mojo.
Relievers
Most likely the A’s are still in the market for one of the many unsigned quality relievers. They are unlikely to land one of the top arms, as there will be much competition and the A’s are not in a position of strength with regard to attracting free agents.
But they could go a different route and it’s one they tend to like: opt for quantity and use the same money to sign 2 more affordable relievers who still might be really good. Remember, relievers are inherently volatile so you can sign a pricey one only to regret it and you can sign a bargain only to strike it rich.
One such possibility is a familiar face: Danny Coulombe. Projected to land only a one year deal for AAV $5M or less, Coulombe has a chance to far exceed the expectations associated with that contract.
Coulombe has been “quietly great” the last 3 seasons compiling ERAs of 1.46, 2.81, and 2.12. Here are his stats from 2022-2024: 93.1 IP, 67 hits, 28 BB, 99 K, 7 HR. If added to the A’s bullpen he would arguably slot in ahead of T.J. McFarland as the “plus LHP” in the pen.
The knock on Coulombe? That would be health as he had seasons interrupted by injury in 2022 and 2024, limiting him to 104 appearances over the past 3 seasons. But he’s only 35 and a one-year deal is not a huge risk if the price is as affordable as predicted.
You could pair Coulombe with another effective but not overly pricey reliever such as Andrew Kittridge, and immediately your bullpen would be noticeably stronger and deeper, something like:
Mason Miller
Andrew Kittredge
Danny Coulombe
T.J. McFarland
Michel Otañez
Tyler Ferguson
Noah Murdock
Jacob Lopez
Suddenly Otañez and Ferguson are your 5th and 6th relievers, and you are likely to have the luxury of storing Grant Holman in AAA as “next man up,” the kind of depth you need with the inevitable parade of relievers coming and going over 162 games.
On AN we have often lamented the front office’s approach, in trades, of spreading risk across more players rather than targeting one higher upside player. This might be a case where the strategy makes a lot of sense and you can get more “bang for your buck”.
Thoughts to chew on, spit out, and discuss as we ring in 2025: the year of the nomadic baseball team that takes the world by surprise.
