Youth inbound
The Athletics announced a couple notable roster moves just hours ahead of kicking off their home stand against the Angels:
The Oakland A’s have recalled right-handed pitcher Tyler Ferguson and infielder Brett Harris from Triple-A Las Vegas and designated left-handed pitcher Sean Newcomb and infielder Aledmys Díaz for assignment.
— Oakland A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) July 2, 2024
The big news is Diaz. Signed last year to a two-year, $14.5MM deal, the hope was that Diaz could be a veteran super-utility player that manager Mark Kotsay could plug into wherever the need arose while helping some of the younger position players through their growing pains. While he was able to get into 109 games last year, he disappointed with the bat, slashing a mere .229/.280/.337 with just four long balls. Not what the A’s were hoping for for a relatively expensive contract they handed out but maybe Year 2 would go better and they could recoup some value with a mid-summer trade.
It has not gone that way at all. After starting the season on the IL with multiple lower leg injuries, Diaz finally made it back to the Athletics just a few weeks ago. While he made it back to the big league team his performance dropped off even harder than in ‘23. Over 30 plate appearances Diaz collected just three singles while striking out seven times compared to just one walk. That performance brought about today’s move. While he has a history of performance and versatility, any team that claimed him would be on the hook for the rest of this year’s salary, so it’s unlikely any team will claim him and he’ll instead hit the open market, free to choose his next destination.
Taking his place on the roster will be third base prospect Brett Harris. The former 7th-round pick out of Gonzaga made his MLB debut earlier this year, memorably hitting a home run for his first major league hit and then another bomb later the same game. Things went a bit downhill from there for Harris and he was eventually returned to Triple-A for more seasoning. Harris wound up hitting the IL for a bit but has returned in a big way for the Aviators. In the last week of June Harris slashed a monster .435/.519/.783 with three jacks. Impressive, even in the hitter-friendly PCL.
That’s prompted the club to bring Harris back for his second stint with the major league squad. With leadoff man and regular third baseman Abraham Toro out due to injury Harris should be able to get some decent playing time for the foreseeable future. In fact, he’s in the lineup tonight, batting 8th and at the hot corner.
The position player side wasn’t the only shuffling we saw today. Lefty veteran Sean Newcomb was designated for assignment as well, possibly ending his tenure with the team. Like Diaz, Newcomb started the year on the IL with a lower leg injury (knee surgery). He also only just recently returned to the club after a rehab assignment. And he also has struggled in his limited playing time since his return. Over 10 innings he’s already allowed seven runs. More concerning was that he allowed runs in four of his seven outings, including runs in each of his last two outings. While Newcomb showed promise last year as a possible lefty bullpen arm, it just hasn’t worked out the same this year. He’ll also now head to the open market and as a lefty it likely won’t take too long for Newcomb to find a new home.
Taking his spot in the bullpen will be right-hander Tyler Ferguson. The rookie from Fresno, like Brett Harris, made his big league debut earlier this year, joining the team for the majority of the month of May. Ferguson made it into nine games and showed promise as a bullpen option. His overall line is sort of skewed by a rough outing on May 19th when he allowed four runs, but he only allowed one other run outside of that disaster of an appearance. Since his demotion to Triple-A it’s been shockingly similar. In the month of June Ferguson has allowed six runs in 12 frames but five of those runs came in one outing. When Ferguson doesn’t have it, he really doesn’t have it, it seems.
So there we have it. Out go two veterans who weren’t performing and aren’t going to net anything back in a trade, and incoming are two rookies who now have a another chance to show that they belong in the big leagues. Let’s see if either of them run with this chance.
