A's Opening Day Roster Projection v2.0
We're a week into Spring Training games, and the Opening Day roster picture is still fuzzy, but getting slightly clearer at the same time. Since the last projection I made, A.J. Puk was traded to the Miami Marlins in exchange for JJ Bleday, complicating the A's outfield picture while opening up a spot in the bullpen.
Kirby Snead could also miss Opening Day after being shut down earlier this week, and he was another player that was on the initial projected roster. Two spots are open in the bullpen, the starting rotation has a number of pieces that could fit, and the competition to be Oakland's fourth outfielder is heating up!
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A.J. Puk. He was a solid piece of the A's bullpen in 2022, posting a 3.12 ERA across 66.1 innings. The A's sent him to Miami just a couple of weeks ago in exchange for former #4 overall pick, JJ Bleday, who is now in the A's outfield mix in camp.
As a member of the Marlins, Puk is dealing with some tightness in camp and has yet to make his spring debut. The 27-year-old has had tough luck with injuries throughout his career, but when he has been healthy, he's been pretty solid at the big league level, posting a career 3.56 ERA across 91 innings. 2022 was the first time he'd topped 50 innings at any level since 2017.
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JP Sears. The left-hander got some work out of the bullpen in 2022, primarily with the Yankees, and posted a 2.60 ERA in 17.1 innings (five appearances) with an 0.808 WHIP.
Sears is still in contention for a spot in the starting rotation, but with the subtraction of Puk, Sears seems like the most logical candidate to insert into a relief role. He has experience in the big leagues, and he has experience out of the bullpen. The A's don't have a huge array of traditional relievers on their 40-man roster, so picking one of the starting options is fairly likely. Sears showed enough at the big league level last season to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.
So far this spring he has posted a 9.64 ERA in two starts (4.2 IP), but he's also been working on a new slider that he's still getting the hang of. He also hasn't thrown it to right-handers yet, and four of the five hits he gave up in his last start were to righties who weren't getting his full arsenal.
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Kirby Snead. It was announced this week that the lefty, acquired as part of the Matt Chapman trade, has a left shoulder strain and has been shut down until he is asymptomatic. It's unclear what his timetable is, but even if he's out just a couple of weeks, he may not have enough time to ramp back up in time for Opening Day.
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Drew Steckenrider. The A's have a number of options that could take hold of this spot in the bullpen, from another starter that didn't make the rotation, to a non-roster invitee that is a more traditional reliever. Steckenrider is the latter.
The 32-year-old right-hander has accumulated 195.2 innings in the Majors since 2017, which would be fourth on this club behind Trevor May, James Kaprielian, and Paul Blackburn. In 2021 Steckenrider posted a 2.00 ERA while tallying 14 saves in 67.2 innings. Last season he only tossed 14.1 frames for Seattle to the tune of a 5.65 ERA. When he signed with the A's, he said he felt that the Oakland coaches and himself had the same thoughts on how to best use him.
It's true that Steckenrider is a righty, but with Moll and Sears already in the bullpen, and Waldichuk/Muller being better served as starting options, that's all of the left-handed options remaining on the 40-man roster outside of Hogan Harris, who is slated to start in the minors. On the non-roster side are Jake Fishman and Garrett Williams. Fishman didn't allow a single walk in his 11 innings with Miami last season and finished with a 4.09 ERA.
Williams hasn't made his big league debut yet, and had trouble with his command in Triple-A the past two seasons. He could make it with an outstanding spring, but he also walked two in two-thirds of an inning on Friday against the Royals.
The 26-Man Roster
For now, I'm still keeping Ken Waldichuk in the starting rotation. He's only thrown one inning this Spring, and he allowed three earned while walking two and striking out two. It's still too early to make bold declarations off of one inning, but Kyle Muller had a stellar first start, and an alright second start on Friday.
Freddy Tarnok has looked like the best of the trio thus far, going five frames and holding a 1.80 ERA with three strikeouts and a pair of walks.
Adrián Martinez induced soft contact in his first outing and worked at a quicker pace, and Adam Oller allowed a home run on the first pitch he threw this spring, but that's his only blemish while also striking out four in two innings of work.
Catcher: Shea Langeliers (1), Manny Piña (2)
First Base: Jesús Aguilar (3), Ryan Noda (4)
Second Base: Tony Kemp (5), Aledmys Díaz (6)
Shortstop: Nick Allen (7)
Third Base: Jace Peterson (8), Kevin Smith (9)
Left Field: Seth Brown (10), Cristian Pache (11)
Center Field: Esteury Ruiz (12)
Right Field: Ramón Laureano (13)
No real changes here, but there is some added explanation for the left field situation. Cristian Pache is listed at left field, though when he's playing, I'd have him in center and slide Ruiz to left. He's only listed in left because he'd be platooning with Seth Brown, who hit just .172 with a .230 OBP against lefties, good for a 52 wRC+ (100 being league average).
Pache on the other hand hit .220 with a .281 OBP and a 77 wRC+. If Pache had drawn two more walks against lefties, he'd have had a .303 on-base. If he's getting on base at a .300 clip, you have to think he's worth keeping around (especially where his value is on the trade market) because of his special defense. Give him an opportunity to flourish, and see if he can start working his way into more playing time. He's 4-for-11 (.364) so far this spring, with a walk, three rbi, and two runs scored. He also hasn't struck out.
If he doesn't hit like the A's want him to after a couple of months this season, then they can trade him or place him on waivers and bring Bleday, Conner Capel, Brent Rooker, or any of the other options up for a platoon role. But if they decide to not put Pache on the roster, that's likely it for his time with the club, so it would make sense to give him one more legitimate opportunity.
You may also be wondering why Kevin Smith is on the team, so I wrote about why he makes sense on the A's roster.
Starting Rotation: Paul Blackburn (14), James Kaprielian (15), Shintaro Fujinami (16), Drew Rucinski (17), Ken Waldichuk (18)
Blackburn and Kaprielian have yet to make their spring debuts (with Blackburn scheduled to start Sunday in Vegas), but both should be ready for Opening Day
Bullpen: Trevor May (19), Dany Jiménez (20), Zach Jackson (21), Domingo Acevedo (22), Sam Moll (23), Drew Steckenrider (24), JP Sears (25), Chad Smith (26)