Arizona Diamondbacks Make Flurry of Moves with Former A's
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The Arizona Diamondbacks have been busy moving pieces around the past couple of days, and a number of those moves have involved former Athletics players. On Sunday, they decided to release former A's outfielder Seth Brown, and on Monday they designated Kendall Graveman for assignment. They also brought in a lesser-known former A's player in Gus Varland off waivers from the Chicago White Sox.
Brown began this season with the Athletics, and made it into 38 games with the club before he was optioned to the minors in May. After a brief call-up in June, he landed on the IL with left elbow lateral epicondylitis. When he was ready to return, the A's released him, and he landed with the D-Backs.
This season he ended up going 12-for-65 (.185) with a .303 on-base and one home run. He'd also struck out 23 times, which led to a 30.3% strikeout rate--a touch higher than what he'd been at in previous seasons.
Brown was selected by the A's in the 19th round of the 2015 MLB Draft, and made his MLB debut with the club in 2019. In 2021 and 2022 he was an under-the-radar masher for the club, hitting 20 and 25 home runs in those two seasons, but as he became a larger focal point of the offense, his numbers began to dip from 2023-25.
After the A's released him, Arizona signed him to a minor-league deal in July. In 26 games he hit .291 with a .381 OBP and six home runs, though with the Diamondbacks ending up as sellers at the trade deadline, there wasn't much need for a veteran outfielder in the minors for a potential postseason push.
The other big move was the team's DFA of Graveman, who ended up being a big piece in the Josh Donaldson deal with the Toronto Blue Jays a decade ago. The A's used the righty as a starting option in his four years with the club, and after the 2018 season he hit free agency and landed with the Chicago Cubs, where he would need Tommy John and wouldn't pitch.
After hitting free agency again, Graveman ended up with the Seattle Mariners, where he began pitching out of the bullpen and became one of the better arms in baseball. This led to the resurgent Mariners trading him to the Houston Astros in 2021 in a deal that didn't really work out for the M's.
He missed the entire 2024 season, and ended up signing with the Diamondbacks in February, though injuries have slowed him down this year. In 19 appearances, the veteran righty holds a 7.13 ERA across 17 2/3 innings of work, along with a 1.98 WHIP.
The addition of Gus Varland, who was claimed off waivers from the White Sox and then optioned to Triple-A Reno, gives Arizona a reliever that has big-league experience, and has even had some success in The Show.
He was drafted by the A's in 2018 and then traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 as part of the deal that landed Adam Kolarek in Oakland and Sheldon Neuse in LA. He'd pitch for the Dodgers during the 2023 campaign, holding a 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 innings, but not before a stint with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2022 and part of 2023.
He'd land back with the Dodgers through July of last year, when he was claimed off waivers by the White Sox. This season he has totaled just 6 1/3 innings of work in the minors due to injury, beginning the year on the IL and then landing back there after a couple of weeks in June. In July, Chicago placed him on the 60-day IL, before DFA'ing him a month later.
Varland has a cumulative 4.82 ERA in the big leagues in 42 games (46 2/3 innings), but a good deal of that damage was done in his first stop with the Brewers in '23. He has posted ERAs of 3.09, 3.00, and 3.54 in limited sample sizes with the Dodgers ('23-24) and White Sox ('24). He's certainly a nice flier pickup for a team in need of some arms for next year.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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