Morning A’s fans and welcome to another Friday morning.
The Athletics’ pre-spring acquisition of infielder/outfielder Andy Ibáñez was meant to provide manager Mark Kotsay with a versatile, left-handed option for third base. Remember, entering camp the A’s were holding a competition between Max Muncy, Darell Hernaiz, and Brett Harris for the starting gig at the hot corner, but the A’s decided that wasn’t enough, adding Ibáñez just a couple of weeks before the beginning of Spring Training.
It wasn’t
a cheap acquisition either. Ibáñez signed a guaranteed $1.2 million contract with Los Angeles in January, which seemed to clinch his spot on the reigning champion Dodgers’ roster, at least to begin the season. LA had other plans, however. After giving him that deal, the organization decided to attempt sneaking him through waivers, designating him for assignment with the belief that no other organization in the sport would claim him and that guaranteed contract. They wanted Ibáñez as a depth piece in Triple-A and used their deep pockets to try to play a fast one on the league and keep him in the minors as additional depth.
It was a smart gamble on their part. Ibáñez had spent the previous three seasons in Detroit acting as the Tigers’ utility man. He had played all four infield positions (mainly second and third base) and both outfield corners while slashing .251/.304/.392 with 20 home runs. Those numbers came out to a 92 OPS+, which meant he was 8% worse than the league average. But when coupling that together with his positional flexibility, Ibáñez was apart of Detroit’s team for a few seasons and helped them return to contention. That’s the sort of player the Dodgers would go after and they did.
Except the A’s called their bluff and made a claim for Ibáñez on February 6th. With that guaranteed contract A’s fans knew that Ibáñez’s roster spot was all but secured after the acquisition. It made sense at the time for the Athletics as well. With the in-house third base options not exactly providing a lot of optimism and a clear need to add some production to that spot, adding Ibáñez felt like a low-ceiling, mid-floor kind of addition. And at 33 he provided more experience than all the other options combined. Add in the fact that the other options were all right-handed hitters, adding a lefty swinger like Ibáñez felt like a smart move. Pair him in a platoon with whoever claimed the short side of the platoon and the team could get some actual offense from the hot corner in ‘26.
Well, that experiment didn’t work out. Max Muncy had a solid spring in the batter’s box and that propelled him to being named the Opening Night starter up in Toronto. It took him a couple games to get going but he began to bring his solid spring with him into the regular season and before you knew it the former first-round pick was the everyday starter at the hot corner. And with second base and both corner outfield spots already taken, a path for playing time and at-bats for Ibáñez became rarer and rarer. It didn’t help matters that he got off to a slow start when he did get some playing time. In just 11 games for the A’s Ibáñez went just 2-for-18 with a walk, no extra base hits and three RBI’s. Not exactly pushing for playing time with those numbers.
The A’s had clearly seen enough and decided to DFA Ibáñez a few days ago when the team reinstated DH Brent Rooker from the IL. Ibáñez still had that guaranteed contract and any team that claimed him would also be taking on that contract. It’s not a big chunk of change but anything helps. For the A’s it was either spend that money on a left-handed depth piece, or let some other team claim Ibáñez and get off the hook for the rest of that deal.
We got an answer yesterday afternoon. The New York Mets decided to make a claim on Ibáñez, rolling the dice on the now-33 years old Ibáñez despite his rough start to the season. How the Mets will deploy him is unclear but they’ve been hit hard by the injury bug and New York could be a decent landing spot for Ibáñez as he should get some more playing time, at least while the Mets’ infield starters are on the IL.
The A’s made a gamble that Ibáñez would provide something close to league-average production while helping to handle the hot corner as well as filling in as needed in other positions. The bat never showed up for the A’s though and with Muncy’s emergence, McNeil entrenched at second base, and both corner outfielders looking healthy (until Soderstrom a couple days ago but that’s a minor issue), there just wasn’t a spot for Ibáñez anymore and the team made the decision to part ways. He’s now in New York with the Mets and we’ve already seen those guys for the one series this year, so unless he bounces around to another team that’s all we’ll likely be seeing of Ibáñez in 2026. Good roll of the dice and thought process, just didn’t work out this time. Oh well.
Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:40. We got the Cleveland Guardians in town for the weekend, though the A’s may be down one of their best players this weekend:
Congrats Shea! And for the rest of you, have a good weekend all!
A’s Coverage:
- A’s Hold off Royals to Win Series Finale
- A Moment To Appreciate The Awesomeness That Is Carlos Cortes
- A’s defeat the Royals 5-2 behind Severino & Butler
- A’s drop opener 4-1 to Royals in extra innings
- Another hard-luck injury (fractured hand) lands Muncy on IL
- Kurtz ‘starting to get back to himself’ — and that’s a scary prospect
- What the Athletics’ Hot Start Means for Their 2026 Trade Deadline Strategy
- When he Reached the New World, Cortes Burned Opposing Pitchers
- Denzel Clarke placed on IL with bone bruise in foot; OF Thomas recalled
- It Might Be Time For Some Crosby Love
- ’Come in and do you’: Journeyman Kuhnel has found his place in A’s ‘pen
- Lawrence Butler’s Rough Start Comes With a Big Asterisk
- Former A’s owner: Sacramento “Should Be in the Mix” for MLB Expansion
MLB News and Interest:
- Early MLB takeaways: Bad big-money teams, ABS lessons, more
- Mets Place Luis Robert Jr. On Injured List
- Woodruff exits in 2nd after displaying significantly reduced velocity vs. D-backs
- Reds Place Brandon Williamson On Injured List
- NEW! Top 150 Draft prospects: Cholowsky still No. 1, but plenty of movement behind him
- Astros’ Alvarez ends April with 12th HR to tie for MLB lead
- 23-game hit streak — and that’s not counting last season! Vargas on historic tear
- Today in Baseball History
Best of X:
Nick Kurtz is already making history and joining lists filled with epic names:
Uh oh:
Bullet dodged?
Cortes’ hitting streak hitting double digits now:
Crazy stat:
