Morning A’s fans and welcome to another Friday!
The club has wrapped up the first New York series this week with a series win over the Yankees. The last couple of games were especially close but they managed to pull through and get their record to 5-7. Now they depart from the Bronx to head to Queens to take on the Mets for three games this weekend.
We have a new member of the rotation making his first start of the year for the club tonight. Right-hander JT Ginn will be called upon for the first start by
someone other than someone in the Opening Day rotation, taking the place of Luis Morales, who was optioned to Triple-A earlier this week. As a fun little tidbit, Ginn will be pitching against the team that drafted him (the A’s acquired Ginn in exchange for Chris Bassitt way back in 2022), so he might have some extra motivation in him tonight. The 7-5 Mets await the Athletics for some weekend baseball.
Ginn began the year among the starting candidates for the Opening Day rotation, though he was never a favorite for a spot in the starting five to begin the season. The 26-year-old righty would have needed to seriously impress the coaching staff if he was going to leapfrog Morales or Jacob Lopez or otherwise hope for an injury. The club gave him a serious opportunity this spring with four starts (6 total appearances) but he struggled mightily, giving up 17 earned runs in just 15 innings of work. That made it obvious that he would not be among the starting five and the expectation at the time was that after a tough camp he’d be the odd-man out and head to Triple-A to start the year.
We had a surprise for the Opening Day roster however as Ginn made the cut over Jack Perkins, who went down to Las Vegas instead. It was a long man role but Ginn still was in Toronto to open the year against the Blue Jays. As the team’s designated long reliever to start the year Ginn has only made three appearances. His first one went fantastic as he pitched nearly four full innings in relief of Morales, who had a short start against the Jays. His most recent two outings have not been as smooth, allowing two runs in each appearance. The right-hander seems stretched out enough to handle the first few frames and that’s likely the plan tonight. If he can make it through the Mets’ batting order one time without getting hit around then the A’s would gladly take that.
The A’s have made a roster move to bolster their staff for tonight’s series opener when they recalled Perkins from Las Vegas. It looks like he’ll be piggybacking after Ginn as the two of them will form a 1-2 punch against the Mets tonight. Perkins was in the same boat as Ginn this spring: theoretically a candidate to break camp with the club in the rotation, but realistically on the outside looking in. Since being in Triple-A he’s actually only made three appearances in relief. He’s been so-so, with one blowup appearance, a quality outing, and then another decent performance last time out when he only allowed a solo home run. What can we expect from the righty in his first big league game of the year?
The rest of the series lines up to be Jacob Lopez versus Kodai Senga on Saturday morning, and Aaron Civale gets the ball for the finale against Freddy Peralta. Thanks to the A’s winning the series against the Yankees they have a chance to finish the road trip with better than .500 record. That’d require a sweep but the A’s are starting to play some good baseball. And with the Mariners faltering hard in the early going the A’s can put some distance between themselves and last place in the AL West.
The Mets are doing solidly enough in the early going as well but they’ll be down their best player in Juan Soto during this upcoming series. The A’s are catching them at the right time in that regard, but the A’s may be down one of their big boppers themselves after Brent Rooker exited yesterday’s finale early. No word yet on the severity of it but his consecutive games played streak is now in jeopardy of being broken. Fingers crossed our DH can make it into the lineup tomorrow, or at the very least be available off the bench.
Have a great weekend guys. And go A’s!
A’s Coverage:
- A’s Take Down The Yankees 1-0 in New York
- DH Brent Rooker exits in 1st inning in finale vs. Yankees
- A’s roster moves: Jack Perkins recalled, Michael Kelly optioned
- A’s Bullpen Blows Yet Another Game
- Luis Morales Optioned to Triple-A
- A’s Add Former Yankees Reliever as Bullpen Depth Option
- Armchair 101: The Challenge Of Judging Decisions In Real Time
- Las Vegas Single Game Ticket On Sale
- A’s Biggest Camp Question is Already Becoming a Strength in 2026
- A’s feed off electric crowd in breakout opener
- Extensions To Colt Emerson And Konnor Griffin A New Trend?
- AN Exclusive: Blogfather Observes The Wild Denzelope In Its Natural Habitat
- AN Exclusive: Blogfather Toes The Rubber With Pitching Coach Scott Emerson
- AN Exclusive: Blogfather Catches Up With Starting Pitcher Jacob Lopez
MLB News and Interest:
- Angels right-hander Robert Stephenson undergoes season-ending elbow surgery
- Orioles starter Zach Eflin undergoes Tommy John surgery
- Dodgers legend Davey Lopes passes away at 80
- Nationals have not made extension offer to outfielder Daylen Lile
- Lopez, Soler receive suspensions for brawl
- MLB average salary hits $5.34M
- Royals starter Cole Ragans expected to make next scheduled start
- Manager Craig Albernaz calls out Orioles’ longstanding culture amidst slow start
- Here is a potential impact call up for each team
- Today in Baseball History
Best of X:
Encouraging update on Rook, but we’ll have to wait for tonight to see how good he’s really feeling:
Perhaps we’ll soon be getting a Gelof sighting? He’s been demolishing the ball in Triple-A:
A quick look back at Springs’ dominance yesterday:
We all think so!
