Another week in the books! Welcome to Friday A’s fans.
Yesterday morning the A’s announced the addition of some outside bullpen help, acquiring left-hander Jose Suarez from the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations:
In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Suarez, the team designated outfielder Junior Perez for assignment,
meaning any of the other 29 teams in the league can claim him. The A’s will be immediately adding Suarez to the bullpen today so there will be another corresponding roster move to make immediate room on the 26-man roster.
Suarez should be a name plenty familiar to A’s fans after he spent 2019-2024 seasons down south with the division-rival Angels. The left-hander then spent a year on the other side of the country with the Braves and began this season with them before finding his way to Seattle. Split between the Braves and Mariners this year the 28-year-old has pitched in just nine games, allowing 13 runs in 18 1/3 innings of work which comes out to a 6.38 ERA. Not a great season to date.
That said, the former starting pitcher has been better in the ‘pen as a left-handed relief option and the numbers back that up. He’s got strikeout potential but also has major control issues. As of now the only lefty in Mark Kotsay’s bullpen is Hogan Harris so the need to add another lefty was clear. With Suarez getting DFA’d the A’s are taking a chance that the team can fix him and get him back to the point he was just a few years ago, when he looked like a budding backend starter for the Angels.
To bring in Suarez, the A’s needed roster space so they made the decision to designate outfield prospect Junior Perez for assignment. Widely considered a top-20 prospect in the Athletics’ organization, Perez was added to the 40-man roster this offseason to prevent him getting selected in the Rule 5 Draft. The logic was sound as he was coming off a fantastic .231/.348/.478 slash line with 26 homers and 27 steals split between Double and Triple-A. Add in the fact that many believed he was nearly as good a defender in center field as Denzel Clarke, it was clear the A’s front office liked what they were seeing from the then-23-year-old.
Things unfortunately have not gone nearly as smoothly for Perez here in 2026 as he’s limped to a .210/.273/.384 line while striking out more and walking less. He’s looked outmatched at the minor leagues’ highest level so far this season and even though he ranked as the team’s 20th-best prospect, the decision has been made to remove him off the 40-man roster and risk him getting claimed. The team will surely be hoping he slips through and remains in Las Vegas but his awesome year last season could entice another club to bring Perez aboard. Stay tuned to see how his situation unfolds.
Turning to the big league squad, we got the San Francisco Giants coming to town this weekend for a three-game set. The former Bay Area rivals have gotten off to a horrendous start this year as they sit fourth in the NL West with a 18-25 record, tied for fourth-worst in the entire sport. Almost nothing has gone right for new manager Tony Vitello in his first year as a manager in the professional ranks and many Giants fans are already beginning to wonder if he was the right pick to lead a veteran-laded squad.
Speaking of the Giants’ vets, they’ve been absolutely hamstrung by horrid seasons to date from the likes of Willy Adames, Rafael Devers and former A’s All-Star Matt Chapman. None of them have been living up to the massive contracts they are tied to and that’s been a huge reason why the Giants rank last or near last in most offensive categories. They’re last in runs scored, with the team ahead of them having scored a full 15 runs more than SF. They’ve gotten above-average production out of fourth-year infielder Casey Schmitt, and left fielder Heliot Ramos and longtime veteran Luis Arraez have provided production, but they’re big bats have slumped and are a big reason why the Giants are on track to be sellers this summer.
The pitching schedule for this weekend looks like mostly veteran-on-veteran matchups, and the A’s might be getting lucky avoiding seeing any of the Giants’ top starters in Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Tonight’s series opener will pit Aaron Civale against Tyler Mahle. While both signed one-year deals this offseason, Civale has been far and away better as the 31-year-old Mahle has struggled in his first season in SF. Civale has been on an absolute roll as well while Mahle has surrendered nine runs in his last three starts (though one of those was a scoreless appearance).
Saturday will be the only day we see a young arm take the mound as the Giants will hope rookie right-hander Trevor McDonald can go toe-to-toe with Luis Severino. McDonald, considered a top-15 prospect in the Giants’ farm system, has gotten off to a quick start to his season as he’s made two solid starts for SF since being recalled a couple weeks ago. Not much of a track record for him to show off but the Giants are getting desperate for pitching help and he’s provided some so far. Severino, the grizzled veteran on the other hand, has had an up-and-down season so far but is on the up and up right now. Sevy has made four consecutive solid starts, allowing just five runs over his past four starts spanning 24 innings of work. With a 4.07 ERA he’ll have an excellent chance to get that number under 4 facing a struggling Giants offense.
And Sunday we wrap the series and home stand with Jeffrey Springs going up against Adrian Houser. Like Mahle, Houser was an offseason addition meant to stabilize the SF rotation while providing some possible upside. Things have gone south for him however as he got hit hard in April. Things have begun to turn around for Houser as the calendar has shifted to May though. Springs meanwhile has been the team’s best pitcher overall this year but is coming off a starting appearance that saw him allow four runs in the first inning. He grinded though and provided five full innings without allowing another run so the hope is that he can just pick up where he left off and keep up his great season against the Giants on Sunday afternoon in Sacramento.
That’s all we got this morning. First pitch tonight is at 6:40 everyone so set your alarms. And have a great weekend everyone.
A’s Coverage:
- A’s get lefty reliever Suarez in trade with Mariners
- Bolte Flashes In Athletics’ Win Over Cardinals
- Kurtz shakes off pain, crushes massive grand slam to lift A’s
- Langeliers crushes 100th career HR (448 ft!) as breakout season continues
- The A’s drop series opener to the Cards 6-4
- A’s roster moves: Bolte, Stefanic recalled; Wilson to IL; Harris optioned, Nuñez DFA’d
- There’s Forcing Your Way Up And There’s Bolte — Is There A Spot For Him?
- May Roster Shuffle Could Help The A’s — But They’d Have To Want It
- Athletics’ Wei-En Lin Continues Rising The Ranks
- Now that we’ve seen a two-way player, what about a three-way player?
- A Walk In The Park Is Nice…To A Point
- Three Things To Watch For The Athletics In May
MLB News and Interest:
- Mariners’ Cal Raleigh (oblique) lands on IL for first time
- Francisco Alvarez Undergoes Surgery For Meniscus Tear
- Injuries: Raleigh, Fried, Mets, Buxton, Red Sox, Brewers
- Twins send scuffling outfielder Matt Wallner to Triple-A
- Latest On Blue Jays’ Rotation
- The Top 100 Prospects list has been updated, and there’s a new No. 1
- Well-rounded Braves rally past Cubs, move to MLB-best 30-13
- Today in Baseball History
Best of X:
Tough break for one of the A’s top pitching prospects. On the bright side doesn’t sound too serious:
Any guesses how far Kurtz can take this streak? Is McGuire in trouble?
Bummer that Perez’s best performance at the plate came just one day before his DFA:
ICYMI:
