Winter Meetings Day 4: Rule 5 Draft Results

While the A's have been pretty active in trading Anderson and Blevins, the activity has been soft for other teams and the major free agents.  There is still no word on Tanaka's posting to MLB, and leaves Garza, Santana, and Jimenez in the lurch.  Shin-Shoo Choo and Nelson Cruz also remain unsigned, though the Rangers apparently have an offer out to him for seven years.

On this final day of the meetings, the A's are participating in the Rule 5 draft, which has both a major league and minor league portion.  As expected, the A's did not draft anyone in the major league portion of the draft.  In the minor league portion, however, the A's have gained one player and lost two.  Keep in mind, also, that in the minor league phase, the players do not have to be returned to their former club

Out:

Tony Thompson, 3B at Stockton

Vinny Catricala, 3B at Midland

Neither guy was exactly tearing the cover off the ball (95 and 65 wRC+ , respectively) and both are obviously getting old to be where they are.  Good luck to them in new organizations.

In:

Tim Atherton (MIN)

Atherton is another Australian-born pitcher who was in Class A for the Twins in 2013.  Fun fact: he was originally an outfielder when the Twins first signed him.  There he posted a very respectable 9.6 K/9, 3.10 BB/9, and 0.38 HR/9, which led him to a 2.80 FIP.  He started 11 games, pitched in 31 total for 95.2 innings on the year.  He's old for the level, but looks like a possible bullpen arm in Stockton to start 2014.

Here's a 2012 scouting report on him:

Signed as a teenage outfielder by the Twins in 2008 but parted ways with them shortly thereafter. Re-signed as a pitcher in 2011. Mixes a 90 mph fastball with a very slow mid-60s curveball and an effective changeup to keep hitters off-balance.

It also looks like he destroyed Beloit on 8/14:

Tim Atherton was fantastic on the mound as he went eight innings and struck out 11, the most by a Kernels pitcher in 2013. Both of the runs scored against him were unearned and he only gave up two hits. At one point in the game he retired 16 men in a row. The inning and strikeout totals were career highs for him.

Here's a good profile on him by a local paper:

Credit a slow curveball for a lot of his good statistics. It's a pitch that hit a laborious 68 miles per hour on the Veterans Memorial Stadium scoreboard earlier this season.

"I promise you, I'm throwing it as hard as I can," Atherton said. "Kind of weird because I can throw a slider or a cutter anywhere between 80 miles per hour to 90. I do throw the curve as hard as I can. Maybe I do grip it a little differently, but that's just how it is. It seems to be effective for me."

Finally, in a last bit of A's news, especially for Tutu-late:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rangers sign Brett Lillibridge, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Armando Rodriguez and Josh Wilson to minor-league deals.</p>&mdash; Anthony Andro (@aandro) <a href="https://twitter.com/aandro/statuses/411158140969684992">December 12, 2013</a></blockquote>

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Your eventual defection to LSB will be sad, but we understand buddy.  Happy trails.

Use this threat to chat about any news that trickles out today