Oakland A's to sign Cody Ross after he clears waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal

The Oakland Athletics will sign Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Cody Ross to a contract after he clears waivers on Wednesday, according to a tweet from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. It is presently unknown whether Ross will be placed on the 40-man roster, or if this is a minor league contract, though presumably Ross would try to sign where he would have an opportunity to play in the major leagues.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will be on the hook for his $8.5 million salary and $1 million 2016 buyout less the minimum salary the A's pay Ross.

Susan Slusser reported Oakland's interest in Ross on Monday for the San Francisco Chronicle, and says in a tweet that if Ross is added to the major league roster, Billy Burns would be the player optioned out.

Once Josh Reddick returns on Saturday, either Tyler Ladendorf would be optioned out or the A's could release Ross. Once Coco Crisp returns, it will be hard to see a way Cody Ross remains with Oakland barring an unlikely spectacular performance.

Adding Cody Ross to the 40-man roster also requires a 40-man roster move, which could mean transferring Jarrod Parker to the 60-day disabled list. He would be eligible for reinstatement around the end of May.

Ross had a down 2014 after returning from surgery for a dislocated hip in late 2013. Here's what I wrote earlier today about him:

The 34-year-old Ross had a horrid 2014 on both sides of the ball. He has always had a high strikeout rate, 20.1% in 2014, and his slash line of .252/.306/.322 shows his power went in the tank as well. His 2014 outfield Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 defensive games of -38.1 is off the scale bad, though he only had 404 innings to do it.

One thing I did not mention was that the right-handed batting Ross has a severe platoon split: a 141 wRC+ against lefties and 89 against righties. I imagine the team is looking for Ross to bounce back now that he is more than a season removed from his hip surgery.

Once Ross reports, and if he stays with the team after Reddick returns, the lineups will look something like this: