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A’s acquire reliever Sam Moll from D’Backs

Lefty goes to Triple-A in second tour of organization

By Alex Hall
Seattle Mariners v Oakland Athletics Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

For the second time in the last couple weeks, the Oakland A’s brought back one of their former pitchers.

The A’s announced Friday that they’ve acquired reliever Sam Moll from the Arizona Diamondbacks, in exchange for cash considerations. The left-hander was not on Arizona’s 40-man roster and won’t need a spot on Oakland’s, and is now listed at Triple-A Las Vegas.

This is the second time the A’s have traded cash for Moll. In August 2017 they picked him up from the Colorado Rockies, and he appeared in 11 games wearing green-and-gold before being waived at the end of that year. He bounced around to several organizations since then but hasn’t yet returned to the majors since his time in Oakland.

  • Moll, 2017 OAK: 10.80 ERA, 6⅔ ip, 7 Ks, 3 BB, 2 HR, 13 hits, 6.31 FIP, .331 xwOBA

Notable in that shaky stat line is the totally decent Statcast xwOBA, plus the ability to miss some bats with his slider for strikeouts. He pitched in Triple-A for the D’Backs this summer and continued racking up Ks.

  • Moll, 2021 AAA: 5.82 ERA, 21⅔ ip, 30 Ks, 15 BB, 3 HR, 19 hits, 5.33 FIP

The 29-year-old will join veteran starter Homer Bailey as new additions to Las Vegas’ roster. Bailey, who pitched for the A’s in 2019, was signed to a minor league contract in late-June.

However, the Aviators will not be reunited with reliever Cam Bedrosian, who was designated for assignment by Oakland on Tuesday after pitching nine games for the A’s. The right-hander cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than an outright assignment back to Triple-A, reports Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News.

Aside from Bailey and Moll, Vegas has the following pitchers with MLB experience: top youngsters Jesús Luzardo, Daulton Jefferies, and A.J. Puk; starter Paul Blackburn; and relievers Reymin Guduan, Adam Kolarek, and Jordan Weems.

Analysis

Like Bailey before him, and even Bedrosian before that, Moll represents a free roll of the dice. He cost basically nothing to get, and doesn’t need a roster spot unless/until the moment they decide to call him up. At worst he’s some experience for the Aviators’ staff, and if he gets hot then maybe he can help out in the majors. Why not? Welcome back!

Oh, and one more brief piece of A’s reliever news. See the tweet below.

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