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The Oakland A’s acquired a piece of bullpen depth on Friday, and they’re not waiting around to use him.
The A’s announced Saturday that they called up reliever Sam Moll from Triple-A. The left-hander was acquired less than 24 hours ago in a cash trade with the Arizona D’Backs.
In order to be called up, Moll first needed to be added to the 40-man roster, so fellow reliever Jordan Weems was designated for assignment to clear a spot. Then Moll needed a place on the active 26-man roster in the majors, so righty Domingo Acevedo was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas.
The 29-year-old Moll has nine games of MLB experience in his career, all with the A’s in 2017. He came to Oakland in a trade from the Rockies that year, but was let go at the end of the season and hasn’t returned to the bigs since despite trying out for several other organizations.
- Moll, 2017 OAK: 10.80 ERA, 6⅔ ip, 7 Ks, 3 BB, 2 HR, 13 hits, 6.31 FIP, .331 xwOBA
At that time, his arsenal revolved around a 92 mph fastball along with a slider that earned lots of swinging strikes, plus an occasional changeup. This summer he’d been pitching for Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate.
- Moll, 2021 AAA: 5.82 ERA, 21⅔ ip, 30 Ks, 15 BB, 3 HR, 19 hits, 5.33 FIP
The A’s only had one lefty in their pen, co-closer Jake Diekman, so the addition of Moll provides a second southpaw.
Meanwhile, Acevedo heads back to Las Vegas but remains on the team’s depth chart for the next time he’s needed. The former top prospect looked promising in his MLB debut last month, but served up homers in each of his next two outings.
As for Weems, he put himself on the radar last summer with an encouraging rookie performance, but wasn’t able to recapture the magic in limited opportunities this year. We’ll find out his next step in the coming week, which might be a trade, or waiver claim, or staying in Vegas as a non-roster player, among other possibilities.
Here’s the updated roster, with the injury report below.
| Pitchers | Hitters |
|
Starters Chris Bassitt (R) Sean Manaea (L) Frankie Montas (R) Cole Irvin (L) James Kaprielian (R) 60-IL: Mike Fiers (R) Relievers Lou Trivino (R) Jake Diekman (L) Yusmeiro Petit (R) Sergio Romo (R) Burch Smith (R) J.B. Wendelken (R) Deolis Guerra (R) Sam Moll (L) 60-IL: Trevor Rosenthal (R) |
Catchers Sean Murphy (R) Aramis Garcia (R) Infielders 1B: Matt Olson (L) 2B: Jed Lowrie (S) SS: Elvis Andrus (R) 3B: Matt Chapman (R) UT: Tony Kemp (L) DH: Mitch Moreland (L) DH: Frank Schwindel (R) Outfielders Ramon Laureano (R) Chad Pinder (R) Seth Brown (L) Skye Bolt (S) IL: Mark Canha (R) IL: Stephen Piscotty (R) |
Injury report, including progress for the two outfielders:
- RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (no structural damage; shut down for July)
- RHP Trevor Rosenthal, 60-day IL, thoracic outlet surgery (begin throwing late-June?)
- OF Mark Canha, 10-day IL, hip (no structural damage; return after All-Star break?)
- OF Stephen Piscotty, 10-day IL, wrist (begins minor league rehab 7/3)
