A’s make first round of spring cuts

We’re only three games into the 2022 Cactus League, but in this abbreviated version of spring training that means it’s already time to make some roster cuts.

The Oakland A’s entered the spring with quite a few players in their MLB camp. They have 38 on their 40-man roster, plus they invited another 26 non-roster players to try out. On Sunday, 15 of those names were either optioned to the minors or reassigned to minor league camp.

Of course, this doesn’t mean a whole lot. None of these players were cut from the organization, just from the MLB locker room. And any of them could still show up in Cactus League games the rest of the month. But at the very least, they’re out of the picture for now in terms of the Opening Day roster.

Eight players from the 40-man roster were optioned to various levels of the minors:

• LHP Adam Kolarek to Triple-A
• IF Vimael Machín to Triple-A
• OF Luis Barrera to Triple-A
• OF Cody Thomas to Triple-A
• RHP Wandisson Charles to Double-A
• C Jonah Bride to Double-A
• IF Jordan Díaz to Double-A
• RHP Jorge Juan to High-A

Seeing Kolarek and Machin go down this soon might be notable, since they both played in Oakland last year and could be part of positional battles this spring, but neither was a front-runner and this doesn’t even necessarily preclude them from getting a last-minute nod if ultimately needed. Barrera made his MLB debut last summer but still has some work ahead of him to rise up the depth chart.

Thomas is injured and will miss the spring, while the names below him on the list (Charles, Bride, Diaz, Juan) are all prospects who were added to the roster prematurely for Rule 5 draft protection so they were never going to break camp with the MLB club this spring. That said, it’s interesting to see the team list Bride as a catcher, as the utilityman has recently increased his profile at that position.

As for non-roster invitees, seven were reassigned to the minors:

• RHP Parker Dunshee
• RHP Brian Howard
• RHP Colin Peluse
• RHP Trey Supak
• C Kyle McCann
• IF Logan Davidson
• OF Mickey McDonald

If you follow the A’s farm then these names will be familiar to you, including the 2019 1st-round pick (Davidson) and several other members of past Community Prospect Lists. They aren’t the top prospects in the organization, but they’re interesting sleepers who will head to the upper-minors to keep honing their crafts. McDonald in particular is 3-for-4 so far in the Cactus League this spring.

Supak is a slightly different story, as the only member of that list who wasn’t drafted by the A’s. He was going to try out here last spring as a minor league free agent but ended up having Tommy John surgery in April and resumed throwing in August, so a normal timetable would still have him working on the final stages of his recovery.

Here’s the full spring roster. Players in —italics are non-roster invitees, and players in strikethrough have been cut from spring camp. There are 49 players remaining, including 30 from the 40-man roster, plus 19 NRIs. Outfielder Ramon Laureano is absent because he’s on the Restricted List during his ongoing suspension.