A’s latest round of spring cuts sends five players to minors

Opening Day of the 2022 season is just four days away! The Oakland A’s roster is nearly set, and they took some more steps toward that final product with another round of cuts from spring training camp Monday morning.

All of the cuts were non-roster invitees, and they’ve been reassigned to the minors. They remain in the organization, and they’ll suit up for Triple-A Las Vegas this month, with the Aviators beginning their season tomorrow.

• C Christian Bethancourt
• 1B Dalton Kelly
• 1B Eric Thames
• IF Drew Jackson
• IF Christian Lopes

The A’s tried out a ton of new names this spring, including these five hitters on minor league contracts. They were all longshots to make the team, so it’s not a surprise to see them miss out for now, but they can settle in as Triple-A depth and look for opportunities later this year. Thames and Kelly present alternate plans for the thin first base ranks, while the others play useful up-the-middle positions.

Notably absent from the list is Billy McKinney, another non-roster invitee who is still in camp.

In terms of spring performance, Bethancourt lit up the Cactus League with an impressive performance, featuring more extra-base hits (3) than strikeouts (2). Lopes and Jackson also put up strong numbers, while Thames and Kelly didn’t hit as much but at least drew a few walks.

With these cuts, the Opening Day roster appears just about settled. The usual 26-man team is expanded to 28 for this April, and the A’s have 14 eligible position players remaining in camp, and 14 healthy pitchers. That adds up!

Oakland made one other administrative move Monday, outrighting infielder Vimael Machin to Triple-A. That means he’s been removed from the 40-man roster, but that he cleared waivers and remains in the organization. There are now 38 players on the 40-man, with two open spots, helping create space for several NRIs to be added to the roster before Friday.

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For the active spring roster, see the latest update below. Players in —italics are non-roster invitees, and players in strikethrough have been cut from major league camp. There are 32 players remaining in consideration, including 26 from the 40-man roster, plus 5 NRIs, plus outfielder Ramon Laureano who’s on the Restricted List during his ongoing suspension.

As things stand, the likely Opening Day roster should be all the names in the table below that aren’t crossed out, minus injured pitchers Guerra, Honeywell, and Kaprielian, and suspended outfielder Laureano.