Elephant Rumblings: A’s to add Lazaro Armenteros to 40-man roster

Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!

Prospects don’t always live up to expectations. Jurickson Profar was once baseball’s top prospect. Ten years later, he’s managed to stay in the big leagues, but has never been an All-Star. Profar has been good for 4.2 career fWAR in 961 MLB appearances.

Tyler Soderstrom graduated to MLB at the top of the A’s prospect list, but now we’re holding our breath, nervously hoping that Sodie pans out after putting up a 35 wRC+ in his debut season.

Jason Burke at SI.com recounted the fizzling out of the A’s once-prized international signee, Lazaro Armenteros. He was a top-5 prospect in 2019, but has persisted in striking out at such an alarming rate that he’s fallen of the organization’s top-30 list altogether.

However, Armenteros made it to AA in 2023 and lowered his K rate to 32.8%. That’s still an awful lot of strikeouts, but a substantial improvement over the 43.4% K rate the 24-year-old outfielder posted in High-A through 2022.

The A’s are apparently not ready to give up on Armenteros just yet. Per Martin Gallegos at MLB.com, Lazaro will be added to the A’s 40-man roster to protect him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Perhaps 2024 will be the year he figures things out and surges back up the prospect ratings.

A’s Coverage:

• A’s to Add Lazaro Armenteros to 40-Man Roster
• A’s Mark Kotsay Not Headed to New York Mets
• 3 Reasons Why MLB Owners Should Vote No on Oakland A’s Relocation to Las Vegas
• Forst raves about Gelof’s leadership, ceiling after debut A’s season
• A’s Mason Miller Receives High Honor From Pitching Ninja
• How A’s GM Forst believes Ruiz can improve upon electric rookie season

MLB News & Interest:

• Rookies Anthony Volpe, Brenton Doyle among 2023 MLB Gold Glove winners ($)
• Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel finally makes his ‘bucket list’ World Series call ($)
• Marlins To Hire Rays GM Peter Bendix As President Of Baseball Operations
• Reds Decline Club Options On Joey Votto, Curt Casali
• Dodgers Exercise Blake Treinen’s Club Option; Decline Daniel Hudson’s Option
• NPB’s Orix Buffaloes Approve Posting Of Yoshinobu Yamamoto
• Tigers Acquire Mark Canha From Brewers
• White Sox To Decline Club Option On Tim Anderson
• Giants To Exercise Club Option On Alex Cobb; Sean Manaea Opts Out Of Contract
• Braves Decline Mutual Option On Brad Hand
• Dodgers To Decline Club Option On Joe Kelly
• Marlins Decline Club Options On Johnny Cueto, Matt Barnes
• Diamondbacks Notes: Turner, Pitching, Hazen, Deadline
• Managerial/Coaching Notes: Showalter, Kotsay, Ramos, Hudgens
• Dick Drago Passes Away
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Miller gets high ninja praise.

A Neuse finish to the Japan Series.

There’s a new Pinder across the bay.

Manaea to test the market.