Elephant Rumblings: A’s part ways with Ramon Laureano

The Oakland Athletics got a couple of key players back in Esteury Ruiz and Dany Jimenez Saturday, but also said goodbye to a longtime outfielder. Ramon Laureano was designated for assignment during the roster shuffle and his time with the A’s appears to be over.

General Manager David Forst spoke about the decision prior to Saturday’s game and said that it was time to move on.

“With Esty coming back, and looking at playing time and at-bats going forward — there’s never a good time for something like this,” A’s general manager David Forst said. “Ramón’s been here a long time, but this was the time to move on.”

Forst added that he would be “shocked” if another team doesn’t pick up Laureano for the stretch run.

“There’s still a ton of ability there,” Forst said. “I mean, Ramón has to stay healthy. He knows that. He’s not any good to himself and he can’t help a team if he doesn’t stay healthy. I hope this is an opportunity for him. Look, it’s an opportunity for us to get guys some at-bats and start looking ahead. I hope it’s an opportunity for him to get right and help somebody out.”

The first question that comes to mind is why didn’t Forst and the A’s move Laureano at the deadline? Perhaps the answer is that they tried and were unable to find any takers. Laureano still brings some defensive value, but has had a career-worst season at the plate hitting .213/.280/.364 with six homers and an 83 wRC+. He is striking out just under 30% of the time and has appeared in just 64 games due to injury.

Laureano has performed better against left-handed hitters posting a 123 wRC+ in 73 plate appearances. Perhaps a contender will find that useful along with his defensive ability to give him another shot down the stretch.

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