A's Make 40-Man Changes

The Oakland A's announced today that Austin Pruitt, Zach Neal, Yacksel Ríos, and Richard Lovelady had cleared waivers and have been outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas. 

The A's acquired both Ríos and Lovelady in trades with Atlanta over the course of the season, and both finished the year on the IL. Rios made into just three games with Oakland before being shut down due to Raynaud's Syndrome, finishing with a 37.80 ERA in 1 ^2/3 innings. 

Lovelady last pitched in early July and was shut down in August due to a left forearm strain, finishing the season with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP across 23 ^1/3 innings. The lefty was claimed on April 13 and called up on the 15^th, the night after Oakland pitching walked 17 Mets. 

Neal gobbled up 27 innings for the A's after last appearing in the big leagues in 2018 with the Dodgers. He finished with a 6.67 ERA. 

Pruitt also pitched for the A's in 2022 and elected free agency following the season before re-signing with Oakland as a minor league free agent in January. The 34-year-old righty finished the year with a 2.98 ERA. Out of the bullpen (non-opener), he held a 1.86 ERA in 38 2/3 innings while allowing eight runs in 9 2/3 innings in six turns as an opener. The only A's reliever with better results than Pruitt was Sean Newcomb, who tossed eight innings with the club and held a 1.13 ERA. If you include the opener outings, Joe Boyle (1.69 ERA in three starts) and Zach Jackson (2.50 ERA in 19 games) are the only two players to have better results than Pruitt on the bump for the A's.

Pruitt, Neal, and Ríos all have the option to elect free agency rather than accepting the assignment to Las Vegas since they have been outrighted previously in their careers. Pruitt and Ríos are both arbitration eligible, making them non-tender candidates later in the off-season.

With five players still on the 60-day IL, there are likely more roster moves coming in the near future as the team needs to clear room on the 40-man roster for the returns of Zach Jackson, James Kaprielian, Newcomb, Drew Rucinski, and Freddy Tarnok. Rucinski's contract involves a $5 million team option, which is unlikely to be picked up. 

Minor leaguer Spenser Watkins also elected free agency. He was claimed off waivers by Oakland away from the Houston Astros back in August and held a 6.93 ERA across 24 ^2/3 innings with the Aviators.