Oakland A's Outright Three Players

The A's needed to remove a left-hander from the bullpen and make room at catcher, but one of the players named may come as a surprise to some

Just a couple of days ago, we wrote about how the A's needed to make some room on the 40-man roster in order to add players that would need protecting from the Rule 5 Draft in December. Well, the team didn't waste any time, outrighting James Kaprielian, Sam Long, and Carlos Pérez. 

It appears as though the A's have 38 players on their 40-man, which includes the four players on the 60-day IL in Zach Jackson, Sean Newcomb, Drew Rucinski, and Freddy Tarnok. Rucinski has a $5 million team option for next season, which likely won't get picked up, leaving the A's roster at 37 and providing enough room for the players they absolutely have to protect in the next month.

Pérez has been a player mentioned a couple of times on this site as someone that would likely lose his 40-man spot and even potentially end up designated for assignment with Shea Langeliers as the A's everyday catcher, the arrival of top prospect Tyler Soderstrom, and Kyle McCann waiting in the wings. With three years of service time, Pérez can reject the outright assignment if he chooses, and elect free agency right away. 

After not reaching the Majors since 2018, Pérez made it back with Oakland, making the Opening Day roster and batting .226 with a .293 OBP, an 85 OPS+, and six home runs. 

Long was acquired from the San Francisco Giants for cash in late April and finished fourth on the team in bullpen innings with 45, racking up a 5.60 ERA with a 4.72 FIP. The 28-year-old left-hander is out of options heading into 2024, but he would need to be added back to the 40-man roster for that to come into play. He will qualify for minor league free agency after the World Series. 

The A's were carrying four lefties in the bullpen that are out of options, so the likelihood that one of them would be removed from the 40-man was high. 

Kaprielian was acquired in the Sonny Gray trade with the Yankees back in 2017. In 2021 he put up a 4.07 ERA in his first full season, and followed that up with a 4.23 in 2022. This past year started pretty rough for Kaprielian as he had a 12.15 ERA through three starts and was having trouble with his location, so the A's tried him in the bullpen before optioning him to Triple-A Las Vegas. When he returned, he was more like his old self and lowered his ERA to 6.34 before his season ended in June with a right shoulder strain. 

Kap, like Long, can elect minor league free agency five days after the conclusion of the World Series. If this is the end of the road for Kaprielian with the A's, he was a great person to interact with and the music he chose in the clubhouse was always on point. 

Here is my personal favorite that he chose, which is a song I had forgotten about but have on numerous playlists that don't get listened to enough these days.