The Oakland A’s finally made a trade, but not the one we’ve all been waiting for. Oakland dealt utilityman Adam Rosales to the Diamondbacks on Monday, the team announced. Arizona sends back minor league reliever Jeferson Mejia.
A’s fans have been closely following the MLB trade deadline news this month because star pitcher Sonny Gray is the top name on the market, but so far nothing has happened on that front and there are only a couple hours left. In the meantime, a smaller transaction went down. (Update: The Sonny trade later happened too.)
Rosales served as a veteran stopgap for the rebuilding A’s this year, in the role of backup infielder. The 34-year-old signed a small one-year contract to shore up the bench, and he wound up getting extra playing time when shortstop Marcus Semien got hurt. Rosie didn’t hit much, but he had his moments and brought his awesome positive attitude and did the job he was brought here to do.
Rosales, 2017: .234/.273/.346, 66 wRC+, 4 HR, 4.5% BB, 19.6% Ks, 0.0 WAR*
* average 0.1 fWAR and -0.1 bWAR
However, Semien is now back in the lineup, and the rookies are getting ready for roster spots. Most imminently, Chad Pinder is deep into a Triple-A rehab assignment as he comes back from a pulled hamstring. Rosales is a free agent after the season anyway, and if not for this trade then it was fair to wonder if he might have simply been DFA’d to make room for Pinder’s return. In other words, he can still help a contending team who needs MLB depth today, but he didn’t have much left to offer the last-place A’s.
In return, Oakland received the proverbial peppercorn in Mejia. He’s a 22-year-old right-handed relief prospect who hasn’t appeared above Single-A, and the most notable thing about him is that his listed height is 6’7. He’s walked 25 batters in 29 innings this year, which is all you need to know for now.
In summary, the A’s cleared out another of their stopgap veterans who was no longer needed. They did so via trade rather than DFA, but the difference is negligible. We love Rosie and it was cool to see him around this year when we didn’t have much else going on, and we wish him luck in October!
Question for comments: Can Arizona put a ring around the Rosie?
