A’s Do The (Roster) Shuffle

Before their 5-3 win over the Angels on Tuesday, the A’s announced several roster moves in the wake of finally naming Tyson Ross their No.5 starter. Due to Ross’ promotion, outfielder Collin Cowgill and right-handed reliever Andrew Carignan were both sent down to Triple-A Sacramento. Those moves are not entirely surprising, as the Athletics were figured to jumble their roster around in preparation for the arrival of Ross.

Cowgill, an outfielder received in the trade that sent Trevor Cahill to the Diamondbacks this past winter, posted a .429 OPS in three games with the A’s. He went hitless, though, over seven plate appearances. In 36 games with the Diamondbacks last year, Cowgill posted a .239/.300/.304 slash line with a home run and 9 RBIs. Cowgill still remains in the mix for rejoining Oakland’s outfield, as the team always has its run with health issues.

However, the A’s currently boast a pretty healthy and abundant source of outfielders this year. Even without Cowgill on the roster, the A’s currently have five, yes five outfielders on the roster.

Joining Cowgill in Sacramento is right-handed reliever Andrew Carignan, who struggled a bit in his short time with the A’s this year. In five appearances this year for Oakland, Carignan went 1-1 with a 6.23 ERA over 4.1 innings of work. Replacing Carignan in the ‘pen will be Neil Wagner.

Wagner, who posted a 5.06 ERA in three relief appearances with the River Cats before being called-up on Tuesday, may add a nice source of strikeouts for the A’s bullpen. In 5.1 innings of work with the River Cats this year, Wagner recorded 8 strikeouts. Last year, Wagner posted a 10.55 K/9 rate in Triple-A and a 12.78 K/9 rate in Double-A Midland.

One of the few surprising players still on the roster is 1B/DH Kila Ka’aihue. My prediction that he’d open with the club is looking more and more prophetic, but I must admit, I didn’t expect Ka’aihue to still be with the A’s once a fifth starter was announced. Many people around the league expected Ka’aihue to be DFA’d on Tuesday, but he’s still wearing the green-and-gold colors we all love so much.

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