A's Outright Six, Including Part of the Return From the Mason Miller Trade
· Yahoo Sports
The Athletics entered the offseason with a 40-man roster that held 46 players due to guys that finished the season on the 60-day IL being placed back on the roster for the winter.
The day after the World Series concluded, the A's trimmed six of those names from the list by outrighting right-handed pitchers Henry Baez, Joey Estes, and Geoff Hartlieb, along with catcher Brian Serven, infielder Michael Stefanic, and outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez.
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Baez was acquired as part of the return for Mason Miller and JP Sears at the 2025 trade deadline, but he hasn't found a lot of success since joining the A's system. He finished the 2025 campaign in Double-A, making three starts and holding a 5.84 ERA (3.94 FIP) in 12 ⅓ innings.
He began this season on the IL, and his season didn't begin until May 12. He'd post a 7.09 ERA (5.56 FIP) in Midland across 53 ⅓ innings before landing back on the IL on August 5 and missing the rest of the season. He's certainly a prospect with talent, but his 12.6% walk rate is a bit high, and even though he held a 31.7% chase rate, his strikeout rate was just 20.2%.
Estes, 25, began the year in the A's rotation in 2025, but has been a spot starter since that first week of last season. He finished the year in Triple-A Las Vegas with a 6.50 ERA (6.99 FIP). He's a fly-ball pitcher in a hitter's park in the Pacific Coast League and at Sutter Health Park, so finding spots for him to succeed has been difficult.
Hartlieb, 32, tossed 28 innings with the A's in 2026 after signing a minor-league free agent deal last winter. He held a 4.82 ERA (3.60 FIP) and actually finished with a better ERA at home (4.60) than on the road (5.11).
Serven, 31, served as the backup catcher for the A's when Shea Langeliers was out or unable to catch, which was most of the second half. He played in 29 games and hit .175 with a .224 OBP and a 55 wRC+ (100 is league average). Behind the dish he ended up using the ABS challenge system 18 times and was successful on 12 of those attempts.
With this move and Jonah Heim hitting free agency, the A's are likely to either lean on catching prospect Cole Conn to begin the season, or look elsewhere for a veteran backstop.
Michael Stefanic, 30, played mostly as a late-game replacement for the A's down the stretch, getting into 13 games in September and racking up a total of just 18 at-bats. He went 6-for-18 in that stretch and was commended for always being ready by his manager.
Rodríguez, 26, was an August waiver claim that finished the season in Triple-A Las Vegas. The outfielder makes hard contact, but he just doesn't get the ball in the air consistently, with a 0.6-degree launch angle in the minors this season. The team that figures out how to add some lift to his swing will have a pretty decent hitter on their hands.
Yandy Díaz had a similar issue when he was with the Cleveland Guardians, but the Tampa Bay Rays acquired him and he has become a staple of their lineup for the past eight seasons. The A's new president of baseball operations, Taylor Smith, was a member of the Rays' front office when Díaz was making those adjustments, so perhaps he'll have some insight that can help.
All in all, there weren't any surprising decisions made by the A's to clear roster space. With the acquisition of Nate Eaton from the Boston Red Sox, the A's still have one more roster spot to clear to get them back to 40.