A’s add LHP Reymin Guduan to 40-man roster, DFA Skye Bolt

New reliever supplants old outfield prospect

The Oakland A’s finalized their 2021 Opening Day roster on Thursday, and doing so required a few moves on their 40-man roster.

The A’s selected the contracts of two non-roster invitees, second baseman Jed Lowrie and reliever Reymin Guduan, the team announced. There was already one spot open on the 40-man, so only one cut was needed to make room, and outfielder Skye Bolt was designated for assignment.

The Lowrie news was expected, as the club had already announced that he’d made the team and would be on the Opening Day squad. The 2018 All-Star is back for his third stint in Oakland, after missing the last two seasons to injury as technically a member of the New York Mets and then returning to the Bay Area over the winter on a minor league contract. He’s expected to spend time at both second base and DH, with his switch-hitting bat helping the lineup from both sides.

On the other hand, Guduan is more of a surprise. The bullpen appeared to be set with its eight members, and the left-hander was cut from spring camp and reassigned to the minors on Saturday. However, closer Trevor Rosenthal was placed on the injured list at the last moment, due to right shoulder inflammation, and so there was room for one more arm after all.

• Guduan, MLB career: 8.03 ERA, 24⅔ ip, 26 Ks, 16 BB, 5 HR, .427 xwOBA
• Guduan, 2021 spring: 0.96 ERA, 9⅓ ip, 5 Ks, 1 BB, 3 hits

Here’s our summary of Guduan’s profile, from late February:

Lefty who operates over 95 mph with movement and touched 100 in the past, plus a well-regarded slider, but zero control or command. In Astros system, navigated huge walk rates in Triple-A to find success, and saw two dozen MLB innings from 2017-19, where his strikeouts stayed high but he otherwise got annihilated. More details from Think Blue in Feb 2020.

The 25-year-old is out of minor league options, so the A’s won’t be able to send him back down to Triple-A now that he’s here. In order to be removed from the active 26-man roster, he would need to be DFA’d.

On the other side of the transaction ledger is Bolt, whose fate will be determined over the next week via either trade, waiver claim, release, or returning to the A’s minors as a non-roster prospect. The 27-year-old has been in the A’s system since 2015, and he briefly reached the majors in 2019, but the outfield depth chart has grown crowded around him and complicated his path back to Oakland. The clock finally ran out and he was squeezed off the list via DFA, like Dustin Fowler was in February.

Bolt narrowly missed our Community Prospect List Top 30 over the winter, finishing as an alternate in the No. 31 spot. He’d cracked the list in each of the previous five years.

Roster update

The updated 40-man roster, which is now full with 40 names. Players in —italics haven’t yet debuted in MLB, and those with asterisks** notably can’t be sent down to the minors because they’re either out of options or they’re Rule 5 draft picks.