Conner Capel, Cody Thomas & Spencer Watkins also outrighted off the 40-man
One of the Athletics’ promising young pitchers saw his season end today as Freddy Tarnok underwent the knife:
A’s announce Freddy Tarnok underwent successful surgery on his right hip with Dr. William Workman today in San Ramon. He’ll miss the rest of the season. Expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) August 30, 2023
Tarnok was initially placed on the IL on August 14th with a strained calf muscle. We hadn’t heard anything about a hip problem until today so it comes as a slight surprise. With the season almost over there was no need to wait around for this procedure and the right-hander looks like he’ll be ready for spring training. He’ll be battling for a rotation spot after he got his feet wet in the big leagues this year. Tarnok made it into 5 games (1 start) and pitched to a 4.91 ERA over 14 2⁄3 innings.
As for the other roster moves, Conner Capel, Cody Thomas, and Spenser Watkins all cleared waivers and are now off the 40-man roster:
A’s also announce OFs Conner Capel and Cody Thomas and RHP Spenser Watkins cleared waivers and have been outrighted to Triple-A.
This opens up three spots on the 40-man roster.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) August 30, 2023
They’re still in the organization but will probably not be getting another call up this year. Capel started the year on the major-league roster and was even in the season-opening lineup in the 2-hole but was sent down just a month into the season. Another quick call up that lasted less that two weeks and Capel has been in Vegas since.
Thomas got his shot in early July and was doing all right in his second taste of the big leagues. Unfortunately he started striking out much more and the club sent him back down a couple of weeks ago.
Reliever Spencer Watkins is the newest of the bunch to Oakland after the club claimed him off waivers three weeks ago from the Baltimore Orioles. He only made one appearance for the club when he made a spot start against the St. Louis Cardinals. It did not go well as he pitched 4 1⁄3 innings while giving up 5 earned runs, and he was sent down to Triple-A immediately afterwards.
On the whole, three spots are now open on the 40-man roster and the club didn’t make these moves for no reason. It stands to reason that the club is looking to add someone to the roster in the next couple days when rosters expand to 28, with the biggest candidate being infielder Darell Hernaiz. Another candidate is pitcher Joey Estes, who has a 4.12 ERA in 4 starts for Vegas since being promoted from Double-A. Or we may finally be seeing former first-round pick Logan Davidson. All we know is that we should be expecting some promotions within the next couple days.