Every year, as teams head into spring training, they begin a process whereby they use the temporary boost in roster size to see if they can catch lightning in a bottle with untested, unsigned, unheralded free agents. Usually these guys are veterans who are looking for one last chance at an MLB season, or former prospects who have been injured and cut elsewhere, and even guys who have obvious talent but for whatever reason, have just flat out failed with other teams.
The A’s are short on veterans – as is their norm, but they’ve picked up some interesting guys for this year’s spring training last shot extravaganza:
Erubiel Durazo – 1B/DH – A former Athletics first baseman who was cut after his recovery from injury was, to say the least, slow. Durazo was at one time the franchise player of the team, so the fact that he’s back, even if only with a spring training invite, is no small deal. Here’s hoping he’s learned how to field during his time away, because his form with the bat in the Mexican winter leagues has been filthy – and i’m talking three-home run game filthy.
Derek Thompson – RP – A 26-year-old pitcher, Thompson was a 1999 1st rounder for the Indians who the Dodgers picked up (via the Cubs) in the 2002 Rule 5 draft. When he missed the following season through injury, the Dodgers cut him, then picked him up again for spring training a few months later, with DT debuting for LA a year later after a somewhat meteoric rise from AA ball. Coming off Tommy John surgery, so there’s a chance he could bounce back strongly… and also a chance he’ll just be filling a space. Comes from the same town as A’s prospect Jeff Baisley.
Erasmo Ramirez – RP – 1998 11th round draftee for the Giants who looked a hot prospect but has bounced around between AAA and the majors for several seasons with Texas, allocating him the dubious distinction of being a AAAA player. If anyone tells you this scrub is the next big thing, you might want to point out to them that getting the ball past the bat is helpful in winning ballgames, because this guy won’t get you more than a K every two innings. Will surprise if he sticks.
JJ Furmaniak – IF – 2000 22nd rounder for the Padres, Furmaniak hit .343 in his first year of pro ball, then .220 the year following. That’s been his story ever since, lighting it up with 31 homers in a season and a half of AAA, leading to a trade to the Pirates, where he promptly fell off the table, hitting only 8 dingers over the subsequent 18 months, and ending the 2006 AAA season with an average of just .213 – could this be another bounce back year? He plays infield. Kinda like Mark Kiger, the kid the A’s cut just weeks after his MLB debut in the ALCS series.
Vince Faison – OF – Wasn’t this guy on The Sopranos? 1999 Padres 1st round draftee who hit for .300+ in his debut season in Arizona rookie league, but never hit better than .253 over the four following seasons (and more often than not barely stayed above the Mendoza Line). Padres sent him to the Mariners where he began to find his stroke, hitting .267 in a short AAA run before the M’s cut their losses. Faison then dove into the indie leagues, hitting .303 with 15 dingers in a season with the Jackson Senators of the Central League, leading the Yankees to pick him up and send him down to AA ball, where he began to show power (14 homers) and contact (.260 avg). The Yankees didn’t see enough to keep him, so will the A’s be his last shot?
10 users commented in " Oakland loads up with free agent spring training invitees "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHollywood Oz, Thanks for the info on the non-roster invitees. Have tried to register to log onto your site numberous times before and failed. So one more attempt for this year.
Really? Can you give me some info on what happened during the process when it failed? Seems to be working fine for some people, especially spammers.. :(
The information just did not take when I tried it at least half a dozen times over the past 9 to 12 months; it would come back wanting me to do such again or at least offering the opportunity again. So it was like it had a block against me, maybe because I was not looking to be a spanner. But I am a fan of yours and like your site as well as the info you post to other sites.
Did you see that Blee is essentially closing up shop on his site?
If you tried back on the old blog, the reason you had to re-register was that I couldn’t import the old user base. And when I was with Blogger prior to that, same deal.
If you can get it to take this time, you should be fine, because this site is going nowhere for time eternal.
I did notice Blee was closing his blog (The Future of A’s Baseball, for those that aren’t clued in) – I kind of saw it coming, due to his slowdown in posting over the last couple of months, but it’s a shame. I’d be happy for him to post here – in fact, if he wanted to take his blog to the next level, I’d even be happy to host it for him, get him his own domain, and set him up with some ads so he could make some cash off the thing.
Oh well, maybe he’ll return one day.
Did the retry work, George?
This is a test… since it worked previously, I suspect it will still work. Thanks Hollywood Oz… You are my favorite writer in that you are the best covering all the minor league events of the A’s. Course Melissa Lockhart is also great. Used to enjoy Brian Durack until he stopped using his site.
Purging my rosters of folks who did not appear on a roster this past season, I see that Ryan Ruiz, Brandon Culp, Jared Trout, and Tomas Cabaniel all played in indy leagues last year and thus no longer in A’s organization. Do you have any info on following who I still show unassigned to a roster? Jeff Muessig was with A’s for awhile, Roberto Arias C, Derek Tharpe P, Luis Torres P, Joshua Kay P, Jared McAuliff P, Chris Dunway P, and Stephen Bryant P. (others did not appear in 2006)
Particularly surprising to see Ryan Ruiz not retained. Brandon Culp was supposedly purchased but never again mentioned by A’s.
It is the dull season so time to purge players who are no longer in A’s system.
Heya George,
Careful on the Ruiz front – I suspect there’s actually two Ryan Ruiz’s since the guy in the indies is an outfielder, and is baseballcube is right, the indie ruiz has been playing in them since he was a teenager. Looks like two players being assumed to be one, to me.
Bryant and Tharpe are a mystery – I thought Tharpe was passable in 2005. Lost a few games, but his ERA was fair. Then again, he’s a Mormon and he was old for the level, so I suspect he had other things in his life that were more important than baseball, amd might have walked away. I know he left the 2004 season early to go on a mission and get married.
Bryant was supposed to come to Vancouver in 2006, which was odd because his 2005 was a decent one. It was reported to the press he was coming (along with Omura), but neither showed up. Omura ended up in KC, but Bryant was nowhere. I know he came to the A’s already married with a kid, so he might have chosen to finish school or get a job that could support his family – guesswork on my part, but it makes sense.
Roberto Arias is a Dominican NDFA catcher – those guys tend to get a pretty short window of opportunity to show they can take in the US minors before they get cut. See Ramirez, Juan.
Don’t know about the other guys. Scout.com is usually good for that info.
Thanks for the comments. Knew I had read nothing on some of these guys. Injuries to McAuliff had him down but did not know whether or not he had been released; could be same on some of others. Mucho thanks
Bryant was at spring training last year and was feeling great to start but ended up hurting his shoulder and having season-ending surgery on it. He is back and in shape although the A’s are going to bring him in to extended-spring training just to make sure he’s healed from his surgery and it is ready.
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