A’s roster moves: Brooks and Harris recalled, Wood to IL
Brady Basso heading back to Vegas
The Athletics announced a series of roster moves on Wednesday just a few hours before their game against the Astros:
The Oakland A’s selected RHP Aaron Brooks and recalled LHP Hogan Harris from Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s also placed LHP Alex Wood on the 15-day injured list retroactive to May 13 with left rotator cuff tendonitis and optioned LHP Brady Basso to Las Vegas. To clear a spot on…
— Oakland A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) May 15, 2024
So Wood finally goes on the IL after trying to pitch through the shoulder injury. Rotator cuff tendinitis shouldn’t be a season-ending injury for the veteran Wood but it’ll be some time before we see Oakland’s Opening Day starter back on the mound for the club.
It’s been a rough season for Wood up to this point. In nine starts Wood has a 5.26 ERA over 39 1⁄3 innings with just 33 K’s. Not what the club was hoping for when they gave Wood $8.5MM, but hopefully Wood can get over this shoulder injury and get his season on track when he returns. This team needs all the starting help they can get.
Taking his spot on the roster is right-hander Aaron Brooks, who is set for the start tonight against the Houston Astros. This will be Brooks’ third stint with the Athletics. Originally acquired as part of the return for Ben Zobrist (alongside Sean Manaea), Brooks made nine starts for the 2015 club before being traded just before the 2016 season.
He would bounce around the minor leagues before getting back to the big leagues again with the A’s, this time in 2018 for three relief appearances. He began the 2019 season with the team but was DFA’d and claimed by the Baltimore Orioles, where he made 12 starts to lackluster results. It would be a couple of years before Brooks made it back to The Show but he did, making five relief appearances for the St. Louis Cardinals last year, again to less than stellar results.
This year Brooks has made eight starts for the Aviators, tossing 43 1⁄3 innings while sporting a 4.57 ERA in the hitter-friendly PCL. He’ll be hoping to have similar results for the Athletics as he’s yet to find any success in the big leagues. With the state of the starting rotation a quality outing today could earn him another start.
Brooks isn’t the only one joining the club today. Left-hander Hogan Harris is rejoining the team after being optioned just last week. He stepped up for the team when Ross Stripling had a short start, pitching 5 1⁄3 innings in relief of the veteran. It was a quality outing but it also meant Harris would be unavailable for a few days so the team optioned him. He now returns to the club and could again be used for a long-relief appearance if needed.
Harris will be taking the roster spot of rookie left-hander Brady Basso. Basso was only just called up for the first time in his career but he didn’t make an appearance while with the club. He now heads back to Vegas and will wait for another chance. Like Harris, we’ll likely see him again sooner than later.
With all these moves the team needed a 40-man roster spot. The team decided to transfer young shortstop Darell Hernaiz to the 60-day IL. Hernaiz wasn’t going to be rejoining the club anytime soon after sustaining a severe sprained left ankle so this is really just a formality. At least he avoided surgery.