The A's announced a flurry of roster moves on Saturday afternoon, including the activations of Dany Jiménez and Esteury Ruiz from the IL, and the optioning of reliever Tayler Scott to Triple-A. The biggest news was that the team also DFA'd Ramón Laureano for assignment to make room for the returning Ruiz.
Laureano, 29, has struggled with injuries the last couple of seasons, and also served an 80-game suspension after testing positive for an anabolic steroid in 2021. Per Kotsay, Ramón took that suspension really hard and it also took him a long time to feel like he was accepted again.
This all coming after he burst onto the scene for Oakland in 2019, batting .288 with a .340 on-base percentage and 24 homers in 123 games.
He'll catch on with a team somewhere because he's capable of making plays like this.
A's manager Mark Kotsay was asked his favorite memory of watching Ramón play pre-game. The skipper smiled. "Lots of favorite memories. A player that just played the game with his hair on fire, is passionate. You don't want Ramón to control his emotions, but at times you had to reel [his] emotions in a little bit."
As for the favorite memory, it's probably the first thing most A's fans think of when they reflect on Laureano's time with the team.
"My favorite memory is just him beelining for the whole Houston dugout. He didn't care. He was going in, and he was gonna fight 26 guys--plus the staff--and he went after the staff. He was gonna take them all on."
As Kotsay talked about his favorite memory, he was beaming. You could really see that he loved that memory.
Injury Updates: Ryan Noda was about to take live batting practice, and is nearing a rehab stint. The next course of action will be determined after Tuesday.
Mason Miller threw a 25-pitch bullpen today and felt great. "His velo was actually above where it probably needs to be in a bullpen session." Mason will throw on Tuesday, and it will be Noda's first opportunity to face some pitching.
Miller has thrown four bullpen sessions to date, has thrown all of his pitches, and they are all feeling good. He said, "The goal is to be back this year."
Carlos Pérez is finishing up baseball activity this weekend and will fly to Las Vegas on Monday to begin his rehab with the club.
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