A’s Release José Suarez

The Athletics released left-hander José Suarez, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He was designated for assignment last week when the A’s selected Geoff Hartlieb.

Suarez landed in West Sacramento in mid-May, as the A’s acquired him in a cash trade with Seattle. The 28-year-old has spent the year in low-leverage relief. Suarez had decent numbers for a few months but had a tough finish to his A’s tenure. He missed a couple weeks in August with a right hip strain and was tattooed for 15 runs across 6 1/3 innings in his final nine appearances in green and gold.

It has been a few seasons since Suarez was a serviceable back-end starter with the Angels. He has mostly pitched in long relief over the last few years, carrying a 5.35 ERA in 133 MLB frames since the start of 2024. Suarez has pitched for four clubs in that time.

The Venezuelan-born lefty crossed the five-year service threshold this summer. That gave him the right to refuse any minor league assignments while retaining the rest of his $900K arbitration salary. That made a release inevitable after last week’s DFA. The minor league season is coming to a close, so Suarez may want to wait until the offseason before signing anywhere else. He figures to be limited to minor league or overseas offers this winter.