A’s Release Michael Kelly

The Athletics released reliever Michael Kelly over the weekend, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He was designated for assignment a week earlier when the A’s needed a 40-man roster spot to promote rookie infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer.

Kelly had just landed on the Triple-A injured list at the time of his DFA. That made a release basically inevitable once the A’s designated him for assignment. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers and there wasn’t going to be any trade interest. The A’s can look to bring him back on a minor league contract, but the 33-year-old righty is free to explore other opportunities.

This was Kelly’s third season in the A’s organization. He had decent numbers over his first two years after being claimed off waivers from the Guardians during the 2023-24 offseason. Kelly combined for a 2.92 earned run average in 70 appearances between 2024-25. However, he served a one-year suspension in between after MLB determined that he’d placed bets on Major League Baseball games while he was in Triple-A back in 2021.

Kelly has spent most of this season on optional assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas. He gave up nine runs on 12 hits and six walks in five big league innings. Kelly had much results in the minors, pitching to a 3.20 ERA while fanning 27% of opponents across 25 1/3 frames for the Aviators.