The Bay Area knows something about signing rival’s players. The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks of the NFL are big time rivals and they constantly try to sign players who have departed the other team hoping to gain an edge. This has also become true of the A’s and the Texas Rangers. Last season the A’s and Rangers swapped Adam Rosales back and forth so many times I think there was a point where he forgot which city his car was in. While Rosales is still in Arlington going into this season the Rangers got another A’s player today announcing that they claimed utility infielder Andy Parrino from the A’s. To incorporate Parrino into the roster they also announced that they had placed Derek Holland on the 60-day DL.
Feb 22, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics infielder Andy Parrino poses for a portrait during photo day at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Parrino never got going in his time with the A’s, having his fate all but sealed when the team claimed utility infielder Jake Elmore from the Chicago White Sox late last week. In 34 at bats for the A’s last season Parrino had a triple slash of .118/.167/.176. His struggles were further compounded by his poor Triple-A Sacramento triple slash line of .210/.300/.302.
This move doesn’t mean much for the A’s other than the fact that they have one less option at Triple-A Sacramento for the infield. It also likely means that Elmore is the primary option if multiple infielders get hurt in Oakland (including Sogard, Callaspo, Punto, Lowrie, Moss, Barton or Freiman, Donaldson, etc.).
It will be interesting to see if injuries do creep up on the A’s early on in the season if they decide to turn to Elmore or up and coming prospect Addison Russell. Manager Bob Melvin mentioned last week that Russell was a long shot to make the roster out of Spring Training. It doesn’t seem like his production is what is holding him back, but they want him to get more “seasoning”. What that means to me is they want to control him for another year in arbitration likely meaning Elmore will now be the turn to option in case of an emergency with Parrino’s departure.