The Athletics announced today that they have acquired left-hander from the Red Sox. The latter club, who designated the lefty for a signment a few days ago, receive cash considerations. The As also announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder . First baseman has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hip flexor. Left-hander and right-hander have been designated for a signment to open 40-man spots for Newcomb and Avans. In terms of the active roster, Avans takes the spot of Kurtz, while the club will need to open a spot for Newcomb once he reports to the team. Newcomb, 32 next month, returns to the As. He spent parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Oakland, though knee problems limited his workload. He only to sed 25 innings for the As over those two seasons, spending a lot of time on the IL due to i sues in both knees. He was released in July of 2024 and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox coming into 2025. This year has actually been going fairly well for the lefty. He made Bostons Opening Day roster and went on to to s 41 innings in a swing role, posting a 3.95 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate this year have all been fairly close to league average. Unfortunately, he got squeezed off the roster, perhaps due to circumstances beyond his control. The Sox and Orioles were rained out on Thursday. Then on Friday, started only lasted four innings. The club had to use five relievers to get through the rest of that game, though one of them was position player . For Saturdays double-header, started the first game and also only lasted Jacob Stallings Jersey four innings. Six relievers, including Newcomb, picked up the rest of the slack in a game that eventually went to ten innings. With the staff fairly taxed, Newcomb was designated for a signment, making room for a fresh arm for the second game of the doubleheader. For the As, theyve been on a rough slide lately, going 3-15 in their last 18 games. Most of their pitchers have very little experience and are still getting acclimated to the big leagues. Newcomb will give them an experienced lefty arm who could take on various roles, perhaps as a long reliever or spot starter. On the position player side of things, its unclear how long Kurtz will be out of action. He had been serving as the clubs regular first baseman lately. Prior to his promotion, had that spot, but he moved to left field so that both could be in the lineup. Now that Kurtz is away, its po sible Soderstrom could move back to first, or perhaps the As will keep him in left so he can continue getting accustomed to playing the outfield. started at first yesterday. Avans gets his first big league call just before his 29th birthday, which is next month. A 33rd-round pick of the Dodgers back in 2018, he first played at the Triple-A level in 2021. At the end of the 2024 season, he still hadnt been selected to the 40-man roster and was able to elect minor league free agency, which led him to sign with the As. His offensive production has generally been close to average, in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. From 2021 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 2,004 times at the Triple-A level. He had a 13% walk rate, 23.8% strikeout rate, .270/.369/.404 line and 101 wRC+. This year, he has had better results, thanks to big drop in punchouts. Hes still walking at a 13.5% clip but has only struck out in 14% of his 222 plate appearances this year. Thats helped him produce a .328/.414/.444 line and 117 wRC+. Avans is capable of playing all three outfield spots and is good for about 20 to 40 steals per year. That means he could be a serviceable depth outfielder even without elite offensive production, supporting Soderstrom, and . To add Newcomb and Avans, the As are risking losing two depth arms. Krook, 30, signed a minor league deal with the As in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster just over a week ago, making three appearances before getting optioned back down to the minors. He now has 8 1/3 innings of major league experience, having also pitched for the 2023 Yankees and 2024 Orioles. Hes had interesting minor league numbers since moving to the bullpen. Previously a starter, hes been working in relief for the past two-plus years. Since the start of 2023, he has thrown 91 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.85 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate, though his 16.7% walk rate has been awfully high. For what its worth, hes been getting better in that department. He had an 18.4% walk rate in the minors in 2023 but dropped that to 16.7% last year and 12.7% this year. Cusick, 25, still hasnt made his major league debut. Atlanta selected him with the 24th overall pick in 2021 but flipped him to the As as part of the deal in . The As added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2024 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He hasnt been able to do much with his minor league opportunities. He had logged 178 1/3 innings on the farm from 2023 to the present with an ERA of 5.00. His 21.3% strikeout rate is close to par but he has walked 15.1% of batters faced. Hes been working exclusively in relief this year with awful returns so far. He has a 6.75 ERA, 16.4% strikeout rate and 19.4% walk rate through 14 2/3 innings. Both Krook and Cusick now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver proce s takes 48 hours, so the As could take as long as five days to discu s trades with other clubs. Cusick is clearly a project at this point but comes with past prospect pedigree, while Krooks minor league numbers have been somewhat intriguing of late. Both players can still be optioned and could therefore be stashed in the minors by any acquiring club. 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