The Athletics announced that six players have been sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, indicating that they recently cleared waivers. They are right-handers Henry Baez, Joey Estes and Geoff Hartlieb, catcher Brian Serven, infielder Michael Stefanic and outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez.
As the offseason begins, many teams are facing roster crunches. Free agency begins today for eligible players, which opens some breathing room. But the injured list goes away five days after the World Series ends. Coming into today, RosterResource projected the A’s for a count of 46 for the offseason. Then they acquired Nate Eaton in a trade with the Red Sox. These six moves get the club down to 41.
Estes, 25, is one of the more experienced players in the group. He gave the A’s 127 2/3 innings back in 2024 with a 5.01 earned run average. Since then, he has mostly been kept in the minors as a depth arm, only making five big league appearances over the past two seasons. His Triple-A ERA was north of 5.50 in both of those campaigns. He exhausted his final option season and will be out of options going forward. He has at least seven years in the minors, meaning he’ll qualify for minor league free agency in the coming days.
Hartlieb, 33 in December, started the 2026 season with the A’s on a minor league deal. He was selected to the roster three times. With the first two, since he is out of options, he was designated for assignment after a few appearances. After clearing waivers, he was added back to the roster when a fresh arm was needed. His third stint lasted until the end of the season but has again resulted in him clearing waivers. He can elect free agency since he has been outrighted previously in his career. He has a 7.16 ERA in 110 2/3 career innings.
Serven, 32 in May, was signed to a minor league deal last offseason. He was added to the roster in July and got into 29 games. His glovework was decent but he hit .175/.224/.375. That’s been the story of his career, as he has solid defensive grades but a .184/.241/.312 batting line. He has been outrighted in his career before and therefore has the right to elect free agency.
Stefanic, 31 in February, began the season with the club on a minor league deal. He got two stints on the roster and was put into 19 games. He put up a strong .346/.414/.385 line but in a tiny sample of 29 plate appearances and with an unsustainable .450 batting average on balls in play. For his career, he has a less inspiring .238/.323/.278 line. Since he has been outrighted before, he has the right to elect free agency.
Rodríguez, 27 in November, was claimed off waivers in August. He was kept in the minors and didn’t play for the A’s in the majors. He has huge minor league numbers but hasn’t been able to translate those numbers to the big leagues. From 2024 to 2026, he has a .295/.386/.495 line at Triple-A but just a .177/.288/.301 line in the majors for that same time frame.
He bounced around the league on waivers this year but exhausted his final option, which likely contributed to him clearing waivers this time. He has at least seven minor league seasons and will therefore qualify for minor league free agency.
Baez, 24, has no major league experience. A former Padres prospect, he got a roster spot in San Diego in November 2024, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. A few months later, he was traded to the A’s as part of the Mason Miller deal. His numbers have tanked since that swap. He was sitting on a 1.96 ERA at the Double-A level at the time of that trade. He made three starts last year after switching clubs, with a 5.84 in those. Here in 2026, he put up an ugly 7.09 ERA in 14 Double-A starts.
This is the first outright of his career and he doesn’t have three years of service time. It’s unclear if he would qualify for minor league free agency. He has only played in six minor league seasons, from 2021 to 2026. The Padres signed him as an amateur in 2019. J.J. Cooper of Baseball America has previously reported that the 2020 campaign would count as a season for deciding if a player had participated in seven minor league seasons, even though it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Baez’s transactions tracker at MLB.com, though he was signed in 2019, he wasn’t assigned to a club until 2021.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
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