A's Place O'Flaherty on DL; Designate Ross for Assignment
Alvarez, Burns Recalled from Nashville; Hassan Claimed, Optioned to Nashville
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland A's have placed left-handed pitcher Eric O'Flaherty on the 15-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain and designated outfielder Cody Ross for assignment, the team announced today. To fill their roster spots, the A's have recalled right-handed pitcher R.J. Alvarez and outfielder Billy Burns from Triple-A Nashville. The A's have also claimed outfielder Alex Hassan off waivers from the Texas Rangers and optioned him to Nashville.
O'Flaherty was 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in eight relief appearances with the A's this season. The two losses are tied for the most among American League relievers. This is his fourth career stint on the DL.
Ross was batting .095 with no home runs and three RBI in eight games with the A's. Ross was signed by the A's as a free agent on April 8 after being released by Arizona on April 4. He is a .262 career hitter with 132 home runs and 508 RBI in 1072 games in 12 seasons with Detroit (2003), the Dodgers (2005-06), Cincinnati (2006), Florida (2006-10), San Francisco (2010-11), Boston (2012), Arizona (2013-14) and Oakland (2015).
Alvarez will be making his second stint with Oakland. He was on the A's Opening Day roster and allowed nine runs in six relief appearances for a 12.00 ERA before he was optioned to Nashville on April 22. Seven of those runs came in one inning on April 21. Alvarez was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in one relief appearance for the Sounds.
Burns will also be making his second stint with the A's. He was on the A's Opening Day roster but did not appear in the A's first two games before he was optioned to Nashville on April 8. Burns was batting .315 with no home runs and three RBI in 21 games with Nashville.
Hassan rejoins the A's organization for the third time. He was originally claimed off waivers from Boston November 17 but was claimed by Baltimore three days later. The A's claimed Hassan a second time February 27, designated him for assignment April 8 and he was claimed by Texas April 9. Hassan was designated for assignment by Texas April 29. He was batting .267 with no home runs and eight RBI in 16 games for Triple-A Round Rock.