MLB podcast with Stephen Ruderman: Covid 19 hits Reds Greene out for 7 days; Phils add Suarez and Pache to expanded roster; plus more news

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene works against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning Wed Aug 30, 2023 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Greene was placed on the seven day Covid 19 list by the Reds on Fri Sep 1, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the MLB podcast with Stephen Ruderman:

#1 Covid 19 has hit Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene and he has been placed on the seven day Covid list with two other Reds pitchers Ben Lively and Fernando Cruz. Covid 19 cases have been on the rise and it was recommended that vaccines should be taken. The Reds were going good how does loosing Greene, Lively and Cruz impact the Reds.

#2 Stephen, Friday was the first day of the MLB expanded roster as the Philadelphia Phillies added left handed pitcher Ranger Suarez and outfielder Cristan Pache. Suarez had been out 15 days with a right hamstring strain and Pache had been out on the ten day IL with right elbow irritation. The Phils are in the hunt and have to be happy to get Suarez and Pache back on the active roster.

#3 The Los Angeles Angels a club that you will be seeing a little bit later tonight have called up six players to fill open positions infielder Kyren Paris, left hand pitcher Kolton Ingram, right hand pitchers Jimmy Herget, Gerardo Reyes, and Andrew Wantz, and infielder Michael Stefanic. The Angels replaced six players who were place on waivers.

#4 The Cleveland Guardians wasted no time they grabbed three of the waived players from the Angels, left handers Lucas Giolito and Matt Moore, and Rey Lopez. The Cincinnati Reds took outfielder Hunter Renfroe and pitcher Dominic Leone was picked up by the Seattle Mariners.

#5 MLB has opted to keep the pitch clock rules for the 2023 post season meaning the pitcher and the batter will be obligated to abide by the same time frame as they did during the 2023 regular season. MLB will not use the ghost runner for the post season.

Join Stephen Ruderman for the MLB podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Olson the latest to leave A’s in early season fire sale; Oakland picks up four players from Braves

Former A’s slugger Matt Olson is seen here getting into the swing of things against catcher Tom Murphy (left) and the Seattle Mariners on Sep 21, 2022 at the Oakland Coliseum. Olson was dealt to the Atlanta Braves on Mon Mar 14, 2022 in five player deal (AP photo file)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–Some are calling it an early fire sale the Oakland A’s might call it a rebuild to going young and getting some value for their former veteran players such as former A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt who left Oakland for the New York Mets.

Household names are sliding off the A’s roster and the latest pitcher Matt Olson is going back to his native hometown Atlanta. The former first baseman is going to the Braves in exchange for two right handed pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes, catcher Shea Langeliers and outfielder Cristian Pache.

As the A’s get four players for Olson, Olson was selected to the American All Star team in 2021 and hit .271, 39 home runs, 111 RBIs, in 156 games. Olson offensively was part of the heart and soul of the A’s line up during his days under former A’s manager Bob Melvin.

Olson led with on base percentage .371, 101 runs, 153 hits, 35 doubles, RBIs, home runs and walks with 88, 74 base hits, and four stolen bases. While it might not make sense to the average A’s fan that players like Bassitt and Olson have gone to greener pastures of money the A’s have been here time and time again.

This is a rebuild on the part of A’s team vice president and minority owner Billy Beane. He’s back to Money Ball again building from scratch to see if he can get enough veteran and young talent to see if an unpredicted A’s team can break the glass ceiling again and surprise critics and oddsmakers by making the post season. Noted that post season will take awhile but Beane based on his past experience could have one of those unknowns in the works again.

With Cusick, Estes, Langeliers (a number draft choice for the Braves) and Pache you could be assured that Beane has done his scouting report homework and is either counting or assured that this foursome will somehow develop into what his fire sale players were in the past.

It won’t happen over night it took time for Olson, Bassitt, Marcus Seimen, and the soon to be delivered Matt Chapman were on rebuild status but in a season or two maybe the third season you might see one of the foursome of Cusick, Estes, Langeliers, or Pache make some headway.

Jerry Feitelberg is an Oakland A’s beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com