BALTIMORE- The Orioles on Tuesday announced that they have acquired OF JAI MILLER from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for cash considerations and have also traded INF BRANDON SNYDER to the Texas Rangers in exchange for cash considerations.

Miller, 26, batted .276/.368/.588 with 32 home runs, 88 RBI and 16 stolen bases without being caught in 110 games for Triple-A Sacramento in 2011. He also appeared in seven games for the A’s, going 3-for-12 with a home run.

Miller has batted .271/.351/.516 with 85 home runs and 253 RBI in 423 games at the Triple-A level in the last four seasons. His major league time also includes 20 games with the Kansas City Royals in 2010, when he batted .236/.300/.345. He made his major league debut in 2008 with the Marlins.

“Jai Miller has the power, speed, base stealing skills and good athletic ability to be an asset in our outfield as he competes for a spot on our ballclub this spring,” said Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations DAN DUQUETTE.

Snyder, 25, batted .261/.312/.406 in 114 games with Triple-A Norfolk in 2011. He also appeared in six games for the Orioles, going 3-for-13.

The Orioles 40-man roster remains full with these moves.

CHICAGO — Outfielder David DeJesus and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a $10 million, two-year contract.

The deal announced Wednesday includes a 2014 club option.

A.284 hitter in nine years with Kansas City and Oakland, DeJesus batted just .240 in his lone season with the Athletics.

Even so, he gives the Cubs versatility in the outfield and a reliable glove.

He brought a 241-game errorless streak into the 2011 season, the longest active streak among big league outfielders at the time. He made four errors in 250chances with Oakland, a .984 fielding percentage.

DeJesus began his career as a center fielder but has primarily played the corner outfield spots the past three seasons.

Former All-Star player and Pawtucket Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis has been hired by the Oakland Athletics to serve as their hitting coach for next season

The Jamaican-born outfield and designated hitter worked last season as the Red Sox AAA hitting coach. On Saturday, Oakland announced that Davis had been hired to do the same for the Red Sox major league, west coast rival.

The 51-year-old switch hitter had a 19 year career in the major leagues, playing for the San Francisco Giants (1981-1987), California Angels (1988-1990 and 1993-1996), Minnesota Twins (1991-1992), Kansas City Royals (1997) and New York Yankees (1998-1999).

The new job will reunite Davis with former San Francisco Giants teammate Bob Melvin, who was recently hired to permanently manage the Athletics. Melvin was hired as the team’s interim manager in June.

Davis, a three-time All-Star, had a career batting average of .274, hit 350 home runs and batted in 1,372 runs.

Davis discussed his hitting technique in an article published on the Pawtucket Red Sox web site. In the article, Davis spoke about what it takes to be a great hitter.

“It’s about being a competitor in each at-bat,” Davis said. “You’re forcing pitchers to work — being offensive. Trying to get your philosophies across to players is to understand the players and their comfort zone and to try to work from there with them. There’s no one way to go about it with so many guys, and I think the biggest thing I learned in the last two years when you’re dealing with professional hitters, that one of the most important things is for them to see that you really care and you’re consistent with the things that you say to them, that you are really paying attention.”

The same article written by MLB.com reporter Jane Lee states that Davis will replace Gerald Perry, “whose contract was not renewed, and joins bench coach Chip Hale, pitching coach Curt Young, first-base coach Tye Waller, third-base coach Mike Gallego and bullpen coach Rick Rodriguez.”

The Oakland Athletics have offered arbitration
to free agent outfielders Josh Willingham and David DeJesus.

Both players have until December 7 to accept or decline the offer. Should they
decline the offer and sign with another team, Oakland would receive
compensation in the 2012 draft.

Willingham set new career-highs with 29 home runs and 98 RBI in 136 games last
year for the A’s, his first with the club. The RBI were the most by an
Athletic since Frank Thomas had 114 in 2006.

He is a .262 career hitter with 132 home runs and 434 RBI in 799 games over
eight seasons with Florida (2004-08), Washington (2009-10) and Oakland (2011).

DeJesus hit .240 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI in 131 games with the A’s last
year. The 31-year-old left-handed hitter was acquired from Kansas City for Vin
Mazzaro and Justin Marks on November 10, 2010.

In 1,007 career games over nine seasons with Kansas City (2003-10) and Oakland
(2011), DeJesus has hit .284 with 71 home runs and 436 RBI.

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It doesn’t get much more official than this. The Oakland A’s have posted the following on the team website:

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland Athletics announced today the team has signed Curt Young to a one-year contract to return as pitching coach. Young, regarded as one of the top pitching coaches in Major League Baseball, had left the A’s after 23 years in the organization to join the Boston Red Sox this past season.

The team also announced it has removed the “interim” title from Mike Henriques and named him strength and conditioning coach for the 2012 season.

Originally selected by the A’s in the fourth round of the 1981 draft, Young pitched 10 seasons with team. After four years as a minor league coach in the organization, Young was named the A’s pitching coach prior to the 2004 season. During his tenure as coach from 2004-2010, Oakland pitchers posted an American League-best 4.03 ERA and held opponents to an AL-low .257 average while allowing the fewest home runs (1,062) in the league. His 2010 staff led the American League with a 3.56 ERA and 17 shutouts, while A’s starters registered a Major League-best 3.47 ERA, the lowest such mark in the AL since the 1990 Red Sox (3.32). This past season, Boston pitchers ranked third in the American League in strikeouts (1,213) and opponent batting average (.247) and tied for fourth in shutouts (13).

During Young’s tenure as Oakland pitching coach, seven A’s pitchers-Mark Mulder (2004), Tim Hudson (2004), Justin Duchscherer (2005, 2008), Barry Zito (2006), Dan Haren (2007), Andrew Bailey (2009) and Trevor Cahill (2010)-have been selected to the American League All-Star team, with Mulder and Haren earning starts in the Midsummer Classic. Closers Huston Street (2005) and Bailey (2009) also earned AL Rookie of the Year honors.

Young compiled a 69-53 record and 4.31 ERA in 251 games, 162 starts, during an 11-year Major League pitching career that included stints with Oakland (1983-91, 1993), Kansas City (1992) and the New York Yankees (1992). The left-hander went 13-9 with a 3.45 ERA in 1986 and led the team in victories, earning him an Opening Day start in 1987. He matched his career best in wins in 1987, posting a 13-7 record and 4.08 ERA in a career-high 31 starts. Young was also a member of the A’s starting rotation when they won three consecutive American League pennants from 1988-90. He tossed two one-hitters during his career: Oct. 5, 1986 against Kansas City and June 9, 1987 vs. Chicago.

Henriques, originally hired as the A’s minor league strength and conditioning coordinator in November of 2010, was named Oakland’s interim strength and conditioning coach May 3 when Bob Alejo accepted an assistant athletic director position at North Carolina State. He previously spent five seasons in the San Diego Padres’ minor league system (2006-10), including two years as their assistant coordinator. The Central Connecticut State graduate also served four off-seasons with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers as assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2007-10, as well as a summer internship at Arizona State in 2005.

By Matthew Hays

– Staff Writer

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Sep 27, 2011 – On Tuesday afternoon the Kansas City Royals announced they had acquired 24-year old pitcher Ethan Hollingsworth in a trade with the Oakland Athletics for disgruntled first basemen Kila Ka`aihue. For Ka`aihue he receives a fresh start, while the Royals receive a back end of the rotation guy who will likely provide minor league depth, with the potential to join the major league bullpen at some point.

For Hollingsworth this marks his third organization in the past year as he previously had been traded last winter from the Colorado Rockies to Oakland for Clayton Mortensen.

Hollingsworth features five pitches on the mound, a sinker, four-seam fastball, and slider. He also throws a curve and changeup. His speeds vary from the high 80′s to low 90′s. Back in March he was ranked the 36th best prospect in the A’s system according to Scout.com.

Originally a fourth-round selection of the Rockies in 2008, Hollingsworth is a 6’2″ 200 lb right-hander who pitched predominately with AA Midland in the Texas League (same league as Northwest Arkansas), but did appear in two games at the end of the year with the AAA Sacramento River Cats. Over his four years in the minors, Hollingsworth is 31-29 with a 4.21 ERA in nearly 500 innings pitched. He strikes out nearly a batter an inning, while producing 3.67 strikeouts for every one batter he walks.

He pitched in one start against the Naturals this season, going 5.1 innings and allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits. He also pitched out of the bullpen against Omaha in the playoffs on September 14th, allowing two runs on three hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

While the chances that the trade amounts to much is likely slim, Ka`iahue clearly didn’t fit into the future of the Royals with Eric Hosmer at first base. The Royals were able to acquire an arm that is younger than the player they gave up, as Ka`aihue is 27.

Read More: Kila Ka`aihue (1B – KAN), Clayton Mortensen (P – COL), Eric Hosmer (1B – KAN), Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies

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