Yoenis Cespedes questions the Athletics’ personnel moves

The Oakland Athletics are a very different team now than they were a year ago. In the offseason they lost Jeff Samardzija, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel, Derek Norris, Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss and John Jaso and brought in Ike Davis, Ben Zobrist, Jesse Hahn, Billy Butler, Brett Lawrie and Marcus Semien.

Also, a year ago at this time they had Yoenis Cespedes. He’s gone now, playing for the Tigers. The A’s and Tigers are meeting up this week, so A’s reporters asked him about all of the changes to his old club:

Cespedes says, w/ Jorge Ortiz translating, says of all #Athletics moves, “The way they operate…don’t they want to win a championship?”

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) May 25, 2015

He’s on to them.

Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale has been placed on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, the club revealed Saturday. The assignment is retroactive to August 14. In a corresponding roster move, right-handed reliever Ryan Brasier was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.

It’s an alarming development for the 30-year-old ace, who has been remarkably injury-free after dealing with a lingering case of shoulder inflammation last summer. While he hasn’t replicated the career-high results he delivered over the last two seasons, he still leads Red Sox pitchers with 3.6 fWAR and will head to the IL with a 6-11 record in 25 starts, a 4.40 ERA, 2.3 BB/9, and league-best 13.3 SO/9 through 147 1/3 innings. A timetable has not been given for his return, nor has the severity of his injury been disclosed. Per Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski, Sale has been experiencing pain in his elbow since Wednesday and will undergo further evaluation in the days to come.

Brasier, 31, was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket in mid-July after pitching to mixed results in the majors. He currently holds a 4.46 ERA, 2.7 BB/9, and 8.0 SO/9 with the Red Sox, though his results in Triple-A — one run, one walk, and 13 strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings — suggest that he might be capable of even sharper results when he rejoins the big league club.