The A's removed one player from the second base position battle Tuesday.
Oakland traded prospect Jorge Mateo to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later, the team announced.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported news of the trade.
Mateo, 25, was expected to compete with Franklin Barreto and Tony Kemp for time at second base this season.
A natural shortstop, Mateo is an incredible athlete, but he's never been able to live up to the hype since being signed by the New York Yankees out of the Dominican Republic in 2012.
The A's acquired Mateo, Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian in exchange for starter Sonny Gray in 2017.
Athletics
Find the latest Athletics news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
There was speculation over the winter that the A's could use Mateo as a trade chip to acquire a major-league ready piece. But it appears Mateo didn't quite have that kind of value on the trade market.
The A's had Mateo spend the last two seasons at Triple-A. In 2018, he hit .230/.280/.353 with three homers and 45 RBI for the Nashville Sounds. But a season later, he upped those numbers to .289/.330/.504 with 19 homers and 78 RBI when the A's affiliate moved to Las Vegas.
While the Yankees experimented with Mateo in the outfield, the A's never went down that road. He played second base and shortstop the last two seasons in the minor leagues.
[RELATED: Projecting A's 30-man roster]
The A's initially announced a 54-man roster for the 2020 MLB season, with the plan to add prospects to fill out the 60-man roster. Removing Mateo from the equation gives Oakland the ability to add another player that it might not have originally considered.
Oakland had hoped to tap into Mateo's potential, but it's clear by the move that they felt there was no spot for him on the big league roster.