The A’s are bringing left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland again forward of their anticipated transfer to West Sacramento subsequent 12 months. The staff introduced Thursday they’ve agreed to phrases with the free agent southpaw on a one-year deal for the 2025 season. McFarland is represented by Octagon.
McFarland, 35, spent the 2024 season within the A’s bullpen and was a dependable supply of high quality innings. He appeared in almost half the staff’s video games (79) and pitched to a 3.81 ERA with a below-average 16.6% strikeout charge however robust stroll and ground-ball charges of seven.2% and 57.3%, respectively. McFarland stymied left-handed opponents with a .234/.267/.324 batting line, although righties had a neater time with him, slashing .273/.364/.414 on the season.
This might be McFarland’s thirteenth season within the majors, and assuming he sticks on the roster for no less than 122 days, he’ll attain the coveted 10 years of main league service time over the course of the 2025 marketing campaign. The sinker-heavy southpaw carries a lifetime 4.10 ERA within the majors and has by no means been adept at lacking bats (13.9% profession mark, and career-high 18.2% mark in 2023). Nonetheless, he’s one of many recreation’s premier ground-ball specialists (profession 61.7%, and career-high 67.9% again in 2018) and has solely thrice logged a worse-than-average stroll charge in his prolonged profession.
Considerably extremely, McFarland will develop into the one participant on the A’s roster who has a assured wage for the upcoming season. The remainder of the roster contains 4 arbitration-eligible gamers — Brent Rooker, Seth Brown, Miguel Andujar and Dany Jimenez — however the remainder of the gamers on the staff’s 40-man roster haven’t but even reached arbitration and thus don’t have a wage locked in for subsequent 12 months. The A’s are broadly anticipated to spend some cash this offseason, be it by way of free company or by buying gamers on assured offers by way of the commerce market, as they’ll must spend a good bit of money as a way to retain their standing as a revenue-sharing recipient.
McFarland returns to a bullpen that lacks any actual definition past star nearer Mason Miller. Righty Tyler Ferguson posted good numbers however did in order a 30-year-old rookie, making him one thing of a wild card. Arduous-throwing righty Michael Otanez notched a 3.44 ERA and fanned 36.4% of his opponents in 34 innings … but in addition walked 13.2% of the hitters he confronted. Twenty-seven-year-old Lefty Hogan Harris turned in a sub-3.00 ERA in 72 1/3 innings however had sub-par strikeout, stroll and ground-ball charges (along with a disastrous 7.14 ERA in a comparable pattern of innings in 2023).
Given the dearth of outlined roles past Miller, it’s seemingly the A’s can have a number of additions on the bullpen entrance. For now, McFarland appears like a candidate to work in some leverage spots in opposition to lefties who gained’t be lifted for a pinch-hitter by the opposing supervisor. That mentioned, A’s skipped Mark Kotsay usually used McFarland in low- and medium-leverage spots in 2025, so he’s not essentially somebody the staff will throw proper into full-on setup work.
The A’s might have some troubles drawing free brokers to the staff as they gear as much as host house video games in a Triple-A park for the subsequent a number of seasons (assuming financing on their deliberate Las Vegas stadium is finally finalized). However McFarland is aware of the staff and the employees nicely, and for the well-traveled lefty, this new one-year deal presents him the chance to pitch consecutive seasons for a similar staff for simply the second time in a span of seven seasons.
There’s apparent enchantment in continuity for a pitcher who’s additionally hung out with the D-backs, A’s, Cardinals and Mets (plus a spring coaching with the Nationals) since 2019. It’s additionally simply the second assured deal he’s signed in what’s now 5 instances by means of the free-agent course of, so leaping early at a giant league alternative is each wise and makes for a extra relaxed offseason than the veteran southpaw is usually accustomed.
