In a stunning move seemingly out of nowhere, the Athletics announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Fernando Rodney from the Twins in exchange for minor league righty Dakota Chalmers. Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reports that the A’s will assume all of Rodney’s remaining salary (around 1.3MM).
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the transaction came as the result of a waiver claim by the Athletics, meaning Rodney never cleared revocable trade waivers. The 42-year-old was certainly a logical August trade candidate, as MLBTR’s own Connor Byrne noted this past Saturday; more recently, the Twins’ closer appeared near the top of our Top 20 August Trade Candidates, checking in at number seven. He’s a reasonably affordable option for the surging yet cost-conscious A’s.
[RELATED: How August Trades Work]
Rodney has long been an effective MLB reliever, and has served mainly as a closer across the past decade. His 325 career saves rank 17th all-time among relievers, and although he’s certainly shown some fluctuation in performance over the course of his lifetime, his 3.09 ERA at present would be his best in a full season since 2014 with the Mariners. The veteran has managed to strike out more than ten batters per nine innings in five of the past six campaigns and owns a solid if unspectacular 3.70 ERA (3.73 FIP) over the course of his 16-year MLB career.
For the A’s, it’s the latest move to bolster an already-spectacular relief corps. Headed into the second half of July, the club already boasted three relievers with a Win Probability Added of 1.00 or higher (Blake Treinen, Lou Trivino and Yusmeiro Petit). Since then, they’ve added Jeurys Familia in a trade with the Mets, claimed Shawn Kelley off waivers from the Nationals, and plucked Mike Fiers from the paws of the Tigers. Rodney serves as the club’s fourth major bullpen addition over the course of the past month, fortifying an already-terrifying group.
That’s excellent work on the part of the club’s front office, as it’ll help mask the club’s uninspiring rotation. Sean Manaea’s currently the club’s only starter with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, in no small part due to the wreckage of torn UCLs suffered by rotation candidates this season. Daniel Gossett, Kendall Graveman, Jharel Cotton and top prospect A.J. Puk are all done for the season after requiring Tommy John surgery, leaving the club with a starting group of ragtag veterans that includes Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Edwin Jackson, each of whom has outperformed expectations. With an eye on October, it seems as though the Athletics are likely to use starters for short outings in the postseason and rely on a deep bullpen to handle the remainder of the workload.
Perhaps one of the more surprising elements of this deal is the fact that Rodney went unclaimed by the Indians, who had waiver priority over the Athletics and one of the worst bullpens in baseball. With three strong lefties in their pen and no viable right-handed options beyond Adam Cimber and struggling closer Cody Allen, Rodney would have provided a strong upgrade to the Cleveland bullpen. Likewise, the Mariners (who’re in close competition with them for a wild card spot) also passed on Rodney, allowing him to be claimed by a division rival rather than using him to patch their own relief corps.
The inclusion of Chalmers is a fascinating element of this deal, as the 21-year-old right hander has yet to accrue any significant professional resume following his selection by the A’s as the 97th overall pick in the 2015 draft. He didn’t rank among the club’s top 30 prospects in MLB Pipeline’s latest rankings, but Fangraphs considered him to within that group, ranking him 23rd in the A’s farm system. Chalmers had to step away from baseball late in 2017 for personal reasons, and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen mentioned that he’s struggled with his control since returning. Though his velocity sits in the low-to-mid-90’s, there’s some skepticism that he’ll ever develop the command necessary to work multiple innings. He won’t pitch for the remainder of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this season.
Man, they are seriously going all out with their bullpen.
Jeurys Familia from the Mets, Shawn Kelley from Nationals and now Rodney from Minnesota. Dam
Absolutely unreal, they got Familia, Rodney, Fiers and Kelley for absolutely nothing.
Final piece of the puzzle? Jose Iglesias. Marcus Semien is too much of a headcase and wilts under ANY pressure, Iglesias has been mashing lefties and can come in for the 8th and 9th to REALLY lock down the game, whereas I can totally see Semien airmailing a throw that costs them a playoff game.
GET IGLESIAS, BEANE!!!
Yeh, Familia a bum, Fiers a 5th starter, Kelly a castoff, and Rodney….he of the crooked hat…..that won’t be the only thing crooked when he pitches in tough spots!
There’s a reason they got them for absolutely nothing..you think!
Lots’ to crow about…..good bottom feeder depth!
Cudos!
How is Familia a bum? Other than a down year last year, he has been very good throughout his career, and has yet to give up a run with the A’s.
Everyone is critical of a team if they aren’t adding the top player at each position. The A’s are bringing in some quality depth and not sacrificing their future. Very good moves imo
Yeah this poster is just some jilted fan or something? Familia has been a top 15 RP this season and Rodney has been worth half a win, which is pretty darn good for a RP. Plus he is now a safety arm for the A’s to use in matchups/blowout wins and loses/ short SP outings. The very existence of him goes beyond his talent added; it saves the arms of the rest of the RP.
Rocky7… hmmmmmm… either you are trying to be funny, or you are clueless about baseball, or you have at least 7 rocks in your head
rocky7, I dont even really have to address anything you said, youve outed yourself as an entirely clueless crybaby yankee fan troll. lol, have fun in 2019 because you arent getting past any AL contender. Fake big.
Or Freddy Galvis, both players are the same essentially.
Boy, how much I don’t miss Rodney. I’m so glad he’s back in the AL West, and not on the team located in Seattle.
You said it man!
Lehgoo
Oakland, I tip my hat. Mad respect for going for this and pulling out all the stops.
They’re going for it without pulling out any of the stops, which is all the more impressive. I know that’s not an actual saying, but they’re getting significantly better while giving up nothing, with the potential exception being we know nothing about the PTBNL’s for Fiers, but given that cash is an option they can’t be good.
Cash is a safety in most ptbnl trades as it protects the team against injuries. Who goes back could be yet to be determined, based on Fiers performance, or could be someone on the 40 who is unlikely to clear waivers. The least likeliest return will be a cash payment.
Wrong, the most likely return is a cash payment. Fiers doesn’t throw 100, Detroit doesn’t care about pitchers like him and will give him away for basically nothing.
Bullish!
Rodney outta nowhere!!
It’s a bold move let’s see if it pays off for them Cotton
Ha
Now that’s perfect timing on that comment lol
Friedman… Hello… help in the pen? What about it?
*click*
Asking for Fernando Rodney………yes I’m ok. It’s pretty clear what their plan is, to bounce a SP back to the pen.
Pretty sure the dodgers never got a shot at him. I might be wrong, but I think all teams in the AL would have gotten first crack, in ascending order of record, before any NL teams would have had a shot at claiming him. Since he got claimed by an AL team, no NL teams had the opportunity to claim him.
Or if an NL team did claim too, they had lower priority than the A’s, so same outcome.
Yes you are absolutely correct.
All waiver claims right now go through the corresponding league first. Rodney had to get through the AL unclaimed for any NL team to successfully win a claim. The A’s won the claim, meaning they were had the lowest winning % of any AL team to place a claim.
While you are 100% correct it begs the question why league still matters. There’s an inter league series going at all times now.
Why not just have all teams lined up by record?
They still play under different rules. If they become conferences like everything else it would be different, but as long as they still play under different rules I don’t think that’ll happenZ
I won’t pretend to be an expert, but my best guess would be the unbalanced nature of the schedule.
Rodzilla!
Man, Beane keeps acquiring quality players for next to nothing. Great job prepping for a potentially deep run, if they make the playoffs that is
If they make it they won’t make it past the divisional round lets be real and that’s if they can beat the Yankees in the wild card game
Go ahead and keep doubting the A’s. Or, watch them play a game or check out their incredible recent run.
Anyone can win a 1-game series. Doesn’t even have to be the best team.
If you are a Yankees fan, are you really looking forward to playing these A’s in a 1 game winner take all WC game?
I’m not looking forward to playing in WC in general. Yankees fell behind to their favorite opponents, Twins, 0-3 in 1st, last year WC. Crazy game, and anything can happen.
Best of 7 games is best. 8 games back in East
Yeah these a’s have a knack to comeback!
Not a Yankees fan, but the WC game is a crapshoot, really. The Yankees have a shaky rotation, and they’d have to burn their ace in the WC. So they’d be at a disadvantage heading into the division series, likely against Boston, because WC winner plays the top seed. Boston owned NY in their most recent series.
Of course, the A’s rotation isn’t very inspiring, either. You don’t think of that rotation carving up a lineup.
sportsfan – 100% correct. People still aren’t acknowledging the problem Oakland has, especially when the best 3-4 starters face them in a short series. Driving in runs with runners in scoring position with less than 2 out will be their downfall again. Familia can’t do it. Rodney can’t do it.
Until Oakland actually gets the job done, something they haven’t done in nearly 20 years, we can’t take them seriously as the 5th seed with zero track record of stepping up in October.
Statistics disagree with you.
The A’s are the 5th best team in MLB at scoring runners from third with less than two outs.
Their past playoff track record doesn’t really count into this year. How many guys on the current team were even on the ’14 playoff team?
Now we are going on past records? SMH if that was the case wouldn’t the Yanks be the favorites and win every year. Next up he will claim uniform colors makes a difference in the playoffs.
Johnrealtime and Arc89 – Until you prove otherwise, yes the past does matter.
BudGreen – 1 ALCS appearance the last 19 years is the stats I go by. I guess walks matter more than winning.
I also know when the A`s are faced with a situation where a bunt is warranted, and there will be, there is a good chance they won`t execute. Just like they haven`t executed in the playoffs year in and year out. AND, if you believe that experience trumps inexperience (which I don`t), there are other AL teams with way more experience than the 2018 Oakland A`s. They may be in for a rude awakening once again.
I do think that playoff experience can be an asset for a team/players. I do not agree that past playoff failures matter when it is an entirely different team. I say this as a Cubs fan as well. That is just a storyline for the media, I doubt a young player in the playoffs for the first time is thinking about the A’s one and dones that happened when they were in grade school.
A’s are 4-2 vs. Boston this season, they absolutely are the real deal and a better bet than the Yankees at this very moment.
Wow, you Oakland fans are really working up a lather!
The Yankees are 30 games over .500, and Oct. baseball is still a long way off.
You’re dream only works if you make it past the Wild Card game and no Yankee fan doesn’t like our chances in that game at home.
The Yankees are 5-8 with 6 games yet to be played…..4-2 doesn’t mean anything once playoff time comes around.
Weren’t you the same guy that said last year that Sonny Gray was the second coming of Cy Young and was worth the entire Yankee farm to get him. Right listen to you.
Dream on!
The 5th seed is the real deal? Sure, good luck making the playoffs. When you do, the Yankees steam train will be locked and loaded in Yankee Stadium. Manaea better be on his game, and better be starting that game. Any other pitcher you may as well stay home.
Yankees will have Judge and Sanchez back for that game also. Judge is behind schedule in recovery. He’ll still be back in September.
You don’t like those 50% chances? It’s a toss up, don’t act like you already have the A’s/Mariners beat.
Yeah, and Sonny Gray still has finished in the top 10 ERA 3 in 5 years, which says he’s still really good. Because the nasty NYC media pressured him, he got the yips at Yankee stadium, nbd. I still know like 10000000x more about baseball than you ever will, hahaha
5th seed? Uhhh you are about to get a VERY big surprise when the A’s run down Houston for the AL West. They’re only 4 games out. Sucker.
Also Manaea isn’t their ace, Cahill is.
They already beat the Yankees at home this year and got some home field call that cost them the game (Olson was safe, Sanchez missed the tag). The A’s are 4-2 vs Boston. They are not scared of anyone
Wow, kudos to A’s Billy Beane and co… Masterful… Watch up Astros, Yankees and…
Yankees…bro you heard they got mashed by the Red Sox in a 4-game series right and have 0% chance to win the East yet you mention the Yankees and not the Sox, @julyn82001 do you even follow baseball?
And July—look at Rodney’s post season melt downs. Much better pitcher before the ASG.
Rodney is the A’s 6th best reliever though. Sure, don’t have him close, but as your deep setup guy? He’s outstanding.
That .1 WAR total over the past 3 years ought to count for something…
0% chance to win the east? You sure about that. Yankees won, Red Sox lost today.
9 game lead now EIGHT. #coming for you
@charty321 Red Sox…bro you hear the A’s aren’t chasing them because they’re leading a different division? The A’s are chasing the Yankees for WC1 and Astros for the AL West.. do you even follow baseball?
Thanks, mate… Well written…
0% chance? Didnt realize the season ended yesterday. Thanks for the update!
You’re right, 0% is too harsh. The currently have a 12% chance according to Fangraphs.
I’m okay with acquiring Rodney, considering the A’s gave up a player with major control issues and got busted for a DUI recently. Now, if Rodney takes Hatcher’s spot on the roster, then I’m entirely onboard with this move.
*Ron Howard voice* He did, and SwipeRightForPinder was entirely onboard.
Now that is a deep bullpen! I guess if no starter is available on the trade market go for some relievers.
Mike Fiers is in the starting rotation, not the bullpen for now at least
Treinen, trivino, familia, buchter, petit, pagan, Kelly. Rodney basically replaces trashy hatcher and is #8 pitcher in depth charter. If Rodney is pitching meaningful innings then something went very wrong here
Trevino hasn’t been as sharp lately. Between him, Familia, Kelley and now Rodney, we can ride the hot hand as setup man. Petit remains the long man, Buchter is the lefty. Hatcher and Dull should both be in AAA or at least off the roster, soon.
But I can see Rodney in the 7th/8th going forward. Big strikeout guy, that’s valuable in high leverage situations
What? Yes he has… he gave up a run against the dodgers on a bloop… babip luck… he’s been basically his dominant self
Rodney had his share of blown saves and bad innings for the Twins this year, and his outings were almost always filled with drama, but, if he had more than a one-run lead in the 9th, he usually did all right. That Old Man can still bring the heat.
Trivino has an ERA under 1 in his last 15 games
It’s pointless to listen to these people who just use the eye test to evaluate how a player is doing. The only real troubling thing I see from Trivino (aside from his unearthed twitter comments) is that he’s got the second highest strand rate for qualified RPs. That could very well crash towards the mean this year and that’s not something I look forward too.
That will only crash if Olson and Chapman go on the DL.
Cost a very unlikely to hit prospect. Love it. Beanie is aggressively upgrading the roster in baby steps.
Ummm… The A’s did win the season series against the Red Sox, and competed very nicely against the Yankees in April and May… Before they figured stuff out… I think they can play with the Yankees now for sure…
“Perhaps one of the more surprising elements of this deal is the fact that Rodney went unclaimed by the Indians, who had waiver priority over the Athletics and one of the worst bullpens in baseball. With three strong lefties in their pen and no viable right-handed options beyond Adam Cimber and struggling closer Cody Allen, Rodney would have provided a strong upgrade to the Cleveland bullpen.”
– –
Huh?
The Indians are a lock for the playoffs. They’ll need 3, maybe 4 starters. They’ll use one or 2 of their RH starters out of the pen.
Even accounting for the (possible) use of Shane Bieber out of the bullpen I only could six reliable bullpen arms.
With that starting staff – possibly the best in MLB – they need more then 6 bullpen arms for 3 series (assuming they make the WS)?
I’m sure the FO ran this by Francona.
First off, they’re already over budget, and $1.3MM for 2 months is not easy to come up with for a mid-market team. Add that if there is one relief pitcher in MLB that has the best chance to come into a close game and put the first 2-3 batters on base…..it’s Fernando Rodney. Additionally, Francona has used Rameriz well in certain situations (Francona handles a bullpen better than any manager in MLB). Lastly, the Indians develop their own pitchers – if they need another arm for a playoff series, they’ll put a guy from AAA or AA on the roster.
If someone becomes available via the waiver wire that won’t cost much cash, then maybe the Indians make a claim. But again, the Indians believe in their own guys. And Francona’s history with the Indians has been to have the team peak starting in September. With the addition of Hand and the return of Miller, the other penners move back to non-critical roles. Allen’s recent struggles are some concern, but he’s had bad stretches over the years and recovered. Francona’s got this.
I’d want no part of Cleveland in a short series. They have the starting horses to shut down any team. But their bullpen is suspect. Team like Houston can expose it.
*Team like Oakland, the team that leads MLB in all late innings offensive stats, can expose it.
You don’t rely on AA or AAA guys in October. You accumulate depth in July/August specifically so you don’t have to do that.
Rodney is exactly that… a useful piece that’s not only an upgrade over many of the Tribe’s current options, but an additional depth piece to defend against possible injury
Overdrive – Oakland won’t draw Cleveland round 1. Easy there Tiger, they have to beat out Seattle and take on the Yankees.
Easy there tiger, why you acting like Houston has the west wrapped up with a 4 game lead in early August again? Verlander looked….uhhh…pretty bad last night??
Oakland is 4-9 against Houston. Strong.
Literally the only team in MLB that’s better than them, and they’re struggling right now with injuries and bad form. I like Oakland’s chances. You can keep looking bad.
That picture of Rodney looks like a very uncomfortable way to throw a baseball.
It’s his celebration pose…they had to dig way into the archives and photoshop the uni to make it look like he’s had anything to celebrate in the past few years.
Wow. Another stealth, solid move by Oakland.
Hard not to root for them right now. Solid underdog with lots of fight.
The A’s looking like a World Series team…
Till they Boston lol
They are 4-2 vs Boston this year. They own that fake good team.
I’ll happily take their fake .700 win percentage and watch Sale and Porcello each throw 7 innings of shutout ball with 10 K’s against the A’s in the ALDS. And then watch them win games 3 and 4… and then Sale will win game 5.
Mets were winless against the Cubs in 2015. Then they breezed by the Cubs in October.
The point? I don’t trust Edwin Jackson or Brett Anderson or Trevor Cahill or Mike Fiers or whoever else isn’t named Manaea in that rotation.
Chris Sale playing good in September and October? Now I’ve heard everything LOLOLOL
Fact: Boston is fake big and will DEFINITELY have an early exit in the postseason.
Manaea stinks man, you don’t even follow the A’s if you say that. Cahill is a beast this season and EASILY the a’s ace. Jackson and Fiers are next, and Manaea is like the 4th SP right now, if you go off form.
Moneyball strikes again!
Yeah, the book and movie about that innovative system that won them so many World Championships.
That the A’s contended on that payroll deserves the kudos it received. That Boston uses that blue print, but outspends Oakland by more than double, is a tribute to resouces, not some front office superiority. Bring on a hard salary cap, and we will all find out which teams have the best front office. Right now, I like rooting for the underdog.
Yea, I’m a Cubs fan, but I always like to see the A’s doing well. Beane is a true talent. I would trust him with any organization I owned ….if I had the money. Lol.
No need to win anything with an innovative system, “Contending” certainly deserves a movie/book.
ahh there it is, the crybaby comment that has absolutely no clue what the book is actually about. great, you made yourself look dumb yet again, polishhammer.
Why did the Polish airplane crash? It ran out of coal.
Classy, ethic slurs are permitted here?
No slurs, but g-rated Polish jokes are.
You aren’t very bright are you?
Keep convincing yourself that. Replace Polish with any other ethnicity and tell me its G-rated and not offensive ethnic slurs.
You’re a P.O.S.
Over his career, Rodney has saved 81% of his opportunities, which is damned mediocre.
This year with the Twins he has saved 80% of his opportunities.
It’s called the Fernando Rodney Experience, and it ain’t pretty.
Sooooo glad he’s been moved!
He won’t come anywhere near a save situation in Oakland.
There’s at least 5 guys ahead of him in the bullpen depth chart.
*Craig Kimbrel 90,8%
Mo Rivera 89.1%
Trevor Hoffman 88.8%
Billy Wagner 85.9%
Randy Myers 85%
Dennis Eckersley 84.6%
*Fernando Rodney 81..9%
Todd Jones 81%
John Franco 80.8%
Bruce Sutter 74.8%
Rodney is not “mediocre”, and you obviously have no clue. He is 42 years old and he is still hitting 97 mph on his fast ball.
Not surprising to me the Tribe passed on claiming him, they’ve already addressed the ‘pen and need to focus on getting a bat (OF). The back of the bullpen is already full and they want to have to dump somebody just to add for one month. They feel they have all of the proper pieces, just a matter of them tweaking some things and producing.
The Indians bullpen is 100% not “full” lol they are one of the worst in MLB.
Ya blew it, just take the L and wait for Oakland to destroy you from the 7th inning-on.
Can’t wait for your team to fail!
Tito of Cleveland is the best if not one of the best in baseball and there’s a reason they passed on your guy Rodney.
shut your dumb mouth rocky7, you worthless troll – you know absolutely nothing about anything
The moderators should shut down this worthless piece of shiznit and his offensive and inflammatory comments.
Really genius? So because they’re underperforming they should just dump guys like Allen and Miller and take his castoff?
Dan Otero and his 5 ERA are closing games for Cleveland right now, you idiot
Otero is a closer? You just keep proving your intelligence, or lack thereof, with every post.
PS: congrats on getting this heap of trash nobody else in the AL wanted despite how much you think they needed him. Somehow you know more than the front offices constructing 5heir teams.
PS he threw a clean inning in a tight game tonight. Have fun getting rolled by the A’s in the playoffs, you clueless dbag troll.
Have fun trying to reach the playoffs first and then getting that one game with hopes to move onto a series to then get into another series to the face the Tribe, you moronic P.O.S.
Still, the Indians pen is not very good. Except for Brad Hand, Andrew Miller and Oliver Perez, the ERAs are over 4.10. Worse, Miller has reverted back to his wild ways. Cody Allen is batting practice. He creates his own W and S opportunities from big lead H and Neil Ramirez’s numbers are similar to the DFA pitcher Zach McAllister. The Indians don’t need Fernando Rodney, they need long relief… to go along with better RF offense.
very good moves!
None of the “playoff” contenders have the pitching staff of the Astros. The Astros just recently strengthen their BP with acquisition of Osuna. Not an Astros fan, but this is another WS victory for these guys.
They’ll beat anyone now that they’ve added Osuna…lock up your women and children.
Gotta get by Boston first. I think they are the favorites to get to the WS in the AL. Houston is banged up with injuries. If they get key guys back, they’ll be better off.
Houston and Oakland will absolutely annihilate Boston in the playoffs. They are the top 2 teams in MLB by a long, long way. The AL West has real, actual baseball contenders all up and down it, the weak East has half the teams tanking = both the Yankees and Red sox records are tainted and neither are even close to being as good as their records show.
Oakland is 21-0 against Detroit, Toronto, San Diego and Baltimore.
#powerhouse
Oakland has the #4th best record in MLB and is 4 games away from being #2. They’re beating EVERYONE (like I predicted all along)
#powerhouse
Like the article says, Cleveland might regret picking Rodney up, they waived McAllister the other day, I’m sure they could have used him. He’s still very effective.
Maybe they can actually show Rodney how to put his hat on correctly.
He does that in tribute to his dead mother. Feel cool now?
Father, but some people don’t care even after they’re told.