The Athletics have announced a one-year deal with free-agent right-hander Marco Estrada, as Jane Lee of MLB.com first reported (via Twitter). He’ll be guaranteed $4MM, according to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter).
The former Brewers/Blue Jays hurler is a client of TWC Sports. To clear roster space, the club has outrighted just-claimed righty Parker Bridwell, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
This move represents the latest short-term strike from an Oakland organization that wants to boost its pitching staff in the near-term without tying up long-term resources. Naturally, that means taking some chances on players who have not been at top form of late, and Estrada certainly matches that characterization.
The A’s previously inked Mike Fiers and Joakim Soria, but it was clear that the rotation, in particular, was in need of at least one more addition. It’s certainly still possible that other hurlers will be added, at least on minor-league deals.
As for Estrada, he’ll be looking to bounce back from a pair of less-than-effective seasons. Lower body and back issues may partially have been to blame, so returning to full health could make a difference in and of itself. Otherwise, it’s a question whether Estrada can hold off the hands of time for at least one more campaign.
Last year, working in his fourth straight season in Toronto, Estrada posted a brutal 5.64 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. He was stung, especially, by the long ball. While he only allowed dingers on a reasonable 11.2% of the flyballs put in play against him, that still worked out to 1.82 per nine, due to the large number of flies he permits.
Estrada still works in more or less the same fastball velocity range (89.0 mph) that he long has, though it did dip in the second half as his struggles increased. He also sat at a typical 10.1% swinging-strike rate last year. Perhaps, then, much of his physical skill remains intact.
The A’s surely won’t be expecting an ace-level performance, of course, but they obviously feel confident that Estrada will provide a good volume of solid innings. He has mostly done just that over the course of his MLB career.
Should have been a Brewer or a Red
He’s a fly ball pitcher so he’d be a worse bet there
Agreed. Big park in Oakland and out if the AL East can only help him.
Why? He has a better chance than both to go to the postseason
Welcome to the best baseball city in the country.
With a Staduim with a sewage problem.,The MLBPA contract stipulates if Oakland’s dugout has raw sewage flowing into it, so must the visitors dugout. The home team can’t have a unfair advantage.that can affect the outcome the game
Article S
Section 10
Paragraph 3
Of the MLBPA players handbook
How woud sewage affect the outcome of the game? I mean, I get its gross, but before I take the time to read that provision you posted, explain to me the nexus between the raw sewage and the outcome of a game, because any reliance on that provision necessarily requires that. I would imagine it can’t be speculative either, without reading it, like having the road dugout in a spot that has more sun than the home dugout, thereby speculatively tiring road players faster.
Hey man, I think the sewage issue has been resolved for a few years.
Wow, you’re lame for posting such garbage and bless the heart of anyone who believes you
Best stadium I’ve been to is Coors Field.
Coors is one of my favs! Love my oldies at Wrigley and Fenway, but Oracle Park in SF is also pretty sweet. I haven’t been to them all yet, but my least favs so far are Chase Field (Diamondbacks) and Dodger Stadium.
The sewage problem came about when someone in the visiting clubhouse tried to flush a towel down the toilet. The plumbing is below sea level so there is inherent difficulty in fixing an issue like that. But do you want to talk about new stadiums and parts of the facade falling off or fans falling to their death chasing foul balls in other new stadiums or just talk plumbing?
That was Manny Ramirez. Look that one up. Really gross.
how low is the pluming – it would need to be like 100 feet deep – oakland is far above sea level
The Coliseum’s playing field is sunken. The main concourse is at outside ground level, so the playing field is at -23′ (below sea level).
And Oakland has some nice hills (up to 1400’± elev), but it’s also the 3rd largest container-ship port in the country, which usually requires being at sea level.
The big problem with sewage was after raider games with all those drunks. Should be the last year that will ever happen because Raiders will be leaving and they will not sell out again with how bad the raiders are now.
You forgot how that is relevant garbage man n
When was the last time the A’s won a World Series again? 30 years ago?
Yup. A year after the Dodgers last won.
What other team has been to the World Series 3 years in a row on 2 separate occasions?
Yankees did it 9 times
I don’t know about 9 times, but my point is the A’s are a historically great great team and one that needs more respect than what it gets.
A’s have 4th most titles in history but definitely get treated like 2nd class citizens even in their own market. No idea why, the giants are boring as hell.
NY?
Wow. Best baseball city in the country? LOL. Chokeland is a dump.
Give it maybe 2 years and they be playing as the las Vegas A’s. They’ll play at raiders stadium for 2 years. While they build a new stadium for them here in Las Vegas.
With the worst stadium in baseball
Pretty cheap tickets as long as u can duck all the fiends scattered around the outside. Took my 11 year old son to a game and he was at least a little scared since the stadium parking was full and we had to walk a little ways.Good cheap seats though!!
Almost every stadium is like that trying to get around beggars. Ever been to the Bronx? Giants have lots of homeless around their stadium too. There are very few stadium built in high class neighborhoods.
the giants actually have few homeless people around Oracle park (gonna have to get used to it) – at least not the begging kind – you find people selling bootleg stuff and street performing but most of the homeless people get cleared by the police presence. it isn’t like downtown.
if you need a fancy stadium in order to go to a baseball game then you’re probably not a baseball fan.
I feel like the poor guy just doesn’t want crack heads accosting him and his kid while trying to enter said stadium
If you are walking around the parts where the crackheads are you are extremely lost. Take BART or park in the parking lots and you won’t see anyone scary
So I’m less of a baseball fan because I like a great overall experience in addition to baseball?
I agree with CoolKid here. I love baseball, but the Metrodome in Minneapolis was just an awful baseball experience. It’s okay to like baseball and want a nice experience, which we get now at Target Field.
yeah you’re just a poser
you are a poser as well
in general I agree – grew up on minor league baseball in a no frills ballpark but I love going to giants games – a great atmosphere is well – a great atmosphere.
Flyball pitcher finally in a park where flyballs die. Yeah he made an awful choice.
He was referring to the post saying that Estrada should’ve been a Brewer or a Red.
When will they move to Jack London Square? It’s more than a bit nicer there.
Land deal expected before opening day, says the Port of Oakland:
https://twitter.com/MikeOpera/status/1083879707018330112
(Michael Colbruno is 2nd VP, effectively #3 guy on Port Commission)
Mmmm… I don’t know about that… Trop is pretty hard to beat.
Tampa Bay is far worse. Boston is too.
Stove is HOT
NICE MOVE, CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS SEASON TO START TO WE CAN WATCH EVERY TEAM.
edit, OOPS, SO
We will never forget the gems you pitched in the playoffs in 2015 and 2016. Thank you Marco. Best of luck. Oakland’s the perfect destination for a resurgence.
If his back holds up I can see him being solid in the cavernous confines, but on the road could be an issue.
Reverse Sunny Gray
if they hadn’t just signed pomeranz I would have expected him to be a giants target., still might have made sense if you are not confident in samardzija and limiting innings for suarez and rodriguez.
Suarez and Rodriguez aren’t young. Why is this narrative that their innings need to be limited so popular?
Is there a service time (manipulation) issue?
No, I highly doubt either Suarez or Rodriguez are going to be int he minors this year unless they really struggle. Like rocket said, they are old enough and have pitched enough inngs last year and the years before that they could handle 200 this year no problem
you don’t limit someone’s innings due to their age, you do it based on MLB experience where there is more stress on the arm and a longer season – it usually takes a couple of seasons to gain the endurance to pitch into august/september – that is why you limit innings – nothing to do with age.
Seems like the kind of A’s signing people will be praising a few months from now. Think he has something left in the tank
Best of luck to the guy. Always seemed like a good person
Nice pick up. He will do well there.
Yes! I like it.
This is a great signing. Smart team.
Good signing for the A’s as well as Marco. Definitely a place he can try to make a resurgence. I don’t doubt he could very much still have something left.
Hopefully his back issues are cleared up. When he is healthy he is a solid pitcher. Hes not spectacular to watch to be honest, but he was pretty consistent with the Jays for a few years. Was great in the playoffs for us too.
Best of luck to Marco, always seemed like a good dude.
He needs a pitcher’s park and was punching above his weight in the AL East. This might work…
Good for Marco. He’s been one of my favourite Jays and I hope he thrives out there; I figured he’d go to some team like Oakland, San Diego or Pittsburgh. I’m sure that he’ll get a big round of applause if and when he makes his first start back in Toronto.
Looks like I’m gonna have to get a new Jay’s jersey now..
You can add it to my Delgado, Halladay, Encarnacion, Bautista, Tulo and red Donaldson and Price canada day jerseys that will forever hang in my closet like the pennants in CF
You can add my osuna jersey to that. Can’t wear that anywhere..
What kind of jersey will poor Parker Birdwell have to get now? Poor guy’s been passed through more MLB clubhouses than Chicago Sally, who was legend….
We need a new baseball term. Player to be Dropped Later. Parker Bridwell has become the most popular PTBDL than any player in recent memory.
No idea if you missed it, but Bridwell passed through waivers and will stay in the org.
Estrada ought to benefit from a legit CF with Laureano catching all those flyballs he’s bound to give up.
Kevin Pillar isn’t a legit defensive CF?
Both Pillar and Estrada had health issues last year.
But yeah, Laureano is better than Pillar defensively, deal with it.
My point wasn’t regarding who is a better CF, it was calling out the phrasing of “benefit from a legit CF” which implies that Pillar is not.
BlueJays – Pillar is a heck of a defender in CF and plays hard. The other guy didn’t have to tell you to deal with it. It’s hard to believe Oakland may actually have good defenders. The last good fielder I can recall was Eric Chavez and he was drafted by Sandy Alderson.
The A’s won two Gold Gloves last year (and had finalists for four), and Chapman won the Platinum Glove, which is the best defender in the entire league at any position. You’re just not paying attention.
^Stax, it was a reference to over a decade of poor defense on the part of Oakland. I also paid attention to Oakland’s inability to make contact with runners on 3rd with less than two outs in October. It would explain why they’d lose in the ALDS over and over again. Now that they’ve addressed defense they might be evolving in their approach to building contenders. They needed to adjust a long time ago.
Bridwell would have been better. It all depends what you want, crap or poop.
Estrada doesn’t miss bats, doesn’t keep the ball in the park, and is not particularity adept at throwing strikes.
The A’s are going to have a tough time playing 500 this year.
You seem to not understand that the A’s are far and away the best defensive team in MLB and can make trash pitchers look very good, as they did last year. The offense is really good too. They don’t really need to lock in a lesser SP when Luzardo might be better than most.
Estrada has always had 2 problem. biggest is staying healthy and giving up home runs. What he almost always do is allow few base runners. He is coming in as a back of rotation starter who can pitch. Not a bad deal for $4 million.
Great move for Oakland. The ceiling is higher than most bounce back candidates.
A’s definitely looking at Edwin Jackson types who aren’t Edwin Jackson.
One or two of Brett Anderson, Buchholz, Gio, Bartolo, Hellickson and Ervin Santana and the A’s are pretty much done.
People forget they were still deep in rebuild mode when they became contenders out of nowhere. The pitching prospects still aren’t quite ready, but Luzardo, Puk, Kapreilian, Howard, Dunshee, Jefferies, Holmes, Marks and Naile all could very conceivably break out in 2019 and hit MLB. That’s a lot of talent that the A’s cannot be blocking with big contracts.
A’s 2019 playoff rotation:
Luzardo-Puk-Manaea-Cotton-Fiers
I smell a pennant!
Great signing for the A’s
Marco POLO
Had to admire Estrada’s grit as he pitched through pain the past couple of years, but unfortunately his starts were becoming games of Russian roulette. Glad someone’s giving him a chance, he always seemed a class act. But more motivation for young Jays arms to step up.
I wonder if they were in on Pomeranz? Pomeranz cost the Giants less and seems more likely to have a decent year.
A’s current top 3 starters would be fiers, estrada, and mengden. Theyy are betting on an elite bullpen carrying workload and at some point cotton,luzardo, manaea etc to contribute around midseason. Risky strategy
I LOVE peeing in a trough after drinking a big boy that’s twice as big and half as expensive as anything on offer at Oracle. Oracle is to baseball what the Kardashians are to your soul.
Beer is as expensive in Oakland as is in in SF. You’re getting tricked.
This is a nice deal for the A’s. Some of these older FA that aren’t getting paid are going to end up helping mid to low market teams looking to compete like the A’s and Rays. Interested to see who else they sign to fill out that rotation.