The Athletics added some left-handed pop to their lineup, announcing on Tuesday that they’ve signed first baseman/designated hitter Mitch Moreland to a one-year deal. The Paragon Sports International client will reportedly be guaranteed $2.25MM on the deal and can earn another $250K worth of incentives.
Moreland may be 35 years old, but he’s turned in the best work of his career at the plate over the past two seasons. In 487 plate appearances between the Red Sox and Padres in that time, Moreland has slashed .256/.333/.521 with 29 home runs, 26 doubles and a triple. He’s also boosted his walk rate north of 10 percent in the past few years after previously sitting around seven percent for the bulk of his career, and the uptick in power and free passes hasn’t come with any discernible increase in strikeouts (21.8 percent).
At this point in his career, Moreland’s glovework likely isn’t as good as it was at its Gold Glove peak, but that’s not much of an issue in Oakland, where Matt Olson is among the game’s best defenders at the position. He’ll give them a veteran with a solid defensive track record in the event that Olson misses any time, but Moreland figures to see time as the primary designated hitter for the A’s now that Khris Davis has been traded to Texas in a trade that brought Elvis Andrus to Oakland.
Moreland has never hit left-handed pitching well and is typically shielded from facing southpaws too much, so he’ll likely be deployed in a platoon setting. The A’s don’t have an obvious right-handed-hitting platoon partner at the moment — Chad Pinder likely in a platoon at second base — so it’s possible they could yet look to the market to bring in an affordable righty bat or switch-hitter to pair with Moreland.
Moreland joins Trevor Rosenthal, Yusmeiro Petit and Sergio Romo as recent additions on one-year deals, bringing the Oakland payroll up to a still-modest $85MM in total. It had been a near-silent offseason for the A’s, but it seems their ability to shed the Davis contract and a flooded free-agent market still full of veterans seeking deals has pushed ownership to begin spending a bit.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the deal (via Twitter). Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com first reported the financials.
Career .902 OPS at Oakland Coliseum in 192 PA.
Good thing the A’s never play on the road.
good thing they play half of their games at home…
Good thing coffee exists, or I wouldn’t be awake enough to be bored by the same old back and forth.
you realize its 81 and 81 they split
It doesnt matter, the trolling matters more to types like zacharydmanprin, logic goes totally out the window when trying to make anything I write look bad. Really wish MLBTR would hand out some IP bans, tbh, these clowns never add anything to the convo and are here to troll and only to troll.
@marty
You can help by not responding to them. Trolls do what they do to get a reaction.
@marty @mlbtr
You asked for my comments to be taken down? Because they are. I did not insult you. Mlbtr seriously review my three comments.
It’s an open forum of discussion and I never even targeted you, I just replied to the thread to Zachary, which I stated, and you proceeded to “tell on me” for something I didn’t do. I simply have less respect to what you have to say on here now. Thanks for targeting me to get attention, Marty.
Imagine thinking 192 PA over an entire career means anything lol….
The homeruns have all been tragic too.
What’s his home numbers against the A’s. Maybe he just liked hitting against Oakland pitching as compared to hitting in their park.
This thread is a wild ride
Wow so many cheap deals around the league. Veterans like Asdrubal Cabrea also got only 3 mil. PlAyers are getting minor league contracts. A few years ago, this deal would be at least 6 mil.
Meh. There has been some spending–drew smyly anyone? Moreland is not what he used to be, and honestly surprised Cabrera is still around.
early offseason guys get paid and late offseason guys end up getting less. It’s the typical flow of the offseason.
Yeah exactly and its hard for us to know all the details, maybe somebody offered Mitch 5 million back in November and he was holding out for 2 years for 11 mil at that point in time or something, so many unknowns.
I get it. But a veteran who can hit you 25 hr.At least 5 mil. Asdrubal is a good ball player also. But there have been many bad deals for ridiculous money. so I guess I get it
You’re right, he’s actually better than he used to be, walks more. He’s good defensively and a good situational hitter. Can almost carry a team during streaks in the first half of the season, then settles back down to his career numbers over the second half. Postseason mirrors regular season against better pitching.
Sideline – Please don’t remind me of Smyly, it makes my stomach queasy. I think AA thought the pitching market would be more expensive & he jumped too early & for too much $$$.
Nice signing. Well done Oakland. Upgrade at DH, can still play 1B and makes the lineup a little deeper.
Yea for Mitchy 2 bags! If he can stay healthy he will be hitting .275 with a .510 slugging pct by the trade deadline, and the As will flip him for a very good prospect. I wish we had saved room for him on the RedSox. Top class, and consummate professional. Thanks for the last 4? Years in Boston, and best of luck in the future.
The A’s haven’t been in “sell” mode at the trade deadline for 3 years
Solid signing IMO, there’s our DH.
I was a Krush Davis fan, but I would bet Moreland outperforms him this season. At least in $/WAR
good get. cheap productive hitter who also fits the mold of a strong defender as Oakland likes (meaning he can swap places with Olson to take some of the 1B load off him)
Olson doesn’t need to take any load off, he will probably play 162 games at 1B if healthy. Moreland is there only in case of injury to Olson, and to otherwise DH or sub in the COF spots. Despite his gold glove snub to the clearly inferior/all-hype Evan White doesn’t mean Olson still isn’t the best in the game at 1B. Moreland’s also getting old, defense doesn’t age well. He will very most likely be a DH-only. Great pickup though, the A’s need more veterans like him, they’re still a super young team overall.
Moreland has always been a good fielder at 1B, although he just went to the team with the best defensive 1B’man in the game. DH and can provide backup and rest for Olson. Good signing.
Big improvement over Khrush and it’s a cheap signing that excites Oakland’s ownership.
As an A’s fan, I like this signing – Mitch KILLS the A’s, plus he’s left-handed. I actually prefer this signing over Edwin Encarnacion (which I was anticipating)
Good move all around; Mitchy 2-bags is still a solid defender, will pop a few. And he’s highly professional; Melvin will love him. Fair price, too; actually relatively cheap for the total package you get with Mooreland.
I wondered when a team would sign this guy. He’s nails, Good fielder, quality ABs, and when he’s hot forget it. The As will again surprise a lot of folks
Not to oversimplify, but if you compare this squad to the 2020 opening day squad, they lose Hendriks, Soria, Davis, and Semien, and gain Moreland, Andrus, Kolarek, Romo, and Lowrie. Davis was so bad that moving him is addition by subtraction. Semien was also awful in the regular season. Hendriks was a monster and will be missed, but at least is replaced by Kolarek, Romo, and a healthy Puk. This team can still compete
Great comment, I’m looking at this offseason very similarly. Hendriks was the biggest loss of the offseason by far. I’m hoping Diekman is able to fill that void nicely. Think the A’s offseason started off very rough but definitely ended nicely with several of these signings.
They will definitely make the playoffs if healthy, but as usual they won’t get far, because their owner refuses to spend his billions to get them over the line.
1.6M fans, even with a great team. Maybe the fans should start supporting the team, instead of asking for the owner to support the fans.
More like demand, I’m so sick of A’s fans blaming their lack of championships on everything but their stingy cheap ownership
It’s always bewildered me, it’s been the same issue for over a decade now and they still blame the Giants or the Yankees or the Astros or some other boogeymen when the ring killer is in their house!
A question for A’s diehards since they are more often than not a good team. If the owner magically doubled their payroll to sign some pricier long-term players here and there, what realistic attendance increase would you expect in a season? It seems like the owner perceives not much, whether that is fair or not. Could be he’s stingy, but also conveniently correct regardless of his fortune made outside of the club.
I think if the A’s were to shift their model to retain their young talent (Chapman, Olson, Laureano, Luzardo, etc) I could see attendance go back to what it was in the late 80s and early 90s, between 2.5-3 million. The population in the Bay Area is significantly larger now than it was then.
I think movement on the new ball park would also need to take place so that fans know they won’t be rooting for the Portland A’s in a couple of years.
JoeBrady:
What do you know, and why do you care? Worry more about your Redsox not cheating
As a diehard, I really don’t think it matters who they sign long term. The issue is truly the Coliseum. It really is a terrible place to watch a ball game. Mount Davis is an eyesore. The foul ground puts us even farther back than almost any MLB park. Don’t get me wrong, the Coliseum holds a special place in my heart, but I used to go to games where there was no Mount Davis and you had a beautiful view of the hills (that’s why attendance was good in the 80’s-early 90’s, good team and a better place to watch than “the stick”) Bottom line is the stadium. Just look at the team across the bay. They had similar issues with Candlestick. They move into a new beautiful stadium…Boom attendance issue fixed.
pssst. Pinder is right handed. They’d be searching for a left handed platoon partner for him.
He was mentioning Pinder as a possible right handed platoon at DH with Moreland…
Players who are considered to have real upside are still getting paid, although it might be for a shorter term.. Players who are dispensable, generic types (like Moreland) are available for what, in other seasons, be seen as a significant discount. He’s likely a solid signing, just not a well-paid one
Good for Mitch. Hated to see him leave Rangers after ‘16 season.
Obviously they didn’t need Moreland, with Olson, and probably picked Moreland up just to flip him again at the trade deadline for a prospect.
Moreland is a very good under the radar player.
Oakland is trying to win the division again. No way Moreland was signed to “flip at the deadline”. He’ll DH and spell Olson, on what should be a pretty good baseball team.
That seems to be a meme among posters this year; that everyone is being acquired to be flipped.
Who did the A’s “flip” last year at the deadline? The year before last? Oak has been buyers at the deadline for the last couple of years. They are not looking at selling with this team.
Good for Mitch and good for Oakland. Loved him in Boston.
ཀྵ
This is why the A’s are always competing. He’s, at worse, an average hitter who can work in a platoon.
Sneaky good pick ups for the A’s with Moreland and Rosenthanal
Oakland will squeeze the most they can get out of this guy.
$250 in incentives? Might as well give the guy 2.5 and let him do his thing.
oh, it the A’s.
Moreland is not going to be full time DH.
I like it. Good for Mitch, was hoping he would come back to Boston but after signing Marwin Gonzalez that went out the window. The A’s got themselves a good one
Watched Moreland when he came to Oakland when he was with the Rangers. He killed the A’s during those years. This is a great pick up
This is such an Oakland move if I’ve ever seen one. He’s an on base machine.. really good pickup for them. At his age though, always have sharp decline in the back of your mind
Good for Mitch, as a Red Sox fan I respect him as a player and he’s also been a great guy for the community and clubhouse so I’m glad to see him get a solid gig with the Athletics. I’m not overly disappointed he isn’t returning to the Red Sox, I think they have better internal options at first (or at least I’d like to see Dalbec get a legitimate chance to see if he can really hit for the kind of power he’s displayed in the minors) but having said that, as stated above I am happy for him that he’s going to get a chance for every day at bats more or less. He’s a good guy and hard worker and deserves it.
Good for them. It’s always nice to see the A’s still making additions (Rosenthal, Moreland) despite their economic limitations. Unlike the Pirates of the world, they always try to compete.
Balls! Really wanted to see him back in Boston. Mitchy2Bags is always a solid pickup. Have fun A’s fans. He’s a good one.
Mitchy Two-Bags will outperform his contract.
The rich get richer
I wrote this guy off when he left Texas but he keeps kicking
This will probably look great at seasons end for Oakland at those dollars.
If Lowrie was actually healthy, that’d be a HUGE boost for the A’s
vs RHP:
1. Laureano, CF
2. Lowrie, 2B
3. Chapman, 3B
4. Olson, 1B
5. Canha, LF
6. Moreland, DH
7. Piscotty, RF
8. Murphy, C
9. Andrus, SS
vs LHP-
1. Laureano, CF
2. Lowrie, DH
3. Chapman, 3B
4. Olson, 1B
5. Canha, LF
6. Piscotty, RF
7. Murphy, C
8. Pinder, 2B
9. Andrus, SS
Agreed. Second base is really the only question mark now, and Jed was our best hitter over the two-year span 2017-18. Man, these lineups you posted look awfully good, especially with the backdrop of excellent starting rotation (assuming health) and a suddenly formidable bullpen. I am a lot more optimistic than a week ago, and a healthy Jed could really put us over the top.