The A’s announced the signing of starter Alex Wood to a one-year free agent contract. The left-hander is reportedly guaranteed $8.5MM with an additional $1MM in performance incentives. Wood is an ACES client.
Wood, who celebrated his 33rd birthday earlier this month, will remain in the Bay Area for Athletics’ final season in Oakland after spending the past three seasons as a member of the Giants. A second-round pick by Altanta during the 2012 draft, spent the first several years of his career as a quality mid-rotation arm for the Braves and Dodgers with a 3.29 ERA (117 ERA+) and 3.36 FIP across 803 1/3 innings of work from 2013 to 2018. Things took a turn for the worse for Wood after he was traded to the Reds as part of a multi-player blockbuster that also sent Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to Cincinnati. The lefty managed just 16 appearances between the 2019 and 2020 seasons and struggled to a 5.96 ERA and 6.02 FIP across the 48 1/3 innings he was able to muster during that time.
That pair of injury-marred campaigns didn’t stop the Giants from taking a chance on Wood, however, and they were rewarded for that decision almost immediately. The lefty made 26 starts for San Francisco in 2021, pitching to a 3.83 ERA with a 3.48 FIP in 138 2/3 innings of work as the Giants stormed to a 107-win season and their first division title since 2012. The club rewarded Wood with a two-year, $25MM contract that offseason, though his second contract in San Francisco was nowhere near as successful as the first.
Wood struggled to a 5.10 ERA in 26 starts with the Giants in 2022 despite peripheral numbers that indicated a much stronger performance, including a career-best 5.4% walk rate paired with solid strikeout and grounder rates. Those struggles led the club to use Wood as a hybrid starter and bulk reliever in 2023. The veteran southpaw recorded more than 12 outs just three times after the month of June last year but struggled in the swing role with a middling 4.33 ERA to go with a 4.47 FIP. Unlike 2022, Wood’s peripherals backed up the lackluster results in 2023 as his walk rate ballooned to 9.8% while his strikeout rate dipped to just 17.2%.
Despite his struggles over the past two seasons, the addition of Wood could be a significant boost for an A’s club that lost 112 games last year thanks in part to a rotation that finished 2023 with a collective ERA of 5.74, worst among major league clubs that do not call Coors Field home. Even Wood’s diminished production of a 4.77 ERA and 4.07 FIP over the past two seasons would be a notable improvement over that figure, and if he recaptures the mid-rotation form he flashed earlier in his career Wood could be a valuable piece for the A’s to flip at the deadline as they continue their rebuild. In the meantime, Wood figures to join JP Sears and Paul Blackburn in the Oakland rotation with the likes of Luis Medina, Joe Boyle, and Joey Estes among the possibilities to round out the club’s starting five.
The deal for Wood takes another starting-caliber arm off of the market for clubs in search of pitching help. Teams in search of starting options can still look to Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery in terms of impact options, but the lower levels of free agency have begun to dwindle with arms like Michael Lorenzen and Hyun Jin Ryu representing some of the next-best options remaining after the top-of-the-market southpaws. As for the A’s, the club has previously indicated they expect to increase payroll over their 2023 figure. Pending the terms of Wood’s deal with the club, RosterResource projects the club for a microscopic $41MM payroll as things stand in 2024, $17MM below where they stood last year. That should leave room for the club to target further rotation additions or perhaps help at shortstop in the run-up to Spring Training next month, though they remain unlikely to shop in the higher tiers of free agency.
Robert Murray of FanSided reported the A’s and Wood had reached agreement. Melissa Locked of the Athletic first reported the $8.5MM guarantee and the $1MM in performance bonuses.
A team I legitimately did not think I’d see in a headline this year.
A’s hot stove replaced by cheap
Electric one burner stove due to
Ny regulations.
Wood is a stud, you can’t see the forest for the trees.
If you call signing Wood a “headline”. On another note, there’s a Puig mention. Wonder why he never got another gig.
Did you see his latest brawl in a game in Venenzuala…crazy.
I used to hate this joke, but now that Fisher and the rest of MLB are abandoning Oakland, it turns out to be, perhaps, prescient.
The Guardians preferred Carrasco
I didn’t think I would see so many comments here as well. The A’s are on a roll baby.
There’s a typo in the article. It says the A’s signed Wood. Please correct and tell us the actual team
Just shows that even the A’s, who have a cheapskate owner, can still sign a player who has shown some ability while a cheap and indifferent owner like reinsdorf won’t even try.
Fedde probably got more money than Wood did from the A’s. But yes it’s time for Uncle Jer to sell.
As a Nats fan, I will be watching Fedde in Chicago with interest.
The A’s are gradually trying to earn their way back into revenue sharing and it’s likely this was a mandatory condition of their probation. This signing and Gott are the equivalent of John Fisher peeing into a cup to prove he’s clean.
Every team has innings to eat. Although he isn’t the best option for that. Must be a cheap option. Wait for contract details.
Their payroll is only 41 million and is 17 million lower than last season. The A’s owners may not have Dodgers money, but they’re def choosing profit over winning with those numbers. Regardless of whether it’s their last season in Oakland. If they had a better team, maybe some Oakland fans would be Vegas fans. Probably not now though because there’s no reason.
Wood actually gets a chance to be a full time starting pitcher, and is basically guaranteed to go to a contender if hes decent. solid
He can also be terrible for a long stretch of time on a purposely tanking team and they’ll keep in him in the rotation, enjoying the losses and seeing if he can turn it around by the trade deadline.
He’ll be on IR soon. Which is why he had to pick Oakland.
How Wood’s fortunes have fallen.
when you career is over…..you either get a call from Bob at Firestone, or the A’s.
Sounds more like he didn’t want to relocate. Also, the money wasn’t going to be much different where ever he signed.
cmanson
At Firestone, you get “re-tired”.
At the A’s, you go to a contender at the trade deadline.
WS champs
Where is Altanta?
Goergia.
Near Folordia. By a mapp ffs.
Buy a spellchecker ffs……jk,jk. I know where the door is.
Not that Alex Wood makes Oakland contenders but now it’s only the Marlins who haven’t signed a player to a major league deal. It says a lot about the state of that team that coming off and unexpected playoff appearance isn’t making an effort to improve. My heart really goes out to fans in Miami and Oakland where ownership doesn’t give 2 sh$@s about the fan base. It’s horrible.
Yeah, been there many of times. We are still looking for a starter or two. But it looks like Pirates are standing pat after the Chapman signing. I feel Miami and Oaklands pain. It’s a tough world we live in now
At least Oakland will be big spenders once they get to Vegas next year. Miami needs support from fans and better ownership. There shouldn’t be any reason that a market like that has to count pennies.
The Vegas ballpark is slated to open in 2028, but is mostly hot air at this point.
If Fisher intended to spend money, he would have done it by now.
I know there’s still “more to come,” but no mention of his time with the Dodgers?
Dodgers to buy A’s, assign entire roster to AA.
Very very few of us give a care about the Evil Empire.
I’m not a Dodgers fan, but an accurate description of Wood’s MLB career, which I would argue is most remembered for his time with LAD, is what I’m wondering about.
There’s an error in the article that says “spent the first several years of his career as a quality mid-rotation arm for the Braves and Giants”. That’s supposed to be Braves and Dodgers.
Yeah I thought that was weird too, His four seasons with the Dodgers were not even mentioned. The article also it made sound like the Giants traded him to the Reds.
Wood’s 2023 numbers might be hinting at a decline but he should still be able to at least match Waldichuk’s lost production. It’s a smart signing to take pressure off the young arms in the rotation, particularly with Mason Miller returning from injury.
This is purely in the hope that he can fake being serviceable starter and can be moved at the deadline for a lottery ticket.
Like the article notes, Wood gives them just three set starters. Someone has to pitch those remaining innings so I don’t buy the notion he’s purely a flip candidate.
He’ll be on IR anyway. They won’t get anything for him. Unless it’s an A-ball player who they strike lightning in a bottle with 5-6 years from now.
A’s acquired one more starting pitcher than the Orioles.
Leaves the A’s with still plenty to spend. If Wood’s deal is around 7mm, I’d like to see the remaining ~10mm go to somebody like Gio Urshela, because we need help at both SS and 3B.
Happy that we got the veteran starter we wanted and needed.
Hard to believe he’s only 33.
A’s owner probably got a call from the commissioner telling the owner that he at least needs to look like his team is trying to be competitive.
The crazy thing is you’re probably not wrong. After we get back into full revenue sharing, suddenly we sign Aledmys Diaz, Jace Peterson, Drew Rucinski, Shintaro Fujinami, Jeurys Familia (lol), Trevor May and Jesus Aguilar who combined to do essentially nothing other than May who was a good closer in the second half and had the greatest retirement speech ever.
The total cost of those contracts? About 35mm, of which we are paying 10mm this season for useless Aledmys and Peterson, who’s on the DBacks.
Anyways to conclude this rant why the heck don’t we just spend money where it makes sense to: on reliable, stable talent? Wood is actually a step towards that but still not a guaranteed positive.
May did give an epic retirement speech !
“Microscopic” describes more than just the A’s payroll…
A’s still making money on TV without selling a seat.
A’s postseason bound. Book a ticket folks.
Watching from the seats doesn’t qualify as post season bound. What happened to mr moneyball?
“Remain in the Bay Area for Athletics’ final season in Oakland” is still up for debate. Whether the move to Vegas happens or not (although it’s admittedly likely it’s not a sure thing) there’s still no plans for the next three seasons after that – Oakland, SF, Salt Lake, Sacramento, Vegas and maybe even Reno are all in consideration.
A’s have entered the market — watch out they may swoop in and get the stable of Boras clients
Good. He can give them agita.
Wood getting ready to play in Asia….
Best wishes Alex! Loved you in Atlanta and good to see you make a god long run.
His Forecasted Run Average is sitting around 5.14.
BR has him at 4.54 and ZIPS at 4.28 which are below-average numbers. But consider that Blackburn had a 4.43 and Sears a 4.54 and they’re considered “guarantees” in this rotation.
Point is Wood, despite the so-so projections, probably figures to be a 3rd back-end type guy in the rotation which is pretty important for a team that had zero stability in the 3, 4, 5 slots last year.
@letsgooakland123
I’d agree with BR. I think we’re looking at a 4.50-5.00 ERA range.
Alex wood with the up and down career. If he didn’t have that should injury early on he’d be a better starter. #1 era for the dodger, a couple of decent seasons for the giants and Braves but inconsistent.
Throws with his left arm, will travel.
A’s ownership is an embarrassment.
Imagine if A-Wood A-Cobb and L_Webb didn’t learn the Roger Beshens football slider? They would be out of baseball.
That would make a very bad law firm. Wood, Webb and Cobb.
Roger also prevented, Holmes, Keller, Taillon from being an eventually very bad law firm down the road.
Wait what?! My head now hurts very badly.
The author totally missed the fact that Wood was traded from the Braves to the Dodgers and pitched for LA from 2015-2018. He won a World Series game in Houston in 2017 because he suspected the cheating and worked out a complicated sign code with catcher Austin Barnes, which silenced the trash can/buzzers.
He didn’t play for SF until 2021.
Where’s Alex going to eat in Oakland? The restaurants are closing!
If I had 20 million I could find better ways to spend it than on Stripling Wood. I like Wood better. Cheaper. Didn’t take a prospect. Better odds for more innings. Then again California is expensive and Oakland might be the last MLB team I would want to go to. So fair enough contract for Wood.
One things for certain, John Fisher definitely has tons of shares of META. Only way he could afford this deal.
Good trade deadline candidate to contender with decent first half. Solid move on his behalf