The Athletics announced the signing of free agent left-hander Scott Alexander to a one-year contract. Left-hander Ken Waldichuk, who’s recovering from a flexor strain and UCL sprain, has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. Alexander, a client of Apex Baseball, is reportedly guaranteed $2.25MM. The deal includes up to $300K in performance incentives and an unspecified assignment bonus in the event of a trade.
The 34-year-old Alexander is the third recent member of the Giants pitching staff to head across the bay to Oakland, joining righty Ross Stripling and lefty Alex Wood. Stripling was traded to the A’s earlier this month in a deal that sent 2023 sixth-rounder Jonah Cox back to the Giants. Wood inked a one-year, $8.5MM deal at that same time. They’ll both pitch out of the rotation, whereas Alexander figures to head to the Oakland bullpen.
Alexander spent the past two years in the Giants’ bullpen and has appeared in parts of four seasons with the Dodgers (where he was also teammates with Stripling and Wood) and another three with the Royals as well. He sports a career 3.29 ERA in 270 2/3 big league innings, though last year was a down season that saw the southpaw turn in a career-high 4.66 ERA in 48 1/3 frames for San Francisco.
Alexander has never missed many bats, instead relying on a sinker that’s produced a mammoth 68.4% ground-ball rate to help him neutralize opposing lineups. He battled command issues earlier in his career but has reined in the walks over the past three seasons, issuing a free pass to just 4.7% of his opponents during that time. He’s also recorded a 14.5% strikeout rate that ranks among the lowest in the league. Even with the lack of punchouts, fielding-independent metrics feel Alexander’s 3.56 ERA dating back to 2021 is generally in line with his skill set. He touts a 3.47 FIP and 3.53 SIERA in that time, both right in line with his earned run average.
Throughout his career, Alexander has shown a noticeable platoon split. Left-handed hitters have mustered a miserable .218/.274/.311 batting line against him through 442 plate appearances, while right-handed hitters have turned in a far better .275/.349/.377 slash.
With this signing, Alexander joins righty Trevor Gott and fellow southpaw Sean Newcomb as the most experienced relievers in the Oakland bullpen. The Giants tended to use him in lower-leverage spots and even deployed Alexander as an opener on eight occasions in 2023, but he’s worked in higher-leverage spots in the past, including a 2018 season that saw him pile up a career-high 21 holds for the Dodgers. Given the youth and inexperience in Oakland’s bullpen, Alexander ought to get some more leverage opportunities with the A’s than he did with the Giants. Flamethrowing 25-year-old Mason Miller, who made his MLB debut in 2023, is perhaps the favorite to take the closer’s role in 2024 after GM David Forst announced he’d work out of the ’pen this coming season, but Alexander could be a notable piece of Oakland’s setup corps in 2024.
Martín Gallegos of MLB.com first noted that Alexander had a locker in the Oakland clubhouse. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reported the sides had agreed to a major league deal. The Associated Press reported the $2.25MM base salary and the bonuses.
3 ex dodgers in exile. Poor guys.
And 3 ex giants they can live in same area, don’t have to move.
A’s bounded for… WS?
The A’s in February 2024 are much much better than the A’s of February 2023. I’ll take it
Sweeping up ALL of the Giants castoffs I see. At least they’ll have some veterans on the team to lead the young players as they host home games in the Chuck E Cheese parking lot
A bit surprised he wasn’t signed earlier and the only team seemingly interested was the A’s. Solid lefty relievers with extreme ground-ball tendencies are normally valued. I know he had an off year for him, but seems like someone worth taking a shot on.
I think he’s a fine reliever, that being said when the previous team is so close I wouldn’t look at it as the A’s may have had the most interest but also maybe they’re interest was comparable to other clubs and now he doesn’t have to move or change scenery since it’s just right across the bay.
Plus he grew up in Sonoma County. Bay Area guy in general.
Very
Solid
Move
Damn this dude got a major league deal from a minor league team
A’s were one of 4 100-loss teams last year. They won’t lose 100 again this year
105?
PECOTA has them pegged for 98 losses this year, so maybe you’re right.
In 2023, guy’s FRA sat around 4.99, so for a reliever, that’s really not great. Strange thing for him is his K% has been up-and-down his whole career, a sign of some inconsistencies when it comes to striking guys out. Something you want in a BP guy. Oddly enough, his BB% was the lowest in 2023 and top 10 in the league, so control doesn’t seem to be an issue since 2021. He’s slightly underperforming his ERA so I’d expect some regression from the mean but not much.
Guessing a few bats (Cooper? Anderson?) may sign with A’s, having exhausted every other avenue…
I think we need to get ONE bat, to cover 3rd base. That’s enough veterans, any more would block Hernaiz/Harris/Schuemann/whoever.
“Alexander’s 3.56 ERA dating back to 2021 is generally in line with his skill set. He touts a 3.47 FIP and 3.53 SIERA in that time, both right in line with his earned run average.”
Took a while, but we got there
Why only post the FIP here through
Why not post FIP any time ERA is posted
Or, better yet, quit posting ERA, post FIP instead and educate your readers on how ERA measures team performance more than it measures individual performance and why FIP is better
Then we’ll start moving on to FIP-
FIP — Fielding Independent Pitching
this stat measures a pitcher’s effectiveness at preventing HR, BB, HBP and causing SO
(13*HR + 3*(BB+HBP) – 2*SO)/IP + Constantlg
The constant is set so that each season major-league average FIP is the same as the major-league avg ERA
FIP is what he would do without fielders. ERA is reality, for those that can handle it. Got it.
stymee, the point should be that ERA is comparable to FIP only if the pitcher has a great defense behind him. Yes, I’m an ERA guy. ERA is what I always check first. Funny thing is, bad D, even though it shouldn’t affect ERA still does. A long inning, due to bad D, that results in unearned runs, tires a pitcher out. Extra pitches. That subsequently affects him causing earned runs. FIP then could carry more weight as a stat that can be more reliable. It kinda eliminates the variables I just covered. I guess my point, which I’ve probably done a poor job of making, is that I’m used to a high ERA reflecting bad pitching ONLY. And a high ERA could still be paired with a low FIP.
He looks identical to the Drew Pomeranz photo above. Weird
so the A’s have scott alexander, wood, stripling, gott – guess they must be kicking themselves they missed on brebbia and manaea since they seem to be trying to get as many ex giants as they can.
There’s still time to get Manaea!! :]
Only if they Mets trade him.
Crawford and Belt reunion – A’s can make it work!!
Kyle Muller’s roster spot is in major jeopardy
(He’s out of options)
I know. I don’t like this move. Bullpen would be:
Miller
Erceg
Jimenez
Jackson
Gott
Alexander
Bido, with a ML deal?
Spence, Rule 5 pick who must be on the roster all season?
Muller, who still has real potential?
Boyle, 1.69 ERA in last year’s cameo?
Felipe, good stuff with an okk ERA last year?
Newcomb, with a ML deal?
Obviously this is going to squeeze some people out since that’s 13 candidates, 6 of whom are locks for 8 spots/2 non-locks.
Another good signing by A’s. A’s are going places….. to Vegas in 3 years
I like how a Pirates fan is making jokes about the A’s. You got a plethora of number 1 and first round picks and have failed to be competitive for decades.
@JohnnyVander oh so bitter lol. It was the Pirates or A’s moving to Vegas. It was a matter of time and the A’s beat the Pirates to the punch. After the lease is up at PNC Park and the Pirates are sold, they will be moved. Baseball is dying in Pittsburgh for decades of poor baseball. Fans are dying out. There might be as many fans for the Pirates as there is for A’s fans showing up at games. Which is what, 8?
Kind of weird how you’re talking about how bitter he is and then immediately dissing your own team.
And for the record it’s 27,759 fans.
@letsgooakland everyone in baseball knows how bad things are in Pittsburgh. 3 winning seasons in 33 years is the worst in all of sports. Not a single postseason win in nearly 50 years.
At this point in the next 3 years, the A’s moving to Vegas is as likely to happen as the Pirates making the NLCS
Time to get Belt in a A’s uniform got to make 5 ex giants happen!
$2.5mm? That’s like 40% of the A’s payroll.
.50 ERA less, and the Tigers hire him for $14-16M..