How Should the A's Build Their Bullpen for 2025?

The Athletics have always prioritized the bullpen, now, with the lineup coming together, how can they build a bullpen to help the team make a playoff push in 2025?

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher Mason Miller (19) celebrates after defeating the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Athletics bullpen was solid in 2024; they ranked in the top 15 in many statistics and were called upon a lot this season with all of the inconsistencies from the A's rotation. With that being said, there is room for improvement, but how do they get there?

The A's bullpen was highlighted by their 2024 All-Star, Mason Miller, who set the All-Star Game record with the fastest pitch at 103.6 mph. All season, his fastball averaged 100.9 mph, ranking as one of the fastest averages in baseball. Miller finished 2024 with a 2.49 ERA, 104 strikeouts, and 28 saves in 65 innings.

Before the season, there were rumors that the A's might consider stretching Miller back out and using him as a starter in 2025. However, considering how dominant Miller was in 2024, helping the A's win close games, and his health was good all year, it would be tough to lose his presence in the bullpen.

Miller told A's on SI as the season wound down that he knew that if he pitched like he knew he could, returning to the rotation may not be an option. GM David Forst confirmed that Miller would be in the bullpen in 2025 at the team's end-of-season media session.

The A's bullpen struggled with walks in 2024, walking 262 batters, which ranks 5th worst in baseball. Consequently, the A's had the 7th worst K/BB ratio at 2.31, despite ranking 13th in strikeouts with 605. In terms of rates, the strikeout rate was 23.8%, which was 13th-best in MLB, while their walk rate of 10.3% ranked 26th.

The A's have three relief pitchers hitting free agency this winter: left-hander T.J. McFarland, 2nd in innings pitched on the A's (56.2); left-hander Scott Alexander, 2.56 ERA and .161 AVG against lefties; right-hander Trevor Gott, missed 2024 season with Tommy John surgery. Ross Stripling is set to become a free agent as well; he appeared out of the bullpen towards the end of the season in a long-relief role.

Right-handers Austin Adams and Dany Jiménez are set for arbitration as well, with their values estimated to be at $1.7 million and $1 million, respectively. Adams is a player that should be brought back, especially at that price tag. Jiménez, on the other hand, has struggled to stay healthy, and the A's could probably sign someone cheaper or look in-house for a replacement.

The A's will have to be active in free agency to fill the void of those pitchers, barring any of them re-signing with the team. However, they will need to get creative with how they sign pitchers, as they will need as many 40-man roster spots as possible to get them through the winter.

As it stands now, there looks to be four players who will for sure be a part of the 2025 bullpen: right-handers Mason Miller, Tyler Ferguson, Michel Otañez, and Grant Holman. All of them were major contributors to the A's in some fashion this season. Therefore, the A's will need to fill four open spots in the bullpen, preferably some pitchers with high spin rates, to complement the high velocity the A's already have, or low walk rates to address the problem they had last season. Unfortunately, all of them are right-handed pitchers, meaning the A's will need to look into adding some lefties to the 'pen.

Left-hander Hogan Harris, who pitched his best season in 2024 by far, could be an option. The A's used Harris as both a starter and a reliever, but specifically as a reliever, Harris pitched 26.2 innings, recording a 3.04 ERA, striking out 27, and posting 1.16 WHIP. McFarland and Alexander would also be options, considering they were with the team last season.

If the A's want to look in-house to fill the remaining spots in the bullpen, they have a plethora of options. Starters Joe Boyle, Brady Basso, Kyle Muller, Osvaldo Bido, and Ken Waldichuk (who is coming off of Tommy John) are all options and may perform better as relievers. Minor-league relievers Will Klein, Pedro Santos, and Jack Cushing could be options as well.

There are some solid options in free agency if the A's elect to go that route. Forst recently said that the A's payroll will increase next season, leaving the door open for the A's to spend some money on the bullpen. With that being said, it will be hard to convince free agents to come play for a team with such an uncertain future, and the trade market may be a better path than free agency in terms of acquiring upgrades. However, here are some potential bullpen targets for the A's via free agency and trade.

Free Agency Target: Lucas Sims, Right-Handed Pitcher
Market Value (via Spotrac): $3.9 million

Aug 24, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Lucas Sims (39) pitches during the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images / Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Lucas Sims was traded to the Boston Red Sox at the deadline and did not perform well during his time with the team. With Boston, he had a 6.43 ERA in 14 innings, but overall, on the season, he carried a 4.38 ERA in 49.1 innings. Sims has a six-pitch arsenal but mainly only throws four pitches: Sweeper (43.1%), Four Seamer (31.4%), Cutter (15.5%), and Curveball (7.1%).

According to Baseball Savant, Sims ranks 1st in Sweeper spin at 3150 RPMs, 9th in Cutter spin at 2740 RPMs, and 3rd in Curve spin at 3229 RPMs. Sims has a lot of movement on his pitches and would pair very nicely with the A's high-velocity relievers, giving opposing hitters a different look late in games. Sims has struggled with walks in his career, which would hurt the A's as that is their biggest problem.

Free Agency Target: Caleb Ferguson, Left-Handed Pitcher
Market Value (via Spotrac): $1.4 million

Sep 7, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson (64) reacts after being relieved from the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the seventh inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images / Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Caleb Ferguson was traded to the Houston Astros at the trade deadline and performed better with them than he did with his previous team, the New York Yankees. Ferguson finished the year with a 4.64 ERA in 54.1 innings but maintained a 26.9 K% and 10.0 BB%. He mainly throws four pitches: Four Seamer (43.3%), Cutter (26.5%), Slurve (20.2%), and Sinker (9.8%).

Ferguson ranks 2nd in Slurve spin at 2946 RPMs behind Kansas City Royals starter Seth Lugo. Ferguson would be another reliever who would complement the A's high velocity. The A's may look to take a chance on him and see if they can get Ferguson back to what he displayed in 2022-2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he held a combined 2.84 ERA between the two seasons across 95 innings.

Trade Target: Huascar Brazobán, Right-Handed Pitcher
Current Team: New York Mets

Sep 24, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Huascar Brazoban (43) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Huascar Brazobán was acquired by the New York Mets at the trade deadline from the Miami Marlins. With the Mets, Brazobán did not have much success, posting a 5.14 ERA in 21 innings. However, what might be intriguing for the A's is that Brazobán has the lowest exit velocity allowed in baseball at 82.3 mph. This is notable and important because the A's are moving to a Triple-A ballpark next season, where the ball flies out with more ease than MLB parks.

He throws all his pitches relatively evenly, his Changeup is about 28% of the time, while his Cutter, Sinker, and Four Seamer are in the low 20% range. He also allows low batting averages against his Changeup (.176), Cutter (.154), and Four Seamer (.147). Brazobán should not cost the A's too much in a trade, and could work out to be effective for them if acquired. He is also not a free agent until 2029, and the A's love players with control.

The A's have a lot of different paths they could go down when trying to build their bullpen for 2025. If they have any plans to be competitive next season and potentially push for the playoffs in what seems to be a weakened AL West, building a deep bullpen with a mix of different pitchers is how many teams take that next step towards contention.