Oakland A's in Agreement with Former San Francisco Giants Pitcher

The A's have brought a left-hander across the Bay

The Oakland A's have been fairly quiet this winter, but according to Robert Murray, they have made their third big-league signing of the off-season, bringing aboard Alex Wood. In addition to Trevor Gott, this is Oakland's second for Giant addition this off-season.

The 33-year-old left-hander most recently spent three seasons with the San Francisco Giants, going 23-21 and posting a 4.41 ERA with a 1.270 WHIP. This will be Wood's 12th Major League season.

Last year with the Giants he was used in more of a hybrid role, starting 12 games out of his 29 appearances, totaling 97 2/3 innings with a 4.33 ERA, which was exactly league average. 

While the A's ranked 29th in ERA a year ago, this is an interesting move for the club. Three starters are already written in for 2024 in JP Sears, Paul Blackburn, and Luis Medina, who is out of options and must remain on the 26-man roster or be subject to waivers where any team can claim him.

Beyond those three, you have Ken Waldichuk, whose status for spring training is up in the air, but when healthy he should be a rotation lock. Then you would have to choose between fellow free agent signing Osvaldo Bido, who held a 5.83 ERA in a little over 50 innings with the Pirates, or Joe Boyle, who dazzled in his 16 innings in the big leagues late last season, but also has a history of control issues. Mitch Spence is another option, and the projections like him, but he'll also be making his MLB debut in 2024. 

The Oakland A's players and coaches definitely want to improve after consecutive 100+ loss campaigns heading in to 2024, but they are also trying to balance giving enough time to the younger players as well. 

How Wood fits into the pitching mix could be interesting. 

If he's amenable to working out of the bullpen, then that could put someone like Kyle Muller, a fellow lefty, in jeopardy. Muller, like Medina, is out of options and would be subject to the waiver wire if he were pushed from the roster. 

For a team looking to improve this season, this isn't a bad move. Wood should provide some reliability when he's on the mound, and the A's certainly didn't have that on a consistent basis last year.