OAKLAND — The A’s find themselves in an improbable playoff hunt this season on the strengths of a strong offense and bullpen. The latter just got even more talented.
The A’s have acquired reliever Jeurys Familia from the New York Mets in exchange for two minor leaguers and $1 million in international slot money. Right-handed pitcher Bobby Wahl and third baseman Will Toffey are the two prospects heading to New York.
Familia, 28 has saved 17 games for the Mets this season and is 4-4 with a 2.88 ERA in 40 games. The hard-throwing right-hander has racked up 43 strikeouts with just 14 walks over 40 2/3 innings of work.
“For already having a good bullpen, to be able to bring in an arm like this is pretty significant,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll figure out how we’re gonna go with it. I’ll certainly talk with him before I say how this is gonna be deployed as far as what innings for who, but a really significant pick up for us.”
Toffey is the rated as the A’s No. 17 prospect by MLB.com and Wahl has already spent a short time in the majors. The A’s managed to hold onto their top prospects, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given that Familia is pretty much a rental player who will be eligible for free agency next season.
This is a new feeling for the A’s. After trading away several fan favorites over the past few seasons, the club finds itself in a playoff race, four games behind the Seattle Mariners for the second American League wild card spot entering Saturday night’s game against the Giants.
Even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, becoming buyers wasn’t a slam dunk for A’s general manager David Forst. But after going 7-3 against Cleveland, Houston, and San Francisco on the road to finish off the All-Star break with a record of 55-42, the latest in a year they’ve been 13 games above .500 since making the playoffs in 2014, Forst felt the club deserved a chance to get a boost as they look to end their three-year playoff drought.
“The thing about this part of the season is you’re sort of past the marathon phase,” Forst said. “This is a sprint now through August and September and all you have to do is play well for another 60 games.”
The addition of Familia only strengthens the back end of the A’s bullpen, which already features the impressive duo of All-Star closer Blake Treinen and set up man Lou Trivino. The A’s remain the only team in baseball yet to lose a game when leading after seven innings (38-0) and have also not lost a game when leading after eight (46-0) this season.
With a starting rotation that’s been pieced together this season with 12 different starting pitchers, the A’s mission is clear with this move — Put as little pressure on the starters as possible. If they can get six quality innings out of their starting pitchers, that now sets up for a final three innings of Familia, Trivino, and Treinen.
Familia has been especially tough on right-handed batters this year, holding them to a .185 batting average. Lefties have had a bit more success against the former All-Star, hitting .288.
The velocity on Familia’s fastball has dropped a bit from the triple-digits it used to hit just a couple of years ago when he led the National League in saves with 51 in 2016, but it’s still a plus-pitch for him around 97 mph. His signature pitch has always been his splitter, which features nasty movement and has been clocked between 91-94 mph.
“We thought he was the best guy out there,” Forst said. “Obviously the guys have played great and I’ve been very open about how I feel like they deserve an opportunity and adding a reliever right now we felt was the best option.”
Aside from giving the club a deeper bullpen, Familia’s presence will also allow Melvin the chance to avoid having to wear out the arms of Trivino and Treinen, who are both on pace to register their most innings thrown in a single season.
“It allows us to break it up a little bit and have a full complement in the bullpen and in the fifth or sixth innings run a bunch of closers out there,” Melvin said. “It all depends on where we had been, how many guys we had used before and so forth. It allows us to give guys a bit of a rest.”
The A’s might not be done making moves before the July 31 trade deadline. Forst said starting pitching is still an area they would like to explore, but noted the price for starters in this market in terms of both prospects and money is expensive.
“We’re still talking about a starter but it’s a tough market for starters,” Forst said. “This was a way to continue to shorten up the game and help our starters that way.”
Toffey, 23, was drafted by the A’s in the fourth round of the 2017 draft and is batting .244 with five home runs and 32 RBIs in 48 games at Single-A Stockton this season.
Wahl, 26, was 3-2 with 11 saves and a 2.27 ERA in 34 appearances at Triple-A Nashville this season, striking out 65 batters over 39 2/3 innings.
