A's add left-hander Alexander to bullpen on 1-year deal

MESA, Ariz. — The A’s opened up Spring Training on Wednesday with a new addition to their bullpen, agreeing to a one-year deal with left-handed reliever Scott Alexander. To clear space on the 40-man roster, left-hander Ken Waldichuk was placed on the 60-day injured list with a strained left elbow.

Alexander, 34, spent last season with the Giants, recording a 4.66 ERA and 3.26 FIP over 48 1/3 innings. The left-hander holds a career 3.29 ERA in 283 appearances (13 starts) across nine big league seasons with the Royals, Dodgers and Giants.

With a shortage of left-handed relievers on the current roster -- Hogan Harris, Easton Lucas and Sean Newcomb are the only other southpaws in camp with Major League relief experience -- Alexander immediately becomes one of Oakland’s top lefty bullpen options.

Few pitchers were better than Alexander at keeping the ball on the ground last season. His 65.2 percent ground-ball rate ranked in the 98th percentile of all Major League relievers, while the 57.4 percent ground-ball rate on his sinker was second highest among all qualified relievers in the Majors.

The addition of Alexander continues the A’s focus of bringing in experienced pitchers in hopes of taking a step forward in 2024 after back-to-back 100-loss seasons. He joins a group of veteran newcomers that includes Alex Wood, Ross Stripling and Trevor Gott.

“We added some veteran guys that I think we lacked last year on the pitching side,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Gott and Alexander give us two veteran guys in the bullpen that can help from an experience standpoint. I think the moves that we did make from a pitching side are going to help us.”