Oakland A’s acquire pitcher Homer Bailey from Royals
A new starter to reinforce a thin rotation
The Oakland A’s acquired starting pitcher Homer Bailey from the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, the team announced. The deal was first reported by insider Jeff Passan. The A’s will send minor league infielder Kevin Merrell to the Royals, and they will eventually need to make a 40-man roster move to make room for their new acquisition.
This has been a bounce-back season for Bailey. The right-hander threw just 231 total innings between 2015-18 due to a series of arm injuries, but he’s made 18 starts for Kansas City this year. His results have only been mediocre, but he’s at least stayed healthy.
Bailey, 2019: 4.80 ERA, 90 ip, 81 Ks, 38 BB, 12 HR, 4.47 FIP
While those stats don’t jump off the page, his FIP is exactly the MLB average for starters, and his 97 ERA+ is basically average too. Over his last six starts, three of which were quality efforts, he’s got a 2.83 ERA in 35 innings, albeit those outings mostly came against weak competition.
Bailey spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the Cincinnati Reds, for whom he threw two no-hitters and earned a $105 million contract. However, Tommy John surgery shelved him in the second and third years of that deal, and a subsequent operation to remove bone spurs from the same elbow cost him half of 2017. He returned to make 20 starts last summer but was ineffective, with a 6.09 ERA and 5.55 FIP.
Bailey is still in the final year of that massive contract, but it’s irrelevant as far as the A’s are concerned. He was acquired by the Dodgers as a salary dump last winter and then immediately released, meaning Los Angeles is on the hook for the rest of the money. He signed with the Royals on a minor league contract and Oakland will only need to pay a pro-rated portion of the league minimum, totaling around $250,000 according to Passan.
Bailey, 2010-14: 3.86 ERA, 803⅔ ip, 697 Ks, 224 BB, 91 HR, 3.77 FIP
Bailey, 2015-18: 6.25 ERA, 231⅔ ip, 172 Ks, 86 BB, 39 HR, 5.13 FIP
Through all of that, Bailey is still only 33 years old. He was drafted out of high school in 2004, with the No. 7 overall pick, and debuted in the bigs just after 21st birthday.
“He’s been pitching really well as of late,” said manager Bob Melvin, via Ben Ross of NBCS. “He’s beaten some good teams this year. Before he got hurt, obviously, he was an electric arm and it seems like he’s coming back to form at this point.”
In terms of stuff, Bailey’s fastball averages 93 mph and tops out at 97. That’s where his velocity has sat for most of his career, including his strong 2012 campaign, though he pumped it up a coupe ticks in the two seasons before his TJS in 2013-14. This year he’s throwing his splitter more than ever before, around 27% of the time, up from the mid-teens the last couple years.
Bailey will start for the A’s on Wednesday against the Mariners, reports Ross. He joins a rotation that features the red-hot Mike Fiers, plus Brett Anderson, Chris Bassitt, and Daniel Mengden.
In exchange, Oakland gives up Merrell, whom they drafted No. 33 overall in 2017 in the Comp A round (post-1st round). Billed as a slappy speedster, Merrell never really got going in the pros. He posted a weak showing in High-A last year while battling injuries (72 wRC+), and then followed it up with an equally disappointing performance in Double-A this year (73 wRC+).
Merrell, 218 AA: .246/.292/.339, 73 wRC+, 2 HR, 5.7% BB, 21.1% Ks
He struggled to get on base, and even when he did reach he did no damage with his vaunted legs. He stole just 18 bases in 26 tries in 2018-19 combined, for an untenable 69% success rate. On defense he’s played mostly shortstop but he’s no guarantee to stick there, and his MLB Pipeline scouting report suggests a possible future as a utilityman.