Closer Trevor Rosenthal and also the Oakland Athletics are in agreement on a one time, $11 million deal, sources familiar with the deal confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.
Rosenthal, 30, was seeking a four-year contract, but the free-agent market for relief pitchers had cratered. He did have multiyear possibilities, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan, but he picked the higher annual salary and also save opportunities that Oakland offered.
The right-hander was 1-0 with 11 saves and a 1.90 ERA in 23 relief appearances last season for Kansas City and San Diego, which obtained him on Aug. 29. He also joined the Padres in the center of a rebound year after struggling with injuries and poor performance in the past several years.
He fared particularly well against left-handed batters, striking out a combined 22 of the 42 hitters he faced and allowing just five hits and a .167 slugging percentage. He made the postseason with the Padres, but struggled to a 13.50 ERA with one save and six runs enabled in four innings.
Rosenthal has 132 conserves and a 3.36 ERA over eight big league seasons.
His major league career started with the Cardinals out of 2012 to’17, and he had been part of the 2013 Cardinals team that dropped to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. He made the NL All-Star group in 2015, when he saved 48 matches for St. Louis.
Rosenthal missed all of the 2018 season because of elbow surgery and signed with the Washington Nationals which November. He was gloomy with the Nationals and Detroit Tigers at 2019, going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in 22 appearances with extreme bouts of wildness, until he signed a $2.25 million deal with the Royals earlier last season.
MLB Network initially reported Rosenthal’s agreement with the A’s.
