Oakland Athletics has agreed to hire free agent Yusmeiro Petit, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Rosenthal additional reports that the A’s also signed Sergio Romo.
Petit has had a good success in the last three years in Oakland and A’s lost last minute relievers Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks to free agency, so the reunion here made a lot of sense for both sides.
In fact, with Hendriks taking his elite-level closing blows to Chicago, the door is open for further closure.
In 26 games last season, Petit had 1.66 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 17 eliminations against five walks in 21 2/3 entries. In his three years in Oakland, he pitched for 2.73 ERA (154 ERA +) and 0.94 WHIP in 197 2/3 innings.
Romo, 37, returns to the Bay Area, as the best years of his career were in San Francisco. Last season with the Twins, Romo had 4.05 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 23 eliminations out of 20 entries.
As noted, A’s need a newer one closer and one of these two may well be the guy. Petit has only six career savers, but has been successful in high-leverage situations during his years at the club. Romo is a close ex-All-Star and has even made five saves last season. Lefty Jake Diekman and the mighty Lou Trivino figure to be the main competition for the two in the fight to close.
Although most of the big names are off the board, there are still several relievers likely to be useful on the market. We classify Petit as the free agent nº 56 in the off-season. Of our top 60, the following relievers have not been signed to this point: Trevor Rosenthal (38), Shane Greene (46), Tyler Clippard (58) and Tony Watson (59). The possible initiator or reliever Trevor Cahill (53) is also available.