Oakland Athletics acquire RHP Austin Adams from NY Mets

The Oakland Athletics have acquired RHP Austin Adams from the New York Mets in exchange for cash considerations, according to the team's Twitter account.

Adams was a minor league signing by the Mets earlier this offseason and had been working in a limited capacity as a non-roster invitee. The 32 year old has spent parts of the past seven seasons in the major leagues, pitching for the Nationals, Mariners, Padres, and most recently with the Diamondbacks.

In Arizona, Adams pitched to a 5.71 ERA in 17.1 innings. His 3.72 FIP was a bit more palatable and he's probably a better pitcher than last year's results suggest. His 5.6% HR/FB rate is unsustainable but he also got a bit unlucky with a 61.6% strand rate and a .333 batting average on balls in play that was 50 points higher than his career average.

Over the course of a full season, you'd expect a bit of positive regression in those areas, though he has his warts elsewhere.

Adams has a career 4.17 ERA in just under 115 innings, but his biggest issue is control. Despite a strong 33% strikeout rate, he's walked nearly 15% of batters during his career. Similar to Joe Boyle, a figure that high just isn't going to work at the highest level.

We'd expect that Dany Jimenez and Mason Miller will handle the bulk of the late inning work to start the year but depending on how things play out, Adams could stumble into some save opportunities down the line.

At this stage, it's unlikely that he'll take a significant step forward but he should prove to be a capable depth option for an A's bullpen that has been hamstrung by recent injuries.

With the news of Sean Newcomb going down with another knee issue and Trevor Gott missing the year thanks to a UCL tear, the Athletics have two open spots in the bullpen.

It appears that Michael Kelly and Zack Jackson are the most likely candidates to step in and provide low leverage innings to start the year. Adams will join that group, at least to start.

FanGraphs' Roster Resource tool seems to think that Joe Boyle will start the year in the rotation and Kyle Muller in the bullpen. It's unclear whether that'll be the case, as Boyle has struggled mightily in his last three spring training starts. However, the A's don't have any other left handed relief options, so Muller might be stuck.

The A's transferred Gott to the 60-day IL and selected Adams' contract, meaning there won't be a need for an additional roster move. As of today, Newcomb, Gott, Scott Alexander, Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk, and Freddy Tarnok are all slated to begin the year on the IL.

The A's need some injury luck to start breaking their way sooner than later because at this rate, we're already shaping up for a long year. We'll see if David Forst decides to bring in any other external options to bridge the gap.