Ahead of Thursday's finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, the A's announced a trade they'd made with the Seattle Mariners, acquiring recently DFA'd left-hander José Suarez for cash considerations. The team designated Junior Perez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
The A's have needed a second left-hander in the bullpen all season, with Mark Leiter Jr. serving the role due to his reverse splits. Now, with Suarez, the A's will have a true second lefty for manager Mark Kotsay to call upon.
The question is whether Suarez is a long-term answer, or just a bridge.
The 28-year-old holds a 6.38 ERA in 2026. Yet, his FIP is a solid 2.94 in 18 1/3 innings. In that span he's given up 24 hits, walked 14 and struck out 24. His 2.07 WHIP doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, but his strikeout rate, sitting at 26.7%, ranks 26th among southpaw relievers with at least 10 innings of work. His 15.3% walk rate ranks 8th among the same group.
What kind of command Suarez has when he gets to Sacramento will determine if he finds success with the A's. He has already pitched for both the Atlanta Braves and the Seattle Mariners this season, and both of those clubs are terrific at developing pitching — particularly the Mariners. If they let an arm go, there's usually a reason. The fact that the M's also traded him to the team they're chasing in the AL West says something about how they view him.
Suarez has not been added to the A's roster at the time of this writing, so the team will have to make a roster move to add him into the bullpen. Mason Barnett makes the most sense as the odd-man out, with the righty being brought up this week as a length option after Brooks Kriske landed on the IL.
Back in 2023, the Los Angeles Angels had him add a cutter to his arsenal, which he kept through 2024. When he joined the Braves in 2025, they didn't have him using it, instead having him rely on his four-seamer, sinker, slider and changeup. They were onto something, too, as he held a 1.86 ERA in 2025 across 19 1/3 innings.
This year, they stuck with that same plan, and after holding a 6.61 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, they designated him for assignment, where Seattle picked him up and had him bring back the cutter. We'll have to see what the A's do with his pitch mix.
His best offering is his changeup with a 109 stuff+ (100 is league average), while his slider (94 stuff+), four-seamer (95 stuff+) and sinker (96 stuff+) are all just below league average. That cutter was thrown seven times in his one appearance with Seattle, and it had a stuff+ grade of 86 after being on the shelf for a year and a half. In that game, it was his third-most used pitch.
His changeup has a 38.5% whiff rate this season, and if he can get ahead in the count with his other offerings and put hitters away with the changeup, he has a real path to sticking with the A's.
While both Atlanta and Seattle have passed him along his major league journey this season, the A's are a first place team, Seattle is the team expected to be in that spot, and Atlanta has the best record in baseball. There's something there for a team to unlock, and the A's are known to provide players with an opportunity.