The A's Have Two Locks in the Bullpen and a Lot of Questions

With a quick month-long sprint ahead of us as the offseason opens up before the expected lockout begins on December 1, it's going to be important for the Athletics to have a grasp on just how many reliable relief pieces they have on the roster, which will give them a better idea of how many arms they need to bring in. 

In terms of surefire arms that will make the roster in relief in 2027, it's hard to argue for more than two — Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado, the team's dual closers down the stretch.

Of course Luis Medina will be on the roster, and if we had to guess he'd be a late-inning reliever. But the team told Athletics Roundtable after the season that they were open to putting together a program to stretch him back out to a starter's workload, with a determination of his path forward happening in the spring. 

If he's in the rotation, then Jack Perkins would be a piece that could replace him in the bullpen after getting his shot in the rotation in 2026, but at the same time, Perkins could also be kept in the minor leagues as a depth starter for the club. Having big-league caliber depth is going to be key for this club as well. 

With those slight uncertainties, Harris and Alvarado would appear to be the only two definite picks. 

Justin Sterner has been a key relief arm at times the past two seasons, but he finished this past season with a 6.12 ERA (5.49 FIP) before landing on the IL in July with right knee chondromalacia, ending his season.

In fairness, his ERA had been just 3.96 through June and skyrocketed in two of his last three appearances of the season when he allowed 11 earned runs in ⅓ of an inning. That performance could have also been injury-related. He's a likely candidate for a spot, but he'll need a decent spring to lock things down. He has one option year remaining, if needed. 

The trio of Scott Blewett, Seth Johnson, and Chris Roycroft is out of options, and at least one of them will likely make the roster, but choosing one this far out is purely a guessing game. Blewett and Roycroft are more location guys, while Johnson is a "stuff" guy. All three had their moments in 2026. 

A's manager Mark Kotsay mentioned in the final month that having some roster flexibility, or relievers with options available, would be helpful when building out next year's relief group, since they would be able to cycle in MLB-caliber arms to keep everyone fresh. Blewett, Roycroft, and Johnson being out of options would complicate that ideal scenario, if they all stick around. 

The final two players who are currently listed on the A's 26-man roster over at Roster Resource are lefty Drew Rom, an August waiver claim who held a 6.75 ERA with the A's, and southpaw Brady Basso. The latter looked to be locking down a spot in some capacity down the stretch of the season, and then fell apart in his final three outings.

From the start of the second half through September 9, Basso held a 2.73 ERA (2.86 FIP) and was the second-best pitcher on the A's staff behind Jacob Lopez by fWAR (1.1 for Lopez, 0.8 for Basso). 

In those final three outings — all starts — he surrendered a total of 13 earned runs on 16 hits and three walks while striking out three across 5 ⅔ innings. The answer for Basso may be to keep him in the bullpen moving forward. 

Rom being a lefty certainly helps his case, but none of his pitches graded out as even average according to stuff+, and only his fastball had a location+ grade above league average, which is a tough combo. 

In order for the A's to build up the depth they're after, some of these arms should be starting in the minor leagues. How many of them end up on that track will depend on how the A's offseason goes. The A's have two locked in. The other six spots are more or less up for grabs.