Catcher Herrmann signs one-year deal
LAS VEGAS — Oakland, in need of a primary starting catcher, added free agent Chris Herrmann on a one-year, $1 million deal Tuesday, but the team still is expected to try to come to terms with last year’s everyday catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, on a one-year deal.
“We’ll still probably look around and see if there are options,” A’s general manager David Forst said, “but it’s nice to be in a spot right now where we have two major-league catchers who fit well, left and right.”
Herrmann, who appeared in 36 games with Seattle last year, offers depth in the event the team does not sign another catcher; otherwise, he will be in competition for a reserve job with Josh Phegley. A lefthanded hitter, Herrmann would be a more natural fit as a platoon player with Lucroy, a righthanded hitter, for instance, than Phegley, who is also a righthanded hitter.
“He’s definitely a backup,” one AL scout said Tuesday.
Herrmann, 31, is a .205 hitter in 340 big-league games; he batted .237 with two homers with the Mariners last year. Forst noted that Herrmann played well at Triple-A Tacoma, where he had a .416 on-base percentage. In addition, Herrmann played all three outfield positions and first base while with Arizona in 2016-17.
Starting pitching update: Even as the A’s continue their quest to find starting pitchers, Forst and manager Bob Melvin both said the A’s are likely to employ the “opener” strategy next season. “I think you’ll see more of it next year,” Melvin said. “I think it’s here to stay.”
If Oakland plans on having a normal reliever start games once or twice through the rotation and has a dedicated second pitcher as Daniel Mengden was for September, the team might need to add only two or three starters after losing everyone from the end-of-season rotation.
A swingman who can start and pitch in relief becomes even more valuable in such a scenario, and a source told The Chronicle that the A’s have expressed some interest in Detroit lefthander Blaine Hardy, 31, who missed some time with elbow tendinitis last year but made 30 appearances, starting in 13 of them.
Also, Forst said that recent acquisition Tanner Anderson, who has been a starter and a reliever in the minors and made six relief appearances with the Pirates last year, will be groomed to start this spring, making Anderson another swingman candidate along with Chris Bassitt.
The A’s have not yet made calls on many medium-priced starters in whom they’d been expected to have interest, including former Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez, right-hander Lance Lynn or longtime Texas starter Derek Holland, who spent last season with the Giants.
“They might be waiting to see where the market goes and then bottom-feeding,” one majorleague executive said.