John Axford to Athletics: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

The Oakland Athletics continued their bullpen rebuild by signing veteran right-hander John Axford. 

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported Axford signed with the A's. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports confirmed the deal. 

Axford is a well-traveled relief pitcher, playing for five different teams since 2013. He spent last season with the Colorado Rockies and posted a 4.20 ERA with 25 saves, 62 strikeouts and 32 walks in 55.2 innings. 

It's been evident since the winter meetings began that Oakland general manager Billy Beane was focusing on rebuilding his relief corps. Ryan Madson agreed to a three-year, $22 million deal with the club, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. 

Given how bad the A's bullpen was in 2015, it's hardly a surprise that Beane would focus on that area. Dave Cameron wrote a piece for Fox Sports early last season detailing the problems Oakland was having late in games:

In 41 games, the A's bullpen has amassed a major league-worst -3.7 Win Probability Added, so this isn't to lay all the blame at [Evan] Scribner's feet. His teammates in the bullpen have been just as bad in important situations and not nearly as good at other times, so he just got used as an example of how tricky it can be to evaluate the contributions of a reliever. 

Things didn't get much better over the final 121 games, as the Athletics finished 28th in MLB with a 4.63 ERA and allowed the second-most home runs (74). 

Oakland can't afford to get in bidding wars for high-profile starting pitchers or relievers, so Beane has to find ways to exploit the market to his advantage. Axford isn't a game-changing addition, but he's been a successful reliever who has 141 career saves and has appeared in at least 60 games five straight years. 

Axford gives the A's options to choose from, whether it is in the ninth inning or other high-leverage situations. If their bullpen improves next year, the Athletics could be a surprise team because of how badly their relievers burned them in 2015. 

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