5:03pm: The A’s announced that they have signed Floro to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
1:50pm: Veteran right-hander Dylan Floro has a locker set up in the Athletics’ clubhouse, reports Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. It’s not clear whether he’s come to terms on a major league or minor league contract, but some type of deal between the two sides is in place. Floro is represented by Pro Edge Sports Management. If the A’s need to add him to the 40-man roster, they can do so easily by sliding Ken Waldichuk to the 60-day injured list while he continues rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
Floro, 34, split the 2024 season between the Nationals and D-backs, combining for 68 innings of 3.80 ERA ball. Those solid end-of-year numbers don’t tell the full tale of his season, however. The nine-year MLB veteran excelled in D.C., logging a pristine 2.06 earned run average through 52 1/3 innings. Floro’s 19.6% strikeout rate was well below average, but his 6.4% walk rate was excellent and his 47.6% grounder rate was sharp. However, the big driver of his success was a 2.2% homer-to-flyball ratio (one homer in 52 1/3 innings).
The rate stats painted Floro as a regression candidate, and while the Snakes surely weren’t expecting him to continue on with a rough 2.00 ERA pace, the extent to which the pendulum swung in the opposite direction with Arizona was nonetheless shocking. Floro was shelled for 17 earned runs — five more than he allowed in his entire Nationals tenure — in 16 1/3 innings. After surrendering just one homer through 204 batters faced as a National, Floro served up round-trippers to four of the 75 opponents he faced wearing a D-backs uniform. Arizona wound up designating Floro for assignment and releasing him in late September.
Though Floro’s home run suppression in Washington last year was clearly unsustainable, the veteran righty has demonstrated throughout his big league career that he’s better at keeping the ball in the yard than quite literally any pitcher in MLB. Outside of the 2017 season, when he logged only 9 2/3 MLB innings, Floro has never averaged even one homer per nine innings pitched. Opponents have mustered only 0.54 homers per nine frames against Floro throughout his 402 2/3 big league innings. Since his 2016 debut, 259 pitchers have tossed 400 or more innings. None has a lower HR/9 mark than Floro (making his Arizona struggles all the more surprising).
It should be noted that Floro’s struggles with the Diamondbacks weren’t simply a function of poor luck, however. The right-hander also worked with significantly diminished stuff in 2024. He’s never been a flamethrower, but Floro sat 92.9 mph with his heater from 2020-23 — including a 92.3 mark in ’23. Last year, that average velocity plummeted to 89.8 mph, per Statcast. His sinker (93.1 mph from 2020-23) followed suit, tumbling to 89.9 mph on average. Floro’s slider and changeup both sat 85-86 mph in 2020-23 but landed at 83.3 mph and 83.5 mph, respectively, in 2024.
If Floro can restore some of that lost velocity or simply pitch more effectively with reduced stuff, he has the track record to suggest he can be a valuable piece in manager Mark Kotsay’s bullpen. Since solidifying himself as a big league reliever with the Reds and Dodgers in 2018, Floro boasts a 3.38 ERA, 32 saves and 53 holds. His 21.1% strikeout rate in that time is a couple percentage points worse than average, but his 7.2% walk rate is more than a percentage point better than par and his 50.4% ground-ball mark is quite strong.
The Athletics’ bullpen is anchored by star closer Mason Miller and free agent signee Jose Leclerc. Miller, Leclerc and lefty T.J. McFarland are the only three members of the A’s bullpen with even one full year of service. Floro would add a fourth experienced veteran who could help with setup duties and take pressure off minor league free agent pickups Tyler Ferguson and Michel Otañez, both of whom found their way into late-inning roles last season despite debuting as 31-year-old and 27-year-old rookies, respectively.
Not a bad pickup
I’d prefer a Toyota.
Some Toyotas are recalled as much as Floro.
Go, Sacramento A’s!
According to MLB.com, Dylan Floro has been recalled 7 times, 5 by the Cubs in 2017, once by the Dodgers in 2018, and once by LA in 2020.
According to Cars.com, Toyota’s have been recalled 289 times, most recently for axle problems.
Anyways, I bet no one cares.
I think my Toyota was recalled 16 times.
A Toyota race car.
Now read it backwards.
Almost a palindrome.
hopefully a Minor L deal
This would be a solid deal if they got the Nationals version of him last year instead of Arizona’s.
this is the second A’s deal that was announced by “having a locker set up in the clubhouse” after Luis Urias. What is going on? Why aren’t the A’s announcing their own moves?
It’s relatively common this time of year. Agree to a deal. Team gets locker set up. Player reports for physical.
It’s not really any different than earlier in the offseason. Most signings are reported when they’re leaked at the agreement stage, and then the team formally announces 2-3 days later after the player travels, takes a physical, etc.
But, since they’re already in camp and the clubhouse staff starts getting things set up for the player, the team’s beat will of course notice the new nameplate and whatnot.
The A’s announced their signing of Luis Urias once his physical was complete. They’ll do the same with Floro.
A couple offseasons back, the Reds had a new “this guy has a locker now” report per day, haha. Donovan Solano, Colin Moran, Hunter Strickland all filtered in that way.
I don’t know why I remember this. But … tl;dr — it happens plenty.
“Becasue I spit hot fire”
With that first word pronunciation, that’s gotta be a Japanese person’s quote
Last year’s Nats Floro…great sign.
Last year’s Dbacks Floro…disaster.
Minor league deal. Not bad. They must be guaranteeing an mlb spot or one of the front runners . Otherwise you’d think he’d be able to get milb deal from a lot of teams