A's Sign Underrated Former New York Yankees Reliever for Key Bullpen Spot

The A's have added to their bullpen with this underrated former Yankee

Apr 7, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; New York Yankees baseball hats and gloves in the dugout out in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images | David Reginek-Imagn Images

The Athletics have been after a veteran reliever this offseason, and they appear to have found their man. On Thursday, Ken Rosenthal confirmed earlier reports that the A's had come to terms with non-tendered New York Yankees relief pitcher, Mark Leiter Jr. He'll be heading into his age-35 season with the Sacramento club.

Jesse Rogers of ESPN is reporting the A's pact with Leiter at one year, $3 million, which is in line with what he was expected to make in arbitration with the Yankees. That was a price that was deemed too expensive by New York, but ends up being what will land him in Sacramento.

This past season, Leiter held a 4.84 ERA in 48 1/3 innings of work (59 appearances). Those numbers aren't great, but he does offer a bit of upside with his FIP. The Yankees aren't the best defensive club, which led to a little bit of a higher ERA, while his FIP still sat at 3.55 on the year. FIP measures more of what the pitcher can control, while ERA is all-encompassing.

Sep 26, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. (56) follows through on a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Some will point to his ERAs from the past two seasons (4.50 in 2024 and 4.84 in 2025) and be confused why this is the move the A's decided to make. In those two seasons he also held FIPs of 3.29 (2024) and 3.55 (2025) while dealing with extremely high BABIPs of .343 and .374.

The league average BABIP for a relief pitcher last season was .290. Among relievers with at least 40 innings of work, Leiter's .374 BABIP last season ranked as the third-highest in baseball.

Of course, ERA tells more of the story of what actually happened as opposed to what was expected to happen. The point here being that he was pitching better than someone wither nearly a five ERA.

Mark Leiter Jr.'s Baseball Savant Page | Baseball Savant

One look at his Baseball Savant page, and you can see that he was actually quite good at limiting hard contact, and was well above average at keeping the ball on the ground. Perhaps getting him out of the tough AL East and facing a different slew of hitters in the AL West could have a positive impact on some of those results.

While there are still some questions about how Leiter will perform for the A's in 2025, there is plenty to look at and see that things could end up being a little better for him in West Sacramento than they'd been in New York.

The next big question will be what kind of role he'll be serving. He's not exactly an experienced closer, having shut the door on nine games in his six-year career, but that hasn't stopped the A's from slotting a player in the ninth in the past.

Perhaps the club will continue to employ a closer by committee formula, which seemed to work out for the team well in the second half of 2025, after the trade of Mason Miller. The A's had the second-best reliever ERA in the game (2.99) from the beginning of August through the end of the season.