A’s sign former Marlin Alvarez

After concerns about shoulder damage lead to the Marlins letting him go, pitcher Henderson Alvarez has landed a one-year $4 million deal with the Oakland A’s. In a deal reported Friday afternoon, Alvarez is headed to Oakland for $4.25 million guaranteed on a deal that also includes about $1.5 million in incentives.

The Marlins decided to let Alvarez walk at the non-tender deadline after injury concerns raised red flags. Alvarez missed most of 2015 after being the Marlins Opening Day starter after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Originally acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in the infamous salary dump, Alvarez was an All-Star in his breakout 2014 campaign and looked to be the ace of the Marlins staff in 2015. Unfortunately Alvarez labored through his first couple starts to open the season, decided to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.

Alvarez appeared in 92 games with both the Marlins and Blue Jays throwing 563 innings. Throughout his career with the Marlins Alvarez was a strikeout artist striking out more batter than average averaging 5.51 strikeouts per nine innings over his career. Over his career Alvarez has left an average of 70% of runners on base. Over the course of his career Alvarez has been worth a grand total of five wins.

All in all, this is a low risk high reward move for the A’s. Alvarez has shown flashes of brilliance and has looked like a potential ace throughout his career. If the shoulder issues end up ruining his 2016 campaign, the A’s are only into him for one year. If things go right, he could find a home and a nice spot in the Oakland rotation.

Now that he has his bags packed and his headed to the West Coast, it’s time to look back at Alvarez’s career as a Marlin. His biggest moment was his September 29th no-hitter of the Detroit Tigers. In one of the most memorable games of all time, a wild pitch sealed the victory and Alvarez’s no-hitter for the Marlins. Overall though, Alvarez’s career with the Marlins was short lived will either come back to haunt the Marlins or look like a smart move when it’s all said and done.