Could the A's Take Flier on Recently Released Kansas City Royals Pitcher?

The Oakland A's are having a tough time finding players that want to sign up for the uncertainty that surrounds this club, with relocation looming and no home for the 2025-27 seasons. Free agents on multi-year deals seems to be out of the question.

Yet, the Kansas City Royals just released a pitcher that is coming off of Tommy John surgery and should be ready for the 2024 season in former 2015 fourth round selection Cody Poteet. The right-hander was originally selected by the Miami Marlins and even made his big-league debut with the club in 2021. He elected free agency after the 2022 season and signed on with the Royals after he had received the surgery that would keep him out for most of 2023.

With the Royals making moves and spending money, they apparently decided that Poteet was no longer a part of their plans. He was released yesterday. 

In his last MLB action in 2022, Poteet logged a 3.86 ERA across 28 innings in 12 outings. He has the ability to go multiple innings, and while he walked 9.6% of the batters he faced in that stint, there are other options that the A's have with worse control. 

In 2022 he was a fastball/changeup pitcher with his heater averaging 95 miles per hour and the change sitting at 88. Those two offerings accounted for 75% of his pitch mix. He also tossed in a slider 22% of the time and occasionally threw a curve to left-handers. 

After recovering from TJ, he was on the mound just 13 months later to pitch in Triple-A for one game at the end of the season. He worked two scoreless innings, didn't give up a hit, walked one and struck out one. In that outing he still primarily used the fastball/changeup combo with his four-seamer sitting at 94 and his change at 87.7 mph. The curveball was used just as much as the slider, with each offering being thrown five times. 

Is Poteet the most exciting potential addition? Probably not, but he would provide a boost to the A's depth as they search for arms in 2024, and he may be able to provide some quality innings. That's an upgrade. 

At the very least, he'd give the A's some extra depth with big-league experience.