The Oakland A’s acquired relief pitcher Fernando Rodney from the Twins, the team announced Thursday. In exchange, Minnesota will receive minor league pitching prospect Dakota Chalmers. The A’s will need to make moves to clear space on their 25-man and 40-man rosters. The acquisition of Rodney continues a spree of additions to Oakland’s pitching staff. Sniffing the distinct possibility of a postseason berth, the A’s are beefing up their corps of arms as much as possible. They already got Mike Fiers for their rotation, and Rodney will join Jeurys Familia and Shawn Kelley as newcomers to the bullpen. Rodney, 2018: 3.09 ERA, 43⅔ ip, 50 Ks, 19 BB, 5 HR, 3.79 FIP The 41-year-old has spent the year serving as the Twins closer, going 25-for-31 in save chances. He has consistently continued to find work as a closer on a variety of different teams over the last decade, and even at his advanced age he’s stayed strong in everything from velocity to swinging-strike rate to a low xwOBA. Oakland will be his 10th club in a 16-season career, which includes three All-Star bids, 325 saves, and an 85% success rate in save/hold opportunities. In terms of stuff, the right-hander’s main offering is a 94 mph sinker that tops out at 98. He uses that pitch about half the time, with an 84 mph changeup coming a quarter of the time and a 95 mph four-seam filling in most of the rest, according to Brooks Baseball. His heat is down a few ticks from his prime, but he still throws pretty hard. With Rodney on board, the A’s bullpen has an embarrassment of late-inning options to choose from. They were already stacked, with All-Star Blake Treinen, setup man Lou Trivino, and former Mets closer Familia. Now they’ve added a third pitcher who began the year as his team’s closer. Going the other way in the deal is Chalmers. The right-hander was the club’s 3rd-round draft pick in 2015, as a high-ceiling arm out of high school. Unfortunately he hasn’t made much progress in the pros, and when he’s been healthy enough to get on the mound he’s struggled to control his powerful stuff. Last winter his potential helped him stay on our Community Prospect List at No. 19, but he’s spent most of this season on the disabled list at age 21. He was also charged with a DUI in May, reports Athletics Farm. Hot takes Once again, the A’s rent a quality reliever basically for free. The book isn’t closed on Chalmers, but he’s a lotto ticket at this point and not a big price to pay to bolster what might be a playoff pitching staff. Rodney has often been a target of scorn on Athletics Nation, mostly because he’s played for so many rivals. He was on the 2006 Tigers team that bounced Oakland from the playoffs, he did a couple years on the Angels, and he spent a couple more with the Mariners. His over-the-top arrow celebration can get grating when you see it against your team enough times. But the fact is that he’s still an effective late-inning reliever, and the A’s now have three legitimate closers anchoring their pen without even counting Trivino. According to Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle, the corresponding move is “likely” to be Chris Hatcher getting designated for assignment. If that happens, then the pen will look like this: Blake Treinen (R) Lou Trivino (R) Jeurys Familia (R) Fernando Rodney (R) Yusmeiro Petit (R) Ryan Buchter (L) Shawn Kelley (R) Emilio Pagan (R) Still only one lefty, but that’s an incredibly strong and deep unit overall. Better yet, the multitude of reliable options means that no one will have to be ridden too hard the rest of the way, and it also serves as insurance in case of an untimely injury. My hope for this unexpected postseason run was that the A’s would find solid pitching upgrades without spending too much of their future, rather than going big on a splashy addition. That’s exactly what they’ve done, shoring up their rotation with a veteran arm and their bullpen with a trio of experienced rentals, all without giving away any major pieces or committing to any future salary. I’ll learn to like Rodney’s antics now that he’s wearing the right uniform. The A’s got better again today.<doc-sep>Just because the MLB trade deadline has passed, it doesn’t mean players aren’t still on the move. Deals can be done through waiver trades. If a team claims a player on waivers and they are awarded that player, they have a certain amount to work out a deal for him. The Oakland A’s have done just that for one of the top available closers in baseball. Tonight, the A’s announced they have acquired Fernando Rodney from the Minnesota Twins. The move further solidifies an already formidable bullpen. The price for Rodney was cheap as well, as Oakland only had to send minor league pitcher Dakota Chalmers to the Twins. The arrow has landed. ? Fernando Rodney joins the A's bullpen. #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/NbUgjJ2c3e — Oakland Athletics ? ?⚾️ (@Athletics) August 10, 2018 #MNTwins Roster Moves: Twins acquire Dakota Chalmers from Oakland in exchange for Fernando Rodney. pic.twitter.com/YVPO8KyGd5 — Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 10, 2018 Rodney is 3-2 with 25 saves and a 3.09 ERA in 46 games this year. His 25 saves rank 10th in the majors right now. Rodney is 17th on the all-time saves list with 325. He’s a three-time All-Star as well. Oakland’s bullpen is now even more loaded with the addition of Rodney. The A’s have closer Blake Treinen, who has been lights out, and have now traded for Rodney, Jeurys Familia and Shawn Kelley.<doc-sep>The non-waiver trade deadline passed more than a week ago, but the Oakland Athletics completed on Thursday their third trade of the week as they attempt to lock down the second wild card in the American League. This time, the A's acquired Fernando Rodney from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor leaguer Dakota Chalmers, the teams announced. Rodney entered Thursday with a 3.09 ERA in 46 appearances this season. His 2.63 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the highest mark he's posted since 2014. Though he spent the season as the Twins closer, he's likely to slot in as a setup man in front of Blake Treinen. It's worth noting the A's could bring back Rodney next season as well. He has a club option worth $4.25 million with a $250,000 buyout. Rodney joins starter Mike Fiers and reliever Shawn Kelley as recent additions to the A's pitching staff over the last week. Oakland also acquired reliever Jeurys Familia in July prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. Chalmers was not ranked in MLB.com's top 30 prospects for the Oakland system. He's been on the disabled list since April, limiting him to a pair of appearances on the season.<doc-sep>
The Athletics just can’t stop bolstering their bullpen, this time adding veteran closer Fernando Rodney. (AP Photo) As the Oakland Athletics inch further and further up the AL West and Wild Card standings, they just keep adding more arms to the bullpen. That trend continued on Thursday. The A’s added veteran reliever Fernando Rodney to their bullpen in a trade with the Minnesota Twins, sending back right-handed pitching prospect Dakota Chalmers. The move gives the 41-year-old Rodney a 10th team to call home in his 16-year career. #Athletics acquire RHP Fernando Rodney from Minnesota in exchange for minor league RHP Dakota Chalmers. Details: https://t.co/m8L2MVjCOy pic.twitter.com/XvaWr8gBST — AthleticsPR (@AthleticsPR) August 10, 2018 While the trade deadline passed at the end of July, the A’s were still able to add Rodney through the trade waiver system prevalent in August. At 68-47, the A’s are just five games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West and are three games ahead of the Mariners for the second Wild Card spot. The A’s have already bolstered a strong bullpen with trades for the Mets’ Jeurys Familia before the deadline, and the Nationals’ Shawn Kelley, who came to Oakland after being designated for assignment after a reported confrontation with Nats GM Mike Rizzo. That’s in addition to closer Blake Treinen, who has been one of the best relievers in baseball this season, breakout rookie Lou Trivino and a solid supporting cast. With the acquisition of Fernando Rodney, the members of the #Athletics pitching staff have combined for 531 career saves, including 75 this year. — Mike Selleck (@MikeSelleck) August 10, 2018 Rodney holds a 3.09 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 25 saves in 43.2 innings this season with the Twins. While he is a right-handed pitcher joining a bullpen that was already heavily skewed toward right-handers, he’s also holding left-handed batters to a .208/.315/.312 split this season thanks to a well-regarded changeup. It should say something that a closer with numbers as strong as Rodney’s is likely to pitch in middle relief for the A’s. Chalmers is currently on the disabled list with an undisclosed injury and has seen little action in the minors this season, but the 21-year-old recorded 47 strikeouts in just 29 innings last season on his way to a 4.34 ERA during his first season of full-season ball with Class A Beloit. More from Yahoo Sports: • Dan Wetzel: Don’t let NCAA fool you with its rule changes • LeBron shows off Lakers uniform while giving Kobe a shoe shoutout • Ump pulls giant bug out of ear during MLB game • Terez Paylor: Bears bring ‘fun-n-gun’ offense to NFL