Athletics claim Chris Roycroft off waivers from the Rays

What happened

The Athletics announced a waiver claim for right-hander Chris Roycroft after Tampa Bay designated him for assignment. To create the necessary 40-man roster space, the club transferred shortstop Jacob Wilson to the 60-day injured list.

Why it matters

The Roycroft claim is a low-cost swing at a pitcher whose surface numbers have been unkind but whose underlying metrics suggest the surface may not be telling the whole story. The Athletics are sitting at 57-86 on the season, and adding a reliever who generates groundballs at a high rate at least addresses a specific, identifiable need — even if the results to date have been bumpy.

The Wilson move carries its own weight. MLB Trade Rumors reported last week that Wilson was unlikely to return from his left shoulder issues this season. The transfer to the 60-day injured list ends his 2026 campaign, per the announcement. Under general roster mechanics, the 60-day IL removes a player from the 40-man count entirely, which is precisely what gave the Athletics the room to place Roycroft on the roster. One spot opened, one spot filled.

The numbers

Roycroft, 29, has accumulated 79 2/3 innings across three big league seasons. His 6.44 ERA is the number that will catch most eyes first, and not in a flattering way. But MLB Trade Rumors notes that it is possible he has been unlucky, and the supporting figures make a reasonable case for that reading.

His .323 batting average on balls in play sits on the unfortunate end of the spectrum, as does his 63.4% strand rate — both figures suggesting that some of what has gone wrong has gone wrong at the margins rather than at the core. His 5.28 FIP and 4.44 SIERA both indicate he has deserved better results than the ERA reflects. Neither of those numbers is a front-of-the-rotation figure, but in the context of a waiver claim, they represent a meaningful gap between what has happened and what the underlying process suggests should have happened.

The pitch mix is worth understanding. Roycroft's four-seamer and sinker both average in the mid-90s, per MLB Trade Rumors, and he throws the sinker more than half the time. He also mixes in a cutter and a sweeper. That heavy sinker usage is what drives the groundball-heavy profile — a profile that can play in a bullpen, particularly if the defense behind him is capable of converting those balls in play. The sinker is, in a sense, a philosophical commitment: you are betting that the ball will find the ground before it finds the seats, and you are asking your infield to hold up its end of the bargain.

Where the club stands

The Athletics enter this stretch at 57-86 (.399), sitting fourth in the AL West, 16 games back of the division lead. Their Wild Card position ranks 11th, 15.0 games relative to the cut line. The playoff math is not the story here. What is the story is that the club is riding a four-game winning streak, which at least provides a backdrop of some recent momentum as they work through the final weeks of the season.

The upcoming schedule at Sutter Health Park features the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday and Wednesday — Gage Jump opposing Taj Bradley on Tuesday, J.T. Ginn opposing Connor Prielipp on Wednesday — followed by the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, with Jacob Lopez scheduled against Brandon Young. That is three games in which Roycroft could conceivably see action out of the bullpen, depending on how the club deploys him. Whether the four-game winning streak and a freshly claimed groundball specialist make for an interesting combination is the kind of question that only innings can answer.

What we don't know yet

MLB Trade Rumors does not specify what role Roycroft will fill in the Athletics' bullpen, how quickly he might be available, or what the club's plans are for him beyond the immediate roster addition. The claim is announced; the deployment is not.

On the Wilson side, the 60-day IL move ends his 2026 season per the announcement, but the nature and timeline of his left shoulder issues beyond this season remain unaddressed in the available reporting. The reporting last week characterized his return as unlikely; the roster move draws a clean line under that characterization without adding further detail about what comes next.

It is also worth noting that MLB Trade Rumors describes the Athletics' pitching staff as struggling — a characterization that frames the Roycroft addition as a response to a broader need — but the specific contours of that struggle are not detailed in the material at hand.

What to watch

The immediate question is how Roycroft fits into the Athletics' bullpen usage over the coming series. His sinker-heavy, groundball-oriented approach is a defined profile, and whether the club leans into that in specific leverage situations or uses him in lower-stakes innings will tell you something about how they view the underlying metrics versus the ERA.

The longer-term question is whether the gap between Roycroft's ERA and his FIP and SIERA closes in the Athletics' favor. Waiver claims on pitchers with this kind of profile are essentially a bet that the process is real and the results will follow. The Athletics have placed that bet. The sample size, at 79 2/3 career innings, is not enormous, which means the uncertainty cuts both ways.

For Wilson, the 60-day IL move draws a clean line under his 2026 season. What his left shoulder situation means for his availability going forward is a question the available reporting does not yet answer, and it is one worth monitoring as the offseason approaches.