Oakland A's ink undervalued Osvaldo Bido to help fortify bullpen

The Oakland A's have signed free agent reliever Osvaldo Bido to a major-league contract, per FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray.

Bido has limited major league experience at this point in the 28-year-old right-hander's career. He appeared in 16 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, including starting nine games.

Admittedly, the numbers weren't all that impressive on the surface. Bido posted a 5.86 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP for the Buccos, striking out 48 batters over 50.2 innings pitched while walking 21 as well. However, there is still reason to believe that he might have some upside for Oakland as they try to identify an undervalued potential long-term asset.

A's sign undervalued Osvaldo Bido to provide bullpen depth

In addition to Bido posting a 4.36 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in Triple-A last season across 19 appearances (10 starts), the underlying numbers from his outings in Pittsburgh paint the picture of a player who could perform much better in a better situation that's more functional than the Pirates and, more importantly, with better bounces of the ball.

While Bido's ERA was an eyesore at 5.86 with the Pirates, his xERA was more than a full point lower at 4.58, per Fangraphs. Furthermore, his FIP for the 2023 season with Pittsburgh was a much more passable 4.10. This all indicates that the Pirates defense and a bit of bad luck led to a much worse statistical year for the Dominican hurler than his pitching alone would've indicated.

The A's aren't particularly close to contending by any stretch of the imagination, but the club is in a position to try and identify talent that simply might be overlooked by the rest of baseball.

Given the disparity between Bido's actual numbers and the advance metrics he put up, this could be one of those cases as he tries to actualize his potential on the mound.