A's Designate T.J. McFarland For Assignment

Earlier this week, the Athletics decided to cut ties with their longest tenured player, Seth Brown, and more recently announced that they have designated veteran left-hander T.J. McFarland for assignment. While both moves are certainly performance-related, the A's front office has also cut ties with two of the veterans on the club that have provided some stability in the clubhouse.

For the A's young bats, Brown has been a sounding board and leader in the clubhouse, while McFarland held a similar role for the pitchers. McFarland and Mitch Spence, both former Rule 5 picks and locker mates in West Sacramento, had formed a bit of a bond because of their similar paths to The Show.

Athletics on SI asked McFarland about his decision to sign with the A's during the off-season, being the first free agent pickup they'd made during the winter months in a time of transition for the organization, and he said that he just loves being in the A's clubhouse, with the collection of talent that the club is building. He wanted to continue to be a part of that.

McFarland was also the player that handed Gio Urshela his MLB Gold Card last month, which allows him to go to any MLB game with a friend for the rest of his life. It's the League's way of saying thank you once you reach a certain amount of time in the big leagues. McFarland is just one month short of reaching his ten-year mark according to the A's broadcast on Friday.

The lefty was arguably the one with the most personality in the clubhouse. There were numerous times when the local media would approach a player after the game and he'd be shouting something or other from across the room to try and get the guys to laugh.

One of his favorite bits had been holding up his phone and standing in the back of the media scrum, and once the media's questions were finished, he asked his teammate something random, like "what do you think of Johnny Cash?"

With the departures of both Brown and McFarland, the A's will be losing some veteran leadership on a pretty young roster. The club now has just a handful of guys with as much as five years of service time, with Luis Urías, Miguel Andujar and Urshela on offense, and Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Sean Newcomb and José Leclerc on the pitching side.

Of that group, just Severino and Springs are under contract past this season. It's certainly a noteworthy decision, as the A's are now leaning towards playing their more unproven players in an effort to build up for 2026. Elvis Alvarado was called up on Friday to take McFarland's place in the bullpen, though who will fill his role is still to be determined.

The A's have two lefties in the 'pen, Hogan Harris and Newcomb, and both are more multi-inning relievers than a lefty specialist. It's also worth noting that the A's 40-man roster now sits at just 38 with the recent moves. The most direct use of those spots would be to have them free for Zack Gelof and Ken Waldichuk when they return from the 60-day IL in the coming weeks, though there may be some time before those moves need to be made.