Athletics Select Former Baltimore Orioles Reliever

We had a feeling some moves were coming after last night's lopsided loss, and the Athletics have just announced a pair of roster changes ahead of the first game of this weekend's series with the San Francisco Giants.

The first move was to select left-handed pitcher Matt Krook, who last pitched in the big leagues last season with the Baltimore Orioles. He tossed one inning and gave up two earned runs, leading to an 18.00 ERA in his limited sample.

The 30-year-old lefty was selected by the Giants in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft, and now has a chance to pitch in the ballpark he first envisioned making his MLB debut. In 12 games this season, Krook holds a 3.21 ERA across 14 innings of work and has struck out 21 batters. He's also allowed eight walks, which isn't ideal.

One key for him having success with the A's is that he's a lefty, and since T.J. McFarland landed on the IL earlier this week, the A's have needed a southpaw option in the 'pen aside from Hogan Harris. The other factor is that he's been racking up ground balls at a ridiculous rate, which will certainly play at Sutter Health Park, no matter the weather or ballpark factors.

The other addition the A's made to the roster was to call up Anthony Maldonado, whom they claimed off waivers from the Miami Marlins back in November, right around when they added Justin Sterner. We spoke with Maldonado in January, and he sounded like he was making some changes and getting back to what works for him. He has posted a 0.73 ERA this season in Triple-A.

To clear space for Krook and Maldonado on the roster, the A's designated Jason Alexander for assignment after he took on a big workload in last night's loss to the Dodgers.

The Athletics also optioned last night's starter, Osvaldo Bido, to Triple-A Las Vegas. While he had a terrific start to the season, his last handful of starts haven't been great, and even when he was getting good results, his WHIP was still hovering around 1.50 as he constantly weaved in and out of jams.

Those baserunners have started to come around and score more often in recent outings. His struggles, paired with starter J.T. Ginn making his rehab start on Wednesday likely made this move happen. Where Ginn will slot into the rotation is not yet known, but he would be on his fifth day on Monday when the A's play the Los Angeles Angels.

As for this weekend's series, the A's will take on the Giants in San Francisco beginning at 7:15 p.m. (PT) on Friday, followed by a 6:05 p.m. (PT) start on Saturday and a 1:05 p.m. (PT) first pitch on Sunday.