Elephant Rumblings: Bido up, Spence down

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

A revolving cast of young and struggling pitchers continues to shuffle between Sacramento and Las Vegas as the A’s tinker with their pitching.

Mitch Spence was optioned to Triple-A after a terribly rough four start stretch through which he allowed 19 runs and nine home runs in 20⅔ innings. The A’s must have finally accepted that Spence needs a tuneup after his last start on Wednesday against the Braves: the 27-year-old righty allowed eight runs and five home runs in that contest alone.

Spence was considered a candidate for the A’s rotation ahead of Opening Day, though he wound up being ticketed for long relief duties instead. But as starters like Joey Estes and Osvaldo Bido failed to earn their keep in the rotation—and subsequent alternatives faltered—Spence got his shot and has made seven starts since June 5, pitching to a 5.05 ERA in the process and seeming worse with each outing.

Bido has fallen far short of expectations this year, but has been called up in Spence’s stead for another opportunity to achieve some consistency of command at the big league level. He’s already been optioned twice this season and has shown little cause for optimism in 2025. That’s stark reversal, as by last season’s end Bido’s stuff was getting noticed after he posted a 3.41 ERA and 1.4 fWAR through 63⅓ innings. Hopefully the former Pirate can find his way back to that level of performance, but he hasn’t been trending in that direction.

Bido made nine starts with a 5.82 ERA before being optioned in mid-May, and in June he allowed seven runs through five innings in three relief appearances with the A’s before being optioned a second time. I wouldn’t assume Bido will jump back into a starting role, as J.T. Ginn is another possibility for the bottom of the rotation.

The A’s are looking at a soup of potential bottom of rotation or long relief arms that has yielded many a spoonful of disappointment so far. This switcheroo smacks of a classic “shake things up and hope for the best” strategy. It doesn’t never work, so perhaps the A’s will get lucky and see Bido snap back into form in his third MLB go-around of 2025. The A’s rotation will probably look quite different from today by the time the team becomes competitive again.

Have a wonderful weekend, AN.

A’s Coverage

• A’s Walk-Off Braves 5-4
• Much Of The A’s Defense Is In A Strange Position — Out Of
• Rooker Joins Home Run Derby
• A’s GM Hints at Interesting Deadline Approach
• A’s Draft Plans May Involve a Wrinkle
• Latest Athletics injuries and transactions

MLB News & Interest:

• The 2025 Draft begins on Sunday! Here’s the latest mock
• MLB Finalizes Home Run Derby Field
• When did S.F. fans start chanting ‘Beat L.A.!’? We traced the battle cry to its start ($)
• Ethan Holliday could go No. 1 in the MLB Draft. It would be a pick 4 generations in the making ($)
• MLB Draft 2025: Names to know beyond the top 100 prospects ($)
• Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays
• Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu
• Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers
• Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help
• Joe Coleman Passes Away
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Roster moves.

No surprises here.

Way cooler than the skull necklace on my Grogu doll.