The Oakland A's and Ryan Madson have agreed on a 3 year, $22 million deal (pending a physical), according to Jerry Crasnick on Twitter.
This is a surprising move, with the A's spending big on a 35 year old reliever who missed the 2012-14 seasons (other than one inning for Inland Empire in 2013) after failing to make it back from Tommy John surgery. Madson signed with the Royals last season, and was part of their terrific bullpen, putting up a 2.13 ERA in 63.1 IP.
I don't know what to think about this. $7-8M per year seems to be the going rate for very good non-closer relief pitchers (see the Darren O'Day deal that just went down), but why the A's, who were terrible last year and who appear to be in rebuilding mode, would be signing a late inning guy in this market isn't entirely clear.
The cynical view, of course, is that they expect to be able to trade him for a tasty package come July, but who knows what will actually happen.