Brandon McCarthy has agreed to a two-year deal with Arizona Diamondbacks worth $15.5 million.

McCarthy was nothing short of stellar with the Athletics, earning 6.6 wins above replacement over the past two seasons. Ultimately, McCarthy’s presence in the rotation was deemed extraneous, as the A’s boast a solid rotation with the emerging A.J. Griffin, Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, and Dan Straily–not to mention the return of Brett Anderson and Bartolo Colon. Perhaps where McCarthy’s presence will be missed is Twitter.

Though somehow absent from Sports Illustrated’s Twitter Top 100, McCarthy is quite brilliant–in 140 characters or less, anyway. Even after being struck in the head by an Erick Aybar line drive, an injury which required emergency surgery, McCarthy was as jovial as ever, tweeting, “WELL IF BEING DISCHARGED FROM THE HOSPITAL ISNT THE BEST TIME TO ASK ABOUT A THREESOME THEN IM FRESH OUT OF IDEAS.”

Oh, Brandon, how you’ll be missed. Here are some of his more recent gems.

Of course, that he no longer plays for the A’s has no bearing on whether he’ll still be entertaining on Twitter. But it will take the fun out of it, won’t it?

Stephen Drew and the A’s may still be an item

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the A’s and shortstop Stephen Drew have a one-year agreement in place with a player-option for 2014. A trade deadline acquisition from Arizona, Drew managed -6.4 weighted runs above replacement (wRAA) last season as a whole, but faired much better while with the Athletics. He earned a -.7 wRAA in Oakland, as well as a positive WAR.

Drew’s signing would mean the A’s wouldn’t have to force Addison Russell’s development nor seek an alternative from an already thin free agent market.