The Athletics’ offseason has been dominated by news about their planned move to Las Vegas, including the still-ongoing question of where exactly the team is going to play during the three-year gap between the end of their lease at the Oakland Coliseum and the opening of their new ballpark in Vegas in 2028. These issues have naturally influenced the front office’s roster-building endeavors, as GM David Forst told reporters (including The Comeback’s Jessica Kleinschmidt and The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea) that the A’s have been targeting free agents on one-year contracts, in part due to the uncertainty over where the team will be playing beyond the 2024 campaign.
One of those one-year offers was finalized this week, when Alex Wood was signed to a one-year, $8.5MM deal. The pitching additions continued when Ross Stripling was acquired in a trade with the Giants, and Forst confirmed that both Stripling and Wood will be deployed as starting pitchers heading into Spring Training. The two veterans have worked as starters, relievers, and swingmen during their careers (including as recently as 2023 when they both played for San Francisco), but Forst noted that such seasoned starters are “exactly what we need with a relatively young and inexperienced starting pitching staff….We’ve seen what happens when you get a little overwhelmed with inexperience and we started last season with five rookie starters, and it didn’t go well.”
Forst said the A’s started discussing signing Wood and making a Stripling trade with the Giants back during the GM Meetings in November. Plenty of other arms received consideration on the free agent and trade markets, and MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos reports that longtime former Athletic Frankie Montas was of interest before Montas signed a one-year, $16MM deal with the Reds. Montas posted a 3.70 ERA over 537 2/3 innings with Oakland from 2017-22, but the righty has been plagued by injuries and under-performance since the A’s dealt Montas to the Yankees at the 2022 trade deadline.
The Oakland rotation now consists of Wood, Stripling, JP Sears, Paul Blackburn, and then a host of candidates vying for the fifth starter’s job. It remains to be seen if Ken Waldichuk will be part of this competition, as Forst said Waldichuk has yet to begin throwing and won’t do so for at least two weeks.
Waldichuk will see a doctor next week to figure out a throwing schedule in the next step of the southpaw’s ongoing attempts to recover from a strained flexor tendon and sprained UCL in his throwing arm. The injuries emerged right at the very end of the 2023 season, and Forst’s update was the first on Waldichuk since the A’s revealed in early December that the left-hander was pursuing a non-surgical rehab plan that included both a Tenex procedure and a PRP injection. Even if Waldichuk gets the green light to start throwing relatively soon, he’ll obviously still need a lot of ramp-up time to make up for the lost offseason work, and Waldichuk seems like a lock to begin the season on the injured list.
Waldichuk’s had a 5.36 ERA in his second MLB season, and his 141 innings ranked second among all A’s pitchers last year. The additions of Stripling and Wood will hopefully more than make up for those innings should Waldichuk miss a significant amount of time, but the Athletics figure to keep looking for more lower-cost pitching prior to Opening Day. Forst didn’t exactly close the door on more rotation candidates, but noted that the A’s are particularly looking at the relief market.
After trading multiple excellent players in Bassitt, Olson, Murphy, Montas, Lazardo, Puk and others, Oakland should be loaded with young, exciting prospects and I don’t believe they are.
That’s because the goal was to create a terrible team no one wanted to watch, which would be easier to move to Vegas.
It’s all about making money for the owner. The plan has been in place for years.
So, yes, they traded away top players in head scratching trades again and again on purpose.
And no, they didn’t get any exciting prospects from all those deals combined.
“That’s because the goal was to create a terrible”…That’s a crazy, wingnut, tinfoil conspiracy theory you’ve got brewing there. Was this also the goal of the 2017 Astros and 2016 Cubs who also underwent “tanking” rebuilds before each ultimately won the World Series?…Personally, I think Oakland just made some very bad “quantity over quality” deals. There need not be a “boogeyman”, villan or wild conspiracy theory behind every outcome.
Not saying I agree with Cyrus, but the Cubs and Astros weren’t in the middle of trying to relocate to a different city so not sure that’s a valid comparison.
This is the first rational comment I’ve read about the A’s. Current viral hyperbolic rumor is the A’s won’t exist for 3 years (from an unnamed source of course)
It’s not a wild conspiracy to say they tanked to depress interest and relocate. It’s been done before, like with the Seattle SuperSonics.
“It’s not a wild conspiracy to say they tanked”..Because billionaires are known to spend BILLIONS acquiring teams only to later undermine and sabotage their own teams, right?..There’s no need to “depress interest” to move your own private property(team), the Raider’s AL Davis proved that in court…As for the Seattle Supersonics, signing one of the GREATEST players EVER, Kevin Durrant, didn’t exactly “depress interest” in Seattle. The owner moved the team because it’s his own private property and the law is on his side. The Sonics were still INCREDIBLY popular in Seattle when they left.
The Sonics didn’t sign Durant, they lucked into the 2nd pick in the lottery. But they then traded established star Ray Allen, along with hiring an incompetent coach. It was a total on-court tank, alongside the most preposterous arena proposal ever to comply with their purchase agreement.
Makes it politically easier to move if the team stinks and attendance is down. Manfred talks about attendance with Oakland, which of course is as low as possible with 110 losses.
“The Sonics didn’t sign Durrant”..Seattle drafted and signed Kevin Durrant. It sounds like you don’t know much about Seattle if you think the Sonics didn’t “sign” Durrant because they did. How else did Durrant get on the team? And Ray Allen was at the back end of his career when traded. He couldn’t guard anybody. Just a one dimensional, open 3 point shooter.
I’m from Seattle area you low down dirty bootlicker. Kiss my….
What do you think they were gonna do drafting 2nd, you bootlicker. Don’t you ever question what I know about Seattle sports, you silly bootlicker
Can’t tank anymore because even if the team is terrible they are not guaranteed a top pick and I think they can only be in the lottery at all for 2 straight seasons.
You still have to convince the other owners to allow you to relocate. That is easier to do when your team is in the toilet and attendance is nonexistent.
you trolly little bootlicker. if you had any brains you’d know the difference between drafting and signing. Signing obviously implies free agency. but dodos like you are more interested in protecting your foolish arguments than making anything smart
“Difference between drafting and signing”…You draft players but you STILL have to SIGN them to a playing contract, brainiac..Either term is accurate. It’s always the low IQ people that need to insult people to make a point, right deepseamonster?
It’s a strategy from the movie “Major League”, except this A’s team doesn’t win Jack dick in the end. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU JOHN FISHER!!!!
The wing nuts also seem to forget the years of negotiations that went on between the city and the A’s to build a new stadium in Oakland. The move to Las Vegas only came after these negotiations broke down completely. Pretty much the same thing happened with the Expos.
Trevor May said it best…
…That’s a crazy, wingnut, tinfoil conspiracy theory you’ve got brewing there.
===========================
Small market teams usually need to tank occasionally. It would be a profound waste of time to list the number of teams that have tanked over the past twenty years,
And as often as not, the tanks are passive and the teams just got bad without even proactively bad.
In that movie the reason they won was because of the team and coach. Nothing to do with management. Blame the team.
Fisher backed out of the negotiations with the city of Oakland, not the city.
The Howard Terminal site is STILL avaliable and approved. What isn’t approved is the additional $600 million that Fisher asked for after the city council had already approved the deal.
The parties never came to a final agreement, so who “backed out” of the negotiations isn’t relevant.
HT was approved and voted on by the Oakland City Council. Then 2 weeks before the A’s negotiating period expired, Fisher asked for $600 million more. When the city could not legally do so in that time frame, he announced days later that he had an agreement at a different location in Las Vegas. That one quickly fell through and they announced the one at the Tropicana site.
The HT site was approved and Fisher was the one that backed out. The city is still willing to go through with the negotiated deal and the Mayor said so yesterday.
They took the better offer. See how many words I saved?
@BlueSkies It’s OK to not know all the facts.. but you should probably sit the next few plays out. Fisher actually took the deal with less overall funding approved to build *only* a ballpark on a mere 9-acre lot versus massive, $12 billion real-estate focused mixed-use project that HE, himself, pushed as a requirement to the city of Oakland. The city isn’t without blame overall for dragging some feet at times, but the blame for the decision to break negotiations on HT lies squarely on Fisher. If all Fisher asked for was a 9-acre lot in Oakland nearly 20 years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.. or maybe we would, because he’d probably still F that up.
I’ve actually read that with the new Bally’s designs, the ballpark may not just be shoved into a 9-acre corner, but now incorporated into a 36-acre hotel/ballpark combo (of which the ballpark footprint is still technically 9 acres)
So they didn’t take the better offer? It’s so nice to be “educated” by someone who knows “all the facts.” Note that my conclusions don’t involve any “blame.” Only yours does.
This isn’t the movie, major league
For a team as terrible as the Oakland Athletics they appear to give up on Christian Pache far too soon.
I don’t know. He was supposed to be Michael Harris for the last 4 years but he let Michael Harris become the star while he worried about his hair style, swing style, after catch style. Great glove and arm. Terrible swing.
Pache was out of options and hadn’t proved to be worth a roster spot. Yes they gave up, but when you think you’ve got a bad hand, you sometimes fold.
“Easier to move to Vegas”…Billionaires can move their teams anytime they want. The Oakland Raider’s AL Davis proved that IN COURT. They don’t have to sabotage their teams to move them, all they have to do is settle or pay off their stadium leases. AL Davis cleaned the NFL’s clock in trying to block the move and AL Davis moved the team(100M dollars richer), establishing legal precedents that the next owner who moves will also use. Private property rights are vigorously upheld in the US & California Constitutions.
Al Davis moved the team back to Oakland (-100M dollars poorer I guess), made the Super Bowl in 2002, reached his late 70s in age, and tried to talk to whoever was in-charge of handling the idea of actually sharing the Coliseum site with the Raiders but was always met with radio silence… well, John Fisher took over the team in 2005, so there’s that FWIW
mlb fan is just a 12 year old bootlicker
75% of the rest of the owners have to agree to a move. After Al Davis’s auction-block fiascoes, sports leagues added specific language regarding this very thing into the by-laws.
“75% of the rest of the owners”…You think the NFL didn’t have rules against moving back in the 1980’s?..They did but were ruled not valid nor applicable. The NFL is a MONOPOLY(as are many sports leagues)and the last place they want to find themselves is in (antitrust)court.
That team with Olson, Chapman, Bassitt, etc was about to get super expensive and couldn’t make it out of the ALDS. I’m all for an Astros-like or Orioles-like rebuild, I just wish they got a better return on their stars. Having said that, I like their new young guys. Mix in 2-3 star free agents in 2027 off-season and 2028 will be a fine first season in Vegas
Sounds familiar:
Like a former showgirl owner who
Wanted attendance to drop to historic lows so she could get out of Cleveland!
I still don’t get why they wouldn’t trade for a bunch of better low level guys though- you do that and you would have guys ready to break the big leagues once you move the club and then they become valuable trade pieces or big league players.
The thing is that with all that talent gone, the farm system is full of flashy, lotto ticket pitchers and backup-type position players.
There are exciting prospects, especially on the pitching side (Miller, Morales, Hoglund, Boyle, Medina etc) but the aren’t any franchise-altering ones.
With regards to the position player side, I agree that they are too thin for a team that has been stockpiling prospects and high draft picks. That said, I think Gelof is legit. After that, one of Langeliers, Soderstrom, or Susac should be productive at some point. I also think there’s something to dream on with Jacob Wilson, Henry Bolte, and Denzell Clarke. So I think some of them have a higher ceiling than back up.
S and Chapman
The A’s team that could have been is so stacked (probably true for many teams, but since they sold off so many guys recently, its interesting to look at):
Rotation:
1. Chris Bassitt
2. Jesus Luzardo
3. Frankie Montas
4. Sean Manaea
5. Paul Blackburn/Cole Irvin
Semien at SS, Chapman at 3B, Olson at 1B, Murphy at C, Canha in LF, Rooker at DH, Gelof at 2B.
Oh well…
Who plays CF and RF? I’m to lazy to think back but, that lineup and rotation looks super good on paper..
I’m not sure how that would play out. Perhaps in the alternate scenario Gelof would’ve been molded into a CF with his speed (something they may eventually do) and Nick Allen plays 2B as a defensive upgrade. Or Allen is a glove first SS with Semien at 2B since Allen’s bat can hide behind the excellent hitters this core would have.
That’s a $147M payroll right there… that still couldn’t win a WS.
That’s only the core. I also didn’t say it was a WS winner, just that its a stacked core, which it is.
That team couldn’t get out of the ALDS
Disagree.
Yes, I do agree they were only a piece or two away from being a WS contender
The A’s farm stinks out loud. Oakland/Nevada looks like a franchise at year one of a ten year rebuild.
Most of the young exciting prospects coming up are their own drafted players.
I expect to see Mason Miller winning a rotation spot! Hopefully the A’s can surprise some folk this year…
That would be great as Miller’s stuff is electric. Unfortunately, the Athletics are moving him to the pen to protect his health.
Oh ok no Tj then but he did have injury issues so I am not crazy. Lol
Thought he had Tj surgery. He is nasty I saw him pitch against the cubs and I was thinking about him the other day and I vaguely remember his elbow popping and him getting TJ. I may. Be wrong.
Come on Captain….according to all the brainiacs that comment on this site, Waldichuk was a throw in bum that would never amount to anything……why would the Yankees even consider taking him back (sarcasm)……
With the trades of Ross Stripling and Anthony DeSclafani along with the knowledge that recently acquired Robbie Ray will be unavailable until later this season, one would think the Giants are making room for the addition of a premium starting pitcher in the not too distant future. I’ll be very surprised if Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery aren’t in the Giants rotation come opening day.
You’re delusional. There’s no chance the Giants sign either of those guys.
Agreed. I think it’ll be Snell, personally.
Hopefully Waldichuk can avoid surgery. He really made some nice progress in the second half.
The A’s should focus on SS/3B rather than bullpen. The bullpen should look something like this:
Miller – probably a good closer
Gott – reliable middle reliever/setup man
Jackson, Jimenez – questionable control, good results past 2 seasons
Bido, Spence – nice stuff, should be passable out of the pen (long relief candidates)
Newcomb – pitched well last season, should be OK as the top lefty
Muller – long relief, former top prospect that still has potential
Fangraphs projects them as the 17th-best bullpen prior to the additions of Wood and Stripling, which push Bido/Muller/Newcomb/Spence into the pen. Probably a mediocre bullpen.
If all goes right it’s a almost-average rotation, if all goes as expected probably a bottom-5 one, but not the worst.
However, in the lineup there’s really:
Noda – average 1B man
Rooker – plays well at DH
Langeliers – good power
Gelof – hot start, probably slightly above-average production in 2024
Ruiz – hits barely good enough to stay on the field with his poor defense but obviously elite speed
Brown – mashes righties, good as a platoon player
Everybody else is wallpaper. That’s one of the worst lineups in the league. If they can add a high-average 3B or SS (eg. Urshela) and a righty outfielder there’s a possibility of maybe an 80 win team, best case. Right now it’s looking like 60-70, maybe 75 best case.
I doubt they’d do this, but it would be cool if they brought in one of Anderson/Rosario/Crawford to play SS and one of Moustakas/Anderson/Escobar to play 3B. All of those guys will take a 1 year deal and could be flipped at the deadline if they’re hitting well.
I’d say one of those positions, because there are young players (Harris, Hernaiz, Allen, J Diaz) that should still get playing time. Or get rid of Aledmys somehow and sign someone for both positions.
It would be nice to see ownership throw fans a bone with a couple of recognizable names who might still be productive. Adding Wood and Stripling to the rotation is a pleasant surprise. Tim Anderson or Amed Rosario at SS and Eduardo Escobar or Mike Moustakas at 3B would be as well. And again, these guys can be flipped later on to supplement what is still a fairly thin prospect bank.
They flat out aren’t interested in contending until they get to Vegas anyway. Might as well sign some fun 1 year deals each year and let the young guys play when an opportunity organically presents itself. My point being that, since there’s no rush, then you can start Hernaiz in AAA for example, or as a role player on the big league roster.
This is a good take. Finishing in dead last no longer guarantees a top 5 draft pick. Keep the team watchable at 70+ wins with stop-gap guys, just don’t let them block our core prospects. I’d love to see like Tim Anderson and Evan Longoria. However adding 2-3 good bullpen arms is the biggest need if they want to avoid 95+ losses
They should probably start molding Gelof into their long term CF with his speed. If the offense he showed last year is real, then he could be elite out there. Move Nick Allen to 2B for a year (he’s probably not a career starter anyway) or let Hernaiz play 2B so you can sign Tim Anderson or Amed Rosario to be your SS for a year while they rebuild value. This would surely entice either player. Hernaiz is probably the long term 2B anyway with Jacob Wilson in the pipeline. Offer Moustakas or Escobar the same opportunity at 3B and push Diaz to a utility role. These moves are affordable for the A’s.
“But the narrative is they’ll lose 110 games next 4 years and that John Fisher kicks puppies”
I hate John Fisher, to be clear.
I just think the team that he had no part in building is better than what people think.
I could see this as another A’s team that starts slow, and then surprises everyone by playing winning baseball the second half. Stabilizing the pitching with these guys will definitely help.
The A’s have a history of starting super slow but getting hot 2nd half of the year. This is probably bc they always have young inexperienced, but talented, players.
As nasty and black-pill as anyone wants to be, they do have young talented guys, and aside from 3B they are pretty set on their roster I think
You have way too much time on your hands. Get a life.
Jack – Very lame comment. So glad you had time to write it with your busy life.
When guys that are not good enough to be a starter anywhere else and had a combined 5.27 ERA last season and are still pushing pitchers out of the rotation then your team is in serious trouble.
Kind of like Fisher’s plans to move the team out of Oakland.
They also have Erceg in the bullpen, and he may wind up closing if Miller gets injured at some point.
That rotation actually has some potential to be above-average!
It is too bad about the A’s but they have never drawn well in Oakland having only 1 2 million in attendance since 1968.
From what I’ve heard, the A’s didn’t even draw well after winning 3 straight World Series in the 1970’s.
That’s what I don’t get. No one goes to the games, so why are they complaining that they are leaving? It’s like me bemoaning the tanning saloon closing, even though I never went there.
Waldichuk has looked so good at times when he is healthy. Hope he gets back to that.
Well they can’t play at my house, that’s for sure. They left the place a huge mess last time.
For the Giants’ end of the deal…reducing pitching depth = increasing perceived pitching need. Hard to see how this is a useful strategy for negotiating with top free agents.
Not getting paid for a few weeks or months is a huge motivator for unsigned free agents.
And that’s when the Dodgers swoop in! 😀
The A’s can play in Tampa with the Rays. It’s not like anyone would go to the games anyway.
Oakland ran competitive teams out for a long time when analytics weren’t that widely in use. They’ve taken advantage of revenue sharing and every drafting advantage given to them by the CBA, but the last fews years they seem to have lost their magic, and now only focus on cutting costs. The Orioles haven’t spent either, but have done a far better job drafting and developing. And still, some of this is just plain luck. The prospect who busts, the non-prospect who turns into something good, the injuries, etc.
100 loss season coming up and then they will be nomads playing in some minor league park.
How many losses for the A’s this year? Has got to be 100 + right?
I would be surprised if they lost 100
For the first time in 3 years they have pretty set roster going into the season
If they could manage a competitive season, the country would be rooting for them. This has the makings of the 1980 USA Men’s hockey team written all over it.
Biased guess here, but this lineup is better than SF Giants –
1. Ruiz (OF) .250 70 SB
2. Noda (1B) .250 20 HR .370 OBP
3. Gelof (2B) 30-30 candidate
4. Rooker (OF) 30 HR
5. Brown (OF) 25-30 HR
6. Langeliers (C) 25 HR
7. Bleday/Butler/Soderstrom (DH)
8. Diaz (3B) .250 15 HR
9. Hernaiz (SS)
Not sure kotsay should be back; he had nothing to work with but that run total & game mgmt were equally horrible…
So the MLB owners are imposing a “flip tax” on Fisher. The reason they ok’d the relocation plans is that if the A’s are sold in the next 10 years this tax will be imposed. The rate this year is 20% and it drops 1% every year until 2034 when it ends at 10%. The catch is that if Fisher sells to someone who will keep the team in Oakland they won’t charge the tax. A’s fans I think for the next 10 years you are stuck with Fisher unless he gets a 5 billion dollar offer or more.
Can’t believe with all those trades and Sears is the best so far? Reliable innings eater is cool but not what you want out of trading away your stars. Hopefully others develope.