Five days after the World Series ended, free agency is finally open, and the A’s enter the market with a few obvious questions hanging over everything they do.
This offseason could move differently across baseball. The first wave of signings usually takes a couple of weeks to build, but the looming possibility of a lockout could push some players to make decisions faster than usual. If that happens, it might give the A’s a better shot at landing help early.
That would matter for a club that has had a hard time drawing free agents in recent years. First it was the Coliseum.
Now it’s the fact that the Athletics are playing in a minor league ballpark. Add in a young roster that hasn’t found much success on the field lately, and the pitch has not been an easy one.
The biggest move so far in this stretch has been the club’s expensive commitment to Luis Severino, who recently exercised his $22 million option for next season. It was a smart call on his end, since he probably wasn’t going to top that annual average on the open market.
Since the A’s began their move to Las Vegas, that Severino deal has stood out as the major signing, with only a handful of smaller additions around it. Even with the team now playing in a hitter-friendly park, the front office has only brought in two position players: Gio Urshela and Luis Urias.
The lockout threat could change the timing of the market. Plenty of players can afford to wait and see how negotiations play out, but there are also lower-tier free agents who may want to secure a deal now rather than risk uncertainty later. For the A’s, that opens the door to a practical kind of move: a low-ceiling, high-floor infielder who can help stabilize a young group.
There’s also another path the team could take if new President Taylor Smith decides the bullpen needs to come first. Relievers are always available in free agency, and finding the right ones is part of why he was hired.
With only 27 days left before the December 1 lockout date and no sign of a breakthrough in talks, the window to act may be short. If the owners and players do end up staring at a long shutdown, this could be the last chance to shop for a while.
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A's Rotation Question Suddenly Has A Familiar Answer
The Athletics have spent the early part of the offseason reshaping the front office, with Taylor Smith now in place as president of baseball operations after David Forst's departure. On the player side, the only move so far has been a modest one, bringing in Nate Eaton from the Boston Red Sox, but the bigger questions around the roster still sit with the pitching staff.
One of those questions has a familiar name attached to it, and it is the kind of idea that naturally gets attention in Oakland. A reunion with Sonny Gray is at least being discussed as a possibility, which would bring an old face back into the mix at a time when the A's are trying to stabilize their rotation and define the next phase of the roster. [Read more 🡒]