The Athletics may have Shea Langeliers on the block, but this winter comes with enough uncertainty to make everything feel fluid.
The biggest unknown is the front office itself. Since David Forst was let go on August 7, the A’s still haven’t hired a full-time president of baseball operations or general manager. And while the organization has long had a reputation for moving players before they get too expensive, that idea is no longer quite as automatic after the last two years, when the club spent to extend core players and also made a splash on Luis Severino’s free-agent deal.
Even so, Langeliers looks like a name that would attract plenty of attention if the A’s decide to listen. He’s projected to earn an $8.7MM salary in his second arbitration season, with free agency lined up after the 2028 campaign.
The A’s talked with him about an extension last spring, but those discussions didn’t seem to gain much traction. And because he is a Scott Boras client, there’s at least a reasonable chance he prefers to reach the open market instead of locking in early.
At the same time, the Athletics don’t have to move him right away. They still control him for two more seasons, which gives them room to wait until next winter or even next summer’s trade deadline.
There’s also the question of timing: Langeliers missed a little under seven weeks of the 2026 season with a torn right meniscus, and after he came back in September he was used only as a DH. For a trade market, that may not be the ideal sell-high moment if interested teams want to see him catch again before paying a premium.
What Langeliers has done at the plate is enough to make him appealing to catcher-needy clubs. He has become one of the steadier backstops in the game during his four seasons as a regular, carrying a 117 wRC+ since Opening Day 2024. In 2026, he hit .262/.328/.474 with 23 homers across 467 plate appearances and made his first All-Star team.
The offensive profile comes with some noise. Langeliers doesn’t draw many walks, and his career has included below-average strikeout, whiff and chase rates.
But when he connects, the ball jumps off his bat, and the power is real. The move to Sutter Health Park hasn’t dramatically changed his production, either.
Over the last two seasons, he’s actually been better on the road, posting a 127 wRC+ in 493 plate appearances away from home compared with 116 wRC+ in 497 plate appearances at home.
Behind the plate, the picture is mixed. Langeliers is strong at throwing out runners, but Statcast rates him below average overall because of his framing and blocking numbers.
His 2024 season was his worst defensively, though he has bounced back since then to the point where he’s now about average as a blocker and only slightly below average as a framer. Catchers also tend to have a rough go of it in hitter-friendly parks, so his gains over the last two seasons in Sacramento may be better than the raw numbers suggest.
One comparison stands out: Adley Rutschman. Over the last three seasons, Langeliers has outproduced him at the plate, and while Rutschman has the clear defensive advantage, his 7.0 fWAR in 1,413 plate appearances from 2024-26 trails Langeliers’ 7.9 fWAR in 1,524 plate appearances. That matters because the Orioles’ trade of Rutschman to the Red Sox at the last deadline provides a possible template for how expensive catcher trades can be handled.
Rutschman’s earlier dominance in 2022-23 and his status as a former first overall pick surely helped shape the return Boston was willing to send. It also makes sense that Baltimore would have wanted more to move him to a division rival. Still, whoever ends up running A’s baseball operations will have that deal in mind if Langeliers starts drawing serious offers, especially since any club acquiring him now would get him for two full seasons.
The broader A’s situation may push them in either direction. The plan for the three-year stay in Sacramento was to build a core that could contend once the club relocates to Las Vegas in 2028. But the lineup was banged up throughout 2026, the pitching remained shaky, and the Athletics finished 64-98, a step back from 76 wins in 2025 and even from their 69-93 season in 2024, their final year in Oakland.
If the new head of baseball ops looks at the roster and decides the pitching staff has too many holes to fix in one winter, Langeliers could become part of a longer-term reset. Moving him for younger talent, especially pitching that might be ready by 2028, would make sense if 2027 also looks like a rebuilding year and one more season is too much to burn from his team control.
A deal could also involve a veteran stopgap behind the plate to hold down the position for the A’s while their next wave develops. Davis Diaz and Cole Conn both reached Triple-A this year and could be knocking on the door in 2027. On the other side, a trade partner with a promising catching prospect could try to use that player as part of a Langeliers package if it wants immediate help in the majors.
There should be no shortage of clubs checking in. The Twins, Reds, Rangers, Angels, Giants, Yankees, Phillies, Mets, Orioles and Pirates are all looking for catching help in some form this offseason, though several are shopping for backups or part-timers rather than a starter.
The free-agent catching market doesn’t offer many clean answers, and the Cardinals may be the only team with enough surplus behind the plate to entertain a wide range of trade talks. The Brewers could also shop William Contreras before his final year of control, though their World Series run could just as easily keep him in place for 2027.
Then there’s the clock. The impending lockout and the A’s long front office search make this even harder to sort out.
Once the club finally makes its hire, the new PBO or GM won’t have much time to size up the roster before the current CBA expires on December 1. Trying to complete a Langeliers trade in that window would be difficult.
Waiting until after the lockout would be even messier, with the rest of the league scrambling on multiple fronts at once.
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Athletics GM Search Takes A Turn Fans Have Been Waiting On
The Athletics search for a new general manager is still moving, and it is now at a point where fans are starting to see a clearer shape to the process. While the organization has not made anything official, the latest reporting has pointed to Taylor Smith as a potential frontrunner, giving a search that had felt open-ended a little more definition as the offseason approaches.
There is still no announcement from the club, and the job has already seen at least one path close off along the way, which is part of why this stage matters so much. For an As front office that needs stability and direction, the identity of the next GM will say plenty about what kind of rebuild the team wants to push forward, even if the final answer has not arrived yet. [Read more 🡒]