The A’s have approached Khris Davis’ representatives at Octagon about a one-year extension for the 2019 season, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports within his latest column on the A’s (subscription required). The two sides are in the early stages of talks about a deal that’d buy out Davis’ final year of arbitration well in advance. Davis is controlled through 2019 regardless, so a one-year extension would largely be about establishing cost certainty for the club and about protecting against injury or a notable decline from Davis’ vantage point.
Oakland and Davis came to terms on a one-year, $10.5MM contract this past offseason, avoiding arbitration in the process. With another characteristically strong season at the plate — Davis is off to a .257/.339/.535 start with seven homers — the 30-year-old slugger would be primed for one more significant boost in his salary. As a loose point of reference, he received a $5.5MM raise this past offseason, so a typical season could push his salary beyond the $16MM point next year.
Davis’ skill set, while not one that has been rewarded handsomely in free agency in recent years, is one that still plays quite well in the arbitration process. Locking Davis up now could potentially save the A’s a bit of cash over what he’d command in his final trip through the arbitration process. Extensions of this nature aren’t exactly commonplace, though the Nationals brokered a one-year deal that bought out Bryce Harper’s final arbitration around this time last season.
While a salary ranging anywhere from $14-17MM (speaking speculatively) would be substantial for the budget-conscious A’s, Oakland can certainly afford to make that type of commitment to Davis in 2019. At present, right-hander Yusmeiro Petit and outfielder Stephen Piscotty are the only players signed to guaranteed contracts for the 2019 season. They’ll earn just under $13MM combined.
Oakland will have a sizable arbitration class, with Marcus Semien, Kendall Graveman, Blake Treinen, Liam Hendriks, Chris Hatcher, Josh Phegley, Jake Smolinski, Ryan Dull, Ryan Buchter and emerging ace Sean Manaea each qualifying in addition to Davis. Of that group, only Semien seems likely to command anything north of $5MM, though. Manaea will be first-time eligible as a Super Two player, while the others are primarily role players that are either first-time eligible as well (Dull, Buchter) or are currently earning relatively minimal salaries.
The A’s will surely want to leave some room for potential free-agent signings and trade acquisitions, particularly given their increasingly promising young core, though it certainly seems that there’d be room for Davis’ salary, the rest of their arb class, and a few new additions. Oakland will watch $26MM come off the books when Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Joyce, Jed Lowrie, Santiago Casilla and Trevor Cahill come off the books, and their Opening Day payroll of roughly $68.9MM was quite a bit lower than the $83.6MM they averaged from 2014-17.
Makes sense… Mid ‘19 season depending on how the A’s continue their developing they can trade Davis and get a nice return…
Probably not that great of one. J.D. Martinez fetched three unspectacular prospects from a poorly ranked farm system when he was in the midst of a better season than Davis has ever had and was earning $4-5MM less than Davis will be making next year.
Except the A’s will be buyers at the deadline next year. Believe it, pal
Not with that pitching my friend
Outside of K.G. and Triggs .2 inning disaster vs Sox(solid all other starts) the starters have looked solid(Cahill,Triggs, ),great (mengden),& elite (Manera..lol) the BP is coming together, they just need to option Pagan and release Hatcher and call up anderson
With a top 5 offense and great defense, the pitching can be middle of the pack and they will contend (I have them having a big 2nd half and storming into contention), but they do have Kaprelian, Jefferies, Luzardo coming very soon and then Puk in 2019 and while they traditionally have a rough time getting free agent hitters to sign with them, they have always gotten pitching to come via FA. I could easily see Gio Gonzalez biting.
I guess your an extreme optimist regarding Kap and Put coming back from TJ surgery.
Don’t think that you can put either in the bank for now….just have to see how they work out longer term.
Glad you have the A’s having a big second half…..don’t think most of baseball agrees with you.
Yeah I am bullish on Kap & Jefferies, they’re both MLB arms when ready – remember, Kap was supposed to debut in 2017 before going down, Jefferies was drafted in the 1st round as the guy most likely to hit MLB before anyone else in his class.
And yeah, most of baseball won’t agree because most of baseball doesn’t pay attention. But still, go look at team offense stats and team pitching stats, as long as they are top 5 in 1 and not bottom 5 in the other, they can contend – that’s simple facts that history has shown time and time again to be true.
They have control of him anyways so I’m not sure what “makes sense”
It makes sense to know exactly how much he will get paid as opposed to letting arby decide?
One lousy year lol them athletics r such penny Pinchers it’s quiet amusing to watch. I’m surprised they actually sprung for alternate uniforms shocked that didn’t blow the budget.
I heard if a player needs to go see the trainer Billy Bean puts a bill in their locker the next day.
I’m surprised they have doctor’s they r probably all interns so they don’t have to pay them.
the bitter A’s haters has come out to play. Please name the team you cheer for so we can hate them.
No not really….all these comments are pretty fair as Beane and management have earned this type of rep over many years.
Why is it that the A’s are where all go when there are no other options.
They’ve been living off of other teams prospects for way too long…..don’t you think its about time to actually go for success rather than tear down each and every year!
The comments are funny.
Its called OBJECTIVITY pal not hating.
“I’m surprised they have doctor’s they r probably all interns so they don’t have to pay them.”
Nothing truthful or objective about that, that’s pure hating.
Why can’t the A’s EVER be good without people bringing up money? Oh right, Giants/national media brainwashing. Think for yourself for a change. Fact is Beane is atrocious at free agency and thrives finding buried players who became stars, and the A’s have offered TONS of multi-year deals and get denied for less money sometimes (Adrian Beltre, Brian Duensing to name two).
Objectivity my @ss – its mindless hating that makes you look really really dumb for continually flying the “A’s are cheap wahhh” narrative. Ever noticed how badly these cretins are trying to act like they didn’t make the postseason every year from 2012-2014? Exactly. Grow up.
Wow check out his stats. Somehow he’s hit exactly .247 three seasons in a row. And the season before he hit .244. Talk about consistency lol
Yes and this is the guy A’s fans are so excited about…..second coming of Babe I guess! LOL!
That .05 WAR is really something and I guess when you hit a homer while losing 10-1, you’ve got to root for something.
They’d settle for Matty Stairs
Oh look more mindless hating by a worthless hater! Shut up rocky7, you dont know your butt from your elbow and sure as hell know ZERO about baseball, period.
Go Dodgers!
Why would he sign that?