Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. His teammate Jacob Wilson finished second and Roman Anthony of the Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz, who was the unanimous choice for the award, will be retroactively awarded a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of the voting. The full voting results can be found here.
Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft and came into 2025 as one of the top prospects in the league. He didn’t break camp with the club but was called up on April 23rd. Almost immediately, he started showing his talent for crushing the ball. Due to his late call-up and a brief injured list stint for a strained left hip flexor, he only got into 117 games, but that was still enough time for him to put the ball over the fence 36 times.
It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz struck out at a high 30.9% rate. However, his 12.9% walk rate was quite strong. When combined with his aforementioned power, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 170. Among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani topped that wRC+ number.
It’s impressive that Kurtz did so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also has notable implications for him and the club. The most recent collective bargaining agreement included measures to discourage service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough in a season for him to earn a full service year, the team can earn an extra draft pick if the player meets certain awards voting criteria, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. On the flip side, if a player is not promoted early enough for a full service year and then goes on to finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting in his league, then he is retroactively credited with a full service year.
Kurtz came into the year as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year if the A’s had called him up earlier. He only got 159 days of service, 13 shy of the 172 needed for a full season. If he were PPI-eligible, this award win would have netted them an extra draft pick in 2026. Since they did not call him up early enough and Kurtz finished in the top two of the voting, he will get a full year of service anyway. That reduces the club’s window of control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he’s now on pace to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.
Wilson is Kurtz’s teammate but the two are polar opposites when it comes to their offensive profiles. While Kurtz strikes out a lot but also draws walks and has huge power, Wilson has modest power and rarely walks but almost never strikes out. His 7.5% strikeout rate this year was the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Arráez. Wilson only hit 13 home runs and drew a walk in just 5.2% of his plate appearances, but he still managed to hit .311/.355/.444 for a 121 wRC+ while playing the premium position of shortstop, even if his defense wasn’t highly rated.
The shortstop actually got promoted in July of 2024 but he landed on the injured list and missed enough time to still have rookie status coming into 2025. Despite having rookie status, he would not have earned the A’s a PPI pick even if he had finished first in the voting. Players are ineligible for the PPI bonus if they have at least 60 days of service time. Wilson earned 73 days of service in 2024, much of it on the injured list, meaning he was in a weird twilight zone of being rookie eligible but not PPI eligible.
Anthony came into the year not only as a top 100 prospect but most rankings had him first or second in the league. However, the Red Sox had a crowded outfield mix that was difficult for him to break into. Eventually, injuries opened a path and he finally got the call in June. By August, he had impressed the Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM extension.
Though he only got into 71 games, Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 for a 140 wRC+ and stole four bases. He was credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. FanGraphs credited him with 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He would have pushed those numbers even further if not for an oblique injury sending him to the IL in early September.
Anthony only got 112 service days this year. He would have earned a full year if he had cracked second place in the voting, though that is largely a moot point with his extension. However, the result does impact him financially when looking at the details of his pact. The deal contains a number of escalators which Anthony can unlock via awards voting. Some extra money could have been tacked on with a top two finish but this third-place finish isn’t enough for him to add anything to the $130MM total. He can still push that up in the future by getting MVP votes.
Several other players received some recognition from the voters. Noah Cameron of the Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narváez of the Red Sox, Jack Leiter of the Rangers, Will Warren of the Yankees, Luke Keaschall of the Twins, Braydon Fisher of the Blue Jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson of the Rays, Luis Morales of the A’s and Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images
the horror…
the horror…
(well deserved!!!)
Kurtz joins Aaron Judge (2017) and Albert Pujols (2001) as the only rookies in MLB history to hit at least 35 home runs, score at least 90 runs, and record an OPS of at least 1.000.
The amount of hate the A’s get is ridiculous. What they have that no one else in the league has (except maybe Tampa) is a way of evaluating players that shows a more accurate forecast of their future potential. They will consistently sell high on players that evaluators love like Addison Russell then buy low on so many others that scouts just overlook. All scouts had Rodon clearly better than Kurtz yet he can’t hit himself out of A ball. MLB had Kurtz ranked 7 (5th hitter). Kieth law had Wilson ranked 24, A’s took him at 10, and he’s out performed hitters Law had ranked above Skeens.
A’s talent evaluation is elite. They are going to be a dangerous franchise is Vegas where their market share will allow them to compete with the likes of Houston.
If Fisher owns the team they won’t be big spenders, full stop.
They’re evaluation and scouting has been very good but they’ve made many mistakes too. The Josh Donaldson and Estuery Cruz trade’s are just two examples of bad evaluations when it relates to trades and selling high.
They could be dangerous whenever Fisher sells, which might be before they move out of Sacramento.
You told us to full stop. I didn’t get past the first sentence.
And I applaud you for following directions.
The amount of hate the A’s get is ridiculous.
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That’s because the fans in Oakland expected Fished to spend huge amounts of his personal money to supply entertainment that the fans themselves would never dream of paying for.
Thanks for letting us know you don’t understand what happened in Oakland
Did I miss something. When State and local governments pay for stadiums the rich owners are directly paying the tab, as well as seat licences, and ticket costs, and parking, and concessions. Several of these stadiums convey money from tickets to outside events back to the team they built it for, and not to the public to help pay for the stadium. It’s a TERRIBLE deal for the fans and outright subsidies to the owners, who often complain of having to pay taxes for the few services that poor people receive. But you go ahead and root for Fischer, who was given a fortune by his family and never worked a day in his life. Fischer is nothing better that a welfare queen, but you go ahead and shill for him
Lancaster county represent 🙌
I know this is off-topic, but I’m curious. What do you miss about the 80s?
Lots of things…but mostly being under 20 years old
Imiss – The 80’s was just a really fun decade, and friendlier. No spreading hate on social media, music was original and about good times not violence, movies were also fresh not remakes of older ones, people actually socialized by spending time with each other and talking with each other instead of burying their face in smartphones.
Ever see Hot Tub Time Machine? I would love to be in that movie.
The only bad thing about the 80’s was 18% for 30-year fixed rate mortgages, ouch!
Fever Is correct. As someone who grew up in the 80’s, it was very different than now..
If I am honest, there are a few negatives about the 80’s:
– Cars were ugly and not that good
– Furniture was ugly
– Hairstyles were bad (Men and women used to get matching perms!)
– And we cursed to listen to ‘We Built This City,’ by Jefferson Starship.
Great things about the 80’s:
– Guitars got a lot better and there were more styles
– Amps and pedal board technology improved
– Heavy metal and then thresh metal was born
– We had those large, console stereos and those massive speakers that took up half your room
The tv shows were a lot better
Raven – Great post!
Sure most cars were boxier back then, but there were plenty of cool cars too ….. the ‘Vettes, Trans Am, Firebird, DeLorean, etc.
Agree with you on the furniture, hair and Starship.
Sounds like you were in a band? 80’s was the last decade of great rock music. And Prince, MJ and Madonna were all groundbreaking ….. nothing comparable since then.
Rsox – Especially the sitcoms, they were great.
Best electric guitars were late 50s Les Paul and early 60s Fenders. I have a 1959 Les Paul Standard and a 1964 Fender Stratocaster. Both are vintage, not the reissues. I never play the Les Paul because it’s so dang heavy. Best acoustic guitars are pre and -WWII Gibsons and Martins like the D-28. I have a 1942 Gibson J-45 that is exceptional. Bought it at a pawn shop in Yorba Linda in 1985 for $100. Worth $8-10k now.
I do have to agree that peddles and even amps got better in the 80s. I have a couple of Boss pieces on my board that I would never let go. The tone they help create is not replicable by the digital stuff nowadays. Only think I have loved as much as those two is the Klon Centaur.
Oh, and Dumble Amps. Oh how I wish I had one.
I still have a pair of Klipschorn speakers I bought in 1981 used. They are 53″ by 32″. I have them paired to a Threshold 800A Class-A amplifier with a Audio Research SP3A1 pre-amp with a Garrard 401 turntable. I haven’t used any of it in a few years and the turntable could use a new stylus. If you know anyone into vintage audiophile equipment let me know.
I miss the 70s even more. Singer/Songwriters and Disco ruled the airwaves, the best sitcoms, Star Wars, the Baseball cards were the best ever and MLB still had the giant stars like Mays, Aaron, Gibson, Yaz, Brock, Clemente, Stargell, the Robinsons, Banks and Kaline.
Fever – You should have waited, like me, until 1992 to buy a home. I got in at a “low” 11.8% rate, But it was an ARM.
Well said Raven! Another negative for me – all the synthesizers used in pop music.
I jave a vintag Carver amp that I just love. Bought it in early 80s but it was an early issue before they changed.
let – I didn’t buy in the 80’s, I was still in my teens. When I did buy in the 90’s, rate was around the same as it is now … 6.5%
ARM’s were too risky for my blood back then, the thought of having no limit as to how high it could jump scared the crap out of me. LOL
toycannon
I miss the 70s more. . the Baseball cards were the best ever
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The 1971 with the black edges-almost impossible to get in mint condition, and the 1973 high numbers, including Evans.
letitbelowenstein
But it was an ARM.
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Best bet I ever made. It was in 1994, but I went to see a broker that offered 6.75 and I wanted 6 5/8. So instead I took an ARM based on the 11th district cost of funds. The ARM reset much lower 3 years later, and went down every year forever.
The Raven
– Cars were ugly and not that good
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Only of sports cars. I bought a Camry in the mid-80s that looked nice and lasted 260,000 miles and only stopped because body pieces were rusting out.
Fever…luckily I was unaffected by those rates as I was a child/teen most of the decade…and thanks to my long and winding road through college, I didn’t buy my first home until I was 26 in 1997…I think the rate was in the mid 6 range back then
There’s a lot to miss about a world without an ubiquitous internet.
sadler – I blame it all on Tipper’s husband.
I miss the higher morals, lower crime, purer amatuer sports and political parties who were civil to each other. Also Teagan.
Crime was higher in the 1980s. So was pollution. “Amateur” international sports was a joke during the cold war.
LOL. You mean the institutionalization of the prison industrial complex, the “War on Drugs” criminalizing crack but not coke, the beginning of the political polarization we see today through Bush’s Willie Horton ad campaign, and the half-naked women in every rock music video? Yes, the 1980’s were clearly the moral compass of the 20th century. Nothing to see here, folks.
Sounds as if someone remembers their first year sociology 101 course from the early 2010s.
How many mass shootings were there in the 1980’s?
I miss the … lower crime,
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Crime in NYC was 100x higher before Rudy & Bloomberg.
I miss the lower federal deficits.
Hate to get into politics, but a truth bomb.
The deficits during the Reagan administration, who was in office from 1981-1989, were the highest of any President from Carter through Obama. During Reagan’s eight year presidency, the annual deficits averaged 4.0% of GDP, compared to a 2.2% average during the preceding eight years. The federal deficit grew almost $3 trillion under Reagan. That is what Trickle Down does for the economy.
If you miss low deficits, you have to look a few years later to the Clinton administration. During his tenure as President the annual deficit was eliminated and there were 4 years of a budget surplus.
Crime peaked in NYC in 1990 and began to fall und4er Mayor Dinkins. It fell in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Under Giuliani it continued to fall. Today both the violent crime rates and property crime rates are less than 1/3 of what they were at their peak in 1990. violent crime in NYC today is 1/10th of the rates in cities like St Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans.
Trapper Keepers
Avoid the trappings of nostalgia as much as possible.
toshiro…I got kidney failure going on along with a boatload of neuro issues…you do you, but I will definitely keep my nostalgia
Being born?
Broke out of nowhere and never looked back. This guy will terrorize pitchers to come in the future.
He was the 4th overall pick. Not sure it was out of nowhere.
I guess I don’t pay attention to the draft that much…
I’m surprised Noah Cameron of the Royals didn’t finish 3rd.
So many good rookies this year in AL, Kurtz, Wilson, Anthony, Cameron, Barger, Meidroth, Quero, Teel, Simpson, Manzardo, Perkins and Martin, plus many others.
Number 1# 1st basemen in baseball? Definitely an argument for Nick Kurtz.
Offensively maybe but looks like he tied all 1b in errors in only 117 games..so that side of his game needs work before considered as the best 1b in all mlb …since you state the position defense must count.
Not particularly rangy either with a -5 OAA. He can clean it up though, at least get better at making plays he physically can make.
Sounds like he needs to get sent down to AAA for the first few weeks of the season. To improve his glove work of course. Nothing to do with that extra service time he just earned.
> Sounds like he needs to get sent down to AAA for the first few weeks of the season.
Mr Fisher Sir? MLBPA on lines one two and three.
I would still pick Freddie Freeman for 1B for the 7th game of World Series.
What does Freeman have to do with a ROY award?
Kurtz = Mark McGuire 2.0 minus the roids
Kurtz and Rooker are the closest to being the As new Bash Bros.
Who is Mark McGuire?
Zach – I think he’s Reese McGuire’s crazy uncle, in fact so crazy that he often misspelled his own last name with a W!
The Eastern world, it is explodin’
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
Auto-correct’s favorite 1B? I had to fix it 3 times when I typed the name.
toy – Back in 1998 my auto-corrrect changed it to Mike McGwire whenever I typed it with Sammy Sooser.
Let’s add Mark Aguirre to the mix
Rookie year McGwire was without the Roids.
As a McGwire fan since I was like 8, in 1988….doubt he used steroids until the 1991 off season when he got jacked before 1992. If not familiar look up the images of him before/after and also the HR’s to AB ratio.
enrico – Look up the images of him in 1999 when he was in bed with Helen Hunt on Mad About You.
Why would I want to do that?
enrico – It shows how jacked he was then, even though he wasn’t working out any more than he was his rookie year.
I was saying he likely didn’t use steroids until 1992, I know he was jacked after that.
Enrico – I totally agree!
Congrats on a great season but really wish they’d simplify the whole PPI process and simply give the team an extra pick if they win ROY, no questions asked. It actually hurts teams at this point because if they want the pick, they have to rush them to the majors and change their development path just to get an incentive. Not everyone hits the ground running and part of a player’s success could be because they start hot in the minors. Just like Skenes, team is robbed of an affordable year of a great player.
I respectfully disagree. I actually like the idea of teams having to decide if their prospects is ready to start the season… The draft pick is the reward for bringing them up soon and giving them the chance… The “full year service clause” is the punishment for trying to manipulate the service time of a player.
I might be one of the few advocates for the process.
The problem is if the player plays in one game in 2025 and wins ROY in 2026, no draft pick. If the player plays 140 games in 2025 and wins ROY, no draft pick. Kurtz produced well above most players with 162 games. I agree with holecamels35.
@shark not true. A player needs to accrue less than 60 days of service time and stay below the minimum threshold of ABS or innings pitched this season prior. Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers are still eligible for the PPI next season despite getting a major league look this year
Ah, ok. So Wilson had 28 games played and was ineligible. This must have been because 28 games was more than 60 days. Either way, the PPI and full year should both be awarded in my opinion. Player and team both get rewarded.
Playing one game in 2025 would not disqualify a player from earning their team a draft pick if they won rookie of the year in 2026. They’re still PPI eligible so long as they haven’t previously exceeded 45 days on an active roster, or 60 days of total service including time on the IL.
And like the story explains, Wilson exceeded 60 days in 2024 because of IL time. He debuted July 19, immediately went on the IL with a hamstring strain and did not return until Aug. 27.
That defeats the entire purpose of the PPI. Teams were holding players back so that they’d not get an extra year of playing time. The PPI is supposed to encourage them to not manipulate service time. Giving everyone a pick if the player wins is 100% the opposite of what the pick exists for lol
I think you inadvertently made the argument that it’s working.
Kurtz clearly was ready, his stats showed it. The 13 days he wasn’t in the majors didn’t change his development. A’s should have called him up 2 weeks earlier and they would have got their pick, they didnt to keep an extra year of control and that backfired
Kurtz had barely played any minor league baseball. I don’t even think this was service time manipulation in the slightest. They were playing Soderstrom there. (Who hit 2 bombs game 1) But the rules are what they are
Dustyslambchops23
Kurtz clearly was ready
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You don’t know that. He had a 26/10 K/W in AAA in 84 ABs. Most of the time, in my experience, a player should not get promoted without a 2/1 or better.
@Joe
84abs doesn’t really say much regardless of his numbers. This wasn’t like keeping Kris Bryant down.
I think ANY player who played the entire season on the MLB roster and wins ROY should give their team a PPI pick – if they were eligible for the award, they should be eligible for the pick – it should not only be players who were on the top 100 prospect lists
I completely agree with that. I don’t understand why that was a caveat thrown in. Beavers just recently made 2 top 100 lists but when we called him up—he was only on one.
Pretty nonsensical line to draw.
The system needs some adjusting. I would think teams are far better off keeping their best players down.
1-There is no lock that any prospect will win ROY. So if you promote them to start the season, you mostly just lose a year of service time for nothing.
2-In the case of 2025, who is better off? A team that gets a low 1st rounder, or a team like the WS, who still have Montgomery & Teel for another 6 years? I’d rather have the extra year.
His stat line reads like the next Pete Incaviglia
Not even close. Kurtz did in less than one year more than half of what Pete did in his entire 13-year career.
.310 career OBP.
.250/.320/.463 vs .290/.383/.619 ?
This was a very strong rookie class. I would probably have voted Kurtz first, Cameron, and then Anthony, with Wilson fourth.
Probably first? c’mon he was a no brainer for first ballot ROY
How many ballots do they get for roy?..
Pirates got burned last yr
This time A’s
Ppi rules need to be changed, this is counterproductive & totally ridiculous
Not surprised, thats what mlb is today, total s### show
Unanimous vote as it should be. Going to hate seeing that guy beat up on the Angels for the next 3 years before the A’s trade him.
You expect them to trade him while early in Vegas depending if that stadium gets built. Good way to push away new fans
Based on what they’ve been doing since 2006, “new fans” for the A’s is at the absolute bottom of their priorities.
“new fans” for the A’s is at the absolute bottom of their priorities.
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There is not a single person in the entire planet that would’ve spent any money on the Oakland fans. I could crack open a couple of kegs in the local park 81 times and get better attendance.
Yes. Absolutely. Do you really expect a new ballpark is going to change the way they have done things the past 17 years? Kurtz will be gone as soon as he starts to earn a ton in arbitration and he will set records if he continues to play like he did this season. $12-14 million that first year in 2027 or 28, $20 million the 2nd year, and then he will be gone to a major league baseball team.
He won’t set any records for sure because he only gets to go through 3 times. If he didn’t win ROY and got 4 cracks at it—-possibly.
I kind of thought the same except I want him to beat up the Angels just not the Ms. I don’t think they will be trading this core of good players they have. They will want a strong team their first year in Portland or Nashville.
Have they even started construction on the Vegas facility? Will they eventually end up there? I don’t follow it close because I am not sure it will happen. Plus I don’t care all that much.
Vancouver instead of Portland please. a team in Portland takes away not only the Mariners Oregon fans but most of their fans South of Centrailia/Chehalis. and the Oregonians who remain M’s fans will lose them on radio and local tv as they will cover the Duckies.
The “new” A’s have shown a tendency to wrap up a few position player stars. I think they will find a way to keep Kurtz while still spending far less than the median.
There have already been articles and segments on MLB Network that have talked about what an extension for Kurtz would be like right now. A deal somewhere between Witt and Tatis is probable. The A’s are not going to go their financially.
They both signed after 2 years of service time and played a premium defensive position. So I don’t think so if they sign it tomorrow. They won’t do it anyway because it’ll be nowhere close to anything we’ve ever seen them do.
Wonder if they mimic the Julio contract instead. Salary is still good for the player if he’s just above average, but affordable for the team with their budget and if he continues to improve and win awards, he earns raises through bonuses and with an options structure for more years/money.
@outinleftfield They don’t need to right now. The A’s can predict future stadium revenues once they get closer to opening the new Vegas stadium. I wouldn’t count on Fisher slaughtering his cash cow stadium during the intial buzz once they move in.
It won’t be a cash cow other than it will make it easier for him to sell the team. In Oakland he would have been blocked from selling the team until the redevelopment was complete if he went ahead with the Howard Terminal site which had been approved by the city and state with over $600 million in public funding and all the environmental and other legal issues settled in court. That fact is certainly part of why fisher backed out. That he was unable to procure financing to build the $12 billion development that included the stadium was another big part of why he backed out at the last minute.
Did that under pressure to spend or lose revenue sharing from the league.
Were his numbers inflated by playing home games in Sacramento or does this kid have what it takes to maintain this production for his career?
Good question. He definitely hit better at Sutter Health, the HR numbers are skewed significantly to home, but he still had a .967 OPS on the road.
What Jean said. Kurtz is a super stud, but yes, even better at Sutter Health Field.
Among all batters with at least 450 PAs, he was third place with a 170 wRC+ (ballpark adjusted stat) behind Judge and Ohtani. Raleigh was at 161. Kurtz is a stud at any ballpark but we need a bigger sample size to see if his level of production is sustainable.
Kurtz was 5th in wRC+ on the road just ahead of Juan Soto. That is outstanding for any player, let alone a rookie. fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&st…
The question is can he hit 5 HRs in a game now.
Since A’s are moving to LV eventually, they will likely keep him longer than in past situations and make him the center focus in lights in LV
You’re sort of underestimating the cheapness of John Fisher here…
Fisher likes money, agreed, but fisher knows that Kurtz will increase ticket sales in a new city that likes to see star status players
Fisher will likely pay to keep Kurtz even if he has four converted middle relievers and AAA guys in the starting rotation.
LV is going to survive on away fans but I guess them being good wouldn’t hurt.
The ballpark will be ready for 2028 or 2029 and Kurtz will make $20+ million in arbitration his 2nd time through which will probably be for the 2029 season. That will be his last season in an A’s uniform.
No they won’t. I spend an inordinate amount of time and money in Las Vegas and fans are not going there in droves for sporting events. They go there to party. Even when they go for conventions, they really go there to party.
The Raiders have a huge fan base in LA and they draw the 2nd smallest percentage of out of state ticket sales in the NFL and are at the bottom of NFL attendance both per game and as a percentage of seats available. The UNLV team draws a higher number of out of state fans to its football games, about 2730 per game, than the Raiders do to their NFL games, about 1860 per game.
The F1 races were a relative disaster drawing half the people in 2024 that it had in 2023 and it disrupted casino business so much that the casinos fought against bringing it back due to significant financial losses and operational disruptions caused by the event’s prolonged construction and road closures. Local businesses reported significant losses due to construction, road closures, and reduced foot traffic during the event. Many businesses filed lawsuits against the event organizers and the county, alleging they lost millions of dollars in revenue and were misled about the potential negative impacts.
If they A’s are counting on tourists attending a game when the casino’s can’t buy or give away tickets or spend a dime on sponsorships, they are in for a big let down.
It’s tough to say if Fisher is cheap or not. The 11,000 fans he drew in Oakland is probably not enough to pay to keep the lights on. Let’s see what happens in LV when he starts drawing 3 times as many fans.
cnbc.com/amp/2025/09/04/internal-nfl-ticket-report…
The Raiders drew less than $2k fans a game outside of Nevada? Less than $16k fans per year???? That’s simply impossible.
The Raiders were 5th in net receipts. VTS money was waived for the stadium but this was far from a disaster. They had much higher than average ticket and box prices.
8 games a year is not 81 but we have to base something in reality.
He only drew 11k fans after his team president literally told the fans not to come just after the 2021 season. In 2016-2019 they drew more an average of 19.2k. Much of the attendance problems in Oakland are on Fisher who took over as managing partner of the team after the 2016 season. Fisher didn’t pay to keep the lights on in Oakland. The stadium authority lost money each game the A’s played there.
Las Vegas cannot draw 3 times that 11k number even if they sell out every game. The stadium is not big enough. I can guarantee you they won’t even come close. If they top 1.6 million it will be a miracle. Just look at how poorly the Raiders pull and they have one of the most rabid fan bases in the country. The A’s can’t sell out West Sacramento. They averaged 9487 attendance per game or 67.3% of capacity and that was with comping 1189 tickets per game on average.
Its a pipe dream to think that they will draw well just because they are moving to Las Vegas where the biggest industry cannot sponsor the team, buy advertising, lease luxury suites, or buy tickets to give away because of Nevada gaming laws.
Believe me, I would love if the casinos I drop $10k a visit at could comp me tickets, but they are precluded from doing so by the gaming laws because they take action on the games.
It’s price per ticket—not just the additional capacity. Making it $33k seats was the correct move. That cuts the supply down. Boxes will fetch more money. This is definitely a big revenue booster.
Wynn Caesars and MGM all have them at raiders stadium.
He just missed on a 5th in that game in Houston. He loves the Crawford boxes.
Anthony was better than Wilson.
Anthony didn’t play as much as Wilson. If he had stayed healthy he might have won the award.
What name did Baltimore_44 used to be because I apparently have him muted.
I’m looking forward to Kurtz wearing Dodger blue in 2028 after Freddie Freeman’s contract is up. Trade and extend like Mookie.
Raleigh almost doubled his homeruns in 2025 and increases his OPS by 200 points. I’m not sure we’ll see 50 plus bomeruns out of him again. Great player though if you factor in his platinum level defense and position he plays
Kurtz 100% earned it, more power to him.
I am very pleased about the votes forr Will Warren, He didn’t miss a start, pitched well, and definately deserved votes for ROY.
A’s botched his promotion for an extra pick, by 13 days. Sounds about right
“Wilson only hit 13 home runs ….” Not so bad for a Grand Canyon U kid who the scouts said had great contact skills but NO POWER. He also just happened to be voted the starting AL All-Star shortstop as a ROOKIE over Witt.
Just so many of deserving candidates. And remarkably, a lot of them put up really nice numbers in less than a half season.
A’s have sone good young players and just had another great draft.
Should be fun to be an A’s fan the next few years and watch this team grow together.
I wonder if the A’s will try to extend him to something that looks and feels normal or if they’ll be like “Bobby Crosby…. maybe not…”
7 years/$73.5M guaranteed ($5M signing bonus, $1M, $2M, $7M, $9.5M, $12.5M, $14.5M, $17.5M and a $4.5M buyout on $21M club option and a $6M buyout on a $30M option and a $5M buyout on a $35M 10th year option w/ $5M a year in escalators- bonuses for Gold Glove, MVP, Silver Slugger, whatever- that that could take it to a total of 10 years/$205M)
Would be a no brainer for the Athletics if they could buy out Kurtz’s free agent years for 14.5m, 17.5m, 21m option, etc. Plus those arb salaries look like a steep discount too.
With the huge showing he just had it’s going to take a lot more than a 73.5m guarantee for him to tie up his next 10 years.
Kurtz just had a historic rookie season. It would not pay for him to take a discount on an extension. That said let’s look at realistic numbers for players that have put up a 4+ WAR in their rookie season and had a full season of service time.
At the bottom end of recent extensions would be Merrill at 9 years/$135 mm at the end of his first season. At the upper end would be Tatis Jr at 14 years/$340 mm. signed at the end of his 2nd season. In between would be Witt Jr at 11 years/$288,7 mm signed at the end of his 2nd season and JRod at 12 years/$209.3 mm signed at the end of his 1st season.
So looking at Kurtz something between Merrill and JRod if he signs now. To make that happen that 3rd number would have to be closer to $10 million and the 4th number closer to $18 million and the 5th number closer to $25 million and that is giving the team a 20% discount for him signing early. After that they are buying out FA years so it will absolutely be $30 million plus.
Something closer to this – 7/$116 million or $1 mm, $2 mm, $10 mm, $18 mm. $25 mm and then $30 mm and $30 mm for two FA years then any team options. Taking that to 10 years with the options brings the total value closer to $206-$221 mm.
$50 guy in auctions next year?