The Athletics were financially active last offseason, handing out considerable free-agent deals to Luis Severino and José Leclerc, while also inking Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler to extensions. Reports of a potential grievance from the MLB Players Association if the club didn’t boost its CBT number likely spurred some of those moves. This offseason doesn’t have the same MLBPA considerations, but spending could still continue.
“I can tell you [payroll] is going to be higher,” owner John Fisher told Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “That’s something that we’re continuing to work on internally. At the end of the day, our goal is to put the greatest team on the field that we can, and payroll is an important part of that.”
Fisher took a step toward that promise on Christmas Day, when the club locked up Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension. The 24-year-old outfielder will now be under team control through his age-31 season. With Shea Langeliers just entering arbitration, and Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz still in the pre-arbitration phase, the Athletics have their hitting core in place for the foreseeable future.
The Athletics barely topped $50MM in payroll in 2022, per RosterResource. That number crept up to $59MM in 2023, and then $63MM in 2024. Last year’s $79MM mark pales in comparison to most other teams around the league, but it continued an upward trend for the franchise. The Athletics’ estimated mark is currently $99MM for 2026.
While not all of the spending worked out (Leclerc missed most of the season with injury, Severino struggled mightily at home), the Athletics did put together one of their better seasons this decade. The club finished 76-86, reaching 70 wins for the first time since 2021. They closed the season with a 35-29 stretch. Kurtz cruised to AL Rookie of the Year honors. Langeliers put together a massive offensive season. Denzel Clarke was a SportsCenter Top 10 regular with his work in center field. “It was everything that we could have hoped it would be and more,” Fisher said of the 2025 results.
The current architect of the roster is only under contract through 2026, but that could change soon. Fisher said the club is in extension talks with general manager David Forst. “I’m really proud of the work that he’s done, and how well we work together, and we’re continuing to have conversations about the future, and those conversations are ongoing.”
Forst’s previous contract ran out at the end of the 2025 campaign. Reports emerged shortly after the season ended that he’d be back for 2026, though the details of a new deal weren’t made available. Fisher’s comments suggest the sides are working on something that goes beyond next season.
Forst has been with the organization for 25 years. He first came on board as a scout in 2000. Forst took over as GM in 2022, with legendary executive Billy Beane serving in an advisory role. He’s had to navigate an extended rebuild, a city change, and home games in a minor league stadium. Despite the challenges, Forst has the team trending in the right direction. The recent extensions and the general willingness toward increased spending should give the club a shot to reach the postseason for the first time since the shortened 2020 season.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
If they just get some pitching, they are definitely a contender with that offense.
Sacramento A’s are clearly a Forst Place team!
Athletics forever!
I was born in Sacramento. Kinda cool that you can go there now and see a mlb game. Athletics are getting better. De vries will be great
With De Vries you ketchup
You can walk up on game day and buy a ticket. They can’t even sell out Sutter Health Park.
There were a lot of games that sold out in the first half of the season. Cubs, Giants, Yankees. Ticket prices are higher than many parks.
It’s not impressive to sell out a Yankees game. That place was a ghost town by June.
I went to multiple games at Sutter Health Field in June 2025. Far more fans at the games than the ones that I previously attended at the Oakland Coliseum. I don’t like Fisher, but the energy at Sutter Health Field is amazing compared to what games were like at the Oakland Coliseum. It is like seeing your favorite band at a smaller venue, it rocks!
Aloha M-100, I also went to the Cubs series early in the season, I couldn’t believe how nice and safe the area was. Easy parking, getting to park. A little expensive to sit in the grass but a nice venue and I was right next to Seiya in RF. I feel bad for Oakland but the Coliseum was not in good shape and the time going through all the metal detectors was getting on many peoples nerves. The A’s are going to have a good team in 2026. Mahalo
Oaklamento Athletics!
Every bottom feeder team all the sudden upping their payrolls. Hmmmm. Weird.
Makes you wonder if Pittsburgh and Miami received the same revenue sharing threat Oakland got, and it just wasn’t reported.
ChiSox too
I think it’s safe to assume they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.
Perhaps it could be something simpler, like small market teams taking advantage of their windows.
You’re too simple-minded then, JoeBrady. The bootlicking got to your head it seems…
You can be as negative about life as you want. Makes no difference to me.
You may be too simple-minded then, JoeBrady.
That bootlicking got to your head it seems.
MLB’s testimony hack to feed an arbiter after the season
What a schmuck. Payroll has to be higher or he won’t continue to receive revenue sharing.
Now that their sabotage is complete they can pretend to be a real team again.
Also, them making the playoffs in a AAA park would put the idiocy of their ownership on full display for everyone. So yeah. I’m for it.
*ownership and league
put the idiocy of their ownership on full display for everyone.
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Yup, winning the WS would really show everyone how dumb Fisher is.
Only in America..
You really think John Fisher is committed to winning a World Series?
Only a career stock-trading Bronx-born, Vegas resident Red Sox fan..
Gonna start blaming the A’s for ruining baseball with all this spending.
They can still sign Tucker, Bichette, and Valdez then defer most of their contracts for 127 years. All teams can do the same thing it’s the the legal rules after all.
THey’ll have to get through the Giants to sign those guys. Valdez we know has already had a visit with the Giants.
Honestly, the A’s don’t need more bats!
Now, if they added Imai, Ranger, Framber, and Gallen, that would double their payroll but maybe make them a top four or five team in baseball.
What’s their new limit? 120MM?
Well this year’s payroll was approximately $118MM, so that would technically be a higher limit haha.
The A’s briefly had the highest payroll in baseball in 1991, at about $33MM.
Followed by the Pirates having the highest payroll in 1992. It was Bizzarro World
Then during 2005 to 2007, Nutting and Fisher bought the Pirates and A’s, respectively, but not respectably.
Actually in ’05 it was Fisher and Wolff who bought the A’s. It was years later that Fisher bought out Wolff to become sole owner.
Payroll is an important part of fielding a great team. If only he did that while in Oakland . He also runs his mls soccer team cheaply too
Really he sounds like maybe a decent owner, who has just had a lot of his resources tied up in other places, but has been working towards being able to fund the team better.
What about cokes? Davey wants cokes. Justice for cokes!
I hope they hang back for a couple years. Mariners just got here, man!
And they need to act a little more like the Blue Jays now if they want to stay there!
The Mariners are lowkey stacked right now, even with two rookies inked at 2B/3B, and a weird platoon blob in RF. A versatile player who can get on base, like Brendan Donovan, would really cap off this roster nicely. They have the pitching, the bullpen, and enough thump to carry the young players as they learn to adjust.
Any A’s payroll increase must come with the asterisk that Fisher stopped spending and MLB supported the lack of spending to move the team. MLB and Fisher hosed Oakland and were never serious about finding a solution in Oakland as demonstrated by the crap product he put on the field while the team was in Oakland.
Geez, what’s going on here? You’d think they’d found themselves a new city and ballpark at this rate.
“I can tell you [payroll] is going to be higher,” owner John Fisher told Evan Drellich. “That’s something that we’re continuing to work on internally. At the end of the day, our goal is to put the greatest team on the field that we can, and payroll is an important part of that.”
Really that sounds like a decent owner, who has just had a lot of his resources tied up in other places, but has been working towards being able to fund the team better.
Seems like Fisher maybe has something cooking. He might be giving Las Vegas fans something to be excited about. Seems like they’re trending toward being better than they were the last few years in Oakland.
That’s a good thing. It’s good for baseball.
Seems like Fisher maybe has something cooking.
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He does. Fisher is far more successful than many other owners, both large and small.
Well people can slam the A’s and the owner all they want but let’s shine a little light on a hell of a great job by the scouting and player development staffs. And they are actually doing a real good job of getting some of these kids extended. You’re asking too much for then to compete for a playoff spot next year, but if a few young arms come out of nowhere, crazier things have happened. I’ve never been an A’s fan but I do like the way things are progressing on the field and for the first time in many years they seem to be on the right path. They just gotta plug along til they get that new stadium. And after that if the owner doesn’t spend….then run him outta town on a rail.
Too bad Vegas is dying
Nothing that a few bankruptcies won’t cure. Once they find out $15 for water is unpopular, things will change.
If John Fisher told me it was raining out. Id still go to the window.
A’s need to fire Scott Emerson.
Playoff baseball in a MiLB park would be hilarious
Las Vegas A’s will win the World Series in ‘28 and Vegas will host the allstar week in said year