A’s Finalize Opening Day Bullpen
The A’s finalized their Opening Day bullpen last night, announcing that righty Jack Perkins has been optioned to Triple-A. He’ll likely remain stretched out as a rotation option in the minors, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. That leaves righties J.T. Ginn and Luis Medina (the latter of whom is out of minor league options) as the final two members of the Athletics’ initial relief corps this season.
There are no 40-man transactions at play here, but it’s notable that the hard-throwing Medina made the club, as he’d have otherwise been designated for assignment. That was hardly a lock, given the manner in which the 26-year-old has struggled this spring. Medina has pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed six runs — good for a 7.36 earned run average. Small-sample ERA marks aren’t particularly meaningful, but Medina was probably lucky to “only” surrender six runs. He’s been tagged for six hits and walked a whopping nine batters (24.3%) this spring.
Some rust for Medina is understandable, however. He didn’t pitch at all last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August of the 2024 season. Medina has never had particularly sharp command, though this spring’s struggles to locate the ball are obviously extreme even by his prior standards. He’s walked 11.4% of his opponents in 149 2/3 big league innings.
The A’s acquired Medina, JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk and Cooper Bowman from the Yankees in the 2022 trade sending Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. He’s started 25 games for the A’s and made another six relief appearances since, but opponents have roughed him up for a 5.35 ERA. Medina averaged 96 mph on his four-seamer while working primarily as a starter prior to surgery. He’s been sitting 97.2 mph this spring while working in short relief.
The rotation may not have panned out for Medina, but a pitcher with his velocity and a slider that has generated a huge 20.2% swinging-strike rate could have success in a bullpen capacity. The A’s have invested more than a year in the right-hander’s rehab from that UCL surgery, so despite the rocky spring, it’s only natural that they want to give him some leash to see if he can round into form and give them a quality bullpen option. He’s earning just $835K this year and is under club control through 2029.
Ginn has had an even rougher spring. The former second-round pick came to the A’s from the Mets in the trade sending Chris Bassitt to Queens. He’s been tagged for 17 runs on 18 hits, seven walks and four hit batters during Cactus League play. Ginn has fanned nearly a quarter of his opponents and been dogged by a sky-high .385 average on balls in play, but it’s been an underwhelming spring regardless.
Be that as it may, Ginn will get a crack at carving out a role in a wide-open bullpen landscape. He’s pitched 124 1/3 major league innings to date and carries a 4.85 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. Ginn’s heater has ticked up a bit this spring, and he’s been mixing in more cutters and changeups at the expense of his slider and sinker. He’s a somewhat natural candidate for a multi-inning/swing role, given his prior work as a starter. Even this spring, he’s made four starts.
The A’s will enter the season with a committee approach to the late innings. Veterans Scott Barlow and Mark Leiter Jr. are the only A’s relievers with real late-inning experience — the former as a closer and the latter as a setup man. It’s been four years since Barlow pitched like a high-end closer, however, and while Leiter has continued to see leverage opportunities in recent seasons, he has a lackluster 4.66 ERA dating back to Opening Day 2024.
Barlow, Leiter, Ginn and Medina will be joined by lefty Hogan Harris and right-handers Justin Sterner, Michael Kelly and Elvis Alvarado in manager Mark Kotsay‘s Opening Day ‘pen. Leiter, Barlow and Medina are the only three members of that octet who cannot be optioned to Triple-A, so there’ll surely be something of a revolving door in the Athletics’ bullpen early in the season as they cycle in fresh arms and look to find the optimal combination for Kotsay.
A’s Trade Cooper Bowman To Rays
The Athletics and Rays announced a swap of minor league players. Infielder Cooper Bowman goes to Tampa Bay, while the A’s acquire right-handed reliever Gerlin Rosario. Neither player has appeared in the big leagues, nor are they on their respective clubs’ 40-man rosters.
Bowman is the closer of the two to the majors. A 26-year-old second baseman/left fielder, he was selected by the Reds in the 2024 Rule 5 draft. Bowman hit .120 in 13 Spring Training contests. Cincinnati passed him through waivers and returned him to the A’s halfway through camp. Bowman had a rough season in the minors, twice landing on the injured list and struggling when healthy. He hit .234/.328/.385 across 326 plate appearances, most of which came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
The A’s opted not to extend Bowman a non-roster invitation to big league camp this year. He’ll open the season with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate in Durham. Bowman has shown some stolen base acumen in the minors and posted solid offensive numbers back in 2024, when he hit .262/.351/.419 between the top two levels. He’ll provide non-roster second base depth with Richie Palacios pressed back into MLB action by the shoulder impingement sending Gavin Lux to the injured list.
Rosario, 24, spent the entire 2025 season at High-A Bowling Green. He worked to a 2.27 ERA across 47 2/3 innings, albeit with a modest 21.7% strikeout rate. He has never appeared in MLB camp. The A’s will probably send him to Double-A for the first time in his career.
T.J. McFarland Announces Retirement
After over a decade in the big leagues, T.J. McFarland is hanging up his spikes. The left-hander announced his retirement on Instagram today, thanking his wife, parents, family, friends, teammates and the clubs who employed him for all their support throughout his time as a professional ballplayer.
McFarland wraps up a career of more than a decade. A relative soft tosser by today’s standards, his velocity topped out in the low 90s and he didn’t strike many guys out. But he had great control and was one of the best arms in the league when it came to inducing ground balls. His earned run average wobbled from year to year, as ground balls are less reliable than strikeouts since they need to be hit towards fielders who can regularly convert them into outs. McFarland had three seasons with an ERA under 3.00 and five above 5.00, but he was generally effective on the whole.
His professional career began when he was a fourth-round pick of Cleveland in 2007, taken out of Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, Illinois. He worked his way up the minor leagues as a starter. He was left unprotected in the 2012 Rule 5 draft. The Orioles took him and plugged him into their bullpen. He stuck on the roster all season long in 2013, throwing 74 2/3 innings over 38 appearances with a 4.22 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate was well shy of league average but he generated grounders on 57.8% of balls in play. He stuck with the Orioles in 2014 and dropped his ERA to 2.76 with fairly similar rate stats. But that ERA ticked up to 4.91 in 2015 and then 6.93 the year after.
He was released ahead of the 2017 season and landed with the Diamondbacks. His 5.33 ERA that year wasn’t especially impressive but he was back with the Snakes in 2018 and posted a flat 2.00 ERA over 72 innings. The seesaw nature of his career then flung him in the other direction, as he had a 4.82 ERA in 2019. That may have been related to the juiced balls in that season, as McFarland’s 17.1% home run to fly ball ratio was the highest of his career.
He was put on waivers after that campaign, getting claimed by the Athletics. He posted a 4.35 ERA for the A’s in that shortened season as the club won the American League West. He got to make his postseason debut, tossing two scoreless innings, though the A’s were knocked out by the Astros in the Division Series.
He became a free agent going into 2021. He was with the Nationals on a minor league deal for a while but then got back to the majors with the Cardinals. He gave them 38 2/3 innings with a 2.56 ERA. The Cards snagged a Wild Card spot, which meant a single-game playoff at that time.
Facing the Dodgers, the Cards would eventually fall with McFarland given the tough-luck loss. He was sent into a tied game in the bottom of the ninth. He got Albert Pujols and Steven Souza Jr. to line out then walked Cody Bellinger. Alex Reyes was brought in to face the right-handed Chris Taylor, who hit a walk-off home run. Since Bellinger was technically the winning run, the L went next to McFarland’s name in the boxscore.
Despite that bitter ending, the Cards clearly liked what McFarland gave them. They brought him back for 2022 via a $2.5MM deal, the largest of McFarland’s career. Unfortunately, he was dragged by one of his patented ERA swings. He was released in August with a 6.61 ERA and then re-signed with the Cards on a minor league deal. In 2023, he was mostly stuck in the minors, making just three appearances for the Mets midsummer.
Another bounceback came in 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers but was traded to the A’s just before Opening Day and given a roster spot. He made 79 appearances for that club’s final season in Oakland with a 3.81 ERA. He re-signed with that club, a one-year deal worth $1.8MM, going into 2025. His ERA jumped up once more, getting to 6.89 that year, before he was released in July.
Overall, McFarland appeared in 460 major league games and logged 546 1/3 innings with a 4.18 ERA. His 13.7% strikeout rate was well below average but his 7.3% walk rate was quite good and his 61.7% ground ball rate was elite. Among pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched from 2013 to 2025, only Clay Holmes and Framber Valdez induced grounders at a higher rate than McFarland. He had a 26-20 record and earned one save and 68 holds. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings a bit north of $12MM. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute McFarland on his fine career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.
Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Jeff Curry, Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Poll: Who Will Win The AL West?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, while our readers overwhelmingly (58%) voted for the Tigers in our poll on the AL Central. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Seattle Mariners (90-72)
Powered by an MVP-caliber season from star catcher Cal Raleigh, the Mariners surged ahead of the pack in the AL West last year and fell just one game short of reaching the World Series. Eugenio Suárez and Jorge Polanco departed via free agency, but the rest of that team is more or less intact. A rotation led by Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo figures to once again be among the very best in baseball, and they’ll be backed up by a bullpen that added lefty Jose A. Ferrer to pair with Andres Munoz and Matt Brash in high-leverage situations. The big addition to the offense is utilityman Brendan Donovan, who’ll primarily play third base and help lengthen a lineup featuring Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Randy Arozarena and breakout slugger Dominic Canzone. The offense could improve even more if young second baseman Cole Young and/or top prospect Colt Emerson prove they can be impact players in 2026, but it’s easy to make the argument that Seattle remains the most well-rounded team in the division even without those improvements.
Houston Astros (87-75)
The Astros missed the postseason for the first time since 2016 last year, and the team was not as aggressive as one might have expected this winter. That’s not to say the Astros were inactive. They replaced Framber Valdez at the top of the rotation with Tatsuya Imai and brought in Mike Burrows from the Pirates to add further depth to a rotation that was often held together by duct tape and bubblegum last year. Houston will bring back a nearly identical offense, only swapping Mauricio Dubon for Nick Allen and Jesus Sanchez for Joey Loperfido while going to internal backup Cesar Salazar as a replacement for Victor Caratini. The Astros explored trades of infielder Isaac Paredes and tried to get another left-handed bat, but they’ve come up empty to date. The uncertain health of closer Josh Hader only adds to the question marks facing Houston as they look to return to the top of this division.
Texas Rangers (81-81)
After a second consecutive disappointing season, the Rangers moved on from second baseman Marcus Semien, outfielder Adolis Garcia, and catcher Jonah Heim. Semien was traded to the Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who will take over right field following Garcia’s non-tender. Heim, also non-tendered, will be replaced by catcher Danny Jansen. Nimmo and Jansen should be upgrades over Heim and Garcia, though the team lost some positional depth by forcing Josh Smith into the everyday role at second base. The addition of MacKenzie Gore to an already talented rotation should allow the Rangers’ starters to once again be among the best in baseball, but they’ll need better health from Corey Seager and more production from Joc Pederson and Josh Jung if they’re going to compete for the division title this year.
The Athletics (76-86)
While it’s been a busy and exciting offseason for fans of the A’s, that excitement has mostly been focused on extensions. Long-term deals for Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson are encouraging for the long-term health of the franchise but don’t move the needle in 2026. The A’s added Jeff McNeil to help the offense at second base, and a full season of Nick Kurtz in the majors won’t hurt. Strong as the offense looks, the club’s lack of pitching additions for a roster that struggled to prevent runs even before losing Mason Miller at the trade deadline creates plenty of concern. They’ll need a lot to break right, particularly in the bullpen.
Los Angeles Angels (72-90)
As is often the case with the Angels, it’s not impossible to squint and see the bones of a solid team. Mike Trout was healthier last season than he’s been in a very long time. Jo Adell slugged 40 homers in 2025. Jorge Soler remains a potential middle-of-the-order force when healthy. Josh Lowe was a high-upside addition, and it’s not impossible to imagine any of Nolan Schanuel, Reid Detmers, and Christian Moore following in the footsteps of Zach Neto to become high quality regulars. Unfortunately, fans in Anaheim know that the club has been in this situation virtually every year for the past decade. They’ve seen far too many potential-laden teams undercut by a lack of depth before finishing the season underwater and failing to reach the playoffs. Perhaps this year will be different, but Angels fans have earned their skepticism, especially following an offseason where Lowe, Kirby Yates, and Grayson Rodriguez (the latter of whom is already injured) were the club’s biggest additions.
How do MLBTR readers think the AL West will shake out this year? Will the Mariners continue to reign supreme? Will the Astros find a way to reestablish themselves as the class of the AL? Was the Rangers’ roster shakeup enough to get them back to the playoffs? Or could the A’s or Angels surprise with a big season? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the AL West in 2026?
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Seattle Mariners 66% (3,469)
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Houston Astros 11% (553)
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Texas Rangers 8% (444)
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The Athletics 8% (441)
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Los Angeles Angels 6% (329)
Total votes: 5,236
Latest On A’s Extension Talks With Nick Kurtz
The A’s have signed a number of extensions over the past two seasons. Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom are all locked in as long-term lineup pieces in advance of the 2028 move to Las Vegas. The A’s have also opened extension conversations with Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.
The latter two players would be the most difficult to extend. Langeliers is into his arbitration window. Kurtz is coming off an otherworldly rookie season and would require the A’s to shatter their franchise record contract (Soderstrom’s $82MM guarantee).
Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported last month that the A’s made Kurtz an official offer. Details of the proposal weren’t known at the time. The Post’s Jon Heyman wrote last night that the offer was well into nine figures, adding that it’s believed to have landed in the $130MM range. Kurtz evidently declined and Heyman characterizes an extension as a long shot.
[Related: What Would It Cost The A’s To Continue Their Extension Run?]
Despite being called up in late April, Kurtz earned a full year of service time with last season’s Rookie of the Year win. The A’s have him under club control through 2030. He’s two years away from his first major salary jump via arbitration. However, Kurtz should already be well positioned financially. The A’s paid him a $7MM signing bonus as the fourth overall pick in 2024. He also made almost $1.3MM last offseason via the pre-arbitration bonus pool, which rewards the best performers who have yet to accrue the service time to qualify for arbitration.
There have been five nine-figure extensions for players with less than two years of MLB service. The guarantees on those deals range from Corbin Carroll’s $111MM to $210MM for Julio Rodríguez — though the latter’s contract was loaded with escalators and options that could take it close to half a billion dollars in certain situations. The other players to get to nine figures within their first two years as a big leaguer were Wander Franco ($182MM), Jackson Merrill ($135MM) and Roman Anthony ($130MM).
Kurtz would be unique among that group as a first baseman. Rodríguez, Merrill and Franco all played up-the-middle positions. Anthony and Carroll are primarily corner players but are superior athletes and provide more defensive and baserunning value. The biggest extension for a pre-arbitration first baseman is Anthony Rizzo’s $41MM deal from more than a decade ago. That’s useless as a comparison point for Kurtz, so he’s a difficult player to value.
There’s little doubt Kurtz will continue to mash. He hit .290/.383/.619 with 36 home runs over his first 489 plate appearances. His exit velocities are near the top of the league. Although it comes with a fair amount of whiffs, Kurtz has the kind of rare power that should allow him to be an offensive force even if he’s striking out 30% of the time.
It’s not all that surprising if an offer in the $130MM range wouldn’t get it done. Anthony landed that amount of money less than two months into his MLB career and without a full year of service, which put him a year further away from free agency. Anthony was the superior prospect, but Kurtz’s camp could point to the service time difference and the bigger body of work at the MLB level. It’s also notable that Kurtz is represented by an agency (Excel Sports Management) that has almost no history of pre-arbitration extensions.
At the same time, it’s hardly a lowball offer on the team’s part. They were evidently willing to make Kurtz the highest-paid player in franchise history by a wide margin while valuing him similarly to other young superstar hitters despite the lack of positional value.
Kurtz simply has a lot of leverage if he’s inclined to bet on himself remaining a top 10 hitter in MLB. The upside of going year by year could resemble the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. path of racking up arbitration earnings and setting himself up for a monster deal at or near free agency. Kurtz is on track to hit the open market at 28. Guerrero’s $500MM extension with the Blue Jays begins this year, his age-27 season. Anything close to that kind of money would very likely price Kurtz out of the A’s range someday, but the team has plenty of time before concerning itself with that possibility.
A’s Notes: Butler, Jump, De Vries
A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler will make his first Spring Training appearance tomorrow, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’ll serve as a designated hitter against the White Sox. The A’s are off on Wednesday but Butler could get his first outfield work during Thursday’s game against the Mariners.
Butler played through a right knee injury late in the 2025 season. He underwent postseason patellar tendon surgery but has maintained confidence he’ll be ready for Opening Day. Butler has been able to take hitting drills throughout camp. He’d been held out of game action until this week to avoid running at full speed.
The A’s have six remaining Spring Training contests. Butler could take 15-20 exhibition at-bats if they feel comfortable playing him on consecutive days. It appears he’ll be ready to go when the A’s head to Rogers Centre to take on the defending American League champions to begin the season.
Butler is coming off a .234/.306/.404 showing across 630 plate appearances. He had a 20-20 campaign and hit 30 doubles, but his rate metrics were around league average. Although it wasn’t a bad season, it was a step back from the huge 2024 second half that established him as a core piece. Playing through the injury probably had something to do with that. Butler took a .251/.326/.433 line into the All-Star Break but hit .203/.268/.351 in the second half.
He’ll man right alongside Tyler Soderstrom and Denzel Clarke in Mark Kotsay’s outfield. Butler fits best in a corner but has the athleticism to play center if Clarke’s strikeout concerns outweigh his defensive excellence.
Butler hasn’t been good against left-handed pitching, batting .228/.261/.397 while striking out a third of time in 234 career plate appearances versus southpaws. The A’s have remained committed to him as an everyday player. They claimed righty-hitting utility player Andy Ibáñez from the Dodgers last month. He’s primarily an infielder but could be an option in right field if the A’s wanted to shield Butler from lefties to give him some rest early in the season.
In other news, the team made a few camp cuts over the weekend. Top prospects Leo De Vries and Gage Jump were among those reassigned to minor league camp. Neither player is on the 40-man roster, nor were they expected to garner serious consideration for the Opening Day roster.
A midseason promotion could be on the table for either player. De Vries will play the entire season at 19, so that’d be an extremely aggressive call, but he’s coming off a .255/.355/.451 showing between High-A and Double-A. De Vries was six years younger than the average player at the Double-A level and more than held his own. He also had a remarkable first MLB camp, batting .409 with three homers and doubles apiece in 17 games.
Jump, a left-handed pitcher who turns 23 in April, took the ball four times this spring. He tossed 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out seven against three walks. Jump spent most of last year in Double-A, where he turned in a 3.64 ERA while fanning a quarter of batters faced across 20 outings. The back of the A’s rotation is open enough that it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jump pitches his way to West Sacramento by the All-Star Break.
Offseason In Review: Athletics
The Athletics continue to lock up their core their long-term extensions, but there’s a short-term focus as well, as the A’s seem to be aiming to return to contention this year.
Major League Signings
- Aaron Civale, SP: One year, $6MM
- Mark Leiter Jr., RHP: One year, $2.85MM
- Scott Barlow, RHP: One year, $2MM
2026 spending: $10.85MM
Total spending: $10.85MM
Trades And Claims
- Acquired 2B/OF Jeff McNeil and $5.75MM from Mets for RHP Yordan Rodriguez (Mets will also pay $2MM buyout of McNeil’s $15.75MM club option for 2027 if A’s decline the option)
- Acquired minor league RHP A.J. Causey from Royals for RHP Mitch Spence
- Acquired minor league RHP Luis Burgos from Yankees for IF Max Schuemann
- Claimed IF/OF Andy Ibanez off waivers from Dodgers
Option Decisions
- None
Notable Minor League Signings
- Nick Anderson, Joey Meneses, Wander Suero, Joel Kuhnel, Michael Stefanic, Geoff Hartlieb, Nick Hernandez, Chad Wallach, Brian Serven, Cade Marlowe, Brooks Kriske, Matt Krook, Ben Bowden, Bryan Lavastida
Extensions
- Tyler Soderstrom, OF: Seven years, $86MM (includes $2MM buyout of $27MM club option for 2033)
- Jacob Wilson, SS: Seven years, $70MM (includes $2MM buyout of $26MM club option for 2033)
Notable Losses
- Spence, Schuemann, Sean Newcomb, JJ Bleday, Osvaldo Bido, Grant Holman, Ken Waldichuk, Willie MacIver, Michel Otanez
After the 2024 A’s went 69-93 in their final season in Oakland, the 2025 squad improved to 76-86 in the first season of its temporary residency in West Sacramento. While the cities and ballparks were drastically different, both editions of the Athletics were much better in the second half of the season than in the first. Last year’s Athletics even got off to a 20-16 start before a brutal 3-24 stretch in May and June torpedoed their season, though the club then recovered to go 53-46 the rest of the way.
Obviously any team would seem a lot better if you erased their worst month from the ledger, but the evidence is growing that the A’s may have (once again) put together the pieces of a contender after a lengthy rebuild. The common belief was that the A’s were going to wait until they moved to Las Vegas before truly committing to winning, except the roster might be ahead of schedule.
A team planning to just tread water, after all, doesn’t try to land two former All-Star infielders at (by the Athletics’ standards) fairly substantial prices. The A’s obtained Jeff McNeil from the Mets before the club made its rather surprising bid to trade for Nolan Arenado, and the Athletics’ offer involved eating more of Arenado’s remaining salary than the $11MM taken on by the Diamondbacks once Arenado was ultimately dealt to Arizona.
Whatever the specifics of the Athletics offer were in terms of cash and prospects, it was reportedly enough to meet the Cardinals’ approval….but not Arenado’s. The third baseman’s no-trade protection gave him full approval over his next team, and while Arenado apparently didn’t expressly reject going to the A’s, moving to the D’Backs held more appeal. While the Diamondbacks were only 80-82 in 2025, they won the NL pennant in 2023, a good core of talent is still in place, and (perhaps more importantly) the Snakes aren’t spending the next two years in a minor league ballpark.
The four-year, $50MM extension McNeil signed with the Mets in January 2023 didn’t contain any no-trade language, so New York was able to freely move the veteran to West Sacramento. The cost to the Athletics was a lottery-ticket type of prospect in 18-year-old righty Yordan Rodriguez, and the Athletics’ willingness to pay $10MM of the $15.75MM McNeil is set to earn in the last guaranteed year of his contract. The Mets will also kick in $2MM to cover the buyout of McNeil’s $15.75MM club option for 2027 if the A’s decide against bringing McNeil back for his age-35 season.
As to what McNeill can do at age 34, the two-time All-Star should provide some needed help at second base. McNeil hit .243/.335/.411 with 12 home runs over 462 plate appearances in 2025, translating to a 111 wRC+. That’s a solid step up from his 98 wRC+ over the 2023-24 seasons, though not in the realm of the 140 wRC+ McNeil posted in his All-Star 2022 campaign. McNeil had a surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome after last season, though questions about his health status have seemingly been answered by the fact that he is playing regularly in Spring Training.
The A’s received only 0.3 bWAR from its second basemen in 2025, as well as -0.3 bWAR from the third base position. The two infield slots were therefore the obvious target areas for the Athletics this winter, and McNeil could possibly help at both positions since he has played some third base in the past (though not since 2022). The likelier scenario is that McNeil primarily stays at the keystone, with some part-time usage in center field platooning for Denzel Clarke.
Since the reports of the Arenado trade talks only surfaced after the Diamondbacks trade, it is fair to wonder what other infield options the A’s quietly pursued over the offseason. There wasn’t much public buzz in terms of specific free names linked to the A’s, apart from their interest in reuniting with Miguel Andujar (before he signed with the Padres) and a much more prominent offer to Ha-Seong Kim. The Athletics were reportedly willing to give Kim a four-year, $48MM pact before Kim chose a shorter-term commitment in the form of a one-year, $20MM to return to the Braves.
Maybe Kim has some regrets over his decision since he’ll miss at least the first month of the season recovering from a torn finger tendon. From the Athletics’ perspective, the offer may have held appeal to Kim if he wanted some security after injuries have dominated the last 18 months of his career, and Kim would’ve fit anywhere around the infield. That includes Kim’s usual shortstop position, if the A’s had moved Jacob Wilson to either second or third.
Had Kim accepted the offer, he would’ve become the second-priciest free agent signing in A’s history, after the club’s three-year, $67MM deal with Luis Severino last offseason. Between the Severino deal and the Athletics’ spate of contract extensions over the last year, it is becoming less unusual (if not entirely “normal”) to see such dollar figures attached to an organization that has long been associated with small payrolls.
To be clear, nobody is confusing the A’s for the Dodgers when it comes to financial might. But, RosterResource estimates the Athletics’ 2026 payroll at $94.6MM, with a $145.8MM luxury tax number. If the Athletics’ spending spree began last offseason as a way to avoid a players’ union grievance, the club has now gotten itself well beyond the $105MM minimum threshold, and also established two more players as roster cornerstones.
Tyler Soderstrom was first up on Christmas Day with an extension that will guarantee the left fielder at least $86MM over the next seven seasons. Wilson then agreed to a seven-year, $70MM in late January, establishing Wilson as a key piece of the Athletics’ infield over the long term. Between these two contracts and the Brent Rooker/Lawrence Butler deals from last offseason, that makes it four extensions in 14 months for a team that signed only one player (Khris Davis) to an extension between May 2014 and December 2024.
Most teams wait until the end of Spring Training to concentrate on extension talks, so more business may be yet to come, given reports of the Athletics’ interest in extending both first baseman Nick Kurtz (the reigning AL Rookie of the Year) and catcher Shea Langeliers. The duo are respectively represented by Excel Sports Management and the Boras Corporation, and both agencies are known for rarely pursuing early-career extensions for their clients. Langeliers may not fit the “early-career” designation since he has four MLB seasons under his belt and was arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, but locking up Langeliers could be tricky regardless.
Even if no extensions are reached, Langeliers is arb-controlled through 2028 and Kurtz just completed his first MLB season. Between those two, Soderstrom in left field, Rooker at DH, Butler in right field, and Wilson somewhere in the infield, that’s six spots in the lineup already covered for at least the next three seasons. Clarke has already shown himself to be an superb defensive center fielder even if his bat is still a work in progress, and outfield prospect Henry Bolte is expected to make his big league debut at some point in 2026. The same could be true of 19-year-old shortstop prospect Leo De Vries, acclaimed as one of baseball’s top minor leaguers and a huge part of the Athletics’ future.
McNeil is part of the bridge to the De Vries era in the infield, but third base remains a question mark as Opening Day approaches. The A’s could certainly look to the trade market for more third base help before the end of Spring Training, or the hot corner could be a priority at the deadline if the team is in contention. A trade scenario could hinge somewhat on De Vries’ timeline, or if any of the current internal options for third base can step up.
“The Other” Max Muncy is probably the favorite for the starting job if his glovework is up to the task. Utilityman Andy Ibanez was claimed off the Dodgers’ waiver wire to provide some experienced depth at third base and around the infield in general, with Max Schuemann removed from the mix after he was designated for assignment and subsequently dealt to the Yankees. Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris provide more depth, and at least one if not both will begin the season at Triple-A. Zack Gelof is still in the picture, as the 2023 breakout rookie is trying to rebound from a pair of rough seasons due to under-performance and injury.
Some of this group could also be used at second base, allowing McNeil to play the outfield if circumstances warrant. The A’s non-tendered JJ Bleday and thus created some need for outfield depth, but McNeil, Bolte, Ibanez, rookies Carlos Cortes and Colby Thomas, or even Gelof could all chip in.
Third base notwithstanding, the Athletics look solid enough around the diamond to make some noise in a pennant race. Playing at Sutter Health Park should give the offense an added boost, so if the A’s can get just an adequate amount of production from its pitching staff, that might be enough for the team to slug its way into playoff contention.
That outcome, of course, is a lot easier said than done. Both the Athletics’ rotation and bullpen struggled in 2025, as pitchers (understandably) had difficulty adjusting to the hitter-friendly West Sacramento ballpark. Better pitching is the team’s most obvious path to a winning record in 2026, yet the A’s will go into the new season with a lot of the same staff in place.
Last winter’s big investment in Severino didn’t pay off, as his public complaints over Sutter Health Park generated more of a stir than the 4.54 ERA he posted over 162 2/3 innings. There was some speculation that Severino could be traded in the wake of his comments, though the $42MM owed to the right-hander over the next two seasons was an obstacle to a deal, and Severino’s ability to opt out next offseason is another wrinkle. Moving Severino also would’ve created another hole to fill in the rotation, so the A’s can only hope year two for Severino brings more comfort in his home ballpark.
Severino and Jeffrey Springs account for two rotation slots, and Luis Morales is looking to build off a rookie season that saw the right-hander post a 3.14 ERA over his first 48 2/3 innings in the majors. Jacob Lopez looks to be ahead of J.T. Ginn and Jack Perkins in the battle for the fifth starter’s role, though all of this trio and Joey Estes, Gunnar Hoglund (who has been sidelined by injuries this spring) and top prospect Gage Jump could all make starts at some point in 2026.
The other rotation spot is going to the Athletics’ biggest free agent signing of the winter, as Aaron Civale joined the club for $6MM guaranteed on a one-year deal. Civale posted a 4.85 ERA over 102 combined innings with the Brewers, White Sox, and Cubs, and his last two seasons have seen some more homer-prone tendencies that might not play great in Sacramento. The A’s aren’t asking Civale to be an ace, but rather to eat some innings and provide some more veteran ballast since Lopez and Morales are still establishing themselves as big league pitchers.
Sean Newcomb was arguably the Athletics’ best reliever last season, but the left-hander departed in free agency to sign with the White Sox. The A’s also parted ways with Osvaldo Bido and Mitch Spence, who each struggled in swingman roles in 2025. Filling the gaps in the bullpen are veteran right-handers Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Barlow, who signed for a combined $4.85MM on one-year deals.
The two will join with Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner, and perhaps others in what the A’s are planning to be a closer committee. Harris might be the favorite for the majority of save opportunities, but as maybe the only left-hander projected to be part of the Athletics’ pen, the team might need him for situational work more than the ninth inning. Luis Medina might be an intriguing name to watch in a closing capacity, as the former starter will be used as a reliever in order to ease him back to action since he missed all of 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
It’s not an imposing group on paper, yet the A’s may have been limited in what they could add to their pitching mix. Bringing a frontline starter wasn’t happening for both salary and ballpark-related reasons, and signing even a mid-tier starter might’ve also been a tough sell for those same reasons. Lucas Giolito is the most prominent starter still on the market in mid-March and could be available at a relative bargain price, yet even if Giolito is feeling some desperation after his long stint in free agency, even he might not want to pitch in Sacramento unless he is out of other alternatives.
On the trade front, the A’s reportedly weren’t willing to shop any of their more prominent hitters for a starter, further hampering their attempts to acquire pitching. If a particularly intriguing offer for a controllable arm was on the table, the Athletics might’ve thought differently, yet swinging such a trade would’ve meant that this hypothetical pitcher was using two of those controllable years at Sutter Health Park.
To again reference the possibility of the A’s adding at the deadline, pitching is certainly the clearest need. It should also be noted that any of the Athletics’ offseason additions could easily become deadline trade chips if the team doesn’t show any progress. Acquiring so many players on just one-year commitments makes it easy for A’s general manager David Forst to pivot if his club is again out of the running by midseason.
Forst’s own employment status isn’t officially known since his last contract expired after the 2025 season, yet he has been running the front office as per usual and it appears to be just a matter of time before he’s officially extended (if a new deal hasn’t already been quietly reached).
After over 25 years in a variety of roles within the A’s front office, Forst has dealt with all manner of challenges. He now faces the tricky decision about how to best proceed with a lineup that seems ready to contend, but a pitching staff that may not be able to seriously progress until the team moves to Las Vegas or until its next wave of prospects (Jump, Jamie Arnold, Wei-En Lin) are ready for the Show. The Athletics may need several things to break their way to score a playoff berth, but at least a winning record certainly seems feasible for 2026.
How would you grade the Athletics' offseason?
Which Top Prospects Could Be On 2026 Opening Day Rosters?
In the not-too-distant past, it was relatively rare for organizations to break camp with their very best prospects on the roster. It still happened at times, but MLB's service time structure was set up such that keeping a top prospect in the minors for even two weeks to begin the season effectively ensured that he'd be controllable for seven years rather than the standard six. There were obvious exceptions to this thinking -- Atlanta fans surely remember Jason Heyward breaking camp as a 20-year-old and belting a three-run homer on Opening Day -- but there were far more cases of keeping a player in the minors to buy the extra year. Kris Bryant, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and others were all called to the majors just when they'd spent enough time in the minors to give their clubs an extra year of control. There was nothing inherently nefarious about the gambit; teams were operating within the collectively bargained rules and making business decisions.
The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement sought to implement some real incentives for teams to bring their best players north to begin the season, however, and by and large they've been effective. With the Prospect Promotion Incentives (PPI), any prospect who appears on two recognized top-100 lists and is called up early enough to earn a full service year can net his team a bonus draft pick, either in that season's Rookie of the Year voting or in MVP/Cy Young voting over the next three seasons.
There's also a disincentive to holding a player down. For those same qualified top prospects, a top-two finish in either league's Rookie of the Year voting will net a full year of major league service time, regardless of when they were called up. Said prospects still have around 90% of a season in such instances, which is more than enough time to turn in a ROY-worthy performance.
Teams now know that holding a player down for 15 days or so might lead to him getting a full year of service anyhow and comes with the disadvantage of rendering that player ineligible for future PPI picks. As such, it's become increasingly common for touted prospects to break camp on their teams' rosters.
With that in mind, and with fewer than two weeks to go until Opening Day, it seems worth running through a slate of top prospects who could factor into their teams' Opening Day plans.
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A’s Notes: Muncy, Gelof, Hoglund
The A’s entered spring training without a set option at third base, but 23-year-old Max Muncy has begun to separate himself from the pack, writes Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. There’s no shortage of coincidence in the A’s finding themselves with a hit-over-glove prospect named Max Muncy at third base for the second time in the past decade, but the hope now is that the younger Muncy (no relation to the older) can solidify the hot corner.
A first-round pick back in 2021, the now-23-year-old Muncy hit .325/.397/.504 in Triple-A last season. He struggled badly in 220 major league plate appearances but had a productive stint in the Arizona Fall League and is absolutely mashing this spring: .419/.526/.839 with three homers and as many walks as strikeouts (seven) in 38 plate appearances. The question surrounding Muncy isn’t hit bat but whether he can handle third base from a defensive standpoint.
“Our biggest focus right now is on the defense,” manager Mark Kotsay tells Gallegos. “We’ve been working really hard with him in those areas, and we’ve seen some improvement. We’re going to continue to follow that progress.” Readers will want to check out Gallegos’ piece in full, as he also chats with Muncy extensively about some of the swing/approach changes he implemented in the Fall League and about the challenges of transitioning from shortstop to third base (a move that’s often taken for granted).
Meanwhile, another formerly touted young Athletics infielder, Zack Gelof, made his Cactus League debut this week, writes Courtney Hollmon of MLB.com. Gelof went 2-for-4 with a double in his first game action since suffering a dislocated shoulder on a diving play at second base last year. That injury ended his season, but Gelof’s 2025 campaign never really got off the ground thanks to a hamate fracture and a stress fracture in his ribcage. He played in only 30 games with 101 plate appearances last season, slashing just .174/.230/.272.
It’s easy to write off the 2025 campaign as one ruined by injury, but Gelof already faced some questions this time last year. Was he the dynamic rookie we saw in 2023, when he hit .267/.337/.504 with 14 homers and 14 steals in only 60 games, or was he the lesser version of that player we saw in 2024, when he hit .211/.270/.362 with 17 homers, 25 steals and a sky-high 34.4% strikeout rate?
Gelof, still just 26 years old, is hoping to get back to that 2023 form but now has a less certain role on the club. The A’s acquired Jeff McNeil from the Mets this offseason and are plugging him in at second base. Muncy is the front-runner over at third base, a position Gelof hasn’t played since 2022. The former second-round pick tells Hollomon that he’s been working out both in the infield and in the outfield as he hopes to improve his versatility and win a spot back on the roster. Gelof still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he could open the season in Triple-A if the A’s want to get him more exposure at multiple positions in the upper minors.
Elsewhere in A’s camp, there’s more unwelcome news on oft-injured righty Gunnar Hoglund. The 26-year-old righty, who headlined the Athletics’ return in the trade sending Matt Chapman to Toronto, made his big league debut last season but pitched just 12 games between Triple-A and the majors. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery at the time of the trade and missed the final three months last year due to a hip impingement.
This spring, Hoglund has been dogged by a knee injury early in camp. He’s now also dealing with a back issue, per Gallegos. Hoglund hasn’t gotten into a spring game yet and doesn’t appear likely to do so before the season opens. He was likely bound for Triple-A even if healthy, but another pair of injuries is disheartening for the 2021 first-rounder (selected six picks ahead of Muncy and 41 ahead of Gelof).
Hoglund pitched well in Triple-A last season and enjoyed two terrific starts to begin his MLB career (11 1/3 innings with three runs on 11 hits and one walk alongside 10 strikeouts). He was rocked for 20 runs over his next 21 frames, however, including an eight-run drubbing at the hands of the Blue Jays before landing on the injured list for the remainder of the season.
Latest On Athletics’ Rotation
The A’s optioned righty Joey Estes to Triple-A yesterday, thinning the field of pitchers vying for spots on the big league staff. Estes seemed like a long shot to make the club after being summoned to the majors for only 11 innings last year and otherwise pitching to a 5.51 ERA in 15 Triple-A starts (and two relief appearances). He tossed only 2 2/3 innings in formal Cactus League play.
Estes, 24, came to the A’s alongside Shea Langeliers, Cristian Pache and Ryan Cusick in the trade sending Matt Olson to Atlanta. Estes has now pitched in parts of three major league seasons but been tagged for a 5.51 ERA (matching last year’s Triple-A mark) with just a 16.3% strikeout rate in 148 1/3 big league innings. He has good command (career 5.4% walk rate), but he’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher who doesn’t throw hard or miss bats. As such, he’s been far too susceptible to home runs. Estes has been used primarily as a starter to this point in his career, but he’s entering his final minor league option year, so perhaps the A’s will want to see what he’d look like in a bullpen role.
Entering camp, there were two spots up for grabs in manager Mark Kotsay’s rotation. Kotsay acknowledged back when pitchers and catchers reported that Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs and free agent signee Aaron Civale had spots locked down, while the other spots would be sorted out in camp. Hard-throwing righty Luis Morales hasn’t exactly dominated this spring (eight runs in 16 hits and seven walks with 10 strikeouts in 12 innings), but Martin Gallegos of MLB.com writes that Morales is more or less a lock to open the season in the rotation.
Morales’ middling spring showing hasn’t emphatically earned that spot, but he’s coming off a rookie showing in which he tossed 48 2/3 innings with a 3.14 ERA. He averaged 97.3 mph with his four-seamer, struck out a respectable (albeit slightly below average) 21.6% of his opponents and issued walks at a 9% clip. Prior to that solid debut, he’d pitched in 23 games (14 starts) between Double-A and Triple-A and notched a combined 3.73 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.
Morales still has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining, so if he struggles badly in the final weeks of camp or is hit hard early in the season, he can be sent down without first needing to pass through waivers. The A’s can control him for at least six full seasons.
Gallegos writes that lefty Jacob Lopez might be the favorite for the fifth and final starting gig on Kotsay’s staff. The 28-year-old southpaw was acquired in the same trade that brought Springs to the A’s. He pitched 92 2/3 innings of 4.08 ERA ball with a strong 28.3% strikeout rate and a 9.3% walk rate last year. Seventeen of his 21 appearances were starts.
Lopez was slowed by a forearm issue early in camp but made his spring debut a few days ago. It didn’t go especially well (three runs in two innings), but he’ll have two more weeks to show that he can be trusted with a rotation spot to begin the season. Lopez still has one minor league option year remaining, though the A’s presumably prefer not to burn that unless his performance makes it absolutely necessary.
One name not to sleep on entirely: top prospect Gage Jump. The 22-year-old lefty hasn’t yet pitched in Triple-A, but Baseball America’s Ian Cundall writes that Jump has already seen his average fastball climb 1.6 mph this spring. He’s sitting 96 mph and topping out around 98.5 mph — up from last year’s average of 94.4 mph and max of 97 mph.
Jump, 23 next month, was the No. 73 pick in the 2024 draft. He dominated in High-A and Double-A last season, combining for 112 2/3 frames with a 3.28 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, 41.8% ground-ball rate and just 0.56 homers per nine frames. He’s widely regarded as one of the game’s 100 best overall prospects and is more specifically one of the very best left-handed pitching prospects in the sport.
Though Jump isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, he doesn’t necessarily face fierce competition. His ceiling is as high or higher than anyone else in the Athletics’ rotation at the moment, and the final two spots haven’t been claimed in convincing fashion. Jump has pitched 6 2/3 spring innings and allowed a pair of runs on five hits and three walks with four punchouts. The A’s technically don’t have to add him to the 40-man roster until the 2027-28 offseason (when he’d need to be selected to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft), but a 2026 debut seems likely, so long as Jump can remain healthy and pick up where he left off last season. It’d be a modest surprise if he broke camp with the club, but doing so would position the A’s to potentially pick up a future draft pick through MLB’s prospect promotion incentive program.