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Brent Rooker

A’s To Give Tyler Soderstrom Reps In Left Field

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The Athletics’ promotion of first base prospect Nick Kurtz, the No. 4 overall pick from last year’s draft, gives the team three middle-of-the-order but defensively limited sluggers: Kurtz, first baseman Tyler Soderstrom and designated hitter Brent Rooker. Soderstrom and Rooker have primarily handled first base and DH, respectively, in 2025, but GM David Forst tells reporters that Soderstrom is now expected to see some time in left field (link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Rooker could also see occasional corner outfield time; he’s briefly appeared in both left field and right field already this season.

Kurtz, listed at 6’5″ and 240 pounds, is unlikely to see any time on the grass. He was a bat-first selection by the A’s last year, and his performance in Triple-A this season has largely mirrored that of Soderstrom on the big league roster. Through 97 plate appearances, he’s slashing .321/.385/.655 with seven homers and seven doubles. Kurtz has fanned in 26.8% of his plate appearances but also walked at a 10.3% clip.

Though he’s not likely to see time in the outfield, that doesn’t mean Kurtz is without defensive value. Baseball America tabs him as a potential plus defender at first base, noting that he moves better than one might expect given his size and that he has reliable hands. MLB.com agrees, calling him an “excellent” first base defender despite lacking the speed or range necessary to play other positions.

With Kurtz seemingly ticketed for regular work at first base or designated hitter, Soderstrom and Rooker will be forced to see more regular time in the outfield. Soderstrom has slightly above-average sprint speed, per Statcast, and scouting reports have long credited him with an above-average arm — as one would expect from a former catcher. He probably won’t be a plus defender in the outfield, but he also hasn’t graded well at first base anyhow. If he can continue at even 75% of his current .298/.362/.643 pace, the A’s probably won’t care much about the defense — regardless of which position he’s manning.

It’s a similar story with Rooker. He’s played first base and the outfield corners in the past, never drawing positive grades at any spot. For a player who’s sporting a .268/.343/.523 batting line and 75 home runs over his past 1240 plate appearances, however, that’s a secondary consideration.

If all three of Rooker, Soderstrom and Kurtz are hitting anywhere close to their full capabilities, the A’s suddenly look like one of the most formidable lineups in the American League. Leadoff man Lawrence Butler, who signed an extension prior to the season, is out to a terrific start after a big finish last year. He’s batting .289/.340/.534 (150 wRC+) in 424 plate appearances dating back to last June. JJ Bleday, who hit .243/.324/.437 with 20 homers last year, has begun to heat up after a cold start. Shortstop Jacob Wilson, the No. 6 overall pick in 2023, doesn’t have much power but has some of the league’s best contact skills and has hit .299/.332/.402 in his first 185 plate appearances. Catcher Shea Langeliers isn’t likely to hit for a high average, but he popped 29 homers last season and already has five in 2025.

A’s Sign Brent Rooker To Five-Year Extension

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The A’s have officially announced a five-year contract extension with designated hitter Brent Rooker. The deal includes a club/vesting option for 2030. Rooker, a client of The Bledsoe Agency, is reportedly guaranteed $60MM. The option’s base value is $22MM and could push as high as $30MM based on his MVP finishes. Rooker had been under arbitration control for three seasons, so the deal buys out at least two free agent years.

Rooker receives a $10MM signing bonus and a $2MM salary for the upcoming season. He’ll make $6MM in 2026, $12MM in ’27, $13MM in ’28 and $17MM in ’29. The $22MM option would vest if Rooker reaches 500 plate appearances in 2029 or combines for 900 PAs between 2028-29. He’d also unlock the option with two top 10 MVP finishes between 2027-29. Finishing in the top 10 in MVP balloting in any of the next five years could escalate the option value.

It’s another significant investment in what has been a huge offseason by A’s standards. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Rooker becomes the first A’s player to sign a five-year deal since the club extended starting pitcher Trevor Cahill for $30.5MM in 2011. It’s the team’s second investment for $60MM+ this winter. Last month, they added Luis Severino on a three-year, $67MM free agent deal that represented the largest contract in franchise history.

Rooker securing such a contract would have been impossible to envision two years ago. He landed with the A’s on a waiver claim early in the 2022-23 offseason. Rooker was a 28-year-old DH/corner outfielder who had bounced between the Twins, Padres and Royals without getting much of a look at any stop. As a former top 35 overall draft pick who had hit well in the minors, he was a sensible waiver target. The A’s certainly didn’t envision it working out this well, though.

The righty-swinging Rooker has become not only one of the most successful waiver claims in recent memory but one of baseball’s best hitters. He popped 30 home runs in 526 plate appearances to earn an All-Star selection in 2023. While he was snubbed from the Midsummer Classic last season, Rooker took another major step forward. He connected on 39 homers, 26 doubles and a pair of triples with a massive .293/.365/.562 batting line across 614 plate appearances.

Rooker finished tied for fifth (alongside José Ramírez and Marcell Ozuna) in home runs. Only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Santander and Juan Soto hit more. Among hitters with at least 500 PAs, Rooker ranked in the top 20 in all three slash stats. He finished sixth in slugging — trailing Judge, Ohtani, Bobby Witt Jr., Soto, and Yordan Alvarez.

It’s now two seasons of borderline elite offensive production. Rooker has a .272/.348/.528 slash through more than 1100 plate appearances in an A’s uniform. He’s in the top 15 in slugging percentage and ranks ninth in homers since the start of the ’23 campaign. He’s a middle-of-the-order presence.

There is a decent amount of swing-and-miss to his game. Rooker has fanned in more than 30% of his plate appearances with the A’s. Last year’s production was driven in part by a .362 average on balls in play that’ll be difficult to maintain. Rooker makes a ton of hard contact, though, so he’s probably in line for a modest BABIP regression rather than a huge drop-off.

The ball-in-play normalization happened at the end of last season. Rooker carried an unsustainable .390 BABIP into the All-Star Break. That dropped to .333 in the second half. To his credit, Rooker compensated by cutting his strikeout rate to a much more manageable 24.1% clip during that stretch. It remains to be seen whether he’ll maintain that level of contact, but it’s an encouraging development that presumably affirmed the front office’s confidence in his hitting acumen.

Even if he doesn’t hit .290 while pushing 40 home runs on an annual basis, Rooker should remain an impact bat. The A’s have made clear they envisioned him as the long-term anchor of their lineup. The team reportedly took him off the market in advance of last summer’s trade deadline. They had no interest in allowing trade rumors to rekindle during the offseason. GM David Forst declared within a week of the offseason beginning that the A’s weren’t dealing Rooker. They’re doubling down by committing to him through at least the 2029 season.

Rooker surpassed three years of major league service last season. He was entering his first of three arbitration seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected a $5.1MM salary for next year. Rooker will reportedly receive $30MM over what would have been his arbitration window. That leaves an average of $15MM annually for the two free agent seasons. It’s not quite a front-loaded contract, but it appears Rooker will make a little more in the next couple years than he would have had he gone through the arbitration process.

The team makes that tradeoff for the chance to keep him at below-market rates during the 2028-29 seasons — which are scheduled to be their first two years in Las Vegas. The A’s didn’t have any money guaranteed beyond 2027. Severino and recent trade pickup Jeffrey Springs were their only players signed past next season.

The A’s revenue sharing status has been a significant storyline this offseason. Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported last month that the team could need to push its competitive balance tax payroll to roughly $105MM to avoid an MLBPA grievance. Teams are required to spend revenue sharing money on the on-field product.

Extending Rooker will push their tax number up, though it’s not by a huge amount. The contract comes with a $12MM average annual value. The AAV is the number used for tax purposes, so it wouldn’t matter how the salaries are distributed. Rooker had already been expected to make around $5MM next season. This adds roughly $7MM to the team’s tax number, which will check in around $97MM (as calculated by RosterResource).

The tax number isn’t finalized until the end of the year, so the remainder of the A’s offseason and in-season activity can push that further. Tax considerations are relevant but are far from the only reason for the A’s to make this deal. If they were solely concerned about pushing next season’s CBT number, they could have signed a handful of mid-tier free agents to one-year contracts.

Rooker turned 30 in November. A five-year commitment runs through his age-34 season. There’s some risk in a five-year deal for a player in his 30s who doesn’t provide much defensive value. Yet if Rooker continues hitting at anywhere near this level, his arbitration price tag would have climbed quickly anyhow. He could have put himself in position for an AAV in the $20-25MM range once he hit free agency, a number that the A’s may have been disinclined to match.

At the same time, it’s easy to see the appeal for Rooker of locking in the security. It wasn’t that long ago that he looked like a fringe roster player. He wouldn’t have gotten to free agency until his age-33 season, when a three- or four-year deal might’ve been the ceiling. Sacrificing a little bit of long-term earning upside to avoid injury risk over the next couple seasons is understandable.

This should also solidify Rooker’s spot in what looks to be an up-and-coming A’s lineup. Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom, Shea Langeliers, JJ Bleday and rebound candidate Zack Gelof have promise as an offensive core. Last summer’s fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz could move quickly as a polished college hitter. The A’s still need a lot to break right to contend in 2025, but things are starting to come into focus. Soderstrom and Kurtz fit best at first base, so perhaps there’ll be a logjam down the line with Rooker locked in at designated hitter. That’d be a good problem to have if both young first basemen reach their offensive ceilings and Rooker continues to hit at an All-Star level.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported that the A’s and Rooker were in agreement on a five-year, $60MM deal with a vesting option that could get to $30MM. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the option’s base was $22MM and that Rooker would make $30MM over the first three seasons. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the salary breakdown and the vesting provisions.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

MLBTR Podcast: Brent Rooker’s Extension, Gavin Lux, And Catching Up On The Holiday Transactions

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Athletics Risk MLBPA Grievance Without Further Payroll Increases

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As they look to ramp up payroll ahead of their impending move to Las Vegas, the Athletics inked right-hander Luis Severino to the largest deal in franchise history last week as they look to capture the attention of a new city during their temporary move to West Sacramento. With that being said, a report from Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on Monday emphasized that getting fans into seats in 2025 isn’t the only motivation behind the club’s decision to increase spending. The duo reports that without a substantial increase to the club’s payroll this winter, the A’s run the risk of inviting a grievance from the MLB Players Association.

That risk of a grievance is due to the fact that A’s will collect 100% of their revenue-sharing dollars in 2025 for the first time under the current collective bargaining agreement. While the team received just 25% of their allotment in 2022, that figured increased to 50% in 2023 and 75% in 2024 before finally reaching 100% in 2025. The issue for the A’s stems from the fact that the CBA requires revenue sharing recipients to spend more than 150% of their revenue sharing money on MLB payroll.

Drellich and Rosenthal go on to report that A’s could receive $70MM or more in revenue sharing after drawing the worst attendance figures in baseball last year, which would mean the club needs to reach a player payroll of $105MM or more for luxury tax purposes in 2025 in order to avoid risking a grievance. RosterResource currently projects the club for a luxury tax payroll of just under $78.5MM for 2025, meaning they would need to add roughly $26.5MM in player payroll to avoid falling below that 150% figure. It’s worth noting that these numbers are inexact, as well, and if the A’s receive a larger revenue sharing check than currently expected they may wind up needing to float a luxury tax payroll of more than $105MM in order to avoid a grievance.

For a club that has struggled to lure in free agents this winter due to the fact that they’ll spend the next three seasons using a Triple-A stadium as their home ballpark, reaching that level of spending could be complicated. A separate report from Rosenthal suggests that the A’s have interest in adding another free agent starting pitcher alongside Severino, though he adds that such a signing would likely be a veteran pitcher from a lower tier of free agency. Rosenthal specifically name-checks Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Andrew Heaney as potential options the A’s could consider if any of them were willing to pitch in West Sacramento next season.

Of the three, Heaney was predicted to land the largest contract on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list with a two-year, $24MM pact. That $12MM AAV would bump the club’s luxury tax payroll up to $90.5MM, putting them just $15MM away from reaching their estimated $105MM target. The tough sell of pitching in West Sacramento and the projection-beating deals signed by other pitchers this winter could leave the A’s in a position where they’d need to offer more than that $12MM annual figure in order to land a veteran hurler, but they’d surely still need to find other ways to add salary in order to reach $105MM even if they signed a veteran starter to a deal that significantly outpaced projections.

Free agency isn’t the only avenue for adding talent (and payroll), of course. The trade market is one avenue for adding MLB talent that the club has been candid about exploring this winter. Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger and Diamondbacks southpaw Jordan Montgomery are two high-priced players known to be available in the rumor mill who the club could swing deals for if they want to immediately put themselves in position to avoid a grievance in one fell swoop, but there’s a large swath of other players expected to be available this winter who could add to the club’s payroll in a less drastic fashion. Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, and Cardinals southpaw Steven Matz are among a handful of possible trade candidates who will make $10MM or more in 2025.

Another route the A’s could take to raise the luxury tax payroll that wouldn’t require convincing a free agent to sign or swinging a trade with another club would be signing a player already in the organization to an extension. Reporting over the weekend indicated that the Athletics have interest in negotiating an extension with breakout slugger Brent Rooker. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Rooker to earn $5.1MM in his first trip through arbitration this winter, and any extension that would guarantee Rooker an AAV higher than that $5.1MM figure would increase the club’s luxury tax payroll. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted over the weekend, it’s possible that even if the A’s and Rooker aren’t interested in agreeing on a long-term deal that buys out some of Rooker’s free agent years, an extension that covers his arbitration years could offer certainty to both sides. Such an extension would come with an additional boon for the A’s in light of their current predicament by surely raising the AAV on Rooker’s 2025 contract, though no realistic extension could be expected to raise the club’s tax payroll by the $26.5MM needed to avoid risking a grievance by itself.

Athletics Interested In Contract Extension With Brent Rooker

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The A’s shocked by the baseball world by signing Luis Severino to a three-year, $67MM contract, as few expected the team to make a franchise-record signing in advance of their planned three-year stop in West Sacramento before moving into their new ballpark in Las Vegas.  The next step could be locking up a star player on an extension, as manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos) that the team was “hopeful to get something done with” Brent Rooker.  Such a move would “continue showing a different direction for this organization in terms of making commitments to players,” Kotsay said.

While signing younger or less-established players to extensions is common practice for all teams no matter their payroll size, the tactic naturally has greater import for lower-spending teams.  Gaining cost certainty on a player through their arbitration years or gaining control over a free-agent year or two can prove to be a huge bargain for clubs that aren’t comfortable in spending big to retain those players in free agency, or to bring new high-priced talent in as replacements.

Even with this in mind, the Athletics have rarely looked to extend players, as Khris Davis’ two-year, $33.5MM deal from April 2019 is (remarkably) the only extension signed by an A’s player within the last decade.  Using MLBTR’s Contract Tracker to go back even further, the A’s have signed only nine extensions since October 2007.  Of those nine players, Sean Doolittle, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, and Kurt Suzuki the only players to sign deals longer than two years.

Rooker is already under team control through the 2027 season, and is projected to earn $5.1MM in his first trip through the arbitration process.  The 30-year-old has more than earned that healthy salary, as Rooker has been nothing short of outstanding since coming to the then-Oakland A’s on a waiver claim from the Royals in November 2022.  While Rooker’s potential was hinted by his status as the 35th overall pick of the 2017 draft, he’d hit only .200/.289/.379 over 270 plate appearances with the Twins, Padres, and Royals over the 2020-22 seasons.

The breakout started in 2023 when Rooker hit .246/.329/.488 with 30 homers in 526 PA, and he kept on climbing with 39 home runs and a .293/.365/.562 slash line over 614 PA this past season.  Only six players in baseball had a higher wRC+ than Rooker’s 164 total, as the ex-waiver pickup unexpectedly blossomed into one of the best hitters in the game.

Since the Athletics were thought to be rebuilding, there have been plenty of trade rumors swirling around Rooker, with the logic being that the A’s would look to capitalize on this found-money acquisition by selling high.  However, GM David Forst firmly stated last month that the A’s were “going to keep” the slugger, and an extension would further cement Rooker’s place as a building block for the organization.

Though the Athletics lost 93 games in 2024, they seem emboldened by their 33-32 record over their final 65 games, and might be looking to take a step forward towards contention as soon as next year.  Even if Severino’s contract was partially inspired by the Athletics’ desire to retain their revenue-sharing status, the uncharacteristically big splash indicates that the A’s are getting more serious in their plans to play competitive baseball.

It isn’t necessarily a given that the A’s are looking for a very long commitment to Rooker, as an extension could potentially just cover his arb years.  Locking in three years of salary now might help the Athletics save a bit of money in the future if Rooker keeps upping his price tag with his elite numbers.  From Rooker’s perspective, he might prefer to keep betting on himself, or he might welcome the chance to cash in on his breakout with some life-changing financial security.

A’s GM: “We’re Going To Keep [Brent Rooker]”

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Athletics slugger Brent Rooker was one of the most sought-after candidates on the summer trade market, but the A’s were reluctant to move him then and are similarly unwilling to move him now. General manager David Forst candidly told Jon Heyman of the New York Post at today’s GM Meetings (X link): “We’re going to keep [Rooker].”

Skeptics will crack wise that this only means Rooker is even likelier to be traded, but that’s quite likely not the case. Baseball executives rarely make such definitive declarations about a player’s trade candidacy (or lack thereof) on the record. The overwhelming majority of the time they do so, the player indeed stays put. The most famous recent exception is back in 2022, when Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said in June that he would not trade Juan Soto but then did so the following month; however, even then, Rizzo only did so after Soto rejected a reported 15-year extension offer worth more than $400MM guaranteed.

Teams could still try to pry Rooker away from the A’s, but today’s frank comments from Forst all but rule out the possibility this winter. Perhaps next July or next offseason the club will reconsider, but the A’s control Rooker for an additional three seasons. They’re likely headed to West Sacramento to kick off a new era for A’s baseball, ahead of their planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. It stands to reason that the A’s will want some recognizable talent on the roster as they aim to appeal to fans in their temporary home market, sell merchandise, etc.

Rooker, who turned 30 last week, has gone from waiver fodder to one of the sport’s premier sluggers since landing with the Athletics. The Twins selected him with the 35th overall pick in 2017, gave him his MLB debut in 2020, and ultimately traded him to the Padres alongside Taylor Rogers in the deal that brought Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan and prospect Brayan Medina back to Minnesota. San Diego only held Rooker for a bit more than three months, giving him just seven big league plate appearances before trading him to the Royals in exchange for backup catcher Cam Gallagher. Kansas City waived him less than three months later.

The A’s placed a claim, and it proved to be perhaps the best waiver claim in recent memory. Rooker, always touted for his plus power but panned for strikeouts and defensive limitations, broke out with a .246/.329/.488 slash and 30 homers in an uneven 2023 campaign. He was brilliant in April, July and September but struggled in the interim months that season.

Rooker’s 2024 campaign, however, left little doubt about the sustainability of his breakout. He was a plus hitter in every month of the season and finished out the year with a superlative .293/.365/.562 batting line and 39 home runs. Only four players — Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Santander and Juan Soto — hit more home runs than Rooker this past season. By measure of wRC+, he was the seventh-best qualified hitter in MLB, trailing only Judge, Ohtani, Soto, Bobby Witt Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Yordan Alvarez.

Rooker is hitting arbitration for the first time in his career. Because of his limited track record prior to landing with the A’s, he’s projected for a reasonable $5.1MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. With another season like the one he just enjoyed, that sum could more than double in the 2025-26 offseason. If he can sustain this for two more years, Rooker could well be sporting a salary in the $15-20MM range during his final year of arbitration. Suffice it to say, that opens the door for potential trade scenarios down the road, but it seems that Rooker will stay put for the time being.

The A’s don’t have a single dollar committed to the 2025 payroll. Rooker is one of four arbitration-eligible players, and the others — Seth Brown, Miguel Andujar and Dany Jimenez — are all potential non-tender/trade candidates. Rooker, along with outfielders JJ Bleday and Lawrence Butler, slugging catcher Shea Langeliers and rebound candidate Zack Gelof, comprises a potential lineup core for the A’s next season. With nothing guaranteed on next year’s books, the A’s are likely to add some money via free agency and/or trade in the next few months, as they’ll need to invest in the roster to an extent in order to retain their status as a revenue sharing recipient. It’s a low bar to clear, but the A’s did finish the ’24 season with an approximately $63MM payroll, per RosterResource, so they’ll need to make some additions alongside Rooker, given the dearth of any other meaningful financial commitments on the roster.

Brent Rooker Undergoes Forearm Surgery, Expected To Be Ready For Spring Training

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A’s general manager David Forst announced on Friday that star designated hitter Brent Rooker underwent extensor repair surgery on his right elbow/forearm (X link via Martín Gallegos of MLB.com). Rooker, who had a partial tear in the tendon, is expected to be fully recovered by the start of Spring Training.

Forst indicated that the slugger was playing through elbow discomfort throughout the year. That makes Rooker’s monster season even more impressive. He blasted 39 home runs with a .293/.365/.562 slash through 614 plate appearances. It was his second straight 30-homer campaign and proved that his All-Star breakout in 2023 was no anomaly. Rooker tied for fifth in the majors in longballs. Among batters with 500+ plate appearances, he ranked 17th in on-base percentage and sixth in slugging.

Teams no doubt tried to pry Rooker from the A’s leading up to the deadline. The front office made clear they had no real interest in moving him. Rooker is only entering his first season of arbitration. The A’s control him through 2027. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a modest $5.1MM salary for next year. Rooker is the only member of the A’s arbitration class who is a lock to be tendered a contract. They don’t have a single player on a guaranteed deal. There’s no financial pressure to deal him.

The A’s seem even less likely to trade Rooker on the heels of a somewhat encouraging second half. They played .500 ball after the All-Star Break. JJ Bleday, Lawrence Butler and Shea Langeliers join Rooker as part of an emerging group of offensive contributors. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the pitching staff, but there’s reason for optimism about the lineup as the team begins its three-year stint in Sacramento.

The A’s Position Player Core Is Emerging

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The A's have quietly been one of the better teams in the American League for the past two months. As USA Today's Bob Nightengale observed last night (on X), only the Astros have a better record among AL clubs since the start of July. Oakland was above .500 in both July and August; last night's walk-off win over Seattle has pushed them to 31-22 since July began. They've outscored opponents by 37 runs in that time.

Their second-half success doesn't have much impact this year. The A's had a dreadful first half that ensures they're headed to a third straight losing season. They'll probably avoid a third last-place finish in as many years, but they're not likely to finish higher than fourth in the AL West. Even with 90 losses still in play, the past few months offer a glimpse at a better future for A's fans who'll stick with the team in Sacramento and Las Vegas. That's particularly true in the lineup, where a controllable core is beginning to take shape.

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A’s Select Grant Holman

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The Athletics announced a quartet of roster moves, including the news that right-hander Grant Holman’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Las Vegas.  Star slugger Brent Rooker is also back from the paternity list, and right-hander Will Klein and infielder Armando Alvarez were both optioned to Triple-A to create the two needed opening on the 26-man roster.

Holman will be making his Major League debut whenever he makes his first official appearance for the A’s.  A sixth-round pick in the 2021 draft, Holman has worked exclusively as a reliever since he was promoted to Double-A in 2023, and his results this season have been spectacular.  The righty has a tiny 0.55 ERA over 48 2/3 combined innings at Double-A (19 1/3 IP) and Triple-A (29 1/3 IP), along with a strong 29% strikeout rate and a more modest 11.83% walk rate.  It should be noted that Holman has received a lot of batted-ball luck in the form of a .174 BABIP against Triple-A competition, but allowing just one homers in 29 1/3 frames of Pacific Coast League action is quite impressive.

MLB Pipeline rates Holman as the 21st-best prospect in Oakland’s farm system, and he received a 60-grade on his 95mph fastball.  Beyond that top offering, Holman also has a decent slider and a rather lightly-used splitter.  It makes for a pretty solid arsenal for a reliever, and Pipeline’s scouting report observes that “much of Holman’s step forward this season has come simply as a result of being healthy and getting regular reps,” following two seasons of elbow and shoulder problems.

There’s plenty of intrigue in Holman’s arsenal, and the 24-year-old should get opportunities for an Athletics team that continues to evaluate young talent as part of its rebuild.  Mason Miller has deservedly drawn most of the headlines, but Oakland’s bullpen has been pretty decent as a whole this season, and Holman will become the latest rookie arm to try and earn higher-leverage work.

A’s Reluctant To Trade Brent Rooker

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Brent Rooker has been one of the best hitters in the league over the past two seasons. He hit 30 home runs in an All-Star campaign a year ago. He has been even better this year despite being left out of the Midsummer Classic, clubbing 25 homers with a .288/.365/.583 slash across 378 plate appearances.

If he’s available, Rooker would be arguably the best offensive player on the market. It’s not clear that another team will be able to pry him from Oakland. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote yesterday that the A’s were leaning towards holding their breakout slugger. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman hears similarly, tweeting this morning that the A’s are informing other teams they’re reluctant to part with Rooker or center fielder JJ Bleday.

As MLBTR explored in more detail in a post for Front Office subscribers this week, whether to trade Rooker is the biggest decision the A’s are facing. There’s a case for moving him. The A’s are at least another season away from postseason contention. This summer’s market looks like it’ll be light on impact bats. Rooker didn’t break through as a regular until after his 28th birthday. He turns 30 in November and is probably amidst the best season of his career.

At the same time, the A’s aren’t facing contractual pressure to make a deal. Rooker is playing for marginally more than the league minimum salary. He’ll qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under team control through 2027. His power-oriented skillset is the kind that pays well over time in arbitration, but his first-year salary will be eminently affordable. The A’s don’t have a single guaranteed contract on their 2025 payroll ledger. Even with ownership imposing huge limitations, they’ll be able to accommodate a salary in the $4-6MM range for Rooker without issue.

Bleday, 26, always seemed like more of a long shot trade candidate. Oakland acquired the lefty-hitting outfielder from the Marlins going into 2023 in a one-for-one swap for A.J. Puk. That deal looked skewed in Miami’s favor during the first season but has been more balanced this year. Bleday, a former sixth overall pick out of Vanderbilt, has stepped up as the A’s primary center fielder. He’s hitting .233/.314/.430 with 12 homers across 422 plate appearances.

The A’s control Bleday for four seasons beyond this one. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026 campaign. He now looks like a potential regular (or at least a strong side platoon bat) whom the A’s have no urgency to move.

Oakland general manager David Forst said earlier this week that the team wasn’t looking to deal all their players of note. “We may do some things, but anyone who expects we’re going to continue to just move guys for prospects will probably be disappointed because there’s guys here we think are part of the team beyond this year,” Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on Monday (X link). Fost didn’t specify names but was surely referring to players like Rooker, Bleday and closer Mason Miller — who went on the injured list this week and is very unlikely to move. While those comments could include some amount of gamesmanship — it wouldn’t serve the front office well to exaggerate their urgency to subtract — it seems they’re projecting a similar message in conversations with teams.

If the A’s hold Rooker and Bleday, they’d likely be in for a quiet deadline. Setup man Lucas Erceg should draw interest. They could move rental lefty relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland for minimal returns. Miguel Andujar is hitting reasonably well and may be on the radar for teams looking for a right-handed bench bat, while back-end starters Ross Stripling and Paul Blackburn just returned from the injured list and could get a few calls.

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