Elephant Rumblings: A’s Extend Contract Offers to Their Young Core as Future Takes Shape .MH
Morning all! And happy Friday!
The A’s almost came away from the annual Winter Meetings without making any moves or additions, but just snuck in a deal with right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. before the end of the work week. That’s just all we know about though. The foundations for future moves and signings could and likely was made down in Florida this week and it’s just going to take more time to push these things into the “done deal” category. And that’s true for most teams during these meetings, even the ones who came out of it with signs deals for superstar players.
One of the things that the front office has been vocal about in recent months though is the need to begin early extension talks with their young studs who are only just bursting onto the major league scene. Specifically guys like American League Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz and AL ROTY runner-up Jacob Wilson, guys that look like they’ll be core building blocks of a future A’s playoff squad. Other players like Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom, and heck, even Denzel Clarke could have fans in the front office and try to extend them before they approach free agency. The team has already locked down outfielder Lawrence Butler and DH Brent Rooker to multi-year contracts that’ll ensure they’re donning the Green & Gold when the team opens up their new home in Las Vegas.
Well apparently those talks have not only been ongoing for a while now, but General Manager David Forst told A’s beat writer Martin Gallegos that the team has already extended offers to some of their younger players:
“Without naming anyone, we’ve made offers,” Forst said. “We’re having conversations here. I’m hopeful we’ll make progress.”
Now obviously none of the young core has bitten at these offers or else we’d have heard about it, but these types of negotiations tend to go on all winter long. Most extensions regarding younger players like the A’s have occur either right before or during Spring Training. Just look at when the team announced the Butler extension and, to a lesser extent, the Rooker deal.
With regards to Kurtz and Wilson, the team has five years of team control remaining over both of these former 1st-rounders so there is plenty of time, on paper. In reality though, if the A’s let them play out their pre-arbitration years without striking a deal, then it becomes increasingly more and more likely that the players will just bet on themselves, wait the extra two or three years and hit free agency in search of their big payday elsewhere. If the A’s really see these two guys as core building blocks, then they need to wow them with a big enough payday. Luckily for the A’s they’re moving into a brand new ballpark that will instantly transform owner John Fisher into a big spender (ha).
What it’d cost to lock either of those two guys down is up for debate but one thing would be certain: inking either of those two guys up to a long-term deal would be a franchise record for contract shelled out. That’s not an especially high bar to clear (Severino’s $67 million guaranteed represents the biggest investment ever) but would still signal more of a willingness to spend more going forward. The Athletics ownership’s reputation as a penny-pincher is well-earned but signing either one of these two guys to a record-setting contract would go a ways in beginning to reverse the league-wide perception that the A’s are poor and unserious about spending to compete. That’s been a major, perhaps the biggest obstacle, to bringing big-time names into the fold from free agency.
Then there’s guys like Langeliers and Soderstrom. Langeliers is the closest of the core to free agency with just three years to go until free agency. He’s in his first year of arbitration and is set for his first major raise of his career, looking at an increase of at least over $4 million in his yearly salary. While he’s gotten better each and every year he’s been in the league, he’d also hit the market at age-31 which is around when teams start to squirm at the idea of shelling out big money for catchers. For a ballpark idea of what it might cost to keep ‘Bangeliers’, the Royals gave their six-time All-Star/five-time Gold Glove winning, World Series champion and fan favorite catcher Salvador Perez to a four-year, $82 million extension when he was 31 years old. That’s just over $20 million a year for elite production behind the plate five years ago.
In the case of Soderstrom, there aren’t many obvious comparable for him. Drafted as a catcher, then moved to first base, then shoved into left field, Sodey has done everything he’s been asked of him while only just getting his big league career started. The 2025 season was his first full year as a big leaguer and he not only impressed with the bat but he also adapted to his new position like a glove, earning a finalist nomination for the Gold Glove in left field. The team still has four years of control over their 2020 1st-round pick so there’s no rush and perhaps the team would even like to see some improvement before committing big bucks to the lefty masher. Clarke is even younger and more controllable, which could either work in the A’s favor or against it. Clarke could jump at the chance to lock down guaranteed money before he’s even shown he can handle big league pitching. A deal involving the Gold Glove caliber center fielder could be high-risk, high-reward.
Don’t hold your breath for an imminent extension, but the fact that the front office is throwing out offers is at the very least an indication that things may finally be moving in a direction where we the fans don’t have to always give out goodbye cards to our favorite players. Is the next lifer Athletic already on the team? Who would you want to prioritize for extensions? Who would you least want to extend? Discuss below!
And have a great weekend everyone!
