The long offseason is upon us. The A’s have lots to do this offseason. First things first, the team needs to decide on a new General Manager, one that’ll lead the team into Las Vegas and hopefully build a winning playoff team before long. Whoever gets the job will be given the bones of a quality position player group, but with lots to fix on the pitching side of things. It won’t be an overnight fix and the new voice will want to build the team in his or her imagine, but the sooner we pick a person
to lead us the better.
Turning to the schedule this offseason, there’s a few critical dates that we should all have on our calendars. A lot of this will obviously depend on the possibility of an impending lockout. If the owners and players can’t agree to a new deal before December 1st (which seems likely), then that’ll throw a huge wrench in the plans of every team in the league, including the A’s. Nothing we can do about that though.
- End of the World Series
The day after the Fall Classic is over, the rest of baseball is technically able to begin trades and sign their own players to contracts or extensions. There isn’t usually any big moves or news during this time but it’s always a possibility. Teams and agents can talk to each other during this time, but only the previous team can come to terms with an official contract.
During this time teams and players also need to decide on their options for next season. This year the A’s have a couple decisions to make, both of which should be easy. Jeffrey Springs and Jeff McNeil will both see their options for next year declined, sending them to free agency. On the other side of the coin starter Luis Severino is almost certain to pick up his $22 million option for next year, rejoining the club for a third year.
- Five Days After The World Series: Free Agency Begins
Once the shock of the World Series subsides, the rest of the league can begin turning their attention back to their own organizations. Free agents are now able to sign with whoever they want but unlike in other sports there’s not usually a sudden rush of signings. Still, this is the day where any big contract announcement can come at any moment the rest of the winter.
- Mid-November: Award Season
Once baseball is over it’s time to start handing out the end-of-year awards. The A’s won’t have anyone take home any trophies this offseason but there might be some honors. Langeliers could win the Silver Slugger for AL catcher even with the missed time. And while he won’t win the award, it’ll be interesting to see where Henry Bolte finishes in Rookie of the Year voting.
- Friday, November 20th: Non-tender Deadline
This is a big date for the Athletics this offseason. The team will need to decide which players they want to keep paying, and which they’re comfortable cutting and letting hit the free agent market. Cornerstone guys like Shea Langeliers and Zack Gelof are clearly not going to be non-tendered, but there are players under the knife. Is it time for the A’s to move on from guys like Darell Hernaiz and Joey Estes instead of giving them raises? Lots of decisions to make before this date.
- Second Week of December: Winter Meetings
If there is a deal in place, this year’s Winter Meetings would likely take place between December 7th and 10th. During this time there’s lots of deals and trades being made, as well as plenty of groundwork for later deals and trades that come later on. The A’s haven’t been especially active at these meetings and that’d be unlikely to change with a the new GM still likely getting their sea legs under them.
Another event that usually happens during the Winter Meetings is the Draft Lottery. The A’s are tied with the Rockies and Angels for the best odds to win the top pick at 16.5%. The lottery hasn’t gone the Athletics’ way in recent years but they’ve made it work (Jacob Wilson, Nick Kurtz, Jamie Arnold). One way or another there’ll be a lottery, it just may be delayed if there’s no deal.
- Last Day of Winter Meetings: Rule 5 Draft
Again, this could be one of the first casualties of a lockout. The 2022 lockout didn’t cost games but delayed the season and the Rule 5 draft was cancelled altogether. That’s an entirely possible outcome again this time around, which is especially disappointing for the teams at the bottom like the A’s. Since we ended the year with one of the worst records the Athletics would have one of the top picks. No guarantee of getting a good player, but the A’s need all the opportunities to add talent and the Rule 5 draft being cancelled would deprive them of one more path to adding a potential piece.
- January 15th: International Signing Period Begins
The A’s have always dipped their toes into the international market but have yet to have much success on that front. Lots of teams and players have already come to handshake agreements for contracts but this would be the date they put pen to paper. The A’s will likely have around $7-8 million to spend on a lottery ticket so to speak.
- Arbitration deadline: Mid-January
Assuming all goes normally this offseason (a massive hypothetical), the deadline for arbitration-eligible players and teams to file their proposed salary figures is roughly around this time. The A’s have a small arbitration class this year headlined by Langeliers. The other four are Zack Gelof, lefty Hogan Harris, and righty Luis Medina. The A’s should be able to wrap those four contracts up without the need to go to a hearing.
- February 9th/10th: Pitchers & Catcher Report
While it hasn’t technically been announced, pitchers and catchers generally arrive to camp 10 days before the first spring training game. That’d mean we’re looking at around February 9th or 10th for when the first players arrive to camp.
- February 14th/15th: First full squad workout
Five days later the position players will arrive to camp and the full team will be together for the first time. They’ll be with these guys for the better part of the next seven months.
- February 19th: First Spring Training Game
And then we finally get our first game action on the 19th, a Friday afternoon matchup against the Chicago Cubs. Only 140 days to go!
