The Athletics are out to a better-than-expected start as they sit atop the division with a 17-14 record and a one-and-a-half game lead over the Seattle Mariners. It’s only the first month of the season but April went about as good as you could hope for the A’s as they have the third-best record in baseball so far. They had a rough schedule that saw them on the road lots during the first month but on the bright side that just means more home games the rest of the way. That’ll be helpful down the line
when the A’s are tired and don’t want to hit the road.
The calendar has now turned to May though and things will only get harder from here. The target is now on our backs and teams in the division know they can’t arrive to Sacramento and expect to automatically get two or three wins. This group of A’s has a lot more heart and is much more scrappy than the versions we saw over the past two years. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to consider or watch moving forward. Things like…
1. How long is Jacob Lopez’s leash?
Lopez entered camp this year seemingly with nothing to prove but health after a solid rookie season that saw him post a 4.07 ERA across 21 games (17 starts). He helped to solidify the middle of an Athletics rotation that needed arms and really saved the starting staff with his out-of-nowhere season. Considered a throw-in in the trade that also brought Jeffrey Springs to the A’s, Lopez looked like a steal, and an under control one at that.
But so far this year things have not gone according to plan. Lopez’s spot in the starting rotation was not as secure as fans thought entering spring, with only the veterans Severino, Springs and Civale assured of starting roles to begin the year. Fellow starter Luis Morales was ahead of Lopez on the depth chart but he only made two starts for the big league squad before the team had seen enough and demoted him to Triple-A, replacing him in the rotation with J.T. Ginn, who has been a steady presence at the backend of the rotation since joining.
Severino’s contract makes it certain that he has a long leash. Springs has been the team’s best pitcher in the first month, and Civale is looking like a steal of a bargain for what he’s doing right now. Ginn is holding his own as well, and that means all signs point towards Lopez being the odd man out when the A’s want to get a look at a different young arm.
Lopez hasn’t done a whole lot to inspire confidence that he’s about to turn a corner. The 28-year-old has a rough 5.84 ERA this season and more walks (21) than strikeouts (18). He ended last year on the IL with a flexor strain in his pitching elbow, a worrying injury that made him a slight question mark all offseason long. It’s possible he’s not as healed as he thinks and is making bad adjustments to compensate, and with Mason Barnett looking good in Las Vegas Lopez’s time in the rotation could be short. He’s scheduled to get the ball on Saturday against Cleveland and he desperately needs a quality outing to ensure his spot in the starting staff.
2. What’s the plan when Denzel Clarke is healthy?
The gifted center fielder can certainly play his position as well as anyone in the game and a Gold Glove feels like a given if he gets enough playing time. It feels like the young outfielder is taking away hits and robbing home runs on a nightly basis, and that’s only barely hyperbole. He’s one of the best to play the position for the Athletics in a long, long time.
But the 26-year-old is hitting just .170 with a 24/4 K/BB ratio during the first month of the 2026 season. Those are even worse stats than last year when he was 26% worse than league average. This year? The 25-year-old is 84%(!) worse than league average. That’s… not good. At all. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise either though as Clarke struggles both during Spring Training and during Team Canada’s time in the World Baseball Classic.
While A’s fans had high hopes that Clarke could at least be serviceable in the batting order, he’s instead become a black hole, an automatic out that has cost the team plenty of times already. Clarke had shown promise in the upper minors and the A’s were ready to push the envelope with him just to get his glove to the big leagues faster. He was never going to be a speedster or a power threat, but the way he looks in the batter’s box makes one think he should not only be in the minors, but perhaps even back in Double-A.
Clarke needs to completely readjust his approach at the plate, but that’s hard to do in the middle of the season. This injury that he suffered shouldn’t prevent him from getting back out onto the field for too much longer, but it might behoove the A’s to let Clarke find himself with his bat down in Triple-A until he figures things out. That’s not what the Athletics were planning for when they essentially handed him the center field job to begin the year, but that’s where we are now. Will he be reinstated and immediately retake his spot in center upon his return?
3. Will the A’s have a closer?
Right-handed Joel Kuhnel has gotten the bulk of save opportunities since his promotion on April 7th. He’s 4-for-4 in that regard while allowing only three earned runs in that time, and his 2.70 ERA is looking mighty nice in the early going.
This has been an out-of-nowhere development for the bullpen. Kuhnel was brought aboard this offseason on a minor league deal after spending the past six seasons bouncing around the league. Before this season he hadn’t had much in the way of chances in the big leagues other than a 53 appearance season way back in 2022, when he posted a 6.36 ERA for the Reds. There wasn’t much thought then at the time other than “nice depth”, but Kuhnel is making the most of his opportunity right now.
But Kuhnel ran into some problems in the second game of the Royals series, allowing a run and giving the Royals a chance to have a late-game comeback. Thankfully Mark Kotsay came out to get his right-hander before things got more out of hand, giving Mark Leiter Jr. the chance to nail down his third save of the season. So what’s going to happen over the next month? Is Kuhnel our guy until he inevitably blows a save, and then it’s back up for grabs from that point on? Is his time as the closer already over? The A’s had another save opportunity yesterday and Kotsay went with Jack Perkins to finish off KC.
The hope is that the journeyman righty can continue to solidify the backend of the A’s bullpen. It worked out for the A’s at times last year but having a closer-by-committee isn’t a long-term way to use the relief unit. Everyone having their set roles and knowing when or where they might be used is beneficial to all those arms that are asked to come into games and lock down the win. It’s a highly stressful job, being a reliever in the big leagues, and asking guys to be ready at a moment’s notice for the entirety of a baseball game is just another added stress. Maybe Kotsay can press all the right buttons for six whole months (and hopefully playoffs), but there’s a reason a team like the Padres shelled out big time to acquire Mason Miller last year. Here’s to hoping we can lock someone into the closer’s role sooner rather than later.
