A's aggressive with roster cuts, additions on horizon?

Jason Burke | Nov 2, 2024

Nov 8, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Oakland Athletics general manager David Forst answers questions to the media during the MLB GM Meetings at The Conrad Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images / Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

The A's have been aggressive in trimming down their roster in the early days of the offseason, removing a total of eight players from the 40-man roster in the past two days. The A's current 40-man stands at 32 players, which is intriguing, given A's GM David Forst said that the team could have a difficult time bringing in guys via free agency.

He told the Chronicle this week, "We have to be active in the trade market until we get a clear sense of how free agents are going to view the possibility of coming to Sacramento." The 32-man roster is the smallest of any MLB team at the moment. A handful of teams have rosters of 33 or 34, but that is mostly due to free agents leaving, not due to a DFA spree. The majority of clubs still have 38-40 players on their rosters.

This isn't to say that A's fans should be panicked about what the heck is going on by any means, but given that there are presumably four prospects that need to be added to the roster ahead of the Rule 5 deadline, that still leaves plenty of open spots. Obviously there will be additions to the roster over the course of the winter, it's just odd to see so many potential depth options removed from the roster so quickly, given the uncertainty of this particular winter.

Ryan Noda is a great clubhouse guy and had a terrific rookie season. He had a down year in 2024, but enough upside to warrant a look in the spring. Kyle Muller pitched pretty well out of the bullpen as the team's long-man and still hopes to be a starter. Either player could have been involved in a competition next spring for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Were any of the players that have been removed from the roster expected to be huge pieces of he team in 2025 and beyond? Not really. But removing them from the roster before their replacements have beed acquired is ineresting, especially given Forst's quote above where he is unsure of how free agents will treat the A's in Sacramento. Making these transactions as corresponding moves to the additions would have made more sense, but at the same time, maybe Forst and the A's are giving these players that were on the bubble the chance to seek out a new opportunity this winter instead of keeping them around until there are fewer roster spots open around the league.

Doesn't this give other teams a slight bit of leverage in trade talks, too? If the Blue Jays know that no free agents will sign with them and that they kind of need to make this trade, what's to stop the Jays from getting a slightly better return in a deal since the avenues for the A's to add on to their club are limited?

The Athletics will presumably add on via salary dump of some degree, getting a potential upgrade on the roster while adding millions to the payroll. The upshot being that they wouldn't have to give up much in prospect capital to make it happen.

This offseason is going to be an important one for the A's as they adjust to life outside of Oakland for the first time in nearly 60 years. They have said that payroll will go up in 2025, though it was a league-low $63 million this past season. The team's current estimated payroll is just $36 million, which leaves plenty of room to add on.

With so many roster cuts and the team saying they need to attack the trade market, could a flurry of additions be on the way? We'll have to wait and see.