A's Focusing on Free Agents at Winter Meetings

Jason Burke | Dec 11, 2024

Aug 4, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics second baseman Darell Hernaiz (2) warms up before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

After the 2024 season ended, Athletics GM David Forst said that he figured the team would be focused on attempting to make trades, since he wasn't sure how free agents would approach the A's three or four upcoming seasons in Sacramento before their presumed move to Las Vegas. Now it looks like the front office has changed their approach--at least for the time being.

According to MLB.com's Martín Gallegos, Forst is now saying "that trade conversations have been almost non-existent at the Winter Meetings to this point: "'I don’t pretend that our experience is universal, but it’s very much about free agents [so far] in my experience.'”

This is likely due to a couple of factors. The first is that the A's had success luring a pretty highly sought after free agent in Luis Severino just last week on a three-year, $67 million deal that includes an opt-out after two seasons. That could be leading to increased optimism that the club will be able to address their needs via free agency.

The other factor here is the one that has been a bit confusing this whole time: What exactly do the A's have to trade? This isn't a knock on the team at all, as they're very much a club on the rise, but the players that other teams would be after are very much necessary to the A's roster in order to hopefully continue trending upward in 2025.

Instead of trading Brent Rooker, like many opposing fans had hoped, the A's seem more likely to extend him. Integral players like Lawrence Butler, Mason Miller, JJ Bleday, and Shea Langeliers are also presumably not on the block, and it's tough to swing a deal to improve your own club without giving up something of value in return.

One last wrinkle here could be that the A's are waiting on teams to make some moves to fill out their own rosters, which could take a player that the A's may be after, say Brett Baty of the New York Mets to play third base, and make them expendable. In this specific case, the Mets would likely want to wait until they address their first base vacancy with Pete Alonso on the market before they start dealing away guys they may end up needing.

Trades could still very much be in the works down the line, but for right now, the timing just isn't there.

With no clear options to handle third base on the open market outside of Alex Bregman, who certainly isn't signing with them, the A's will presumably have to make a trade at some point in order to address that issue. If they don't, they could always roll with Darell Hernaiz at third to begin the year, and then slot in former first rounder Max Muncy later on if needed, so a trade isn't mandatory, but it would provide the team with more options.