A's roster count, minus pending free agents

Jason Burke | Oct 29, 2024

Aug 29, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk (64) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The A's roster count is about to change, with the Los Angeles Dodgers up 3-0 in the World Series over the New York Yankees, the offseason could be just days away from beginning. At that point, there will be some shuffling of rosters all around the league as players get activated from the 60-day IL and pending free agents become actual free agents.

For the A's, they'll be losing five guys, though the group had varying degrees of impact in 2024.

Trevor Gott signed a one-year deal with Oakland before the year, then missed the whole season due to injury. Alex Wood was brought along on a one-year pact as well, and after making it through the first month, he too landed on the IL for the remainder of the campaign.

Ross Stripling was acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants in a bit of a salary dump move, and he was largely ineffective for the A's, posting an ERA over six in his 85 1/3 innings this season while battling various injuries.

They will also be without lefty relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland, both of whom were solid for the A's out of the bullpen and could be called upon seemingly everyday. Between the two of them, they appeared in 124 total games.

Those five players combined to make $25.6 million in 2024, which was 40.6% of the team's total $63 million projected payroll.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the A's also have five players that are in arbitration, and are due for slight raises. Miguel Andujar ($2.8 million), Austin Adams ($1.7 M), Seth Brown ($3.8 M), Brent Rooker ($5.1 M) and Dany Jiménez ($1 M) are projected to make a combined $14.4 million, which leaves $11.2 million to even reach last year's payroll, which ranked last in baseball. The expectation for the front office is that they'll have more money to work with in 2025.

With five players hitting free agency, the A's have two players currently on the 60-day IL in left-hander Ken Waldichuk and righty Luis Medina, after they each had surgery in 2024. The expectation is that Waldichuk will be ready to return to the A's around midseason, while Medina is expected to miss the entire 2025 campaign.

That ultimately leaves three open roster spots for the A's to work with when considering which Rule 5 eligible players they will end up protecting this winter.

Among the names that will be under consideration to be added to the 40-man are Cooper Bowman, Denzel Clarke, Ryan Cusick and Gunnar Hoglund. Of these four, three of them have come in via trades, with Bowman being part of the return from the Yankees for Frankie Montas, Hoglund part of the Chapman trade with Toronto, and Cusick was part of the Matt Olson return with the Atlanta Braves. Clarke was the only one of this group that was actually selected by the A's in the MLB Draft, going in the fourth round of the 2021 draft.

All four players are deserving of a 40-man spot, so the A's may have to non-tender someone, or make a trade to create space for them on the roster ahead of the deadline, which is on November 19 at 6 p.m. ET.