Winter meetings: A’s seeking low-cost solutions via free agents, trades, draft lottery
Major League Baseball’s upcoming winter meetings in Nashville, where trades and free-agent signings are the main courses on the menu, could help produce the single most important player for the future of the A’s franchise.
He will be a player to be named later — their most consequential one ever.
When baseball’s executives assemble Monday, don’t expect seismic changes to a downtrodden A’s team coming off a team-record 112 losses. The A’s don’t have any stars left so they probably won’t get a potential difference-maker in a trade any time soon. Owner John Fisher has never spent his money on a meaningful free agent and he won’t start now.
This means Tuesday’s MLB Draft Lottery represents the one realistic path for the A’s to acquire a franchise-altering player. At least the odds of earning the No. 1 pick are in their favor – the lone perk for being MLB’s worst team in 2023. They’ll share the best odds of winning the lottery (18.3%) with fellow also-rans Kansas City and Colorado.
The current consensus top prize at next July’s MLB Draft is Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz, a patient 6-foot-5 lefty slugger called the “most well-rounded hitter in the class” by Baseball America.
If the A’s fall out of the top couple of spots in the lottery, it could be disastrous for them. Their fate is tied to those ping-pong balls, the same cruel ones that dropped them to the sixth and final lottery pick last year.
Here’s why Tuesday’s drawing is so vital for the A’s: Win or lose, they won’t have another lottery pick until at least 2026.
That’s because the Collective Bargaining Agreement has more anti-tanking provisions than merely making the three worst teams share the best odds of winning the No. 1 pick. Clubs receiving revenue-sharing payouts, like the A’s, can’t participate in the lottery more than two years in a row. So if Oakland ends up among the dregs of MLB again next year the highest it can draft in 2025 is 10th overall, which severely limits the odds of landing a generational player.
It’s likely the new lottery system already robbed them of a potential superstar. Scouts called last year’s MLB draft class the best in at least two decades, an epochal one featuring five possible franchise cornerstones. And the A’s picked sixth. Oakland selected Grand Canyon College shortstop Jacob Wilson at No. 6, and while he’s a highly rated prospect, he doesn’t have a superstar ceiling like the five players chosen before him.
Regardless of the lottery’s outcome, the A’s figure to come away from the winter meetings either with a couple of new players or having set the groundwork for deals shortly thereafter.
Free agents, trades
The closest the A’s will get to acquiring someone like top free agent Shohei Ohtani came three weeks ago when they claimed utilityman Miguel Andujar off waivers. The ex-Yankees phenom, after all, finished second to Ohtani in the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year voting. That’s the last time both were mentioned in the same sentence.
With little desire to stray from the MLB’s lowest payroll, the A’s will be shopping in the bargain bin for free agents, with a particular eye toward veteran starters who could help stabilize a staff ranked second-to-last in most major pitching categories.
Among the starters seeking to reestablish themselves and could be a fit include ex-Tiger Spencer Turnbull, ex-Athletic Frankie Montas, ex-Giant Alex Wood, and Newark’s Chris Flexen. Since the A’s image couldn’t get any worse, what about Trevor Bauer? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Offensively, the A’s need help most everywhere after finishing last in the majors in runs scored, batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. Ex-Rockies slugger C.J. Cron, son of A’s hitting coach Chris Cron, makes sense as a bounce-back candidate at DH. Former Marlins third baseman Brian Anderson and onetime Royals top prospect Adalberto Mondesi offer intrigue, as does outfielder Tommy Pham, who would provide some real edge to a mostly bland team.
Although the days of shipping game-changers such as Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, and Sean Murphy for hordes of prospects are gone, the A’s will still seek trades. Dealing top starter Paul Blackburn, All-Star outfielder Brent Rooker, or first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown could help attract younger cost-controlled talent.
Another avenue in Nashville the A’s will take while trying to improve is Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft. Armed with the No. 1 pick there, they hope to replicate last year’s success when they plucked Ryan Noda from the Dodgers’ system. Noda was Oakland’s best position player for long stretches last season.