The A's Should Really Be Doing Something with Slow Free Agent Market

As we enter late January, 24 of the top 50 MLB free agents are still on the market. The A's finished with a 50-112 record last season and have signed one relief pitcher, Trevor Gott, for $1.5 million. The A's also hope to be able to contend by 2028 when they plan to move into a new ballpark in Las Vegas. So why aren't they signing free agents while the market stalls? 

There are a couple of reasons, and like everything with the franchise these days, those reasons revolve around relocation.

Earlier this winter Oakland's GM David Forst said that the team was having a difficult time attracting free agents on multi-year deals due to the lack of answers when it comes to where they plan to play games following the upcoming 2024 season. The top free agents, by and large, want multi-year deals. 

This feels like another one of John Fisher's self-fulfilling prophecies. He didn't lead the charge to get a temporary home sorted out until last week, which is hurting the team in free agency, which means that he "can't" spend more money to make the team better, and on and on the cycle continues. Sorry Vegas, we tried to provide you a winner, but nobody wanted to sign with us. Thanks for the money though! 

Kind of like when the A's drew an average of 20,626 fans in 2019, then doubled ticket prices after they traded away all of the best players on the team--again. Those moves cut attendance to roughly 10,000 per game the past two seasons, and then all of a sudden Oakland isn't a suitable market for Major League Baseball. Weird how the timing of those two moves just worked towards a relocation announcement. 

The other reason is that the team wants to be good in five seasons, so this year's free agent class, which isn't as filled with superstars as ones in years past, may not be the one that the A's have their sights set on. Even if Cody Bellinger or Blake Snell agreed to sign on with the A's, there is no guarantee that either player would still be at the top of their game in five year's time. 

Let's be clear, the A's never operate at the top of the market, and both Snell and Bellinger are top-6 free agents this winter. 

The other problem the A's have is that there's no clear pieces in place outside of Zack Gelof. Ryan Noda was tremendous in his first year in the big leagues, but he'll be 32 by the time the team hopes to start playing in Vegas. Is he their first base solution in that time frame? A lot of the rest of the team will be looking to earn their spots on the roster moving forward and they'll need time to showcase their talent. Once some of those questions are answered, then maybe the A's will start targeting players in free agency and trades. 

That is, if you want to believe that Fisher will be spending money on this team any time soon.

Even if the plan is to assess the roster for another year before adding pieces, the A's could stand to sign a veteran or two that could be primed for a bounce back season in order to trade them for prospects in a few months. Hyun-jin Ryu will be 37 this season and holds a career 3.27 ERA. Sign him. 

While the A's haven't done much of anything this winter and they don't have a fan base that cares anymore, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't at least be trying to make improvements here and there to make them better in the future, when they are in fact hoping to be good. Heck, they're doing more than just hoping. The entire relocation's success or failure may depend on how well the team plays in 2028. 

They'll need to hit the ground running, and this slow free agent market could help them in one way or another to achieve that goal.