Offseason hurdles muddle A’s future
After playoff loss, Oakland faces another challenge in cobbling together ’ 21 lineup
A particularly challenging, extremely unusual season is behind the A’s after falling to Houston in the Division Series and there are plenty of uncertainties ahead, too.
But in some respects, Oakland’s offseason looks all too familiar: Unless the team is prepared to spend substantial amounts, the A’s will be losing a large number of free agents, starting with shortstop Marcus Semien, who is from El Cerrito, played at Cal and was third in the AL MVP voting in 2019 and a Gold Glove finalist each of the previous two years.
General manager David Forst exchanged texts with Semien after Thursday’s Game 4 loss “and just told him that from the first day he was here, he’s been an incredible representative of the organization, a great ambassador for the Oakland A’s, and turned himself into a great player,” Forst said Friday on a video call. “I wanted to make sure he knew how much I appreciated the six years he’s been here. And told him, ‘ We would love to have you here.’ Anybody would want to have a person and player like that in their organization going forward.”
Other highprofile free agents include closer Liam Hendriks, doeverything reliever Yusmeiro Petit and second baseman Tommy La Stella.
“Listen, we’re not unaware of some of the challenges we have as it relates to this roster,” said A’s vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane said. He told The Chronicle last week that the team would be crazy not to put La Stella at the top of their list. “It’s something we’ve had to deal with in the past. And I think we’ve always reacted pretty well to it. We’ve always been somewhat creative and found a way to address some of those things. But yeah, we’ve got free agents and that’s probably the most challenging market for the A’s to compete in, even if it’s your own guys.”
Add to that the fact that
much of the rest of the roster will be arbitration eligible — including corner infielders Matt Olson and Matt Chapman — and the A’s payroll, never among baseball’s robust, is likely to skyrocket. The only way to minimize that might be to nontender several arbitrationeligible players and replace departed free agents either from within or with lessexpensive free agents.
Unless ... there is a chance the freeagent market will be so dismal after the sport went through a season without paying fans that most free agents sign oneyear deals in the hopes that things change substantially after next season. That might be Oakland’s best chance of retaining Semien, especially after he had a down 60game season (. 223 with seven homers). The team also could give him a $ 18.9 million qualifying offer, but after a season with zero ticket revenue, that seems unlikely.
“The uncertainties, as Billy said, are things that we’re faced before,” Forst said. “I think they’re compounded right now by the pandemic and the uncertainties that those add going into ’ 21. But we always go into the offseason with questions, whether it’s about our players, our payroll, the rest of the organization. I think we’re wellversed in how to deal with those things as the offseason goes along.”
Could the A’s have some answers in the organization? The bullpen might need substantial rebuilding, and the team almost certainly will need to look outside for at least a reliever or two should Hendriks, Petit, Joakim Soria and T. J. McFarland all depart. An experienced starter will be on the shopping list, with Mike Fiers and Mike Minor free agents and A. J. Puk coming off shoulder surgery. But the A’s do have some promising starters at the TripleA level who could contribute next year, including Daulton Jefferies, James Kaprielian, Grant Holmes and Parker Dunshee, along with relievers Wandisson Charles and Miguel Romero.
The biggest question marks will be in the infield. Though Chad Pinder came on strong in the postseason and could be an option at shortstop or, more likely, second base or left field, he can’t fill all of those spots, and Tony Kemp wasn’t even used in the postseason, he fell so under the radar. Oakland has some very highly regarded shortstop prospects in Nick Allen, Logan Davidson and Robert Puason, but all are young and inexperienced, especially with no minorleague games in which to play this season. All three were at the A’s alternate site in San Jose, but that won’t make up for a year of missed competition, and it complicates evaluations.
“It’s certainly one of the more difficult parts of this season, that entire sort of group of minorleaguers lost that development,” Forst said. “So we’re going to have to make up for it the best we can and see where guys are hopefully in February and March — if we’re ready to have a normal spring training.”
That will be a problem for the A’s and all teams going forward, and as Beane noted, even next year’s minorleague season isn’t assured.
Even with the annual potential turnover ( last winter was the rare year with few changes), the A’s feel very good about what they know they’ll be working with, including Chapman and Olson, a strong outfield with Mark Canha, Ramón Laureano and Stephen Piscotty, potentially four solid starters with Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Jesús Luzardo and Frankie Montas, and an excellent young catching tandem in Sean Murphy and Jonah Heim. Plus, designated hitter Khris Davis enjoyed a productive postseason after picking up the pace in September.
“If you really go over the players returning, it’s still a pretty darn good foundation,” Beane said. “And you take the Matts on the corners, that’s a start anybody would like to have. ... I think I was really encouraged with the way Khris started to swing the bat at the end of the year. ... The good thing is we’ve got a lot of pieces in place that I think are good pieces.”