Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that the A’s have proposed a four-year deal worth $48 million. It’s unclear if there were opportunities to opt out of that, though it seems safe to assume they wouldn’t have put a four-year contract on the line, allowing him to opt out after just one season. The A’s have a franchise shortstop Jacob Wilson but are looking for help at second and/or third base.
Kim gambled on herself with a one-year contract at a higher rate. Gleyber Torres accepted a qualifying offer, while Jorge Polanco commanded $20 million annually under a two-year contract from the Mets. The A’s are definitely not going to sign Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman contracts north of $150 million. Rosenthal writes that NPB is a star Munetaka Murakami And Kazuma Okamoto are also expected to be out of their price range. Eugenio Suarez maybe a long shot, considering he’ll have a similar annual salary to Kim and Polanco in two or three years.
From that moment on, there has been a significant decrease in the number of free agency activities. Willie Castro, Isiah Kiner Fear, Yoan Moncada, Luis Rengifo and KBO hitter Visual are all candidates for a one-year contract. Song and Castro are probably the best chance to land a multi-year contract. The former at least comes with some intrigue as an upside after back-to-back strong seasons in Korea, but scouting reports raise questions about his raw passing ability. The market for Song has been publicly quiet, but he will have to sign before Sunday or stay with KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes for the ’26 season.
The second basic trading market has received more attention. Kettle Marte And Brendan Donovan are the prices, but the A’s are not a good fit in either case. Marte’s six-year, $102.5 million contract is well below market value, but would easily be the largest deal in A’s history. Donovan is affordable for any team, but the Cardinals are prioritizing controllable starting pitching. The A’s have some talented arms (e.g Luis Morales, Jacob Lopez, Braden Net) that might appeal to St. Louis, but a lack of rotation depth is already the roster’s biggest negative.
The Rays are open to bids Brandon Lowewho will make $11.5 million in the final year of his contract. Rosenthal writes that Tampa Bay isn’t interested in accepting a lowball offer just to shed salary. President of baseball operations Erik Neander said at the Winter Meetings that the Rays would like to carry Lowe and Yandy Diaz into the season. The Mets are shopping Jeff McNeilbut they would likely have to eat some of the remaining $17.75 million on his deal. Impending free agents Nico Hoerner And Jazz Chisholm Jr. have been loosely mentioned in trade rumors, but it seems unlikely that will change.
Speculatively speaking, Jake Cronenworth could be a potential match. The Padres owe him $12 million annually through 2030. That’s a year longer than the A’s were willing to go for Kim, but in line with the average annual value they offered above four. The willingness to spend $12 million per season on Kim doesn’t necessarily mean they would do the same for Cronenworth, who is a superior hitter but not that good of a defender. Still, the Padres have been looking for ways to free up payroll space to free up money for their own rotation needs, so it would make sense for teams to explore trade scenarios.
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