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<\/p>\nFor most of the quarter century general manager David Forst has spent with the Athletics, he\u2019s had to do his job one way.<\/p>\n
When they called Oakland home, the A\u2019s routinely drafted and developed star players whom fans fell in love with. Then the same movie would play time and again: whether it was Matt Chapman or Barry Zito, the best players left as free agents or were traded away, deemed too pricey to retain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to get our group not to spend too much time sort of wistfully wishing,\u201d Forst said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get too sort of overly emotional about the players that have left. You sort of knew that was always the way things were going to end with guys, as long as we were in that building in Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over two decades, the A\u2019s searched for a new stadium, and the revenue a shiny state-of-the-art building could drive. That quest gave Forst hope for an antidote, a means to someday break free of his obligation to dismantle.<\/p>\n
The fanbase was just as tired of all the turnover, if not more so.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets fans frustrated. Understandably so,\u201d A\u2019s owner John Fisher said. \u201cThey want to know when they buy a jersey with the guy\u2019s name on the back that it\u2019s going to be good the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fisher\u2019s decision to relocate the A\u2019s from Oakland to Las Vegas has created anguish that, for some fans, no roster move will heal any time soon. But amidst so much disappointment, a new era for the A\u2019s has begun. They\u2019re not only building a core this time \u2014 they\u2019re keeping it.<\/p>\n
When Opening Day in Vegas arrives, planned for 2028, four A\u2019s players are in line to take the field under long-term contracts: outfielder Lawrence Butler, designated hitter Brent Rooker, left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and shortstop Jacob Wilson.<\/p>\n
Rooker signed a five-year $60 million in December 2024, followed by Butler for seven years and $65.5 million in March 2025. Then this past offseason came two more seven-year deals: Soderstrom for $86 million and Wilson for $70 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how a team becomes a franchise,\u201d said A\u2019s pitcher Luis Severino, who inked the largest free agent contract in club history prior to last season.<\/p>\n
The team isn\u2019t in Las Vegas yet, making do in the meantime at a small minor-league ballpark in Sacramento, Calif. But the present seems brighter, if not yet fully realized.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely feels different. And it should,\u201d Forst said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all looked forward to this for a long time, and the reality of having those press conferences that we\u2019ve had over the last year plus is, those are good days for the organization. Those are good days for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n
More extensions could follow. The A\u2019s have tried to negotiate with others, including their towering first baseman with huge power, Nick Kurtz, known as \u201cBig Amish.\u201d They\u2019ve also engaged catcher Shea Langeliers, people briefed on those talks who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed.<\/p>\n
Langeliers, a 28-year-old catcher, is three seasons away from free agency. He hit 31 home runs last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatching is undervalued,\u201d said Scott Boras, Langeliers\u2019 agent. \u201cThere\u2019s only a few men that can hit 25 to 30 home runs and catch and manage a pitching staff. Many catchers are managing a $150 million to $200 million pitching staff and getting little credit for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forst said generally he doesn\u2019t draw deadlines for extension negotiations. If a long-term deal is a good idea in November, he said, then it probably remains so in April. But he doesn\u2019t expect more long-term deals before Opening Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other players who can look at that now and say, \u2018Hey, that, ultimately, can be me at some point,\u2019\u201d Forst said. \u201cI don\u2019t doubt there was a time when a lot of our guys were counting down the days till they had an opportunity somewhere else. And that\u2019s never good for the long-term health of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having the group of four in place has already helped shift the tone around the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing for me is it communicates that the front office feels that we have the right people in the room to do what we want to do,\u201d said Rooker, who reached 30 home runs last season for a third straight year. \u201cAnd we know we feel that way as players, so when that can be reinforced by people in charge, people making decisions, it does nothing but build confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in the background of all these signings lurks uncertainty that could turn ironic.<\/p>\n
The executives who nailed down these deals \u2014 who waited so long for this chance to try their hands at a different mode of play \u2014 might not be around to enjoy the fruits in Las Vegas themselves. Forst and his front-office group are signed only through this year.<\/p>\n
Back in 2013, Fisher watched alongside Billy Beane, then the GM of the A\u2019s, as their team destroyed the Houston Astros over and over.<\/p>\n
The A\u2019s won 15 of 19 meetings with the Astros that year, a time when Houston was rebuilding. The Astros\u2019 young second baseman, Jose Altuve, was making waves, Fisher remembered, yet the club still looked terrible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose guys aren\u2019t very good,\u201d Fisher told Beane during one of the drubbings.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou watch,\u201d Beane shot back to the owner. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beane was right: The Astros won a pair of World Series championships over the next decade.<\/p>\n
Beane is the progenitor of the Moneyball movement, the search for inefficiency in roster building that, today, has influenced every Major League Baseball front office. Now a senior advisor for the A\u2019s, Beane still talks to Forst \u201cthree times a day, every day\u201d Forst said.<\/p>\n
But as the A\u2019s prepare for Vegas, the club has taken up a strategy that\u2019s more tried and true than innovative, a derivative of teams like the Astros.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe studied sort of the successful franchises: Houston, Cleveland, and others,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cYou see a lot of teams that they\u2019re great for a little while, and then they come down and they rebuild, and they go back back up. But the periods of maintaining greatness seem to be relatively short.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Astros signed Altuve to a long-term extension in 2013, years before the club again became contenders. The Braves are a good example, too, Forst said. They locked up infielders Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. and Ozzie Albies in succession early in 2019.<\/p>\n
But neither of those clubs were the first in modern times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Cleveland was moving into Jacobs Field in 1994, they had a lot of great young players, and they signed these guys to longer term contracts,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cThat allowed that franchise to have 10 years of dominance in that division.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one light, the A\u2019s deals are just four individual processes that finished around the same time. But a common thread runs through the deals. Butler, 25, Soderstrom, 24, and Wilson, 23, have similarly structured contracts, Forst noted, and are close in age.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to sort of focus on what we consider the prime years, and the first couple free agent years, without going too far down the road for either side,\u201d Forst said. \u201cLetting the player get back to free agency at some point, while there\u2019s still money to be made, but also letting the team minimize risk of going too far into their 30\u2019s, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a domino effect, where players want to stick together as a group. Players trade at least some information about their processes with the club, trying to help one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to a couple of them throughout the entire time,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really lean on them as much as I could have, but at the same time, you kind of want to keep it minimal between how many people you\u2019re talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are three key phases for baseball players when it comes to salary. They start off at the league minimum, which is set at $780,000 for 2026. Then three years into their career (or two, if they\u2019re particularly successful on the field), they become eligible for arbitration, a process that will typically grant them their first seven-figure salaries. After six years, they can become free agents, where the biggest money awaits.<\/p>\n
In extensions, players and agents typically are \u201clooking at the floor more than the ceiling,\u201d said one player agent who worked with the A\u2019s on a recent extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some protection of creating a floor for what a player\u2019s career earnings will be,\u201d said the agent, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive negotiation. \u201cIt\u2019s important to us that there\u2019s a balance between protecting that and also recognizing what the player could make in the future as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Extension talks today differ from the past, Forst said. The biggest change Forst has detected is that players are less focused on their salaries during their arbitration years than they once were.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow these conversations are not about that,\u201d Forst said. \u201cThey\u2019re about, what is the price of the club getting access to free agency? When guys are signing for $60 million a year in free agency, that is clearly where you have to sort of find the value.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we spend less time now on how much value you get in years three, four and five, as opposed to, OK, what price do we have to pay to lock a guy up in years six, seven, eight? And then the player has to be willing to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every player is in a different situation. Kurtz, for example, received a $7 million signing bonus as the fourth overall draft pick in 2024. Some players want an immediate infusion of cash, while others find it easier to wait.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody in the game knows that there are agents out there who tell their players there\u2019s no price that\u2019s worth giving up for your free agency years,\u201d Forst said as a generality. \u201cAnd I respect that. It doesn\u2019t work for everybody, but you have to find someone who is willing to negotiate that value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, in his Rookie of the Year campaign, Kurtz hit 36 home runs and batted .290 \u2014 elite production at any position. In talks with the A\u2019s, Pete Alonso could be a reasonable comparison, according to The Athletic\u2019s Tim Britton, who tracks player contracts.<\/p>\n
Alonso made $42.5 million via arbitration, so Kurtz could be in line for a few million more, perhaps $45 million. Were he to receive another seven-year deal, and two of his free-agent years were bought out for $30 million each, that could put the total value of an extension at around $105 million.<\/p>\n
Kurtz\u2019s agency, Excel Sports Management, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Every player starts at a higher number than they end up with, naturally. The A\u2019s conversations have all typically been contained to roughly one offseason. Wilson, who finalized his deal in February, said his talks started in October, after the regular season.<\/p>\n
At the 2024 winter meetings, the A\u2019s reached out to Butler\u2019s representatives at CAA to begin negotiating, but after a few exchanges, they stalled for a bit around the holidays, people briefed on that process said. His agents arrived in Arizona early in spring training, and A\u2019s assistant GM Dan Feinstein checked back in. Butler\u2019s camp felt like it was up to the A\u2019s to make a new offer. Once they did, a deal was reached quickly. But even those three months felt like a long time for those involved.<\/p>\n
No one knew at the time the A\u2019s would lock up two more players the next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not gonna hit on everyone,\u201d Forst said, \u201cand it\u2019s not like a foolproof plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s a new pain point for A\u2019s fans in seeing the money flow, it\u2019s a lament for the past.<\/p>\n
In a different world, the A\u2019s would have executed this strategy with their players in Oakland. They tried to, in fact. When Matt Chapman and Matt Olson were the club\u2019s stars, Forst wanted to lock them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were conversations with Chapman and Olson about extensions, but we sort of dipped our toe in. We didn\u2019t have the same conviction,\u201d Forst said. \u201cIn fairness to us, we couldn\u2019t. Everything was still so year to year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forst didn\u2019t have enough payroll to work with. When Fisher was granting $50, $60 million, \u201cthe more spots that are locked up, the less chance you have to recreate the team in a way that\u2019s going to win,\u201d the GM explained. Cot\u2019s Contracts projects the A\u2019s to have a $140 million payroll for 2026.<\/p>\n
When giving out long-term contracts, teams often regard them as a collection of bets. Someone could get hurt, or regress. In the Oakland days, there was less margin for error.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t tell John, this is the way we should operate on a payroll of that size, and not risk sort of being stuck in some spots,\u201d Forst said.<\/p>\n
In the time of Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada, the A\u2019s did lock up one key position player: third baseman Eric Ch\u00e1vez, in 2004 on a six-year deal for $66 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t work out, because his health didn\u2019t hold up,\u201d Forst said, \u201cand it felt like there was so much pressure on that contract to work out that we had to take a step back for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the new ballpark, and the expected jump in revenue it provides, gave the A\u2019s a \u201ccertain future,\u201d as Fisher put it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys always had the desire to be able to execute this kind of a strategy, of building one core and holding them for a long period of time,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cAnd the fact that we now have a ballpark that we\u2019re building toward that is going to open in 2028 gave them \u2014 along with more payroll that continues to move up as we are moving toward Vegas \u2014 an opportunity they hadn\u2019t had before.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n The Athletics\u2019 33,000-seat domed stadium under construction on the Las Vegas Strip this month. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Until that Vegas move actually happens, there\u2019s still an inescapable sense the A\u2019s are a team in between, looking toward the future. But the present is increasingly enticing, Forst and Fisher believe. A skid where they lost 20 of 21 games soured their chances in 2025, and they finished in fourth place at 76-86.<\/p>\n
Actually building a championship team in Las Vegas will likely require increased free-agent spending as well. But it\u2019s unknown whether the roster architects will be around to see the project through.<\/p>\n
Forst had no comment on his own future with the club. To stay, he and other club executives might be asked to move to Las Vegas. He has said in the past that his family loves being in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur conversations, they started last year, we\u2019re continuing to have them,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cDavid and his team \u2014 Billy Owens, Dan Feinstein, Rob Naberhaus and others \u2014 have done a really great job, and have really led the whole process of the extensions that we\u2019ve been able to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Forst\u2019s group has helped shift the conversation around an oft-embattled franchise, even compared to a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important as we get into the ballpark in Vegas,\u201d Forst said, \u201cthat we\u2019re not losing guys to free agency the way we have for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most of the quarter century general manager David Forst has spent with the Athletics, he\u2019s had to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,5,4,3226,165],"class_list":{"0":"post-619945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athletics","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-mlb-athletics","12":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116215760806740562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}