A's Open to Adding One More Starter

Sep 10, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (0) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Athletics have already made two significant additions to their starting rotation this winter, handing out the biggest contract in team history to Luis Severino at three years, $67 million, and then making a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to acquire left-hander Jeffrey Springs. Both pitchers figure to be slotted at the top of the rotation come Opening Day.

Yet, A's GM David Forst may not be done adding to the rotation.

As far as more moves for the A’s. David Forst said there are still open conversations and he’s hopeful to make some additions to the club — maybe one or two more things and mentioned starting pitching again, but added he likes where the team is at right now.

— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) January 10, 2025

The team has certainly improved from where they were to where they currently are, but one more starting pitcher would make this offseason complete.

We have speculated about where the A's could look to make a trade this winter, be it Jordan Montgomery of the Arizona Diamondbacks, or more recently Marcus Stroman of the New York Yankees, but with the A's only needing to add about $8 million in payroll to reach their $105 million threshold, some of those bigger contracts may be too costly now.

Montgomery is due $22.5 million in 2025, while Stroman is owed $18 million this year, and has an option that vests for another $18 million in 2026 if he reaches 140 innings pitched. That option, if he were to reach the innings mark, would be a player option.

Each pitcher could still help this club win ballgames in 2025, and if the A's are serious about adding payroll to improve the club (and not to avoid potential penalties), then any contract should still be on the table. But given how the A's have operated under owner John Fisher's stewardship, the more likely scenario is that they'll do exactly as much as they have to from a financial standpoint.

That is believed to be right around $105 million to avoid the MLBPA filing a grievance, and keeping them appeased would be wise, since they only signed off on allowing the A's to receive a 100% share of revenue sharing on a provisional basis. They reserved the right to revisit the A's revenue sharing in the future if they weren't satisfied with how the club is allocating their money.

Without the roughly $70 million that the A's are receiving from the other owners in revenue sharing, the big splashes the team has made, and the positive headlines for the club that have followed, wouldn't be possible.

So the A's still want to add a starting pitcher. Where they end up turning to make that happen could give us just a touch of insight into how the A's are really approaching things now that they are out of Oakland. Are they the big spending A's now, or are they doing just enough to keep getting more revenue sharing?