Mailbag: Zack Gelof, Tyler Soderstrom, and the Starting Rotation

Welcome to the Inside the A's mailbag! These are a weekly occurrence, so if there's an A's-related topic that is on your mind, tweet it at us @InsidetheAs and we'll compile the best questions each week!

This week's mailbag starts off with a pair of questions about the youth in Oakland. First, about farmhands Zack Gelof, the A's #3 prospect on MLB Pipeline, and top prospect Tyler Soderstrom, then about the development of the other young guys already in Oakland.

What are the odds Gelof or Soderstrom make the opening day roster? What specific improves do we want to see from the young guys on the roster already? Mb if you have answered these questions before.
— Royal (@Royalist00) October 29, 2022

I'd wager that the odds of Tyler Soderstrom making the Opening Day roster are pretty slim, and that's not based on talent by any means. He has the tools. My assessment is stemming more from the fact that he started in Lansing in 2022, and has played a total of 45 games above High-A in his pro career. He's set to turn 21 on November 24, so there is no rush with bringing him up to the big leagues. He'll likely start the season in either Midland or Las Vegas, and should get a look in Oakland before the end of the 2023 campaign.

If you add all of that in to the fact that Soderstrom's main two positions, catcher and first base, are already fairly certain heading into Spring Training. Behind the dish, it'll either be Sean Murphy and Shea Langeliers splitting time, or Shea Langeliers will be the guy with Murphy playing elsewhere. I don't see Soderstrom being a backup catcher outside of an emergency situation. First base is also spoken for with Dermis Garcia seemingly earning more of a look, and Seth Brown also looming.

For Gelof, he spent the season mostly in Double-A before a late-year promotion to Vegas along with Soderstrom. He's also currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, which is more reps against quality competition. He has also been playing second base in the AFL, a position that isn't necessarily spoken for at the big league level, so there is a chance that he could work his way into a late-spring audition for the Opening Day roster, but I think that a mid-season promotion is more likely.

As far as the guys already on the roster, I'm looking for little improvements in 2023. Can Adrián Martínez pitch ahead in the count more often? Can Dermis Garcia strike out less than 44% of the time? Was Cristian Pache's better approach in the second half real or a small sample size? Is Nick Allen going to take a leap forward offensively at the big league level like he has in the minors after some exposure? Where is Jordan Díaz going to play defensively?

These are just a handful of the questions I currently have for some of the young guys heading into 2023.

Would you want Oakland to find some buy low starters, or do you want to give more of those innings to Oller, Logue and Martinez and just keep the young movement going?
— Patrick Ian Pikell (@pro4pro32) October 29, 2022

This one is tough because I want both. That said, it's not a given that there will be a spot in the rotation up for grabs unless there is an injury. The A's currently have Cole Irvin, James Kaprielian, and Paul Blackburn as veteran options, plus JP Sears and Ken Waldichuck did enough late in the season to put them as the frontrunners for rotation spots heading into Spring Training.

I think that the A's could move one of the veteran options to clear up a spot in the rotation for either a buy-low starter or one of the young guys looking to stick in the big leagues that Patrick mentions.

As for what I would do, I would see what kind of offers I'm getting for Paul Blackburn. He had a solid first couple of months to begin 2022 that led to an All Star nod, and he has years of control left, but he feels like someone that could be a nice back-end of the rotation piece for a team looking for arms. The St. Louis Cardinals just make sense as a trade partner for Blackburn's services to me.

That would leave a rotation of Irvin, Kap, Waldichuck and Sears, and at that point I think I'm looking for buy-low candidates that have some upside, like James Paxton, who has been plagued by injuries the last three seasons. If he were to be healthy and effective leading up to the trade deadline, teams may be very interested in adding the veteran lefty.

If they don't go that route, I'd like to see what Adam Oller and Adrián Martínez could do with another string of starts.

Before injuries cost him some time late in the season, it really looked like Oller was finding himself on the mound. He gutted through a six inning performance against the Marlins with zero command of his fastball because the bullpen needed a day off, then he held the Yankees to two hits over eight innings just a few days later.

I wrote about how I'd like Martínez to add one more pitch to his arsenal this winter, and if he does, I'd love to see more of him too.

So I guess the official answer is that I would like the A's to explore a veteran bounce back candidate if they could be a decent trade piece at the deadline, but otherwise, I'm intrigued by Oller and Martínez. Logue was haunted by the long ball in 2022, but if that was just some awful luck, then he could join that mix too.

What’s up with AJ Puk? Is he going back to SP, or is he destined for the bullpen, possibly the closer role?
— Jeff with a J (@jeffhester24) October 29, 2022

I have to believe that after the relative success that Puk had in the bullpen in 2022, both statistically and in just staying healthy, that the A's wouldn't want to temp fate too much by switching things up and trying to make him a starter.

So if he is a reliever, does that make him the closer next season? I'm not so sure about that either. He got some late-inning work down the stretch and it didn't go so well. Pitching in the ninth inning he had a 7.36 ERA across 7 1/3 innings, and you could say that's a pretty small sample size and you'd be right. But he also walked four batters in that limited sample and hit another three. His control just seemed to not be quite as crisp when pitching in the ninth inning specifically.

Puk pitched 18 1/3 innings in the eighth, and only walked two and hit two. I'm not saying that he can't be the closer, but I think that there may be other guys ahead of him on the depth chart when pitchers and catchers start reporting.

No questions. Just depressed over the direction of this team. Doesn't look like a playoff team for at least next 2 seasons.
— Laura Meier (@sgpp7201) October 29, 2022

While the A's don't look like a contending team for the next couple of seasons, there is still plenty to get excited about. Each one of these guys is trying to live out a dream, same as any other year. With the lack of stakes on each and every game's outcome, I think that opens us up to just cheer our guys regardless of the stat line.

One thing that I think helps is to pick a player you like, and root like hell for that guy. It makes the seasons more enjoyable in these down years. Not every game is going to grab your attention and demand that you pay attention, but with A's baseball, regardless of whether they're winning or not, they're generally going to be at least fun to watch.

The last week or so of the season I became very invested in a few niche storylines, like Cole Irvin getting his ERA back under four, Ken Waldichuk having the two wins of his young career come against Jacob deGrom and Shohei Ohtani, and of course Stephen Vogt's retirement.

There are always little stories to root for along the way, and I'll do my best to bring those minor victories to light here at Inside the A's to make the coming seasons a bit more enjoyable!

If you have any questions for next week's mailbag, just reach out to us on Twitter @InsideTheAs, and make sure to listen to the @LockedonAs podcast every day, Monday through Friday!