The Key Leverage Shea Langeliers Holds Over A's in Extension Talks
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The Athletics have been busy handing out extensions to their young core the past two winters, and it was reported on Friday that the A's have also shown an interest in extending catcher Shea Langeliers. The 28-year-old backstop is coming off a breakout campaign in 2025 where he notched a career-high 31 homers and put up a 3.9 fWAR season.
It would be silly for the A's to not consider Langeliers for an extension given that type of performance. He's also a vital part of the club, given that he also handles the pitching staff. He was one of the top backstops in the game last season with the bat, ranking fourth in wRC+ with a 132 (100 is league average).
On the A's, he was the second-best bat in the lineup behind just Nick Kurtz, who won AL Rookie of the Year and was one of three players with 400+ plate appearances to finish with an OPS above 1.000. The other two were Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, so it's not like Langeliers was slotted behind some slouch.
Earlier this offseason we guesstimated that an extension for Langeliers would likely come in at around the five-year mark and cost the green and gold $70.1 million. That's a good chunk of change for the club, but not a price point that they have been unwilling to meet, with Jacob Wilson netting seven years and $70 million, while Tyler Soderstrom will earn $86 million over seven seasons.
The reason that we had Langeliers' contract extension being for fewer years is that he is further into his career than either Wilson or Soderstrom, which means that every year tacked on would mean another $15-20 million per season added, if not more.
Wilson and Soderstrom's deals were able to remain reasonable because of the inclusion of their pre-arbitration seasons where they make the league minimum. Shea is already past those years and has entered his first season of arbitration in 2026, earning $5.25 million.
Shea's leverage over the A's in negotiations
The first piece of small leverage is that he is betting on himself, which he hopes will turn into an even bigger payday down the road. Langeliers is a Scott Boras client, and extensions aren't necessarily common for Boras guys before they reach free agency.
That said, perhaps the A's make an offer that would be incredibly difficult to turn down. You may be asking yourself why they would do that for a catcher that would be entering his 30's before long, an age that backstops tend to start breaking down due to the wear and tear on their bodies.
The simple answer here is that the A's don't have a single catching prospect in their top-30 prospect list on MLB Pipeline or Baseball America. With Langeliers hitting free agency following the 2028 campaign, that isn't going to be enough time to draft and develop his replacement.
Plus, the timing of his contract expiring is extremely interesting, given that he could walk and sign elsewhere after one season of ball in Las Vegas. With the narrative that ownership has built up for themselves over the past two decades with the A's, letting Langeliers walk—especially if he puts up another great couple of seasons—would fairly or unfairly be seen as "typical A's baseball" behavior.
Keeping the narrative from surfacing after one season in Sin City and not having a backup option in-house already are two reasons that could push the A's offer up a little higher than they had originally hoped.
Potential free agent fits
The other option for the A's to consider would be to sign another catcher off the free agent market, and then trade Langeliers, though this wouldn't be their first choice. This is the route they would take if an extension just wasn't going to happen.
Following the 2026 season, Ryan Jeffers will become available, and he had a similar breakout to Langeliers last season, though he only hit nine home runs. If he has another good season, he could be seen as a cheaper option that would fit in decently as a replacement. It could also be too soon to consider bringing in another catcher.
After the 2027 season (if one happens), two big names will be hitting the market, and that is where things could get interesting.
The first is actually a name that was involved in the A's Sean Murphy trade, and that is William Contreras. The Brewers' backstop is a force at the dish, hitting for average while also possessing 20+ home run pop. He's graded out as a solid defensive catcher in his career.
The likelihood that Milwaukee re-signs him isn't terribly high given their self-imposed financial constraints. That said, there will be plenty of teams after his services. The A's may be able to dangle the opening of the new ballpark in 2028 in front of him, along with a decent-sized contract, and hope that does the trick. He'd be a good-sized free agent addition for the A's first season in Vegas.
The other free agent for the team to consider would be Adley Rutschman, although there are two reasons why this wouldn't make sense. The first is the trajectory he's currently on, which has seen his wRC+ drop from 134 as a rookie, to 126 in 2023, down to 103 and then 91 last year. He's still been terrific behind the plate, but if that decline continues, there may not be much interest from the A's.
The other way this could play out is that he gets better another year away from his injuries, and he's closer to the player he was in his rookie season. Given his pedigree as a No. 1 overall pick in 2019, there would be big market clubs ready to overpay for him, knocking the A's out of the conversation.
There are options for the A's to consider, but they could also end up costing more than it would take to just extend Langeliers in the first place. That's also another point of leverage for the A's catcher, as he's already a known quantity.
For more A's news and insights, follow Jason @ByJasonB on X, or the site @InsideTheAs!
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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