A's Need to Keep Spending to Appease MLBPA

Jan 17, 2023; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics general manager David Forst answers questions from the media as newly signed pitcher Shintaro Fujinami is introduced by the team at a press conference. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The A's wanted to make a statement last week by signing Luis Severino, and they did, inking the right-hander to the largest deal in franchise history at three years and $67 million. As we wrote at the time, that number seemed almost intentional, beating the previous record set by Eric Chavez at six years and $66 million.

According to The Athletic, the A's will be receiving right around $70 million in revenue sharing now that they are back at a 100% share, thanks to the low attendance figures the team has been pumping out with the announced relocation to Las Vegas.

The A's are looking to increase payroll up to $100 million to show that they will be operating differently now that they're out of Oakland, but a large chunk of that payroll is set to be paid by the other owners. So how much have things really changed?

Evan Drellich also reported that teams on revenue sharing need to carry a payroll that is at least 1.5 times the amount they receive from revenue sharing, which he calculates at about $105 million in payroll for the 2025 campaign. If they don't hit that number, then they risk a grievance being filed against them from the Major League Baseball Player's Association.

If the A's are below that $105 million figure, they would have to prove that they're "using that money properly." Given the A's history of low payrolls, this could be a bit tricky if a grievance were to actually be filed.

It's also worth noting that the MLBPA reserved the right to come back and challenge the A's revenue-sharing stream if the A's ballpark progress continues to stall. It would appear as though the Union has their eyes on the A's, and it would be wise of the franchise to not give them any added reasons to pay even more attention, such as not spending enough on payroll.

As things stand right now, the A's have an estimated luxury tax payroll of $78.44 million, per Roster Resource. That would leave the A's with roughly $27 million more to spend to reach the threshold they need to be at.

One easy way to get there would be to work out an extension with Brent Rooker, which is something we could see in the coming weeks or months leading up to the regular season. That could be an added $10 million or so, which would make it so that the club would only need to spend around $17 million more on a free agent or trade acquistion.

Perhaps trading for Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm, who is estimated to make roughly $8 million next year, and adding another veteran starter for $9 million. It wouldn't be that tricky to make this work out for the A's.

That said, it's certainly something to keep an eye on as the offseason progresses.