State of American League West: Oakland Athletics
Major League Baseball is dark the final week of the year, but Inside the Rangers has updates on each of the American League West rivals entering 2023.
2022 Record: 60-102, fifth place, AL West (46 games behind Houston).
Manager: Mark Kotsay (60-102, one season with Athletics, one season overall).
Free Agency Losses: P Adam Kolarek (minors — to Los Angeles Dodgers), CF Luis Barrera (minors — to LA Angels).
Free agency gains: SS Aledmys Díaz (from Houston), 3B Jace Peterson (from Milwaukee), P Trevor May (from New York Mets), P Deolis Guerra (minors — re-signed by Oakland), P Drew Rucinski (NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization).
Trades: Acquired LHP Kyle Muller, RHPs Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas and C Manny Pina from Atlanta for C Sean Murphy. Acquired OF Esteury Ruiz from Milwaukee for C William Contreras and RHPs Justin Yeager and Joel Payamps. Acquired RHP Chad Smith from Colorado for minor league RHP Jeff Criswell; Acquired cash considerations from Los Angeles Dodgers for 2B Yonny Hernandez.
Remaining free agents: 3B Virnael Machin, LF Chad Pinder, C Stephen Vogt (announced retirement after season), P Jared Koenig, DH Matt Davidson.
Projected Lineup in Field: C Shea Langeliers, 1B Seth Brown, 2B Tony Kemp, 3B Jonah Bride, SS Aledmys Díaz, LF Ramón Laureano, CF Cristian Pache, RF Jace Peterson, DH Dermis Garcia
Projected Starting Rotation: Cole Irvin, Paul Blackburn, James Kaprielian, Kyle Muller, JP Sears.
Note: Projected lineup based on MLB.com depth charts.
Outlook: The Athletics are where the Rangers were in 2021. They dumped their most tradeable asset, catcher Sean Murphy, for a wealth of prospects. And, now the rebuild begins. Rangers general manager Chris Young said in December that the Athletics seem to have a knack for reinventing themselves. But even this might take a while. Díaz’s signing gives the Athletics some solidity up the middle and a more versatile lineup. Langeliers gets first crack at being Murphy’s full-time replacement behind the plate. Peterson gives them more help in the outfield, though there is good competition there with Laureano, Pache and Brown. But Peterson’s signing sets the Athletics up to play Brown at first base full time this season.
What’s left? The Athletics are not an attractive destination, and with the rumors of a move to Las Vegas becoming noisier, it will be hard to attract top-level talent the rest of the offseason. The A's are going to wait on the prospects they acquired in the Murphy trade, but don’t be surprised if they try to grab another bat and another bullpen arm before spring training. Signing May helps the bullpen, but they could use another arm to back up a rotation that has eight candidates going into spring training.
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