Like most teams, the A’s had a winter shopping list. It included improving themselves at 2B, adding to their bullpen, and working out extensions for their young core players.

The good news is the A’s have addressed all 3 areas with the additions of Jeff McNeil, Mark Leiter Jr., and the recent 7 year extension for Tyler Soderstrom.

Thing is, those were items 2, 3, and 4 on the list. #1 was to bolster the starting rotation, a glaring weakness in 2025 and one of the clearest needs for the A’s to compete in 2026.

So while there have been SP trades and free agent signings around MLB, the A’s have been on the sidelines when deals were inked. The landscape for top or mid-rotation talent is now narrower — but not barren.

Free Agent Targets Still On The Board

Two top free agent SPs are still unsigned, but personally I don’t see the A’s as being even potentially in on either. They would be Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez. Sometimes there’s a perception that if a player doesn’t sign for a long time, his market must be falling, but in fact plenty of lucrative contracts are signed after the first of the year. Valdez and Suarez will have plenty of suitors willing to pay more than the A’s can and they play in ballparks far more appealing to a pitcher.

But the next tier is possible, even if not likely, for the A’s to make a winning pitch, and it’s anybody’s guess how their market is evolving. More pitchers are off the board but also so are more teams, and these pitchers do come with warts that make them more risky and thus more potentially accessible to a team like the A’s.

Perhaps the highest upside “Tier II” SP still on the market is Zac Gallen, coming off a down season but with a strong career track record and a much better 2nd half in 2025. Also intriguing is Chris Bassitt, 37 when the season begins but very consistent year to year (between 2.3 and 2.8 fWAR each of the last 4 seasons).

It’s harder to say if Lucas Giolito is Tier II or Tier III: he’s coming off a nice 2.0 WAR season, and his velocity was there in 2025, but his peripherals portend significant regression: He had an impressive 3.41 ERA in 2025 yet projection models predict more like a 4.69 ERA in 2026.

This is a hard one because teams don’t tend to say they want to trade someone until they have dealt them. “Yeah, we’re really hoping to cash in on him” is not a common GM refrain. Further complicating matters this off-season is how many teams are looking to add, not subtract, starting pitching.

One obvious target, because he has only one year left on his contract, is Kris Bubic. The Royals are openly looking for outfield help, some of which they have procured but it’s still looking like a weakness. Perhaps a deal centered around Colby Thomas could gain traction.

Another possibility is the talented and effective, but also injury prone, Pablo Lopez. Lopez has 2 years left on his contract, has clear #2 SP ability, and pitches for a Twins team that spent the trade deadline selling off like crazy. Might a swap of young controllable talent such as Braden Nett or Mason Barnett and Tommy White be a mutually worthwhile swap? (BTV suggests Barnett/White for Lopez is an even swap and that Nett/White is a slight overpay.) Lopez does make $21.5M/year in 2026 and 2027 so a deal might need to add talent on the A’s side and some cash going the A’s way.

Are any of these 5 appealing and/or realistic targets and if so what offers make sense? Or who else might be on the A’s radar as they mull over what options still exist? The only thing we know for sure is that the A’s are probably still going to add someone as bolstering the rotation was a top priority that remains unaddressed.

6 weeks until spring training…something has to give, but what?