Happy Friday A’s fans!

The A’s are inching closer and closer to the beginning of the season. First come pitchers and catchers reporting, then the position players, then spring games, and before we know it it’ll be Opening Day with the Athletics lining up on the first base line in Toronto listening to the national anthems of both countries.

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Before then the A’s still have a small list of things to accomplish. Namely, adding a veteran starting pitcher that’s capable of eating innings would be a massive boost for a rotation short on certainty. There are still plenty of options for the A’s to choose from on the free agent market so it’s fair to assume the Athletics will bring in at least one more arm to help solidify the middle/back of the rotation. Who that will be is anyone’s guess but it’d be a major shock if that name was Zac Gallen. A lot of fans have been clamoring for the A’s to swoop in on a pitcher that has probably lingered on the market a lot longer than expected, but he’s attached to a Qualifying Offer and it’s almost a certainty the A’s wouldn’t surrender a second-round pick to add Gallen. Good news for the A’s is there are other starting options that won’t come with that attached to them and that’s who the front office is probably looking at hardest right now.

Then there’s the bullpen. Unlike with the starters, pretty much all of the quality free agent relievers have signed on with new teams for the coming year, with the A’s failing to land anyone notable other than middle reliever Jack Leiter Jr. earlier in the winter. His addition should help boost the floor of the bullpen but he’s not going to move the needle much for the unit as a whole this year. At this point the A’s will be asking for some of their younger guys to step up for the team. That didn’t work out so well last year but relievers are volatile and maybe the A’s have the best bullpen in the league and we just don’t know it yet (ha).

On the position side, third base is the obvious spot the team could upgrade (and came close to doing just that with a reported Nolan Arenado deal that was nixed at the last moment). The only starting-caliber player on the free agent market left is slugger Eugenio Suarez, and while he has tons of power that’s about all he offers and the A’s may not like that fit. There is always the trade market and with no long-term plan at the position the team could swing a trade for a controllable player such as Isaac Paredes of the division-rival Astros, Brett Baty of the Mets or Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals. The trade front seems the most likely path if the A’s aren’t prepared to let Max Muncy and Darell Hernaiz have the first crack at the hot corner.

After that we get into the real tinkering with the finer spots on the roster. The A’s are one of the teams interested in Miguel Andujar. That means the front office is looking for an upgrade over young outfielder Colby Thomas. That could end up being an actually significant move due to right fielder Lawrence Butler’s massive struggles against left-handed pitching this past season. Even though he’s signed to a massive contract, and the A’s will likely try to let him continue to get at-bats against lefties early in the coming campaign, there could be more outfield at-bats to be had for anyone that comes aboard if he doesn’t show some progress against same-handed pitching.

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There’s still time to do at least one of those things and likely two, depending on how aggressive the front office wants to upgrade this roster. Will we see one more move before the team starts getting together, or is what we have what we got going into camp? We’ll be finding out the answer to that question soon enough. Baseball is almost back.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

A’s Coverage:

MLB News and Interest:

Best of X:

New ballpark progress account for those that want to follow the stadium’s progress:

Will the A’s have a selected closer on Opening Day? Or is it committee approach again:

Almost certainly won’t be exactly how it ends up but maybe Harris actually will lead the team in saves?

It’s starting to feel bad to see this happen to him:

Imagine if the A’s had Skenes (though it’d cost Jacob Wilson):