David Forst said this is the new way of doing business for the A\u2019s. That the sight of a new ballpark on the Strip \u2014 set to open in 2028 \u2014 has the organization operating differently than at any time in his 27 years with the franchise.<\/p>\n
Meaning the goal is not only to open a checkbook for players, but actually keep them around long enough to reap the benefits of their talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve talked about for a long time,\u201d said Forst, the team\u2019s general manager. \u201cTo not have to trade players before they get to free agency or lose players to free agency. This is our new blueprint for how we want to open the ballpark in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can be skeptical because history allows for it. Because shipping off players in their prime and offering one of baseball\u2019s lowest payrolls has for some time been the norm.<\/p>\n
And yet, suddenly, the A\u2019s are spending money unlike in recent times. In a really long time.<\/p>\n
The latest example, and it\u2019s a big one, is bestowing left fielder Tyler Soderstrom the largest contract in franchise history.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a seven-year deal with a club option for an eighth season worth $86 million with escalators that can max out at $131 million.<\/p>\n
It was a good day for the A\u2019s. It was a great day if we can take them at their word.<\/p>\n
Time will tell<\/p>\n
They insist it\u2019s a sign of management\u2019s desire to finally contend, to field a competitive product, to position themselves on the grandest of stages when the team relocates here after spending two more seasons playing in Sacramento.<\/p>\n
Time will tell. Time will make things clear how serious the A\u2019s are about this new way of building a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur future is here in Vegas,\u201d manager Mark Kotsay said. \u201cWe have a time frame we see in front of us with a group that can be really special. We went through a phase like this in 2016, \u201817 and \u201818 with a group that was special but we weren\u2019t able to keep in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have that same type of group and we\u2019re making every effort possible to keep these guys for an extended period of time and bring them here to Vegas. It\u2019s my job to get us to win prior to getting to this ballpark. That\u2019s the expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Either way, it\u2019s a complete change for an organization and owner in John Fisher.<\/p>\n
They extended designated hitter Brent Rooker for five years and $60 million. They signed free-agent pitcher Luis Severino for three years and $67 million. They agreed with outfielder Lawrence Butler on a seven-year, $65.5 million contract.<\/p>\n
They have a unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year in first baseman Nick Kurtz and a runner-up for the award in shortstop Jacob Wilson. They recently traded for Mets veteran second baseman Jeff McNeil.<\/p>\n
Yeah. They\u2019re building. They finished last season 76-86 and are likely better pitching away from being a contender in the American League West.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was excited last season as well to know there was a possibility of us being really competitive,\u201d Kotsay said. \u201cTo go from my first two years as manager to where we are now \u2014 it\u2019s definitely as excited as I\u2019ve been to go into a season and learn from last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove forward and focus on our strengths in leading this group to becoming a playoff team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soderstrom will be a centerpiece of it all.<\/p>\n
He hit . 276 with 25 home runs and 93 RBI in his first full season with the A\u2019s, moving to left field after previously switching from catcher to first base. All he did in the outfield was become a Gold Glove finalist.<\/p>\n
The contract extension will bring the 24-year-old deep into the team\u2019s time in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
And he expects to be here for the duration of it.<\/p>\n
A different tune<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to moving forward with this franchise,\u201d Soderstrom said. \u201cI can speak for all the young guys in this organization that we\u2019re excited for what\u2019s to come. We\u2019re all super excited to get to Vegas. We\u2019re a really tight-knit group. Hopefully we can bring a lot of rings and winning to Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can be skeptical because history allows for it.<\/p>\n
But they\u2019re scripting a different narrative.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re singing a different tune.<\/p>\n
We shall see. So far, the zeroes on paychecks make things seem more genuine than they have in some time.<\/p>\n
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @edgraney<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Forst said this is the new way of doing business for the A\u2019s. That the sight of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-378946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}