Pitchers and catchers have reported back. Baseball is back. And with the A’s, the feeling this time is different from previous years.
No more complete rebuilding. No more selling off everything of value. Instead, Oakland extended Tyler Soderstrom’s contract. Locked in Jacob Wilson. Before that, Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker. A clear message: the A’s are trying to keep their core roster.
It sounds very positive.
But alongside these hopeful extensions is a hard truth to ignore: Oakland is still outside the “deep waters” of free agencies.
Jeff McNeil arrived through a trade. Aaron Civale was signed as a stable starter. Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Barlow add bullpen depth. Sensible moves. Calculated. Not impulsive.
But are they enough?
This is the question that makes many uncomfortable.
Rotation has potential — but only if everything goes perfectly. No one gets injured. No one misses a beat. No one drops in form. And that’s a rare occurrence in 162 games.
The Bullpen have been strengthened in terms of quantity, but has the quality truly improved? Mason Miller only contributed for half a season before leaving. And while his end-of-season ERA was quite impressive, consistency throughout the year remains unproven.
And the third base? Still the same combination of Max Muncy – Andy Ibanez – Darell Hernaiz. Not a disaster. But not a solution that opponents will be wary of either.
A’s are clearly doing what fans have long desired: retaining young talent instead of trading them before they reach their peak value. But retaining the core of the squad doesn’t mean raising the competition ceiling.
And that’s what worries many.
Wild Card is no longer a distant concept. But Wild Card isn’t easy to achieve if you only improve “just enough.”
Oakland may be taking a sustainable path — building a foundation, preserving assets, avoiding risky long-term contracts. In a context of limited finances, that’s the responsible approach.
But baseball doesn’t reward safety if it comes with limitations.
Are the front office convincing themselves that continuity is enough? Or do they truly believe the current roster is ready to step beyond the threshold of real competition?
There’s an interesting point: contract extensions send a long-term message. But the current roster feels short-term—wait and see, experiment, hope.
A’s isn’t wrong for not jumping into the $200 million market. But in a year where the division isn’t overwhelmingly dominant, and Wild Card is within reach, caution could cause opportunities to slip away.
And that’s what leaves fans wondering.
Are you worried about bullpen? Rotation? Third base? Or are you worried that the team is doing 80% of the job right… but lacking the 20% decisiveness to truly make the leap?
A contract extension is a promise for the future.
But the future won’t come if the present isn’t pushed beyond its safe limits.
The question isn’t what A’s did wrong.
Rather, has it been: have they done enough to avoid looking back at August and asking “what if”? âš¡
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