On the surface, everything seemed fine. Jacob Wilson signed a seven-year, $70 million contract. A young shortstop, a symbol of the future, was locked in. The news was big enough to dominate the headlines, perfectly timed for a team building for the long term. If you only looked at that, A’s had a winning weekend.
But then… Eugenio Suárez signed with the Cincinnati Reds. One year. $15 million. No fuss. No delay. And surprisingly, A’s didn’t actually make it into the final race.
Not that A’s lost. That they didn’t participate.
For weeks, the community talked about Suárez being the “position player version of Luis Severino”—a veteran, reasonably priced, suitable for the transition period, and capable of filling a clear gap in the hot corner. But when things settled down, it turned out the two teams most talked about were the Reds… and the Pirates.
The Pirates?
Unless someone steps up to explain the full picture of the “sweepstakes Suárez 2026,” A’s fans are forced to accept an uncomfortable truth: at least on paper, A’s isn’t a more attractive destination than Cincinnati or Pittsburgh — despite possessing one of MLB’s best young cores.
That feeling didn’t come immediately. It came slowly. But it stayed.
Perhaps A’s dodged the bullet. Suárez is 34 years old. OPS with the Mariners is only .685. The decline is real. Great American Ball Park could very well turn him into a 40+ homer machine again — but that’s the Reds’ story, not Oakland/Sacramento’s.
The problem is: A’s still don’t have an answer for third base.
No, Brett Harris isn’t the solution. And the more you think about it, the more you realize this is the most easily overlooked gap — until it starts deciding the game. A young, energetic team, but lacking a stable anchor in the hot corner – that’s a very familiar recipe for uncertainty.
The easiest solution right now? A rehashed version of Max Muncy. Max “The Other Max” Muncy. He has upside potential, power, but also many question marks. A logical choice – but not one that offers complete reassurance.
If you want to lean towards the emotional side (and honestly, A’s fans are used to that), Miguel Andújar is surprisingly… more logical than one might want to admit. One year. Less risk. Simple batting. He’s already done well in the A’s colors. He has Severino in the clubhouse. He has Sweet Dreams playing in West Sac. He has crowd reaction. He has “something.”
Advanced stats might raise eyebrows. But baseball doesn’t just live by spreadsheets. It lives by moments you know will come, even if no one can prove it beforehand.
Perhaps Andújar is nostalgia. It may have been a June walk-off that people would later jokingly call “classic A’s.” But it is decisions like these that shape the feel of a season — especially for a team learning to win again.
A’s didn’t lose to Suárez. But staying out of that game inadvertently brought the spotlight to a question they haven’t answered. And the price of “not participating” sometimes doesn’t come immediately — it comes when you look at the squad, see a vacant spot, and realize you missed the easiest opportunity to fill it.
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