It’s finally here: the A’s season nobody thought would come.
You see, the 2025 season marks the first of an expected three years the A’s will play in Sacramento ahead of a move to Las Vegas. A cruel reality indeed when a last-place team built on upside leaves its longtime home before the next crop of exciting players. What’s worse is that not only do the A’s have that talent, but this brief detour to Sacramento could be all for naught; owner John Fisher still hasn’t explained how he will pay for the new stadium.
Until then, they will simply be known as “The Athletics.”
But there’s something brewing behind the scenes of this relocation drama. Not only did the A’s miraculously not finish last in the West in 2024, but they’ve had a very active offseason. Guys from within and outside of the organization are getting paid, so much that team payroll is over $100 million for the first time.
The A’s are definitely onto something. Just what that something is, however, remains to be seen.
Greatest Addition: Luis Severino. Even though the A’s are upping their payroll out of MLB mandate rather than desired to win, they’re spending money in the right way. Adding Severino on a three-year, $67 million contract provides an automatic ace in the rotation. The righty bounced back with the Mets in 2024 and went 11-7 with a 3.91 ERA in 31 starts. Severino also pitched more than 150 innings for the first time since 2018.
Though overpaid, Luis Severino can still pitch. Adding a sinker last year breathed new life into a career derailed by elbow and shoulder trouble. He’ll be a great fit with the A’s if he can keep improving his groundball rate (GB%).
Greates Loss: The City of Oakland. Fifty-seven years later, it’s over. The Athletics are saying farewell to the Bay Area and departing for Sin City. And we all know the fans deserved so much better than this.
This marks the third time the team has moved cities, having come to Oakland from Kansas City and Philadelphia before that. You could even say a fourth is on deck counting for the Sacramento pit stop. The fans tried, tried, and tried, but to no avail. No number of reversed boycotts or activism could save the A’s.
It didn’t have to be this way. Fisher could have negotiated a new stadium in good faith with the City. Hell, he could have spent more on players despite the lack of a quality stadium. Instead, he heavy-handedly forced this move nobody wants, and alienated some great fans.
It sucks for the city, and it sucks more for baseball.
Greatest Strength: A clean slate. This is the one upside for the A’s moving, aside from already having a great manager in Mark Kotsay in place. They can truly enter 2025 with a clean slate and put themselves in a position to actually build something. Some great baseball could happen under the A’s umbrella, be it in Sacramento, Vegas, or back in Oakland.
For one, management saw Brent Rooker’s 69 home runs over the last two years and, gasp, signed him to an extension! He’s on a five-year, $60 million deal, and leadoff man Lawrence Butler could be next. Even Kotsay, he of the 179-307 career managerial record, got an extension!
The break from Oakland was all but clean. The team plays in Sacramento now. It’s a reset of sorts, so embrace it. And then leave it all out on the field.
Greatest Weakness: Ownership. First off, hats off to Fisher and his front office for doling out worthy contract extensions. Rooker’s may be a bit below market value, but it’s far from an insult. Regardless, ownership remains the biggest obstacle to the A’s returning to former glory days.
Look at it this way. Moneyball and analytics don’t make the A’s special. All teams have used data in some capacity for decades, the A’s were just the first to utilize it as a budgetary tool. A player is scouted based on a set of criteria, wears the A’s uniform for a bit, then moves on as a pricier free agent. Gone are the days of true A’s franchise players like the late Rickey Henderson and Mark McGwire.
Fisher can change that. Just dump money into the team and try to win rather than this occasional (Or in this case, conditional) spending. The players deserve it, the fans deserve it. Baseball deserves it.
Can the A’s be a surprise team in 2025? Great question! We certainly can’t rule it out, especially given the Tigers’ surprise run last year. However, that would also require at least two of the Astros, Mariners, and Rangers underachieving, and badly.
That said, a core is coming together and the vision is there. Rooker, Shea Langaliers, and maybe even Butler are all capable of 30-homer seasons. Top prospect Jacob Wilson is now the everyday shortstop. The fireballer Mason Miller might be the most electrifying reliever in baseball.
Unfortunately for the A’s, their pitching can’t keep up with the Astros or Rangers. They’ll make some noise in the Wild Card at some points, especially after playing .500 ball in the second half last year. This time, however, it’s more likely they slowly fall out of the race when August hits.
FOR FULL STORY ON STANDARD WEBSITE: ESNY’s MLB Preview 2025: The A’s cruel relocation limbo | Elite Sports NY