Are there any Oakland Athletics followers studying this? If that’s the case, don’t fear, your crew is doing its ordinary nonsense, there’s nothing to see right here. You’re fortunate they left, don’t really feel so unhealthy, these previous couple of years can’t take away all the great instances. You’ll be able to go forward and skip this one, nice article, hooray. Now that that group is gone, and we’re left with Sacramentonians, new A’s followers, extra basic followers of the game, and maybe Vegas residents, let me say this: The A’s signing Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60 million extension is superior, and I adore it.
Rooker was a uncommon vivid spot on a dismal 2023 A’s squad. Then he was downright wonderful on the green-shoots-of-hope 2024 crew, compiling 5.1 WAR, even with the punishing positional adjustment that comes from DHing, because of a scorching .293/.365/.562 batting line. That line is even higher than you would possibly assume, coming because it did within the cavernous Coliseum, and it didn’t look fluky.
Rooker hits the stuffing out of the ball. He completed eighth in barrels per batted ball in 2024, simply forward of certifiably monumental guys Oneil Cruz, Kyle Schwarber, and Marcell Ozuna. He additionally elevates the ball extra regularly than any of that crew. The 2 are intertwined, clearly, however any time you’re hitting rockets just like the 2024 variations of Schwarber and Ozuna, you’re doing one thing proper. You can hardly do higher from scratch in case you have been making an attempt to provide you with a super energy hitter; a vicious swing (78th-percentile bat pace) that regularly places the ball in play at worthwhile launch angles (86th-percentile candy spot fee) means loads of barrels (97th percentile) and 39 homers even in a park that suppresses righty energy mightily.
Gamers like this, posting five-win seasons earlier than even hitting arbitration, don’t precisely develop on bushes. There have been eight of them final yr, counting Rooker, and also you’ve heard of the opposite seven: Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Jarren Duran, Elly De La Cruz, William Contreras, Cal Raleigh, and Jackson Merrill. Now, none of these guys goes to be accepting five-year, $60 million offers anytime quickly. However Rooker isn’t your common early-career participant.
Rooker went thirty fifth within the 2017 draft, a power-hitting school outfielder with gaudy stats within the SEC. He then spent 4 years destroying the ball at each stage he performed. The Twins, who had initially drafted him, couldn’t discover a spot for him on the key league roster, and after they made house in 2021, he struggled to a below-average line regardless of wonderful minor league statistics that very same yr. Whether or not it was main league jitters or simply small-sample randomness, he wanted a change of surroundings, and he received bundled off to San Diego when the Padres traded Chris Paddack for Taylor Rogers.
After all, the Padres didn’t have a lot use for him within the majors both; they might hardly discover enjoying time for all of their established stars because it was. Whereas Rooker mashed away within the minors (a .272/.385/.605 slash line in 273 PA), A.J. Preller discovered himself in want of a backup catcher, so he flipped Rooker to the Royals for Cam Gallagher. Although he hit even higher in Triple-A for Kansas Metropolis (.338/.424/.775 in 92 PA), the crew DFA’ed him resulting from a roster crunch. The A’s gamely swooped in, and actually, why wouldn’t they? Rooker’s minor league stats have been shockingly constant from 2017-22, with wRC+ marks of 158, 124, 139, 142, and 154.
That’s how Rooker ended up enjoying his first full large league season in 2023 at age 28. He was above common straight away, and I imply, duh. His minor league manufacturing hadn’t all the time regarded the prettiest – numerous strikeouts, even on the low ranges – however in case you’re raking at Triple-A, the percentages are fairly good that you simply’ll a minimum of tread water within the bigs. Rooker shed his Quad-A label fairly shortly, and in truth, I don’t assume it ever made that a lot sense; his contact high quality has all the time been large league caliber. He was simply the sufferer of a variety of groups making hassle for themselves with roster crunches, after which the Royals – yeah, I’m not precisely certain what occurred there.
In any case, that’s all prior to now. The longer term is Rooker headlining in Sacramento after which Las Vegas because the clear greatest hitter in a sneaky thrilling lineup. I feel that this extension works on two fronts, one for the participant and one for the membership, in a manner that the very best offers do. For Rooker, this can be a life-changing amount of cash. Counting every thing from his signing bonus to the pre-arb bonus swimming pools, Rooker cleared $4.9 million within the first eight years of his skilled profession. That’s not nothing, but it surely’s not what you consider skilled athletes making. It’s extra like a profitable software program engineer, notably within the Bay Space. This isn’t fairly Brock Purdy enjoying for the league minimal, however Rooker has made spectacularly little given how good of a participant he was in 2024. Sixty million {dollars} adjustments every thing. Now he’s set for all times even when 2024 finally ends up being the very best yr of his profession — and it in all probability can be! It was a very good yr!
From the crew facet, this deal does three issues. First, it spends just a little cash this yr. Rooker was projected to make $5 million in arbitration this season, however the A’s can pay him $10 million within the first yr of his deal. The crew is seeking to improve its funds for varied causes (income sharing covenants, making the crew extra enjoyable, seeming extra like an precise main league franchise, and so on.), and spending to retain the crew’s greatest gamers looks as if a wonderful method to fulfill that urge.
Second, that is only a whole lot from an anticipated worth standpoint. Giving Rooker $36 million over the primary three years of the deal, what would have been his arbitration years, might be a slight overpay; my back-of-the-envelope arb mannequin places his earnings round $33 million. Two years of free company after that for $24 million, plus an as-yet-undetailed vesting possibility for one more yr, feels about proper. if Paul Goldschmidt and Carlos Santana are getting one-year offers in that vary, it’s exhausting to really feel unhealthy about Rooker’s odds of getting a much bigger deal ought to he hit free company. This isn’t a house run extension from the crew’s standpoint, but it surely’s clearly advantageous: paying a borderline All-Star $12 million a yr for the remainder of his prime years is sensible baseball.
Lastly, Rooker’s extension ties the crew’s DNA collectively throughout three disparate eras that may typically make for complicated fandom. He was the very best participant on the final iteration of the Oakland crew, and in a manner that recollects the Moneyball-era A’s; walks and dingers from massive dudes who’re questionable within the area. He’s a pleasant ambassador who can be one of many faces of the crew in Sacramento, and he’s reportedly an excellent clubhouse presence as nicely. When (if?) the crew lastly decamps to Las Vegas, he’ll nonetheless be beneath contract as a tenured A, somebody the crew can placed on posters and make bobbleheads of whereas they attempt to construct a brand new fanbase.
That’s good enterprise, and fairly actually, the A’s appear to be doing numerous good enterprise this winter. Their new-look pitching employees, headlined by Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs, will assist cushion the shock of transferring from one of many hardest parks within the league for hitters to a extra affordable stadium – I feel that Sacramento will play as a hitter’s park although not an excessive one, although that assumption is as-yet untested. They’re seemingly wanting into offers for different hitters on the crew, they usually have more cash to spend this offseason to get to their said objective of $100 million in wage. Their lineup is dotted with younger, up-and-coming gamers to play understudy to Rooker: JJ Bleday and Lawrence Butler had sterling 2024 seasons, and prime prospect Jacob Wilson appears set to make his mark in 2025. The newly affordable offensive surroundings ought to assist ease Wilson’s transition to the majors after his 28-game 2024 debut, an extra plus.
This deal can’t be the one factor the A’s do to work in direction of the long run, however nothing about this winter offers me that impression. It’s additionally a becoming first step in direction of signing new offensive gamers; Rooker counts as a veteran on this crew regardless of his comparatively slim service time, and rewarding the veterans with monetary safety earlier than bringing in outdoors voices is sensible enterprise (and clubhouse administration) from my perspective.
It’s bizarre to be praising the A’s. They’ve gotten numerous scorn from me prior to now few years, they usually’ve deserved it. They nonetheless do, actually. However that doesn’t change what I take into consideration this deal: I adore it for each participant and crew, and I’m cautiously optimistic that the A’s are beginning to behave much less like a cartoon villain and extra like an actual main league baseball crew. On the sphere, a minimum of.