A's reluctant to trade star slugger?

Brent Rooker has been one of the best hitters in the league over the past two seasons. He hit 30 home runs in an All-Star campaign a year ago. He has been even better this year despite being left out of the Midsummer Classic, clubbing 25 homers with a .288/.365/.583 slash across 378 plate appearances.

If he’s available, Rooker would be arguably the best offensive player on the market. It’s not clear that another team will be able to pry him from Oakland. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote on Friday that the A’s were leaning towards holding their breakout slugger. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman hears similarly, tweeting this morning that the A’s are informing other teams they’re reluctant to part with Rooker or center fielder JJ Bleday.

As MLBTR explored in more detail in a post for Front Office subscribers this week, whether to trade Rooker is the biggest decision the A’s are facing. There’s a case for moving him. The A’s are at least another season away from postseason contention. This summer’s market looks like it’ll be light on impact bats. Rooker didn’t break through as a regular until after his 28th birthday. He turns 30 in November and is probably amidst the best season of his career.

At the same time, the A’s aren’t facing contractual pressure to make a deal. Rooker is playing for marginally more than the league minimum salary. He’ll qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under team control through 2027. His power-oriented skillset is the kind that pays well over time in arbitration, but his first-year salary will be eminently affordable. The A’s don’t have a single guaranteed contract on their 2025 payroll ledger. Even with ownership imposing huge limitations, they’ll be able to accommodate a salary in the $4M-6M range for Rooker without issue.

Bleday, 26, always seemed like more of a long-shot trade candidate. Oakland acquired the lefty-hitting outfielder from the Marlins going into 2023 in a one-for-one swap for A.J. Puk. That deal looked skewed in Miami’s favor during the first season but has been more balanced this year. Bleday, a former sixth overall pick out of Vanderbilt, has stepped up as the A’s primary center fielder. He’s hitting .233/.314/.430 with 12 homers across 422 plate appearances.

The A’s control Bleday for four seasons beyond this one. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026 campaign. He now looks like a potential regular (or at least a strong side platoon bat) whom the A’s have no urgency to move.

Oakland general manager David Forst said earlier in the week that the team wasn’t looking to deal all their players of note. 

“We may do some things, but anyone who expects we’re going to continue to just move guys for prospects will probably be disappointed because there’s guys here we think are part of the team beyond this year,” Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on Monday (X link).

Fost didn’t specify names but was surely referring to players like Rooker, Bleday and closer Mason Miller — who went on the injured list this week and is very unlikely to move. While those comments could include some amount of gamesmanship — it wouldn’t serve the front office well to exaggerate their urgency to subtract — it seems they’re projecting a similar message in conversations with teams.

If the A’s hold Rooker and Bleday, they’d likely be in for a quiet deadline. Setup man Lucas Erceg should draw interest. They could move rental lefty relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland for minimal returns. Miguel Andujar is hitting reasonably well and may be on the radar for teams looking for a right-handed bench bat, while back-end starters Ross Stripling and Paul Blackburn just returned from the injured list and could get a few calls.