Grading Every Major Move From the Athletics’ Rebuild

Step one of most rebuilds? Trade away your good players for young prospects with upside. This is perhaps the most crucial step of the process, as the talented players are the only real guarantees in a rebuilding organization. The A’s did not miss an opportunity to move any and all players in hopes of acquiring promising prospects.

Matt Olson Traded to Atlanta – March 2022

A’s Acquire: OF Cristian Pache, C Shea Langeliers, P Joey Estes, P Ryan Cusick

Olson was coming off a career-high 39 home runs and career-low 17% strikeout rate, all at only 27 years old. The exact type of player who should be able to net you multiple foundational pieces and kick off a rebuild. Instead, the A’s acquired only one.

Langeliers has turned out to be an excellent catcher and important part of this team now and into the future. However, striking out on the other three is brutal. Pache’s deficiencies at the plate were well known at the time, while Estes and Cusick’s upside was iffy. Getting Langeliers saved this move to an extent, but overall, the return has been underwhelming.

Grade: D

Matt Chapman Traded to Toronto – March 2022

A’s Acquire: P Gunnar Hoglund, P Zach Logue, P Kirby Snead, INF Kevin Smith

Moving a Gold Glove third baseman who just hit 27 home runs at age 28 demands a significant return. Even at the time of the trade, people were shocked by the lackluster package. Older prospects, injured arms, and relief pitchers, as a return for a four-win player?

What looked like a poor trade at the time has somehow aged to be even worse. Hoglund has battled injury after injury, while the other three quickly came and went. None are in the majors or minors but instead are overseas, in indy ball, and out of baseball entirely.

Grade: F

Chris Bassitt Traded to New York (Mets) – March 2022

A’s Acquire: P J.T. Ginn, P Adam Oller

Trading Bassitt was not as significant as Chapman or Olson, but it still should have netted a player who contributes. Ginn, like Hoglund, has battled injuries throughout his young career but has shown enough recently to consider him a useful option. He’s a back-end starter or swing man who might not make it through the roster turnover by the time the A’s make the playoffs.

Bassitt only had a year of control left, but he was coming off a season with a 3.15 ERA, which followed a 2.29 ERA in the COVID season. The return felt underwhelming at the time, but at least it has not been a complete disaster like a number of other moves on this list.

Grade: D+

Sean Manaea Traded to San Diego – April 2022

A’s Acquire: SS Euribiel Angeles, P Adrian Martinez

Another good starter shipped out for nothing significant in return. Martinez stuck around for a while and had a phenomenal changeup, but not much else. Angeles, who’s currently in Triple-A, can’t hit enough to be considered much of a prospect and does not land on many people’s prospect lists.

Getting zero positive production from this trade cements another failing grade.

Grade: F

Frankie Montas Traded to New York (Yankees) – Deadline 2022

A’s Acquire: P JP Sears, P Ken Waldichuk, P Luis Medina, UTL Cooper Bowman

The A’s approach of acquiring as many pitching prospects who might not be “high end” but had a certain floor was strange to see unfold in real time. Waldichuk was the top prospect, Medina the reclamation, Sears the back-end arm, and Bowman the depth piece.

Well, Sears is the only one that filled that role before he was eventually traded. The book is not fully written on Medina, who is now in the bullpen, but an inability to throw strikes is still a problem. Yet another trade that did not add to the core or bring in any solid contributors.

Grade: D

Sean Murphy Traded to Atlanta – December 2022

A’s Acquire: C Manny Piña, OF Esteury Ruiz, P Kyle Muller, P Freddy Tarnok, P Royber Salinas

The last of the quantity over quality trades, this played out in a weird way. A three-way trade with Milwaukee, where the Brewers “won” the trade, landing William Contreras. Ruiz was a fun story and stole 67 bags in 2023, but the A’s quickly moved on from him the very next season.

The others? None are in the majors or minors. Pina retired, Muller and Tarnok are overseas, and Salinas is not playing anywhere. To have this many prospects across several trades all be out of affiliated ball within a couple of years? Yikes.

Trade: D-

Lucas Erceg Traded to Kansas City – Deadline 2024

A’s Acquire: P Mason Barnett, P Will Klein, OF Jared Dickey

Erceg was a good flip for the A’s. They had acquired him for next to nothing and turned him into a legit bullpen arm that was in high demand. Barnett is not the most exciting arm, but he does have back-end upside, a sentence I could use for most arms the A’s acquired.

Grade: C-

Joe Boyle & Others Traded to Tampa Bay – December 2024

A’s Acquire – P Jeffrey Springs, P Jacob Lopez

The first somewhat significant move we have seen in which the A’s were adding. Boyle is an electric arm that has walked a ton of batters throughout his career, and Tampa was a good spot for him to land. Lopez and Springs have been quality lefties, even if Lopez has fallen off this season, and could be used in trades or to stabilize the back of the rotation.

Grade: B

Mason Miller Traded to San Diego

A’s Acquire: SS Leo De Vries, P Braden Nett, P Henry Baez, P Eduarniel Nunez

Moving Miller was a difficult decision to make, but a trade they had to do. When you miss on so many trades in a row, you do not have the talent to convince yourself that you need the luxury of a high-end closer. The A’s needed more prospects, and Miller was the easiest way to get them.

De Vries was the prize of the package and is one of the top prospects in baseball. Rounding out with three arms that are more intriguing than the A’s previous preference in prospect pitchers is refreshing to see. It’s obviously too early to truly tell, but I’ll give a grade based on projections.

Grade: A

Overall, the A’s trades have been disastrous. They acquired one building block for the future in Langeliers, two short-term options in Springs and Lopez, and twice as many prospects who are already out of affiliated baseball.

To miss this badly on trade after trade is not only poor scouting or bad luck, it’s impressive in the worst kind of way. A LOT is riding on the Mason Miller return.

Grading the A’s Rebuild: Retaining Their Own Talent

A complete flip of the script, from shipping off homegrown players to handing them extensions, is not something I, nor many others, expected from a team in purgatory. That said, it is a welcome change of direction and beliefs.

The Athletics have extended four of their core pieces:

• Brent Rooker (2025): five years, $60M
• Lawrence Butler (2025): seven years, $65M
• Tyler Soderstrom (2025): seven years, $86M
• Jacob Wilson (2026): seven years, $70M

Pre-arbitration deals have become more and more common across the league, especially for teams that are not historically large spenders. The A’s are responsible for drafting and developing Soderstrom, Butler, and Wilson and deserve a ton of credit for helping Rooker break out of the quad-A player he had become.

In my mind, these moves need to be graded with two considerations. First, the player and money. Second, the message and statement the deals make.

While it’s too early to make any definitive statements about these moves, I think there’s one we are all worried about. Butler was a good prospect with an aggressive swing, a lot of tools, and some question marks while coming up through the minors.

He started slow in his debut season of 2023 across 42 games but broke out in 2024, leading to his contract. Since then, well, let’s call it underwhelming. Last season, he posted a .234/.306/.404 slash with 21 home runs and 22 stolen bases, good for a 96 wRC+. This year it’s been worse. A .179/.278/.282 slash with only three home runs and a 57 wRC+.

If there is a deal the A’s are potentially regretting, it is the Butler deal. Rooker is going to get his 30 home runs, Wilson does what you’d expect from him, and Soderstrom is progressing just fine. But Butler? The concerns are legitimate even if we aren’t hitting the panic button.

Let’s not underrate the message these deals have sent. An ownership that has done nothing right for a number of years finally invested some money into their team. Fans have a real reason to believe and can now watch their young team without the voice in their head wondering when each player will be traded. That in itself has value to the fans and the organization.

Grade: B+

Grading the A’s Rebuild: Drafting & Development

Baseball fans (or maybe baseball nerds) love to discuss team systems. Terms like “pitching lab” are often stapled to any conversation about the Brewers, Rays, Red Sox, and so on. Finding value in players who are considered undervalued is the new flex for front offices and teams.

For teams like the A’s, drafting and developing is their lifeline. Landing free agents has not been easy, and the only sustainable way to find success with this franchise has been through trades and the draft. We already covered the lousy trades, now let’s shift towards the draft.

• 2020 Draft Notables (COVID, five rounds): Tyler Soderstrom (26th overall)
• 2021 Draft Notables: Max Muncy (25th), Zack Gelof (60th), Mason Miller (97th), Denzel Clarke (127th)
• 2022 Draft Notables: Henry Bolte (56th), Colby Thomas (95th), Jack Perkins (154th)
• 2023 Draft Notables: Jacob Wilson (6th)
• 2024 Draft Notables: Nick Kurtz (4th), Tommy White (40th), Gage Jump (73rd)
• 2025 Draft Notables: Jamie Arnold (11th), Devin Taylor (48th), Gavin Turley (110th)

The A’s drafts have been successful over the past few seasons. Soderstrom, Wilson, and Kurtz have all proven to be core pieces moving forward and come with a high floor and untapped ceiling. Miller was developed into perhaps the game’s best closer and landed them a top-10 prospect. A number of their high selections came with plenty of scrutiny at the time but have panned out well to date.

Recent selections Jump and Arnold can be found on top 100 lists across various outlets and give the A’s high upside in their rotation. Bolte and White have progressed well and should join the A’s soon, giving them more young options.

We’ll see what Muncy, Gelof, Clarke, and Thomas develop into. I think if one of those four becomes a regular, that would be a win. Gelof and Thomas have the tools to be useful matchup pieces and depth, while Clarke’s defense gives him an elite trait.

Notable International Free Agent Signings: Luis Morales, Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, Wei-En Lin

Grade: A

Grading the A’s Rebuild: Final Thoughts

The A’s rebuild has started to turn the corner, mostly based on their drafting and development. The trades that should have propelled the farm system into higher ranks and produced the next wave of MLB players fell flat, delaying the turnaround by a year or two.

Those failed trades have impacted the club’s depth, but most importantly, its pitching. So many moves focused on getting multiple arms in a quantity over quality approach with, what, J.T. Ginn to show for it? Luckily, the team’s drafts and development have solidified the lineup, and now the next task is developing more pitching.

Winning has made the rebuild feel like it is in a decent spot with more help on the way, but I have concerns. The A’s rotation has little in terms of proven young arms, and the farm system falls between 15-20 in baseball.

Could the A’s add De Vries, Arnold, Jump, Nett, and others in the course of a year and make serious strides towards the playoffs? Absolutely. But, a lot will have to go their way with so little margin for error.

Overall Rebuild Grade: C