Ranking A's Extension Candidates From Kurtz to Clarke

We recently ran down the reasoning for signing Langeliers to an extension, and how we got to that number, but the quick version is that he put up a season that was eerily similar to J.T. Realmuto at the same age, so we extrapolated what his deal would look like from there.

Langeliers is a key to the pitching staff and proved to be a force in the lineup in a huge breakout season in 2025. It was overshadowed a bit by Seattle's Cal Raleigh hitting 60 home runs this season, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

The A's would be wise to lock him up, and soon.

2. Tyler Soderstrom — Unclear

Soderstrom is an interesting test case. Based off of 2025's data, he was a similar player to New York Yankees free agent Trent Grisham. The A's left fielder held a 125 wRC+ (100 is league average), while Grisham put up a career-high 129. Soderstrom is a Gold Glove finalist in left field and Grisham was well below league average in center.

Grisham is projected for two years and $30 million this winter, but he doesn't have the track record that Soderstrom could end up putting up in the coming seasons. Soderstrom is also loved by manager Mark Kotsay, and is a core piece of this team, per his manager. Seems like a good reason to keep him around.

If we had to guess, we're probably looking at something in the six year, $80 million range if you bake in his trajectory. He could also end up a little closer to Shea's projection at six years, $70 million, given that he'll have one more pre-arb season, three arbitration years, and two free agent campaigns to work with.

While it's unclear what the contract would end up being, it's not likely to break the bank. He's a guy that you can sign relatively cheaply for his production, and it would also signal the fan base that ownership is spending money to keep the core together.

3. Denzel Clarke — Eight Years, $45 million

Signing Clarke would be a bit of a shot in the dark, because he hasn't shown that he's been able to produce consistently at the dish so far in his big-league career. He hit. 230 with a .274 OBP and a 78 OPS+ in 47 games in 2025. That said, his glove is special, and he's arguably the best defender in baseball.

Figuring this one out, we just took Red Sox centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela's eight-year, $50 million contract and took off just a little just in case the bat doesn't pan out. The A's could even tack on a team option like the Sox did with Rafaela, who's option is for $16 million in 2032 with a $4 million buyout.

This would be a very team-friendly deal if Clarke is able to be a league average bat. He could also choose to bet on himself and his bat finding a new gear moving forward. That's just the ballpark we'd be talking about in order to get the conversation started.

Jacob Wilson — Seven Years, $62 million

Wilson could be willing to get a deal done. The player that he's most often compared to is Luis Arraez, given that both players just don't strike out often, and rarely swing and miss. The biggest difference between the two is that Wilson plays a roughly league average shortstop and has a little more pop in his bat, which should make him more valuable.

Arraez was projected to earn a two-year, $30 million contract in The Athletic earlier this week. We'll have to wait and see what he actually signs for, since that will tell us how other front offices around baseball view him. That will be a good measuring stick for Wilson's own free agency down the line.

Given that the San Diego Padres free agent made roughly $30 million in his final three years of arbitration, that could be the expectation for Wilson as well. If you throw a couple of extra seasons on top of that for an extension, we could be looking at something in the seven year, $62 million range, with a pair of league minimum seasons included.

Perhaps the A's would have to up that figure a touch to account for his power and position, but this is roughly the range we're looking at. The reason that Wilson is ranked No. 4 is that he's just one year into the big leagues, so there's no rush for him to sign a deal just yet. There's plenty of time to show he's worth more.

5. Nick Kurtz — Eight Years, $140-160 million

One of these extensions is not like the other, and that is why Kurtz is ranked No. 5 on our list. In terms of who the A's should lock up forever, he's at the top, but in terms of likelihood to happen this winter, here he is.

The A's slugger is arguably already the best first baseman in baseball just 117 games into his career. He hit .290 with a .383 OBP and a team-leading 36 home runs as a rookie, which was good for 5.4 bWAR, a 173 OPS+, and was one of just three players with at least 400 plate appearances to put up an OPS higher than 1.000. The other two were Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.

Rookies don't have that kind of production unless they're special.

There is no rush for Kurtz to lock in to an extension this winter. Plus, he did all of this damage while not faring well against left-handed pitchers. He batted .336 against righties, and .197 against southpaws. In terms of wRC+, he was better than Judge overall against righties, and Anthony Volpe against lefties.

You have to figure that a player as great as Kurtz has shown he can be will have more of an answer against southpaws next season, which could mean that there's another level to his game. Signing an extension doesn't make sense just yet.