Shea Langeliers Contract Update

On Friday, the Athletics announced that they had officially non-tendered JJ Bleday after designating him for assignment earlier in the week. They also announced that they had come to terms with right-hander Luis Medina and left-hander Ken Waldichuk, both of whom missed the 2025 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The team didn't provide an update on catcher Shea Langeliers, however, who will also be in his first year of arbitration in 2026. We reached out to a representative of the club, and they confirmed our suspicion that he was tendered a contract, but the two sides have not come to an agreement on a contract just yet.

The salary figure exchange deadline is still a ways away, on January 8, 2026.

To be clear, this does not mean that Langeliers isn't returning to the club. He has been tendered a contract, which means he'll be with the team one way or another. From here, the two sides can either reach an agreement on a deal (or an extension), or they can each file their own figures for how much they believe Shea should be paid in 2026.

From there, an arbiter would pick one of those two numbers (either the A's or Shea's) for Langeliers to make in 2026 during the arbitration process. The A's typically avoid taking players to arbitration, so this shouldn't end up being a big deal.

That said, Langeliers is a client of Scott Boras, which could make things interesting. Boras is known for getting his players the most money that he can, and with Langeliers producing like prime J.T. Realmuto in 2025, he could make some terrific arguments that his client deserves to be compensated at a high level.

In his age 27 season, Langeliers batted .277 with a .325 OBP, 31 home runs and drove in 72 RBI. He held a 132 wRC+ (100 is league average) and put up 3.9 fWAR, ranking him third among catchers in all of baseball.

The estimate for Shea Langeliers in his first year of arbitration is set at $5.1 million. The reason that Boras could dig in ahead of 2026 is because the first year's salary will help his client make more in years two and three. It would also up the comparisons for other clients, making them more money as well.

The A's best bet could be to sign him to an extension if they'd like to keep him around for a little while. Earlier this winter, we ranked the A's extension candidates, and how those extensions would look, and guesstimated Langeliers for five years and $70.1 million. With Boras as his agent, perhaps he waits until he makes it to free agency before signing on anywhere long-term.