The A's Payroll After Recent Moves

The Athletics payroll has been a topic of much discussion over the past couple of weeks after The Athletic reported that the franchise needed to reach about $105 million this season to not receive a complaint from the MLBPA.

As we noted in the three biggest takeaways from the Severino signing, the A's handed out the largest contract in franchise history with a couple of key asterisks. The first being that Severino's three-year, $67 million deal only beat the previous record by a million dollars, and with that deal (Eric Chavez, six years, $66 million) coming two decades ago, the Severino agreement isn't actually more when adjusted for inflation.

The other big asterisk here is that the contract comes with a player opt-out after two seasons, and if that is exercised, then the contract won't actually be worth $67 million. But the franchise sure received a number of positive headlines in the process, which is rare these days.

Severino's $20 million salary in 2025 bumps the A's payroll up significantly while also providing the club with a huge boost to a rotation that ranked No. 26 in ERA at 4.76--right behind the 121-loss Chicago White Sox--while playing their home games in a pitcher's park. Sutter Health doesn't figure to be quite as kind to them in the coming years.

The A's also added another quality starter in Jeffrey Springs in a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, and he brings with him a $10.5 million salary for next season.

With those two contracts now on the payroll, the A's total luxury tax payroll (per Roster Resource) stands at about $88.55 million. In order to reach the magic number they're after, $105 million, they'll have to spend another $17 million or so.

Luckily for the A's, they're not done adding to the roster. They could still use an upgrade at third base, which, as we outlined earlier this week, could entail bringing in a free agent veteran that excels at defense and has some splits that the Athletics could work with in a platoon situation. Someone like Josh Rojas, formerly of the Seattle Mariners, could split time with say, Darell Hernaiz.

On the field, Rojas would bring an above league average bat against right-handers, and one of the better gloves at the position. In the spreadsheet, he wouldn't figure to make a huge dent. Though, if they could sign Rojas and extend Brent Rooker, bumping up his salary, then they could be getting close to the magical number.

Another option, which we outlined this morning, would be to make a deal with the New York Mets for former top prospect Brett Baty, a solid change of scenery candidate, while adding the contract of Starling Marte to the trade.

Marte is owed $20.75 million in 2025, his final year of team control, and would represent a pretty big upgrade in left field if he can stay healthy. The A's could even platoon him (though as that price...) as he held a 141 wRC+ against southpaws in 2024 in 100 at-bats. Over the course of his career his splits have been fairly equal against righties and lefties, though he is now set to enter his age 36 season and his stats have favored southpaws the past few years.

This would give the A's two upgrades on the roster, help them meet their payroll requirement, and also give them a couple of potential trade pieces in Miguel Andujar and Seth Brown. If the A's were to add another outfielder, they wouldn't have a need for so many on the roster, with Esteury Ruiz likely slotted as a fourth outfielder, and Brent Rooker able to play in the field again after off-season surgery.

There is still plenty of offseason left, and how the team plans to address their need at third base will likely play a big role in how they end up reaching the payroll figure they need to get to. That addition will either get them most of the way there, or leave those finances to be allocated elsewhere on the roster.