TBNL: A's extend Brent Rooker; Dodgers trade Gavin Lux; Padres have no catchers

It’s been a curious offseason for the Oakland Sacramento (it’s actually West Sacramento because someone in marketing really needed the West included there) Athletics.

Since the World Series ended the A’s have officially left Oakland behind, longtime team president Dave Kaval resigned, threats by the MLBPA to file grievances against ownership for failing to spend on payroll became public, Luis Severino signed a club-record $67M contract, and they traded for Jeffrey Springs (who is due $21M over the next two seasons).

Now, the A’s have extended the lone player on their roster before the World Series who had been projected to earn more than $5M this coming season.

According to reports from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Brent Rooker and the team have agreed on a five-year contract that will pay the designated hitter (and occasional outfielder/first baseman) $60M. The deal includes a vesting option for a sixth season at $22M with incentives and escalators that could bring the total value to $90M.

The deal covers what would have been Rooker’s three arbitration-eligible seasons (teams were scheduled to exchange figures on Tuesday) and two (potentially three) free agent years. He just turned 30 in November.

Rooker has developed into a dominant power hitter since the A’s claimed him off of waivers from Kansas City after the 2022 season. He’s hit .272/.348/.528 while averaging 23 doubles, 35 homers, and 90 RBI over the last two seasons, solidifying the middle of an inexperienced A’s lineup. Rooker had 39 home runs last year, tied for fifth in the majors behind only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Santander, and Juan Soto. He and Lawrence Butler combined to make one of the most formidable duos in the major leagues across the second half of last season, posting a combined OPS that was bettered only by Judge and Soto.

Dodgers deal Lux to Reds

The Dodgers still plan to use Gavin Lux at second base. That was the story being spread by the media covering the team in recent days following LA’s signing of Hyeseong Kim out of Korea. To the casual observer, the insistence felt a bit curious. Kim is a star in Korea, signed a multi-year contract, and just won three straight Gold Glove Awards at second base. Why would Lux get starts over him?

Moreover, where does LA expect to find playing time for all these infielders when you factor in Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Tommy Edman, and Chris Taylor? Edman and Taylor can both play the outfield but then you’re pushing Teoscar Hernández or Michael Conforto to the bench. This doesn’t factor in their eventual/likely re-signing of Enrique Hernández, too.

This is one of those “good problems” in some ways, but it all seemed untenable.

Some corners of baseball media weren’t convinced the Dodgers would hold onto Lux. Various reports suggested the Mariners and Yankees had each reached out in recent days to LA about trading for the infielder. Then news came out Monday evening that the Reds had completed a deal.

Cincinnati is another team that seemingly doesn’t need an infielder on paper. Elly De La Cruz has shortstop held down. Matt McLain is lined up at second. Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand have the corners. Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo will likely fight for playing time off the bench. The group has already pushed Spencer Steer and Rece Hinds to the outfield. Now they’ll add Lux to that mix, allegedly in the “super utility” role that the Dodgers claim they would use Kim.

Lux, who just turned 27 in November, has hit .252/.326/.383 over his five-year career (he missed all of 2023 after tearing his ACL). Last season he posted career-highs with 24 doubles, 10 home runs, and 50 RBI.

Cincinnati agreed to part with two pieces in return for Lux, minor league outfielder Mike Sirota and their Competitive Balance Round pick in the upcoming draft (the only type of picks that teams are permitted to trade).

Sirota was selected by the Reds in the 3rd Round last summer out of Northeastern. Scouts had speculated that Sirota could be a first-round talent heading into his final season in college, but a subpar year at the plate (and Northeastern not being an NCAA powerhouse that locks in a challenging schedule each year) caused him to drop in the draft. He has yet to play in a pro game.

Sirota, who will be 22 in June, is the grand-nephew of Hall of Famer Whitey Ford.

The Comp Balance pick the Dodgers receive looks like it will be the 37th overall selection in the upcoming draft, which will be LA’s first pick overall after their 1st Round pick was dropped back 10 places for surpassing the highest competitive balance tax threshold (this also applied to the Mets and Yankees this year).

Elsewhere, around the league …

• Miami, Milwaukee, St. Louis, San Diego, and Seattle have yet to sign a single player in free agency. We’re a week into January. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out (among a bunch of other notes, some of which we’ll touch on) that the Cubs have spent $43.3M this offseason — which doesn’t seem like a large figure but it is both $8M less than Juan Soto will receive annually and more than the combined spending of the rest of the NL Central.

• Pete Alonso remains available on the free agent market, even though 11 teams have a new first baseman in line to start this season. Some of the blame may be on Scott Boras, who seems to be pushing the nine-year, $214M deal Prince Fielder received as a starting point in talks.

• San Diego, not the Dodgers, is emerging as the favorite for Roki Sasaki. Executives around the game think the appeal of playing with his mentor Yu Darvish is too great. The Padres also need him more than LA does. Sasaki is not expected to sign until close to when his posting window closes on January 23.

• The Yankees are still trying to move Marcus Stroman, which is no surprise. The writing was on the wall for Stroman’s future in New York even before the team signed Max Fried earlier this offseason and hasn’t changed after trading Nestor Cortes. Stro is due $18M this season (with a player option for the same amount in 2026). I said in mid-December that he wouldn’t still be with the team by OD and I stand by it.

• Texas finally added a late-inning reliever, signing Chris Martin to a one-year, $5.5M deal to bring the 38-year-old home. Martin told reporters in September that this will likely be his final season. Martin is from Arlington and has multiple young kids. He allegedly turned down more money to take this deal with the Rangers.

• Nearly a month after the city’s architect presented plans to rebuild Tropicana Field, there has been no progress in getting them — or funding — approved, according to an update from the AP News’ Curt Anderson. As a result, there remains no timeline for when construction might begin and no indication of whether the Rays will be able to play there in 2026. It still makes little sense to me to spend $55.7M to repair a building you’re going to turn around and tear down to make room for a new $1.3B ballpark.

• Meanwhile, the Rays agreed to a two-year, $8M extension with Drew Rasmussen to buyout the right-hander’s final two years of arbitration. Tampa Bay will have a club option for a third season at $8M (or a $500K buyout). With arbitration hearings scheduled before the end of the month, numerous other extensions (mostly for one year) should be announced across the league in the coming days.

• Bobby Dalbec looked like he might solidify himself as a piece of the Boston lineup after hitting 25 home runs in 2021. His playing time and production have both dropped greatly over the three years since and the Red Sox outrighted him off the 40-man roster in September. Dalbec reached free agency after the season and has now reached an agreement with the White Sox on a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

• Justin Verlander has an agreement to join the San Francisco Giants on a one-year deal, per Passan. Financial terms have not yet been reported. The 42-year-old only threw 90.1 IP over 17 starts last year thanks to a pair of IL stints (shoulder inflammation and a neck issue) in which he posted a 5.48 ERA thanks in part to allowing 15 home runs.

San Diego’s void behind the plate

The catching situation in San Diego is cause for real concern. The Padres have just two backstops on the 40-man roster, Luis Campusano and Brett Sullivan, and as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell examines, a dwindling list of options they can acquire.

San Diego’s best option behind the plate last season, Kyle Higashioka, departed in free agency. Padres GM A.J. Preller told Cassavell that the team made “what we thought was a very fair offer” but Higashioka elected to accept Texas’ two-year, $12.5M guarantee.

Campusano appears to be the incumbent starter, but that’s more from a lack of options than his performance at this point. Still just 26, Campusano has yet to take advantage of the many opportunities the Padres have given him. This past year he batted just .227/.281/.361 across a career-high 299 plate appearances. Poor defensive metrics and the slumping bat left him sent down to Triple-A for the last few weeks of the season.

Sullivan, meanwhile, has just 36 career games behind the plate.

The remaining catchers on the free agent market — a list that includes just Elias Díaz, Andrew Knizner, Luke Maile, Reese McGuire, Omar Narvaez, and Tomás Nido among options under the age of 35 — are uninspiring. Only Díaz has topped 2.0 WAR combined over the last two seasons (most of that value came from his defense). The Padres signed him late last season after he’d been released by the Rockies and he batted just .190/.292/.429 over a dozen September games.

There are no obvious candidates on the trade market the Padres could consider, either, though the Dodgers did make former top prospect Diego Cartaya available (he was designated for assignment to make room for the Kim signing). Cartaya hasn’t hit much in the upper minors over the last two seasons, batting a combined .221/.323/.363 in 400 PA between Double-A and Triple-A last year.

Ethan Salas is still in the team’s plans for the future, per Cassavell, but they no longer think he could be an option sometime this season. Salas, who won’t turn 19 until June, struggled badly last year at the plate at High-A Fort Wayne, slashing .206/.288/.311 with just four homers and 98 strikeouts across 469 PA.

A normal development plan would likely have him ticketed for another year at Fort Wayne but given their organizational lack of depth it might not be out of the question to see Salas pushed to Double-A San Antonio once spring camp breaks.

The Padres have multiple needs to address still in addition to finding at least one catcher. The club has a hole in left field (they’ll end up re-signing Jurickson Profar) and will still need at least one starting pitcher and bullpen help before the season begins.