Oakland A's free agents and prospects outlook: 2015 and beyond

Last July, after the Oakland Athletics wrapped up trades of Tyler Clippard, Ben Zobrist, and Scott Kazmir for prospects, A's paramount leader Billy Beane told the Bay Area News Group, "What is definite is that we need to shift the focus onto the farm system. ... That's critical for us. It's important for players to be brought through the system. If we do compete, we can use them for trade. But you can't do that if you don't have a lot of depth."

So what is the prospect depth we have coming up, how soon might we expect it to arrive, and who will those prospects replace? Let's go year by year at which players on Oakland's 40-man roster are projected to reach free agency and when Oakland's top 30 prospects, according to mlb.com, will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft where other clubs can select players not on the 40-man roster.

2015-16

Edward Mujica reaches free agency, but the A's need to drop one more player from their 40-man roster before the deadline to activate players from the 60-day disabled list five days after the World Series ends.

Joey Wendle is almost certain to be protected from the Rule 5 draft but the A's might be content to bet that reliever Aaron Kurcz will not be drafted. Bruce Maxwell did not hit nearly well enough in Double-A to merit consideration for the 40-man roster while Torres and Pimentel played at too low a level to need protection from the Major League phase.

What may be quite interesting next year is how much talent finally reaches the Triple-A level of the system after the last few years of having Oakland's top products only get to Double-A (e.g. Addison Russell) or below (Daniel Robertson) before being traded. The major league players will finally have some competition from younger prospects below. Here's an educated guess at where the Top 30 MLB.com prospects will be in the system next year, barring a trade:

In Triple-A, I can see a rotation in the DH, first base, and third base position between Rangel Ravelo, Renato Nunez, and Ryon Healy, or Healy might start the year in Double-A. Yairo Munoz is in an awkward spot between Franklin Barreto and first rounder Richie Martin, depending on if the A's push Martin straight to High-A Stockton rather than Low-A Beloit. If Martin does move up to stick at shortstop, look at Munoz to be moved around the infield. The same holds true for Mikey White.

2016-17

Primarily, the A's shed themselves of Coco Crisp's annual eight-figure deal. Jesse Chavez is a trade candidate for the 2015-16 offseason while A's Paramount Leader Billy Beane is on record as saying the A's want to keep Josh Reddick and possibly extend him.

A youth movement begins to join the 40-man roster after the 2016 season. If they haven't made it to the major leagues already, Top 10 prospects Matt Olson, Sean Manaea, Renato Nunez, Chad Pinder, and Dillon Overton should have already finished a season in Triple-A and Franklin Barreto wraps up his year in Double-A.

2017-18

After 2017, the A's shed themselves of Billy Butler's annual eight-figure deal while several players currently slated for the 2016 infield also reach free agency.

Hopefully by the time Danny Valencia, Eric Sogard, and Brett Lawrie are out the door to free agency, some of the infielders in the Top 30 prospects that became eligible for the Rule 5 draft over the previous three offseasons step into a regular major league role.

2018-19 and beyond

For your edification, here's the rest of the 40-man roster.

And the members of the Top 30 prospects that were drafted in 2015:

★★★

If the A's can start graduating these prospects, especially their position players, into productive roles for the major league club, they will be in great shape and might even have a surplus prospect or two to trade away to fill in the gaps as they arise.

Cot's Contracts was the source for service time information.