Oakland A's non-tender decisions: Offseason plan project roundup

On December 2, the Oakland Athletics will have to decide which of the 14 arbitration-eligible players to offer contracts to, and which to allow to become free agents. Fifteen of you submitted offseason plans making those calls, and to keep the ball rolling, here's how those plans have decided on making decisions to tender contracts to those players:

And now some notes on the non-tender decisions.

Jarrod Parker (13-2 tender)

Both orodawg and JosephTDeClercq elected to not tender Parker a contract at $850,000. In orodawg's case, he expects Parker would accept a minor league deal at a lower amount. In JTDC's case, "non-tendering Jarrod Parker was a tough call simply because of all he has gone through. But let's face it, two-time TJ survivors don't exactly rebound into all-stars. At best he's Chris Capuano 2.0."

Fernando Abad (12-3 tender)

Several commenters were not enthusiastic about tendering a contract expected to be $1.5 million to Fernando Abad, but did so anyone thinking that there may be other clubs out there looking to take a flyer on the lefty in a trade.

On the non-tender side, King Richard was most concerned about "Abad's extreme velocity drop late in the season. I think the A's can probably find a better bet for cheaper, especially considering the fact that he's not really better against LHHs."

Eric Sogard (11-4 tender)

Most saw Eric Sogard at $1.3 million as a reasonable price off the bench, but really hope he does not end up an everyday player yet again by default after injuries to other players. Others felt that a replacement level fielder should simply come at a replacement level cost. King Richard wrote, "With Joey wendle becoming MLB-ready, Valencia playing third and Lawrie at 2B, there's just no need for Sogard. He's a good fielder, but he's not a hall-of-fame-level fielder, and he's a horrible hitter. The A's can get that and better for the league minimum."

Evan Scribner (8-7 tender)

The closest call so far has been Evan Scribner and the division is pretty simple. For some, he's inexpensive enough to give him a go through spring training with that elite K:BB ratio, but for others they think time is up for the out-of-options Scribner who led relievers in HR/9. Even among those willing to tender him, there's a sense that he may end up getting placed on waivers anyway and either outrighted to Triple-A or claimed.

Craig Gentry (11-4 non-tender) vs. Sam Fuld (14-1 non-tender)

Ten of our 15 plans declined to tender contracts to both Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld, but five of them sought to retain one or the other next year. Gentry earned four votes over Sam Fuld, with kyrbyr writing, "Effectively, they're very similar players for the 2016 team, and even though Gentry was worse this year, I'd rather have his speed and upside over Fuld's known quantity."

King Richard has hopes that Gentry will "return to the level of player he was before [his 2014] concussion. That player was the best fourth outfielder in the league and one of the best defensive outfielders in history. No reason not take that chance for $1.6MM."

The lone dissenter to save Sam Fuld was fircoal, who writes, "He was worth 1 bWAR last year in 350 PAs. That's not great but it's not useless. $2MM is more than worth it. Certainly I'd prefer not to have to use him because I feel there are other players to play but I'd hold onto him and trade him if plans come together. If not or someone gets injured I'd keep him around because he's serviceable."

Keep submitting plans!

We'll be compiling the offseason plans over the coming weeks, so keep submitting those FanPosts! Find out how you can submit an A's offseason plan in our project's introductory post.