Athletics Nation 2018-19 offseason plan project

Attention everyone: there has been an emergency. The Oakland A’s are well positioned to make a competitive run in 2019, but we need you, yes you, to put the finishing touches on the A’s roster in order to get the team to the promised land.

Okay, maybe it’s not that dramatic. Each year, we call on you to construct different plans for the A’s offseason. We get some great participation year in and year out and it’s always a blast. We’re doing it again this year, an offseason which will have a huge impact on the upcoming season! So join us: do your best to come up with a viable offseason strategy for the A’s via FanPost.

To write a FanPost, simply click this link or click on the “write a FanPost” button once you’ve logged in. Here are some examples from last year for you to draw inspiration from, but feel free to make it yours! You’re the GM, you decide the moves!

A few resources:

• Here’s the A’s Cots Contracts page for payroll obligations for 2019. The general rule of thumb is keep it under $100 million for the season, but the choice is yours on how to do so. Of course, the A’s brass has talked some lately about increasing that amount. Whether or not that’s lip service, the A’s just keeping up with inflation, or the A’s truly breaking the bank, we can’t be sure. We’ll allow you to use your best judgment, though we find this exercise most fun when done in the realm of reality.
• Here’s a list of this offseason’s free agents courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors. It’s good to be realistic on who the A’s actually have a chance with, though again, make it your own!

What follows should be a good guideline that you can copy-paste into your FanPost and edit where necessary.

[Your name here]’s Offseason Plan

Arbitration Eligible players (using MLBTR’s arbitration estimates)

Write tender or non-tender next to each name. You can trade before tendering a contract.

• Khris Davis – $18.1MM
• Mike Fiers – $9.7MM
• Marcus Semien – $6.6MM
• Blake Treinen – $5.8MM
• Sean Manaea – $3.8MM
• Kendall Graveman – $2.5MM
• Cory Gearrin – $2.4MM
• Liam Hendriks – $2.1MM
• Mark Canha – $2.1MM
• Ryan Buchter – $1.3MM
• Josh Phegley – $1.2MM
• Ryan Dull – $900K

Free Agency - who do you want to sign?

Peruse the list of free agents, name the ones you would pursue, the max offer you would extend to them, and explain your reasoning. As many as you want, but remember to keep payroll and roster size in mind.

Trade Proposals

Propose any trades you think sound reasonable for both sides. Reasonable is key here – we at AN love our fantasy trades, but try to keep it within the realm of possibility – the exercise is useless if we just get a bunch of “Canha for Trout” proposals. Explain your reasoning for both sides of the trade.

Summary

If you end up with a coherent 25-man roster, feel free to list it. If you don’t, that’s cool, the main parts are the most interesting anyway. What’s more important is how you’ve filled out key positions – at least list potential lineups, the rotation, and the top of the bullpen. The A’s are willing to be weird as we saw some with the bullpen last season so if you do want to try something weird or different, do it. Just be prepared to be grilled by your armchair GM counterparts.

You can go as realistic or outlandish as you want. If you want to try to predict the A’s 2019 roster, that’s fine and fun. If you want to trade literally everyone and come up with your dream team, that’s cool too. Just remember, Billy reads the blog.

And here’s a list of plans that we’ll be updating constantly. In a few weeks, we’ll take a look at some of the trends and what we’ve learned about what the fanbase wants and expects.

Have fun!