State of the A’s 40-man roster as MLB lockout ends

The lockout is over! The MLB offseason has been on pause for more than three months while a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was negotiated, but now the labor deal is in place. Transactions can resume, spring training can begin, and the regular season will be full-length with only a slight delay to Opening Day.

In other words, baseball is back! Which leads to the question: Who’s still on the Oakland A’s right now? It’s been a while, so it’s fair enough if the precise list has slipped your mind.

The 40-man roster currently features 34 players. Before the lockout began, a significant chunk of last year’s squad reached free agency, with more than a dozen players coming off the books. On the other hand, several prospects were added (for protection from a Rule 5 draft that was ultimately canceled), and there was an early trade for a new pitcher back in November.

Here’s the state of the roster as the offseason kicks back into gear. Players listed in —italics have not yet debuted in the majors. Outfielder Ramon Laureano is absent due to his ongoing PED suspension, and won’t need to take a roster spot until he is activated from the Restricted List a few dozen games into the season.

Of course, this is all going to change soon, quickly and substantially. The A’s are expected to make moves, particularly toward a rebuild, so some stars will probably be traded in the next few days. But until then, this is the group they’re working with.

Hello

Most of the names should be familiar from playing in Oakland last season. Among the newcomers, pitcher Brent Honeywell was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations, representing a roll of the dice on a former top prospect who’s looking for a bounce-back after being derailed by injuries.

Meanwhile, five prospects were added to the roster in November for Rule 5 purposes: defensive whiz shortstop Nick Allen, young bat-first infielder Jordan Diaz, versatile utilityman Jonah Bride, slugging outfielder Cody Thomas, and power pitcher Jorge Juan. In terms of making an impact in 2022, Allen might arrive in the majors sometime this summer, and he’s the one you most need to know right now. Thomas and Bride both spent last year in the upper minors, but Diaz and Juan haven’t yet gone above the lower minors.

Goodbye

What about the names who are missing? Half the active roster is gone to free agency, and a few already signed with new clubs before the lockout. Perhaps a couple others will find their way back to Oakland, but for now they’re out of the picture.

• LHP Andrew Chafin
• LHP Jake Diekman
• RHP Mike Fiers
• RHP Yusmeiro Petit
• RHP Sergio Romo
• RHP Trevor Rosenthal
• RHP Burch Smith (to Japan)
• C Yan Gomes (CHC, 2/$13m)
• UT Josh Harrison
• 2B Jed Lowrie
• OF Mark Canha (NYM, 2/$26m)
• OF Starling Marte (NYM, 4/$78m)
• DH Khris Davis
• DH Mitch Moreland

Even with those free agents off the books, the A’s remaining payroll still stands around $80 million, with the expectation that it’s more likely to go down from there than to stay the same or go up.

Bonus: Minor league free agents!

But wait! The organization is more than just the 40-man roster. Even during the lockout, teams were able to keep signing non-roster minor league free agents, and sometimes those lotto tickets pan out into productive major leaguers (like Deolis Guerra last year). Oakland has picked up some new players including:

• 1B/DH Eric Thames, an established MLB slugger hoping to bounce back (link)
• RHP Ryan Castellani, a young starter with brief MLB experience (link)
• RHP Justin Grimm, an established MLB reliever hoping to bounce back (link)
• RHP Dany Jimenez, a power reliever whom the A’s also tried out last spring (link)
• RHP Parker Markel, a high-strikeout reliever with brief MLB experience (link)
• C Christian Bethancourt, a depth catcher with some MLB experience from 2013-17

None of those players are on the 40-man roster right now, and some of them never will be. But perhaps we’ll see one or more of them in Oakland at some point this summer.

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The state of the A’s roster is “in flux,” but this is what it looks like right now. Let the trades begin!