Just a couple of days ago, the Athletics and Luis Severino agreed to the largest contract in franchise history. It was a 3yr/67m deal with a 10m signing bonus. He has a player option in 2027, and will become a free agent in 2028. Earlier in the offseason, Severino turned down a 21.05m qualifying offer from the New York Mets, which he obviously declined.

Then today, they completed a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez and a 2025 first round draft pick, in return for Jacob Watters, Joe Boyle and Will Simpson. But they aren’t only spending money to impress their new fanbase in Sacramento. Instead they are facing a possible grievance from the MLBPA, this is due to the fact, they will collect 100% of their revenue sharing dollars in 2025. This will be the first time they collect 100% of their revenue sharing dollars under this new CBA.

2022: 25%

2023: 50%

2024: 75%

2025: 100%

The solution, is that the Athletics will need to spend more than 150% of their revenue sharing money on their MLB payroll. The A’s could receive about 70m in revenue sharing after drawing the worse attendance in the league, but it is possible that they can receive more.

Roster Resource is currently projecting the Athletics tax number at 88.5m, they will need to spend at least 105m. They will need to either trade, sign another free agent, or they can go out and pay Brent Rooker a sizeable amount during his arbitration conversations.