Elephant Rumblings: Athletics avoid arbitration with Miguel Andujar
Cross off one more thing on the offseason to-do list
Good morning everyone! It’s Friday, yay!
Yesterday was the final day for players and their teams to come to terms on arbitration salaries for the coming 2025 season. While many teams are file-and-trial (which means once they exchange figures and the deadline passes, they go all the way through the arbitration process), the Athletics are not one of those teams. They’re ready to get deals done before going before a panel. Luckily this year they didn’t have to.
For the Athletics they had a grand total of three players eligible for arbitration this offseason: first baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar, first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown, and Designated Hitter Brent Rooker. The club already sorted Rooker out with his 5-year extension just a few days ago, and they took care of Brownie’s deal all the way back in November, locking in the lefty batter at $2.7MM for what could be his final season in the Green & Gold. So going into yesterday the club only had to deal with Andujar’s contract situation. The team finally came to terms with Andujar on the last day to do so, locking him in at $3MM for the coming season:
Miguel Andujar and the Athletics have settled on a $3 million deal for 2025, per source, avoiding arbitration.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 9, 2025
The right-handed Andujar figures to be in the left field and first base mix as things stand today. The right-handed batter was once a former top prospect with the New York Yankees and looked like a budding star for them in his first full season back in 2018. Unfortunately injuries have completely derailed his career for the past few seasons, playing in a grand total of 144 major league games between 2019 and 2023.
The Athletics took a chance on him and signed him last season and brought him aboard as a buy-low right-handed hitting option for the outfield and first base. He was on fire during spring training but suffered an injury and missed much of the first two months of the season. When he returned he was a quality right-handed bat for the A’s but especially thrived against left-handed pitching, slashing .411/.459/.536 though that was in a small-ish sample of 54 plate appearances. He did miss the final portion of the year with another injury but we finally saw some extended quality hitting from Andujar after years of being irrelevant. Overall for the year he hit .285/.320/.377 with four home runs and three stolen bases in 319 at-bats.
The plan as of now is to have Andujar split time in left field with Seth Brown based on the handedness of the pitcher but you can definitely expect to see him at first base plenty in the coming season. The team has the left-handed Tyler Soderstrom set to man the long side of the platoon at first base but he may sit in favor of the right-handed Andujar on days there is a tough lefty on the mound. There aren’t any other right-handed first basemen on the roster that are better platoon candidates than Andujar (unless you consider Gio Urshela a candidate to take first basemen reps). If health permits then Andujar should get plenty of at-bats in the Athletics’ first season in Sacramento. Hopefully he can tap into that potential and be another big right-handed bat for the club.
Looking ahead to next offseason, the group of arbitration eligible players will be deeper and more expensive. Those guys include Shea Langeliers, Mason Miller, JJ Bleday, JP Sears, Luis Medina, Osvaldo Bido, Ken Waldichuk, Esteury Ruiz, and Seth Brown. Besides Brown all of those players will be getting their first significant raises as major leaguers so expect a bit more drama next year as the club continues trying to build its core.
Have an excellent Friday A’s fans! And thoughts are with all of you down in Los Angeles right now. Stay safe.
A’s coverage:
- From Coughin’ to Coffin— A Pet Owner’s Day Of Grieving
- Athletics 2024 Season In Review: Tyler Soderstrom
- Former Athletic Tyler Nevin signs in Japan
MLB news & Interest:
- Dodgers trade former top prospect Diego Cartaya to Twins
- MLB arbitration tracker
- Rockies make 1-year deal with Thairo Estrada official
- Pirates sign lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson, plan to make him starter
- Latest on Nolan Arenado trade market
- David Wright hopes Juan Soto helps Mets win ‘multiple’ championships
- Execs Prospect Poll: Top system? Best at drafting? Best at trading for prospects?
- Today in Baseball History
Best of X:
ICYMI:
The A’s have scheduled a press conference with Brent Rooker for this afternoon at 3 p.m. that will be streamed live. https://t.co/duUBDleL1x
— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) January 9, 2025
General Manager on the recently-extended Rooker:
"He's established himself both on and off the field -- is really the leader of this team ... Brent's impact on the clubhouse was apparent immediately when he got here." - A's GM David Forst earlier today at Rooker's press conference
— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) January 10, 2025
And from the main man himself:
Brent Rooker: "This is where I want to be. I hope this communicates that this organization is a very desirable place to play for a lot of reasons, mainly the group of people involved on a day-to-day basis. I love it here. I’m excited for the next five years, hopefully six.”
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) January 10, 2025
Ready to see the Face of the Franchise continue making his mark in Year 3:
Ready for Rook pic.twitter.com/1IIqhDthjm
— Athletics (@Athletics) January 9, 2025