The Athletics announced a one-year contract with infielder Gio Urshela. The Rep 1 Baseball client is reportedly guaranteed $2.15MM and can earn another $450K in incentives. He’d unlock $100K apiece at 300, 350, 400 and 450 plate appearances and receive another $50K for his 500th trip to the plate.
Urshela could get first crack at the third base job. A’s general manager David Forst has said on a few occasions that the front office was looking for answers at the hot corner. They explored at least one trade possibility, touching base with the Phillies regarding Alec Bohm, but balked at Philadelphia’s reported ask for star closer Mason Miller.
The free agent options at the position were limited. Alex Bregman is the only clear regular. He’d almost certainly be outside the club’s price range even if he were willing to play in Sacramento for the next three seasons. It’s not clear if Gleyber Torres is willing to sign as a third baseman. Yoán Moncada, Josh Rojas, Jorge Polanco and Urshela were among the rebound candidates who could be had for an affordable one-year deal.
Urshela, 33, is coming off a second consecutive middling season. He split the year between the Tigers and Braves. He combined for 461 plate appearances and hit .250/.286/.361 with nine home runs. Urshela’s plus contact skills remain intact, but his power has dropped off sharply in recent years. His slugging percentage has trended down in two straight seasons. The veteran has never taken many walks, so the dip in power leaves him with something of an empty batting average. Since the start of 2023, the righty-hitting infielder carries a .266/.300/.365 line with 11 longballs in nearly 700 trips to the plate.
While the bat has tailed off, Urshela remains a capable defender. Defensive Runs Saved gave him exactly league average marks in a little over 900 innings this past season. Statcast credited him with two runs above average. Although DRS has historically taken a more favorable view of Urshela’s glove than Statcast has, both metrics feel he’s been a little bit above par over the past two seasons.
Assuming Urshela cracks the big league roster, the A’s could deploy him at either corner infield position. Third base remains his primary spot, but he has topped 100 innings at first base in each of the last two years. Tyler Soderstrom should get the majority of the playing time there. Urshela could move across the diamond against left-handed pitching if the A’s want to shield Soderstrom from unfavorable platoon matchups. That could draw righty Darell Hernaiz into the lineup at third.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the A’s and Urshela had a deal. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported the one-year term. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman had the $2.15MM base salary, while The Associated Press reported the incentive specifics.
Image courtesy of Imagn.
He’s probably perfect to help lead a young team. Seems to be a leader wherever he goes.
@Fenway
Will be intrigued to see the figures given that the Tigers only spent $1.5m on Urshela last season. From an A’s point of view he’s a good short term drop into 3B. No prospects given up & no long term blocking.
I doubt this gets John Fisher much closer to the $105 million Nirvana though, the point where the MLBPA can’t make a grievance, and the point where Fisher gets $70 million plus money backed guarantee from “Competitive Balance”.
Desperation will soon kick in, when the A’s appear unable to sell a AAA ballpark to MLB regulars. Jordan Montgomery to the A’s with a couple of years away lottery tickets thrown in our way seems more and more likely…
He was a fun guy for the Tigers last year. Seemed popular with the fans too.
I was hoping for a return to New York. I guess Cashman fell asleep on the job again
Bellinger and Fried not good enough for you?
You get Fried, Bellinger, and Devin Williams, yet you are complaining about not signing Gio Urshela???
He also thinks the Yankees can have a 100-man roster.
@Mlb
Ungrateful. I think the Yanks are aiming a little higher.
Why?
Dude no. Cashman has been in overdrive, drinking espresso and mountain dew all night this offseason to get us to the Series again. Gio had his time here, that’s well over.
I used to love Urshela on the Yankees, thought he was a perfectly cromulent third baseman with acceptable offensive numbers- then I deep dived him and was shocked to discover he was a black hole of bad overall WAR value and basically his overall stats belied the fact that his total power, RBI and defensive metrics were virtually worthless.
It does make me wonder how some guys who hit like .265 with 15 HR’s, 70 RBI’s and are not an obvious disaster at their defensive position will only generate 0.3 WAR while another guy who has middling offensive numbers of a similar or much lesser value (say, .24 BA with 10 HR’s and 53 RBI’s) and middling defensive performance can generate like 5.7 WAR.
I assume it has to do with the direct impact of those numbers? Like, for the guy with 5.7 WAR, every home run broke a tie or was the go ahead RBI generator to win those games and every run saved or tag out was pertinent for their team to win the game and for the guy with only 0.3 WAR all of the home runs and RBI’s were redundant and worthless (like they were each the 15th run or 9th run where their team was already up by 6 runs in the 9th inning of a blow out?) and their defensive plays also had no direct impact on the final outcome of games?
I look at WAR like this, Trill…
I don’t.
Contributions to a team should not be quantified in one overall stat. What makes a team great is players have strengths abd weaknesses and a manager is there to manage that and put his team in a position to win.
WAR in fan’s minds negates that. I see so many people get so wrapped up in this Stat, that it makes them oblivious to what a player actually contributes. I’ve especially seen it recently here where citing WAR turns them off to obviously good players. It’s ridiculous.
It’s absolutely not a perfect stat that takes away the obvious in favor of math that actually doesn’t add up.
Gio WAS good in his time here, anyone with eyes saw that. Period.
I think I read Gio was a good friend of Gleyber.
WAR is just one statistic; you got to look at others plus the eye test IMO
Trillionaire, It has nothing to do with clutch hitting. Defense, base running and the player’s position makes the difference.
Guess he was too busy getting Fried, Bellinger, Goldschmidt, and Williams. What a slacker that he missed out on Urshela.
This is the most A’s signing ever…
Along with Severino lmao
The Severino signing was just so ESPN can stop showing Eric Chavez from 2004 being their largest contract when everyone else has a bigger signing at least 12 years later. Petty John Fisher
Still crazy to me that the 5 years/$75M Benintendi contract is the White Sox’s largest ever and pre-Moncada it was their Paul Konerko deal for 5 years/$60M.
The difference is that the White Sox have a ton of guys on similar-ish deals, so they don’t really look cheap in comparison to the A’s.
This year is going to be the A’s highest payroll ever, and only because they want to avoid a grievance from the MLBPA
Those players deserve better.
So Al wear look out
West
There’s your 3bman.
Go, Sacramento A’s!
@Sox. Yankees still need a 3B and 1B if Bellinger in CF.
Just the A’s.
They don’t recognize Sacramento.
Go ATH’s!
Ninth.
Da A’s making some moves while dey on da move.
Oh yeah uhh deadass it do be like dat doe frfr
3 years 42 million
we already know its a one year deal, but clearly it is for 1 year/$100M.
6 years 90 million
Not because they got Urshela, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the A’s sneak into a WC spot this year
Pump the brakes.
Why?
The A’s were above 500 last year in the second half and that’s before getting Severino or Shields or Urshela
Yes, Gio Urshela turning 33 is EXACTLY the kind of player who drives you to the postseason!
The league would have to expand the playoffs again.
28 playoffs berths.
I agree. I know they are going to be a decent team, and just a decent team the the AL is good enough for a WC spot.
“Cancel reply” button not working for me.
Forget it. Just me & my fat fingers.
A bridge too far, but maybe .500? They will beat out some teams with twice their payroll.
Nice signing by the A’s. I’m guessing they probably had to overpay him to play there, but with their need to add salary to avoid a revenue sharing grievance, this is a good move by the team. The A’s could possibly be a .500 team or slightly better this year if they can remain relatively healthy. Having Mason Miller to close out games is a luxury. Nice to see them spending money even if they are being forced to do so.
Do people really not understand Gio’s had one good full season since 2019, and that season wasn’t in 2024 or 2023?
He’s better than not having anyone at 3B at all, but that’s all you can say for him.
So you’re saying he’s an improvement for the A’s.
Athletics making more and better moves than my mariners. I’m really about done with baseball. 35+ years mariners fan. This is funked. Jerry d had me believing and after all these years and money spent at games I just give up. I give up. Seattle will sell the mariners. I predict it’s planned. So sad. We’re all done here.
The Mariners haven’t missed out on anyone I really wanted yet. It’s early. But go ahead and give up on the off-season and the season too. I’ll be a fan for life. You’re a quitter.
This is the reason ownership isn’t incentivised to spend profits on free agents or payroll. Fans like you will keep coming back, buying tickets, jerseys etc no matter what they do.
rickoppelt;
Has noting to do with ownership and the amount of the payroll.
The Mariners will never win anything with Jerry Dipoto. The guy goes in circles. Every year I read here that he makes great trades, that his farm system is great, and then I read that they have holes here and there. So he fills the holes, usually in the offseason
I keep writing it: Like all bad Baseball Ops heads, he doesn’t build a team, he fills holes. Gives fans a false send of hope for the coming season.
In fact, the Astros and Rangers have been good teams, but the A’s and Angels can’t get out of their own way so it makes the Mariners look more competitive than they actually are. I watch a lot of MLB games. Can’t watch a Mariners game for more than a few innings.
Angels seem to habe no plan and spend stupidly, wasted trout and ohtani. Doesn’t help trout can’t stay healthy. A’s ownership and stadium issue. Also didn’t help their front front office completely blundered their last rebuild
A’s aren’t to be slept on this year. They are looking like a decent ball club.
I’m napping.
That’s just what Met fans do.
They really aren’t, sadly. Two of their worst hitters are 28. Their best starting pitcher had an ERA+ of 90 and a FIP+ around 80. Their ‘ace’ is Luis Severino whose ERA+ in 2024 was 101, and his FIP was 4.21. Their pitching is actually old. Rooker, turning 30, was their only REALLY good hitter and his BABIP was phenomenally lucky.
This has 70 win team written all over it. Might have a respectable nucleus of three middle of the order hitters (but all of whom just had career years—beware), but they’re surrounded by a .295 OBP.
So they only improve by 1 win got it.
Get another starter and I’ll like what I’m seeing
Manaea might be a good fit.
They offered him big deal he turned them down and they went for severino as plan B. I assuming Springs trade was also related too
Ugh, I was hoping he’d sign with the Cubs to be the backup infielder and help ease Matt Shaw into the lineup at 3B.
Too bad. I was hoping he would end up with the Angels.
I enjoy Urshela’s game. Nice defense, plenty of contact, lets you steal and hit and run.
Urshela’s last good season was 2022. I don’t know how much the 33-year-old has left in the tank, but I assume the deal is cheap (by MLB standards) and short. So there’s probably no big risk.
Seems like a lot of people expect the A’s to surprise in 2025. So if the team plays well, will it really be a surprise? Inquiring minds want to know.
Wait, the Phillies thought Alec Bohm was worth Mason Miller?
Wtf are they smoking in the Phillies FO? Because it’s gotta be something a whole lot stronger than marijuana.
He shows up like a bad penny.
He’s a quality, veteran major league 3B that’s stabilized every single team he’s bounced around and played for the last few years.
There’s a lot of open positions to pass around, which I’m sure are appealing to a lot of Free Agents who are mediocre.
He was a good fill in bat for Austin Riley when he got injured. Hopefully the Braves won’t have that as many injuries as they did this year. Anyway good for a month or so but not a full time starter anymore.
A middling player has a middling season. Imagine that…
A’s need 1 more quality SP, let’s bring Manaea back and we can sneak into a wild card spot
Sacramento 2019 Yankletics
I wonder for how much- like is it as paltry as it would have been on a more normal major league club just filling out its roster cheaply with an upside player for a token $1-2M or was it another “gotta pay a premium to convince players to sign with the A’s right now” which would likely be closer to $3.5M or $4M?
$2.15M and up to $2.55M seems quite fair at this point.
Solid deal for both player and team.
Does this mean they won’t be signing Bregman?
I wonder if the A’s checked in on Yoan Moncada. I like the Urshela signing but thought Moncada might have been a good fit.
I wonder if Moncada broke his foot in Winter Ball, or if his ask is too high? He’s a guy coming off a season at 25M per who is in for a deep pay cut. I’d say Urshela is a fair comparison to Moncada based on the work they put in over the past three seasons. Will be interesting to see where Moncada lands.
I just looked Moncada up to refresh myself on him- like I am very aware of him but I remembered he was a really big deal as an amateur free agent signing and might be the most disappointing in history relative to the salaries committed to him.
So my two questions are: Out of all these players that have to go year to year or where their club tries to sign them early on to a team friendly deal that is at a heavily discounted value, how did Moncada or his reps trick everybody or how did scouts and analysts miscalculate so badly on him for him to rake in a $31M signing bonus and a $70M extension based on no real MLB experience and then *one* very decent but unremarkable season?
.315 BAA and 25HRs in 2019 Moncada’s was the first deal the White Sox signed like that. Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez got similar extensions.
All three looked like great contracts. White Sox were built to win in ’21. Injuries and a bad trade derailed them.
If Moncada goes on to play those five seasons without injury, the Sox management would have been looked upon as being savvy. Luis Robert’s deal looked great too but is working out the same way.
Eloy also injured all the time. All three busts in a sense, all three still have potential to be great players. All three likely out of town and the Sox in the beginning of a total tear down and rebuild.
Look I get it- Yankees made the same mistake with Aaron Hicks and DJ LeMahieu- both times they broke their own policy of how to approach extensions and free agency and both times they burned themselves with bad contracts.
The difference is that the White Sox were trying to get ahead of potentially exponential salary demands from their players, whereas with the Yankees the team abc players agreed on the total dollars but the Yankees thought it’d be clever to stretch the contacts by 2-3 years for both players in order to keep the AAV’s down.
TA, Moncada, and Eloy are all looking like they will be lucky to get Major League contracts. What is it about the White Sox environment that every other team seems to know about, that the players are becoming Pariah?
TrillionaireTeamOperator
analysts miscalculate so badly on him for him to rake …… $70M extension based on no real MLB experience and then *one* very decent but unremarkable season?
============================
He had a 4.0 bWAR/650 PAs in his first three seasons with the WS. That’s worth a gamble. Even in retrospect, with the WS, he’s had a 3.2 bWAR/650 PAs. It’s difficult to predict injuries.
I feel so bad for Oakland A’s fans. They spent nothing on players for decades. Where was the PA years ago to file a grievance against ownership re spending? It just reeks of collusion with MLB that the pending grievance comes to light just after they clear the last major hurdle to their Vegas stadium.
Who was going to flock to that concrete canyon just because A’s payroll was $120 million?
4SFGSW9
I feel so bad for Oakland A’s fans.
=======================
One might argue that the As don’t really have fans.
It’s always weird when the A’s make moves. Are they trying to compete? Or just getting ready for their next round of dumps?
“Meaningful games in June” is the aim.
“touching base with the Phillies regarding Alec Bohm, but balked at Philadelphia’s reported ask for star closer Mason Miller.”
The new definition of chutzpah:
Trying to parlay Alec Bohm’s lone good season into five years of a star closer.
Another veteran near the end of their productive days? The A’s have tapped this market several times in the last couple years (Stripling, Wood, Davis) and it hasn’t paid off. Not optimistic this one will either. Someone a few years younger might have been a better choice. They don’t need a clubhouse leader, they need someone who can produce on the field.
A’s will be his 8th different MLB team. Any other current player been on more teams?
Even after this signing the A’s could still afford to sign Pete Alonso and give Brent Rooker an extension and still be under $100 million in payroll
I’m starting to really like Alec Bohm for some reason, I feel like Bohm is going to be nails if he lands with the right team.
I’d love to see the White Sox trade Luis Robert for Alec Bohm.
Walker & Urshella are both .250 hitters. Both terrific fielders. 1 gets 60 million. The other get 2 million.
One has hit 73 Home Runs over his entire nine year career, the other has hit 95 the past three seasons. That added skill set made a world of difference for one of them
Don’t even waste your time trying to, Sox. Some people are just proudly ignorant.
I just wanted to be the one to tell you that they play different positions and aren’t even remotely comparable.
I was hoping the Braves would have re-signed him as a backup. He played fantastic defense last year.
I loved Urshela on the Yankees and wanted him to be the 3B or Utility Man of the future with a long term extension. I genuinely hoped he’d wind up one of those guys who got like 4 years/$30M for his arbitration years and another 4 years/$70M or something, have a nice 8-10 year Yankee tenure and move on gracefully.
He’s surprisingly old for being at this point in his career and has likely already peaked, but I am hoping he way over performs, winds up producing slightly above his career averages to like a 2.3 WAR, 17 HR 85 RBI type of season and can get one last 1 year/$15M or 2 years/$25M contract from someone, if not an unlikely 4-5 year run of resurgence.
I just like him as a player, have always considered him underrated.
He is not going to get near 17hrs and 85rbi but he may be serviceable in the same way that Abraham Toro is
Reading comprehension: “Hope be way over performs” means that 17 HR / 85 RBI would be him way over performing, as I hope for him.
Hope and way over perform were the operative words you appear to have missed.
Thank you for the clarification sir
No problemo, good sir.
I realistically think he will generate:
1.2 WAR from a batting line of approximately:
.250 BA / 11 HR / 50 RBI
or somewhere thereabouts.
I could also see him scuffling to a 0.3 WAR and a batting line of about
.245 BA / 8 HR / 30 RBI
So we shall see.
How much more do the A’s have to spend to get to the required minimum payroll to be a revenue sharing recipient?
How delicious would it be if the A’s make the playoffs and knock out some high payroll team?
Mmmm. Shhhoup! Burp.
So no bregman (who was supposed to be a great fit for them)
Dude…. that’s… extreme.
I watched the A’s go downhill and get cheaper and cheaper, I understand your frustrations, but that was… unnecessary.
Did Seattle just not even call this guy? They’re just not even trying this Winter.
While he may be better than what the A’s have for 3B, I don’t believe he’s an improvement over what Seattle already has.
Seattle doesn’t have a 3B or a 2B.
Pete Alonso to the A’s next haha
sacramento Athletics to the postseason?????????