Elephant Rumblings: Payroll increase, Wood, Hendriks, Jimenez

MLB news roundup

Good morning Athletics Nation! Happy Tuesday to you all.

The Athletics reportedly want to pump payroll in a big way this offseason. Up all the way into the nine-digit range. If that’s really the case (and that’s a big if) then the club has a ways to go to hit that threshold. Our very own Nico delves into the possibilities the club could pursue as they look to boost payroll to help supplement the young core growing up together. There’s a few names specifically mentioned in the piece but if you can think of other ways to pump the payroll up, head over and drop a comment!

The Season In Review series continued yesterday with an examination of left-handed starter Alex Wood. In short, it was a waste of money and a missed opportunity but that’s going to happen. The club can’t get trigger shy when trying to add talent, especially with that talent needing to be overplayed to come play in Sacramento. The series will continue today with an examination of first-half thirdbaseman Abraham Toro.

The wounds are still fresh from the team departing our beloved Oakland and it’s not just the fans who are still grieving. Former closer Liam Hendriks, who made three All-Star teams and would have made a fourth if not for COVID, recently spoke about his feelings watching the club’s final games in the East Bay. It’s where he had some of the best years of his career and it’s comforting to know that a lot of the players will miss playing in Oakland.

In other news it seems like former reliever Dany Jimenez won’t have to wait long to find a new home. The Boston Red Sox have reportedly made contact with Jimenez and are infested in bringing him in to help a beleaguered bullpen. They may have some competition for his services but they seem to be aggressive and letting the baseball world know they’re in on him. And in non-A’s news its getting precarious for the city of Tampa to keep the Rays. Everything that can go wrong seems to be happening to them right now, and that’s a story that A’s fans can appreciate and relate to. Fingers crossed that the two can come together and keep the Rays in Florida. It’s never fun to lose a baseball team.

Have an excellent day everyone.

A’s Coverage:

• How To Spend $68M Out Of The Blue
• Athletics 2024 Season In Review: Alex Wood
• Nightengale: Athletics plan to raise payroll to $100MM range
• “Definitely sucks” Former A’s All-Star Liam Hendricks opens up on end of Oakland era
• Red Sox, others reportedly interested in FA reliever Dany Jimenez
• Rays stadium drama sounds all too familiar to A’s fans

MLB News & Interest:

• Angels sign left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi to 3-year deal
• MLB alters Rays’ schedule due to likelihood of rain during season
• Report: Phillies have had ‘extensive talks’ with White Sox about Garrett Crochet
• Phillies interested in Alex Bregman, Willy Adames
• Giants tender outfielder Mike Yastrzemski contract for 2025
• Ex-catcher Robinson Chirinos joins Orioles as bench coach
• White Sox maintain high asking price on Luis Robert Jr.
• Which ballpark will suit Juan Soto best? It almost doesn’t matter
• One free agent who could make sense for every team
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Things aren’t looking great down in Tampa right now…

A couple familiar names are finalists for an award!

Looking good Dallas: