The A’s have reached an agreement with the designated hitter Brent Rooker on a five-year, $60 million extension, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports. The deal includes a vesting option for a sixth season that could increase the value, including escalators, to $90 million. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the base value of the option is $22 million and that Rooker will make $30 million over the first three seasons of the deal. This corresponds to the Bledsoe Agency client’s arbitration time. The deal covers his arb window and buys out at least two free agent seasons.

It’s another significant investment in what’s been a big offseason for the A’s. As seen on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Rooker is the first A’s player to sign a five-year contract since the club extended the starting pitcher Trevor Cahill for $30.5 million in 2011. It is the team’s second investment over $60 million this winter. Last month they added Luis Severino on a three-year, $67 million free agent contract, which was the largest contract in franchise history.

Two years ago it would have been unthinkable that Rooker would secure such a contract. He landed with the A’s on a waiver claim at the start of the 2022-23 offseason. Rooker was a 28-year-old DH/corner outfielder who bounced between the Twins, Padres and Royals without getting much of a look at any stop. As a former top-35 draft pick who hit well in the minors, he was a reasonable waiver target. However, the A’s could not have imagined that it would work out so well.

The righty rooker has become not only one of the most successful waiver claims in recent memory, but also one of the best hitters in baseball. He hit 30 home runs in 526 plate appearances and was selected to the 2023 All-Star selection. While he was left out of the Midsummer Classic last season, Rooker took another big step forward. He hit 39 home runs, 26 doubles and a pair of triples with a massive .293/.365/.562 batting line in 614 plate appearances.

Rooker finished tied for fifth (next). Jose Ramirez And Marcell Ozuna) on home runs. Only Aaron Richter, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Santander And Juan Soto hit more. Among hitters with at least 500 PAs, Rooker ranked in the top 20 in all three slash stats. He ranked sixth in slugging – behind Judge, Ohtani, Bobby Witt Jr.Soto and Jordan Alvarez.

It’s now been two seasons of borderline elite offensive production. Rooker has a .272/.348/.528 average through more than 1,100 plate appearances in an A’s uniform. He ranks in the top 15 in slugging percentage and ranks ninth in home runs since the start of the 1923 season. He is a middle class player.

His game has a fair amount of swing-and-miss. Rooker has made more than 30% of his plate appearances with the A’s. Last year’s production was driven in part by a .362 average on balls in play, which will be difficult to maintain. However, Rooker makes a lot of hard contact, so he’ll likely see a modest BABIP regression rather than a big drop.

The normalization of ball-in-play occurred at the end of last season. Rooker carried an unsustainable .390 BABIP into the All-Star break. In the second half, that number fell to .333. To his credit, Rooker compensated for this by lowering his strikeout rate to a much more tolerable 24.1% over that period. It remains to be seen whether he will maintain this level of contact, but it’s an encouraging development that likely confirms the front office’s confidence in his impact.

Even if he doesn’t hit .290 with 40 home runs on the year, Rooker should remain an impact hitter. The A’s have made it clear that they view him as a long-term anchor of their lineup. The team reportedly took him off the market before the trade deadline last summer. They had no interest in trade rumors reigniting in the offseason. GM David Forst stated within a week of the start of the offseason that the A’s would not deal Rooker. They are doubling their commitment by committing to him through at least the 2029 season.

Rooker spent more than three years in the major leagues last season. He was beginning his first of three seasons in arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected a salary of $5.1 million next year. While the exact breakdown is unknown, Rooker will reportedly receive $30 million beyond his arbitration window. That leaves an average of $15 million per year for the two free agent seasons. While it’s not quite an early deal, it looks like Rooker will be earning slightly more over the next few years than he would have had he gone through the arbitration process.

The team is making this trade-off to give him a chance to retain him at below-market rates through the 2028-29 season – expected to be his first two years in Las Vegas. The A’s had no guaranteed money beyond 2027. Severino and the recent trade boom Jeffrey Springs were their only players signed beyond the next season.

The A’s revenue share status has been a major storyline this offseason. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal reported last month that the team may need to increase its competitive balance sheet tax to about $105 million to avoid an MLBPA complaint. Teams are required to spend money on revenue sharing for the on-field product.

The expansion of Rooker will increase the tax figure, although not by much. The contract has an average annual value of $12 million. The AAV is the number used for tax purposes, so it doesn’t matter how salaries are distributed. Rooker was already expected to earn around $5 million next season. This increases the team’s tax number by about $7 million, bringing its revenue to about $97 million (as calculated by RosterResource).

The tax number won’t be finalized until the end of the year, so the A’s remaining off-season and in-season activities could push this even further. Tax considerations are relevant, but are far from the only reason for the A’s to make this deal. If they only cared about increasing CBT numbers next season, they could have signed a handful of mid-tier free agents to one-year deals.

Rooker turned 30 in November. He is signed for five years during his age-34 season. A five-year deal carries some risk for a player in his 30s who doesn’t offer much defensive value. However, if Rooker continues to get close to this level, his arbitration price would have risen quickly anyway. He could have been set for an AAV in the $20-25 million range once he reached free agency, a number the A’s may not have wanted to reach.

At the same time, it’s easy for Rooker to see how attractive the safety precautions are to Rooker. It wasn’t that long ago that he looked like a fringe player. He wouldn’t have hit free agency until his age-33 season, when a three- or four-year deal would have been the cap. It is understandable that long-term earning potential will be foregone in the next few seasons in order to avoid the risk of injury.

This should also solidify Rooker’s place in an up-and-coming A’s lineup. Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom, Shea Langeliers, JJ Bleday and rebound candidate Zack Gelof promising as an offensive core. The fourth overall victory of last summer Nick Kurtz could move quickly as a polished college hitter. The A’s still need a lot to break through to compete in 2025, but things are starting to come into focus. Soderstrom and Kurtz fit best at first base, so there may be a logjam down the line with Rooker stuck as designated hitter. That would be a good problem to have if both young first basemen reach their offensive limits and Rooker continues to hit at an All-Star level.

Image courtesy of Imagn.