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The Oakland Telegraph
31 October 2025
The morning after the three-peat before
By Lou Kingfortrades, roster adjustment correspondent
Last night at the Coliseum, the lights burned brightly in the Oakland front offices. While the players celebrated and their Mr 15 per cents hurriedly sought out every marketing and sponsorship deal for their clients that they could lay their hands on, the behind-the-scenes men and women at the baseball club had a lot of work to do. Paulie Beane, Oakland's now legendary GM ("undue modesty seems a little false when you've won three world titles", he says), together with some of his key staff such as sabremetrician Mike Rosoft-Excel, were scouring their databases. They need to find new players because they cannot afford all their current ones. Penny-pinching owner Ban-ki Rupt ("an economiser", he calls himself) has, despite the postseason revenues, kept Oakland's payroll budget at $150m for 2026. That means shipping out some of the more expensive established players and finding new, cheaper ones. Beane is not expected to make any trades until after free agents have filed; he wants other clubs to have budget space freed up if they are to take over some of his high salaries. But when every penny counts there is no respite. The groundwork must start the day after becoming world champions. The 2026 season has effectively already started.
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