The praise was plentiful for the A's front office. The team had landed not one, but two All-Star shortstops in Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. It was akin to the Yankees adding Alex Rodriguez to the roster when they already had Derek Jeter. Like A-Rod, the plan for Correa was to move over to third base to replaced the departed Matt Chapman. But still, an enormous void was created in center field with the loss of Rookie of the Year Jeren Kendall.
Amit Patel was too engrossed in his work to notice that the congratulatory pats on the back from the media were going to Billy Beane. It was Beane who had nearly put the kibosh on the Lindor trade, and Patel had to overcome Beane's missteps to pull the trigger on the Correa swap. But Patel wasn't doing this for glory or praise. He was maniacally assembling the best team possible.
One last chip remained in Patel's cache. He had managed to hold on to
Sean Doolittle despite the best efforts of David Forst and the Boston Red Sox. Doolittle was a tremendous closer, but he just didn't fit into Patel's calculations and projections inside the A's new home field. An extreme fly ball pitcher in a hitter's ballpark was a bad fit, and Patel wanted to capitalize on Doolittle's 41-save season in 2019.
Suitors were not hard to find, but Baltimore was bar far the best trade partner, offering up
Andrew McCutchen. The former Pittsburgh Pirate had a respectable .262/.351/.450 slash line along with 23 home runs in his first season with the Orioles. He had signed a 2-year, $24.7 million to join Baltimore after seven All-Star seasons with the Pirates. At the age of 33, he was still an offensive threat and a serviceable center fielder. Just what the A's needed.
The A's trade Sean Doolittle to the Orioles for Andrew McCutchen
The trade thrilled A's President Dave Kaval, who was now seeing a score of 90 on the Fan Interest Index, the exact number he was hoping to reach before the start of the 2020 season. This was despite the free agent losses of
Sonny Gray (Los Angeles Dodgers) and
Khris Davis (Colorado Rockies). Season ticket sales were brisk in anticipation of the team's inaugural campaign in its new stadium. But still, Patel felt like his work was far from done. The Angels weren't standing pat, scraping together enough money to sign the top free agent on the market,
Paul Goldschmidt.
With the team dealing
Matt Olson to the Red Sox in the offseason, the A's had turned to
Chris Shaw as its first baseman for the upcoming season. Shaw hit 26 home runs with 85 RBI the previous season, but had a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of just 0.7, and his defense was atrocious. Patel knew he could do better. In a move that sent a clear picture that the A's were going "all in" on the present, Patel abandoned his plan to pour money into the farm system and scouting, choosing instead to pull every available penny to get into a bidding war for
Sueo Mihara.
The negotiations stretched well into February, as the A's held off bids from Boston, Chicago, and finally Toronto to sign the Japanese first baseman. The signing took every last dollar of the A's budget, spending $88.5 million to ink Mihara to a 3-year deal. Oakland had mortgaged its future for a player that Patel believed could put the A's at the top of the AL West.
Sueo Mihara signs with the Oakland A's for an average of $33.1 million (4th highest salary in MLB)