It would be easy to criticize the Oakland A’s offseason. Their stadium saga managed to take a step backward with an embarrassing rejection from their preferred site, their modest payroll was the subject of a grievance from the Players Association, and meanwhile they did little to improve a starting rotation that stands as an obvious weakness. That’s the glass-half-empty version.
However, purely in terms of player transactions, the A’s got quite a bit done despite having little to work with. No, they didn’t upgrade their last-place squad into an instant contender — that would have required spending money they didn’t have on a couple reliable starting pitchers and probably a bigger-ticket closer, on top of everything they actually did in real life.