Hold on to your hats, Athletics Nation. Things are about to get weird.
Since the lockout dragged on for over three months, with MLB transactions paused the entire time, the league must now get in most of an entire offseason in one week before spring training games begin on Thursday (or on Friday for the A’s). Now the frenzy has begun, not quite with a full explosion yet but still several significant moves in the first day-plus.
As a refresher, a few things did happen before the lockout began, back in November. The Rangers beefed up their middle infield by signing Marcus Semien and Corey Seager; the Mariners signed reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and acquired All-Star infielder Adam Frazier; the Astros re-signed superstar pitcher Justin Verlander; the Angels re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias and grabbed some expensive rotation lotto tickets; and the A’s lost star outfielders Mark Canha and Starling Marte to the Mets in free agency, where they’ll join superstar pitcher Max Scherzer.