It’s a little difficult to gauge what the Athletics will do this winter since the team has yet to hire a full-time president of baseball operations or general manager since David Forst was let go back on August 7. Beyond this front office uncertainty, the expectation that the A’s will continue to trading players as they get too expensive shouldn’t be written in stone, given how the team has been (in the last two years) been spending money to extend core players and splurge on Luis Severino’s free agent deal.
With all of this in mind, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Shea Langeliers in another team’s uniform on Opening Day. Langeliers is projected to earn an $8.7MM salary in his second of three arbitration years, and he is on pace to hit free agency after the 2028 campaign. The Athletics discussed an extension with Langeliers last spring but talks didn’t appear to go anywhere, and it’s also worth wondering if a Scott Boras client like Langeliers is simply more likely than not to forego an extension and test the open market.
The two remaining years of control over Langeliers gives the A’s plenty of potential time to work out a new deal, and decreases the urgency to trade Langeliers now (rather than next winter or even at next summer’s trade deadline). Langeliers missed a little under seven weeks of the 2026 season due to a torn right meniscus and was used only as a DH once he returned in September, so this might not be the sell-high peak of Langeliers’ trade value if some teams prefer to see him catch again before committing to a big trade package.
Of course, any club in need of a catcher is bound to have interest in Langeliers’ services. Now in his fourth year as a Major League regular, Langeliers has become one of baseball’s more solid backstops, with a 117 wRC+ since Opening Day 2024. The 2026 season saw Langeliers hit .262/.328/.474 with 23 homers over 467 plate appearances, and he earned his first All-Star nod.
Langeliers doesn’t walk too often, and there’s a lot of swing-and-miss in his offensive profile in the form of below-average strikeout, whiff, and chase rates over his career. On the plus side, he hits the ball hard when he does make contact, and he has plenty of power. The Athletics’ move to Sutter Health Park hasn’t skewed Langeliers’ offensive numbers to any great extent, as he has actually performed better (127 wRC+ in 493 PA) on the road over the last two seasons than at home (116 wRC+ in 497 PA).
Defensively, Langeliers is very good at throwing out baserunners but Statcast grades him as a below-average catcher due to poor framing and blocking metrics. The 2024 season was Langeliers’ low point as a defensive catcher but he has since rebounded to be about an average blocker and only a slightly below-average framer. It’s worth noting that catchers also have a rough time working in hitter-friendly ballparks, so Langeliers’ improvement over two seasons at Sutter Health Park may be more pronounced than indicated by Statcast’s numbers.
In comparison to another prominent catcher, Langeliers has solidly outperformed Adley Rutschman over the last three seasons from an offensive perspective. Rutschman has the big edge on defense, but his 7.0 fWAR in 1413 PA from 2024-26 is still less than Langeliers’ 7.9 fWAR in 1524 PA. This comp is noteworthy given the haul of a trade return that the Orioles received from the Red Sox for Rutschman at the last trade deadline.
Rutschman’s excellent numbers in 2022-23 and his past status as a first overall pick naturally had some impact on Boston’s willingness to swing such a trade, plus it’s fair to guess that the Orioles may have wanted a premium to move Rutschman to a division rival in particular. Still, the executive who ends up running the A’s baseball ops department will surely have the Rutschman deal in mind when considering any Langeliers offers, as a team obtaining Langeliers now will have him for two full seasons, rather than the Red Sox having Rutschman just through the 2027 campaign.
Not that the A’s weren’t already hoping to be back to winning baseball by now, but the team’s plan for its three-year stint in Sacramento was to build the core of a good team that would be ready to contend when the Athletics officially move to Las Vegas in 2028. The A’s have some quality bats, though just about all of them spend significant time on the injured list in 2026. Between the depleted lineup and the continued poor pitching, the Athletics went 64-98, in a step back from their 76 wins in 2025 and even their 69-93 season in 2024 (their last year in Oakland).
The incoming PBO/GM might think the club’s pitching simply has too many holes to patch up this winter, or that it’s impossible for any rotation to post passable numbers in Sacramento. If 2027 is another rebuilding season, then that eats up one of Langeliers’ remaining two years of control. By that logic, trading Langeliers for some younger talent (particularly pitchers) who could be ready for the majors as early as 2028 would be the better long-term play for the organization.
A Langeliers trade package could also include a stopgap veteran catcher who could both fill the A’s new need behind the plate, and act as a bridge to another wave of Athletics catching prospects. Davis Diaz and Cole Conn each made their Triple-A debuts this year and might be cracking the big league roster at some point in 2027. There’s also the possibility that a trade suitor with a promising catching prospect could offer that player as part of a Langeliers deal, with this team wanting a backstop who could provide more immediate help.
Such teams as the Twins, Reds, Rangers, Angels, Giants, Yankees, Phillies, Mets, Orioles, or Pirates should all be looking for catching help of some kind this offseason, though some of this group are more in the market for backups or part-timers than a clear-cut starter like Langeliers. The free agent catching class doesn’t offer a ton of answers, and the Cardinals might be the only team with enough of a true catching surplus to be open to a wide range of trade talks. There’s a chance the Brewers shop William Contreras before his final year of team control, but Milwaukee’s run to the World Series might increase the chance that the Crew keep Contreras around to make another run at a ring (or a repeat) in 2027.
The impending lockout and the Athletics’ lengthy front office search also factors into any trade considerations. Once a hire is finally made, the new PBO/GM won’t have that much time to evaluate their new roster before the current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1. Arranging and completing a Langeliers trade in that compressed window of time will be tricky, and waiting until after the lockout (however long that might take) will be even trickier, as those trade talks would be happening amidst a frenzy of roster-building moves all around the league.
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