Mariners must look over their shoulder as Athletics finally rebuild front office

When the 2010s turned into the 2020s, it's as if the Seattle Mariners went in one door and the Athletics went out another. The 2021 season, specifically, marked the beginning of the Mariners' rise as a major player in the AL West and the A's fall into irrelevance. Since then, the Mariners have the second-most wins in the division. The A's have the fewest.

But be warned: The A's are making moves.

They have thus far spent the offseason remaking their front office, hiring Taylor Smith as president of baseball operations and Cam Castro as general manager. The two have cut their teeth in the majors with the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox. So, the two teams that were just in the World Series and another that was quietly third in the majors for Wins Above Replacement this season.

It's about time the A's went for a new look in the front office. The Billy Beane "Moneyball" era was a long time ago by now, but it was Beane's top lieutenant, David Forst, who took over as general manager in 2015. He stayed in that role until he was finally fired in August of this year, effectively marking the end of three decades of front office continuity.

Though he'll work under Smith, it's the Castro hiring that looms as especially threatening for the rest of the AL West. He's a former Driveline guy who worked in pitching development for the Brewers, before eventually becoming their senior vice president of player development. He had a hand in developing Jacob Misiorowski and is connected to Milwaukee's broader reputation for Borg-ifying nasty pitchers. Their hurlers averaged 98.5 mph on the fastball during the postseason.

The A's need Castro's magic touch for arms in the worst way. In the last five seasons, they have ranked no better than 13th in the American League for ERA. This year, in particular, only they and the Colorado Rockies finished the year with an ERA over 5.00.

The A's continue to gear up for a big debut in Las Vegas, and the Mariners should be wary

Smith and Castro clearly have a lot of work to do before the A's can be seen as a contender, but the Mariners can vouch that even the current team is a pest. They and the A's have split the 26 games they have played across the last two seasons, and some of Seattle's losses were downright maddening.

For most of the Beane-Forst years, you could at least count on the A's having frequent roster turnover. There was Jason Giambi, and there he goes. There was Johnny Damon, and there he goes. And so on straight through the more recent purge of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Sean Murphy a few years back.

This is no longer the case, and indeed hasn't been the case for several years now. The A's are all about extensions these days, notably handing out deals of at least five years to Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson.

You can draw a straight line between owner John Fisher's sudden fondness for extensions and the team's upcoming move to Las Vegas in 2028. The A's aren't high-rollers yet, but it's a bit more than a footnote that they opened this season with a higher payroll than even the Brewers. How much further can they go once Sin City opens up a stronger, more consistent revenue stream?

Perhaps far enough to extend 2025 AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, which the A's have already tried to do. Another for No. 2 prospect Leo De Vries could also be on the table at some point. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time before Las Vegas turns the A's into an actual destination for free agents.

Where the Mariners are concerned, the bright side is that their championship window is hardly closing. They're still a young, talented team (no, seriously) with a deep farm system. The same can't be said about their two AL West rivals in Texas, as both the Astros and the Rangers face tall tasks in continuing to contend beyond 2026.

Yet between the A's gearing up for Las Vegas and the Los Angeles Angels getting bought by Stan Kroenke, the Mariners would do well to keep a wary eye on both teams. It won't be long before Las Vegas and Anaheim are the major battlefronts in the AL West.

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