12 A's Players Out of Options Heading Into 2027

One of the keys to building a Major League roster these days is to have flexibility with that 40-man group. Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said multiple times down the stretch that adding relief pitchers with options would be helpful for 2027.

The reason here is that it would give them the flexibility to option an arm for a fresh one when needed, giving them more fluidity when needed and making sure they always had enough big-league caliber arms ready to pitch. That was not always the case in 2026.

With that being one of the team's goals this winter, here are the players that will be out of options entering 2027, which could signal some roster moves ahead for the franchise:

Donovan Walton

Michael Stefanic

Luis Medina

Jacob Lopez

Scott Blewett

Chris Roycroft

Seth Johnson

Joey Estes

Brooks Kriske

Geoff Hartlieb

Darell Hernaiz

Johnathan Rodríguez

Walton, Stefanic, and Hernaiz are all in a tricky situation, since at maximum, one of those players will make the 26-man roster. They all play roughly the same positions, and there are other spots to fill on the roster. The frontrunner for that spot would have to be Walton, who posted a 124 wRC+ (100 is league average) and played all over the infield in 2026. 

Hernaiz wasn't called up much in September, or much at all after June this season, despite the injuries to the roster, which should provide a decent view of his place on the team's internal depth chart. He hit .234 with a .316 OBP and a 65 wRC+ with the A's this season, but just four of his 32 hits went for extra bases, which has been the knock against him. 

Medina was out of options this past season as well, which is part of the reason why he was moved into the bullpen after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024. The other reason is that he wouldn't have been able to handle a full starter's workload in his first season back. After Medina racked up 73 innings in 2026, the A's are open to the possibility of him being a starter in 2027. 

Lopez is an interesting piece of this mix. He was in the rotation to begin the year, but after two months of massive struggles, he ended May with a 6.75 ERA and was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. 

He was able to return to the rotation after the All-Star break, where he posted a 4.37 ERA in the second half across 68 innings. Two poor starts at the end of the season where he gave up 15 earned runs across 6 ⅓ innings really inflated his ERA in what was otherwise a solid second half. 

Joey Estes is still just 24 years old, but he's racked up a total of 18 ⅓ innings with the A's over the past two seasons, appearing in five total games. He's also accumulated 171 ⅓ innings in the minors in that span, so this hasn't been an injury keeping him away. We'll likely see him removed from the 40-man at some point this offseason since he'd be placed on waivers at the beginning of the year if he didn't make the 26-man roster anyway. 

Blewett, Roycroft, Johnson, and Kriske will all be fighting for the same spots in the A's bullpen. Kriske didn't throw much before needing surgery, so he may be out of the mix. Johnson underwent surgery on his left knee, but is expected to be ready for Opening Day.

Johnson, Blewett, Hartlieb and Roycroft all showed glimpses of what could make them effective relief pitchers for the A's, but Blewett was the one that was mentioned by Kotsay most frequently as having made an impact on the team. 

Rodríguez, 26, was claimed by the A's off waivers in August. He's an outfielder who hits the ball hard, but into the ground, and he ended up batting .239 with a .346 OBP and a 90 wRC+ (100 is league average) in 24 games with the A's Triple-A affiliate. 

The A's 40-man roster currently sits at 46 players. They will have to trim that number to 40 shortly after the World Series.