The Athletics will be looking to make improvements all around the roster this winter, and some of their key moves may be on the trade front, given the team's fairly set position player roster and its need for pitching moving forward. 

One player that could serve as a big test case for ownership's willingness to spend in free agency as well as a glimpse into the thought process of whoever ends up leading the A's baseball operations department will be left-hander Trevor Rogers. 

Rogers, 28, went 10-11 in 2026 and held a 4.03 ERA (3.45 FIP). This is one season removed from a 2025 campaign in which he held a 1.81 ERA (2.82 FIP). While those numbers suggest that Rogers is a good pitcher and could have success anywhere, he should be of particular interest to the A's.

First off, his walk rate sat at just 5.6% this season, and was 6.9% in 2025. The A's are targeting pitchers that throw strikes for a couple of reasons. The first is that fewer walks means fewer pitches thrown, which means starters working deeper into games. That helps the entire pitching staff.

The other reason is that fewer free passes leads to fewer baserunners, so if and when a pitcher gives up a home run at the team's Triple-A park in Sacramento, it's a solo shot instead of a two- or three-run homer. 

Rogers held a 38.3% ground-ball rate in 2026, which was well down from his career average of 42.7%. The A's as a team finished with a 38% ground-ball rate last season, ranking them last in MLB. Part of the reason for this was an increased fastball usage from Rogers in 2026, and less reliance on his sinker and changeup, which are ground-ball offerings.

Rogers also held an 8.8% HR/FB ratio in 2026, and his career rate has sat at 9.1%. The A's this past season had a 13.9% HR/FB ratio as a team, second-worst in baseball. 

All of these metrics are pointed in the right direction for 2027, and would come in handy while the team figures out its ballpark factors in Las Vegas in 2028. 

There are no formal projections for Rogers this winter, but given that he has racked up 14.1 fWAR over his seven-year career, including 7.3 fWAR the past two seasons, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to see him earning somewhere in the $15–20 million per season range. 

If Rogers is the guy that the A's want to add to the rotation this winter, they need to make sure they go and add that extra year if that's what it takes. The team needs to start seeing what they really have before they get to Vegas, and in order to do that, ownership needs to make some investments into the pitching staff to put less strain on the bullpen. 

With a little bit of depth built up, the A's would be able to properly assess the roster and make the necessary adjustments so they can hit the ground running in Vegas. 

For Rogers, that could mean going from four to five years. Or perhaps they go four years and a fifth-year player option like they did when they added a player option for Luis Severino, giving him a two-year deal with a third-year option. 

The biggest drawback to going out and signing another pitcher to a big contract (for the A's) is that people would then expect Rogers to be the ace of the pitching staff. He very well may end up being the best pitcher the A's have if he signs with them, but that could also be J.T. Ginn or Gage Jump, too. 

The real focus here is building up the depth of the club and taking some of the pressure away from both Ginn and Jump without moving all of that pressure onto the new arm in the rotation. 

In a perfect world, perhaps Ginn gets the Opening Day nod, followed by Rogers, Jump, Jack Perkins, and Jacob Lopez. If Luis Severino is back for another season, even better. He could be the first or second starter, followed by Ginn, Rogers, Jump, and then either Perkins or Lopez. 

That is how the A's build up quality depth, and that's how they find success in the near future. Rogers just happens to have the tools that fit the A's needs more than just "good pitcher." He's a good pitcher that keeps the ball in the ballpark and throws strikes — something this team has been lacking.