The Oakland A’s quietly made some noise as they inked recently acquired Kolby Allard to a 5-year $89,000,000 extension that will start in 2024. GM Scott Gessford had this to say, “We are excited to keep Kolby in an A’s uniform through at least 2026 and possibly through 2028. That is because we gave him an opt out clause after 2026. We fully expect Kolby to pitch even better than he did after coming over from Atlanta.”
Kolby will make his arbitration figure of $13,125,000 in 2023, then the extension will kick in and he will make $17,000,000 a year from 2024-2026 when he will have an option to opt out or continue and make $19,000,000 in both 2027 and 2028. Manager Joe Girardi was excited when he heard the news at the trading deadline that Kolby was coming to Oakland, and they have built a strong relationship. Girardi told Gessford, “you do whatever you need to extend Kolby if you want to build our team toward a championship.” Girardi thinks that the A’s are one player away from being very competitive in 2023. He was asked so what does very competitive mean? “I think as of right now that we should be at least .500 next year. If we get the right player…. Who knows what are upside is.” When pressed if he thinks they could make the playoffs next year Girardi just smiled and said, “What do YOU think”