I rarely predict, with any accuracy, what the heck the Oakland A’s are going to do in the off-season. Partly that’s because off-season maneuvers are difficult to predict, period, and partly it’s because the A’s are masters at zagging while everyone is talking about zig.
How exactly do you try to turn a team competitive, on a paltry budget, as Oakland will presumably endeavor to do once again this winter? We know the team lacks a CFer and a RFer, arguably all the way down from the MLB team to the minors. That does not mean they will land a well-known free agent target such as Dexter Fowler or deal for an established slugger whose price tag would be "start with Barreto or Chapman and let’s talk from there.