Locked On A's - Daily Podcast On The Athletics

Tomorrow at noon isn’t just another episode — it’s the final chapter of a voice that refused to play nice, refused to follow the herd, and refused to let the A’s story get twisted into something it never was. This episode looks back at the journey: the rebuild debates, the financial truth bombs, the prospect hype trains, the stadium wars, and the endless fight to separate facts from noise. Expect...

The A’s finally checked off the biggest box on the offseason grocery list: veteran starting pitching. Aaron Civale slides into a rotation that already had Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs, giving this team three proven big-league starters — something they flat-out didn’t have last year. And that matters, because starting pitching is like having reliable tires on a race car. If they blow out, the...

The myth has always been simple: teams leave because they stop caring about fans. The reality is way more uncomfortable. This episode breaks down why modern sports franchises chase control — control of the building, control of the land, and control of the revenue machine that lives inside premium seating, naming rights, and year-round events. Using the Warriors arena shift and the A’s stadium jour...

The A’s added veteran right-hander Aaron Civale on a one-year deal worth about $6 million, with incentives that can push it higher — a classic “prove it and cash in” type contract. Civale, now 30, is coming off a 2025 season where he bounced between multiple teams and finished with a 4.85 ERA across 102 innings, showing flashes of reliability even in a chaotic year. Over his career, he’s built a r...

Spring training isn’t just warm-up baseball — it’s where seasons quietly get decided before most fans are even paying attention. This episode is built around that idea. The crew breaks down why the start of camp matters, even when the standings don’t, and why this particular spring feels different. There’s real optimism around this roster, but it’s the little battles that could shape the entire ye...

The A’s didn’t chase headlines — they chased solutions. This episode breaks down why the Scott Barlow signing matters way more than casual fans think, with Jeff Carr from Locked On Reds joining to give real insight from someone who watched Barlow pitch in pressure situations all season. The conversation gets into the good and the uncomfortable truth: swing-and-miss stuff, real late-inning experien...

Tomorrow’s future doesn’t start under the bright lights — it starts in Low-A Stockton, and this episode tells you exactly why. Booney sits down with Stockton Ports broadcaster Tim Fitzgerald to pull the curtain back on the A’s pipeline: who’s real, who’s close, and who might be the sneaky name that hits you out of nowhere. They dig into Dylan Fien as a switch-hitting catcher with real tools (but a...

Jacob Wilson just signed his extension — and instead of draining the budget, it exposed how much financial room the A’s still have to build something real. Tonight’s show breaks down the contract in plain English, why it’s actually team-friendly, and how it fits into the long-term vision of locking in a young core before they get expensive. This isn’t about one player — it’s about what this deal u...

For decades, the A’s have been treated like baseball’s favorite punchline — not because of what’s actually happening, but because of the story that keeps getting told about them. In this episode, we rip apart the half-truths, fear-based narratives, and recycled talking points that have followed this franchise since the first post-Haas selloff. From stadium “can’t fit” myths to funding scare tactic...

Ten Minutes of Reality strips away the noise and forces an honest look at the A’s story without spin, slogans, or sides. This episode is about how modern sports discourse has turned into loyalty tests instead of conversations, and why simply questioning the narrative now gets you labeled. Booney challenges that mindset, explaining why thinking for yourself is not betrayal — it’s responsibility. Th...

The A’s made their move, and now the real debate begins. In this episode of Locked On A’s, we break down the Jacob Wilson extension and ask the uncomfortable question nobody else is asking: did this deal protect the franchise more than the player? We look at the timing, the financial structure, and the long-term implications — and why “security” for a young star can sometimes come at a massive hid...

For years, fans were told the same story: the A’s were cheap, unwilling, and incapable of paying their own players. Tonight’s episode rips that myth apart with real numbers, real contracts, and real business logic. This isn’t about emotions or loyalty — it’s about stadium economics, revenue structure, and why the Coliseum made long-term extensions financially unsafe even when money technically exi...

The A’s just locked in one of the smartest bets in baseball, agreeing to a seven-year, $70 million extension with shortstop Jacob Wilson, plus a club option for an eighth season. This isn’t nostalgia spending or panic money — this is the A’s identifying a franchise piece and acting like it. Wilson went from the sixth overall pick in 2023 to an All-Star by 2025, finishing second in AL Rookie of the...

Maxfield Lane and Owen Riley from Down on the Farm pull up to Locked On A’s and basically do what most prospect coverage refuses to do: make it make sense. They break down their project Oyster Analytics—a model built to translate messy minor league data into plain English: what are the odds a prospect becomes a contributor, a regular, or a star? Along the way, we hit the big-picture stuff fans act...

Spring Training is not a charity event. It’s a pressure cooker where every single roster spot is earned, not gifted — and not one of these 31 non-roster invitees is guaranteed anything. No safety nets. No promises. Just cages, bullpens, early mornings, and front-office stopwatches. Most of these guys will be gone before fans even learn their numbers. But one — maybe two — could force the A’s hand...

MLB power rankings dropped, and the A’s landed at No. 18—right in that uncomfortable middle ground where lazy takes go to hide. Today’s show starts by breaking down why the A’s are slotted there, what the rankings get right, and where they completely miss the plot. This isn’t about disrespect for the sake of being mad online; it’s about context. Young cores don’t climb rankings overnight, but the...

Today on Locked On A’s, we start with one of the most disrespectful snubs of the offseason: Tyler Soderstrom getting left off MLB Network’s Top 100 list. A guy who just put up borderline All-Star production, finished near the top of the league at his position in WAR, and is still in his early-20s somehow isn’t “top 100” while half the list is built on name value and vibes. We break down why this i...

2025 was supposed to be about patience, development, and surviving the noise. Instead, it turned into one of the most emotionally chaotic and unexpectedly electric seasons this franchise has had in years. On today’s episode of Locked On A’s, Booney counts down his personal Top 10 games of the 2025 season, starting with the chaos wins and building all the way up to the instant classics. From Nick K...

The A’s are finally in a position they haven’t been in for years: they have players other teams actually want. This episode zeroes in on the uncomfortable but necessary question—who on the current roster is most tradeable, and who would bring back the biggest haul? The conversation centers on two names that keep popping up in front-office circles: Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker. One plays the to...

Jeff McNeil joins Locked On A’s for one of the biggest interviews of the year, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a two-time All-Star and batting champ who built his career by being the hardest out in baseball. McNeil talks about almost becoming a professional golfer, the infamous rain-soaked U.S. Amateur that pushed him toward baseball, and how a late start turned into a Major League career...

The Nolan Arenado saga didn’t just end in Arizona — it almost ended with the A’s pulling off one of the boldest moves of the offseason. According to Ken Rosenthal, the A’s and Cardinals actually had a deal in place, with the A’s willing to take on more money than the Diamondbacks to get it done. That’s not a rumor. That’s not fan fiction. That’s real front-office intent. The only thing that killed...

This episode is all about honesty, not optimism. The A’s offseason gets graded like a final exam — what worked, what didn’t, and what fans are pretending not to see. No participation trophies, no “wait and see,” just a clear-eyed breakdown of whether this winter actually moved the franchise forward or just shuffled the furniture. With Aaron (That Bootleg Huy) and Sam (Straight A’s) on the panel, t...

The Dodgers sign Kyle Tucker and suddenly half the baseball world acts like the sport has been personally wronged. This episode cuts through the whining and calls out how soft the conversation around competition has become. Spending money to win is not cheating, it’s not unfair, and it’s not ruining baseball—it’s the job. Instead of demanding more from their own teams, fans have chosen the easier...

Every franchise has its inner circle—the names that don’t just show up in box scores but live in the muscle memory of the fanbase. This episode puts the spotlight on who should be next when the A’s open the doors to their Hall of Fame in 2026. Three names rise above the rest: Ken Holtzman, Ken Korach, and Mark Ellis. One was a bulldog on the mound during championship runs, one has been the soundtr...

Managing a rebuilding baseball team is like captaining a ship in a storm—you don’t get credit for staying afloat if you never reach land. This episode digs into Mark Kotsay’s tenure with the A’s and asks the uncomfortable but necessary question: is he the right guy for the job as this team starts demanding real results? We break down what Kotsay was hired to do—develop players, keep the clubhouse...