Locked On A's - Daily Podcast On The Athletics

Oakland Athletics fans face a harsh reckoning—grief and outrage won’t reverse decades of decline or bring the team back to the Bay. Is it time to move past heartbreak and accept a new reality in Vegas? Booney and guest Pete Turner lay bare the myth of the “victimized A’s fan,” exposing how denial, misplaced blame on John Fisher, and low attendance fueled the team’s exit. They challenge listeners:...

Athletics fans seize the spotlight as the Clubhouse gives voice to passionate debate: can the A’s turn late-season momentum into true contention in 2026? From strategic signings to trade rumors and the impact of young stars like Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, and Tyler Soderstrom, optimism battles caution—especially with a looming 2027 lockout threatening the future of Major League Baseball.  Booney le...

A's fans face an identity crisis as team owner John Fisher becomes the “final boss” of their emotions. Has rage stunted A’s fandom, or can the focus shift back to prospect excitement and on-field hope? Booney examines how Fisher’s lack of engagement has turned fan obsession into free advertising and emotional rent. Are fans ready to reclaim their passion and let young stars like Leo Devries, Nick...

A’s fans celebrate as Nick Kurtz clinches the 2025 AL Rookie of the Year—unanimously. Can Kurtz’s power at first base anchor a true franchise resurgence? His electrifying rookie campaign (.290 average, 36 homers, 1.002 OPS) features historic moments, including a record-setting four-homer game. Jacob Wilson’s steady defense and contact hitting earn him second in voting, while Luis Morales quietly l...

The Athletics face a pivotal offseason decision: protect top catching prospect Daniel Susac on the 40-man roster or risk losing him in the MLB Rule 5 Draft. With Susac’s first-round pedigree and the scarcity of major league-ready catchers, rival front offices could be circling, eager for a low-cost, high-upside addition. Could failing to act turn the Rule 5 Draft into a Black Friday frenzy for opp...

In this raw, emotional roundtable, Booney welcomes Salty Tom and Aaron Cameron for a brutally honest discussion about the A’s attendance crisis and what really drove fans away. The crew revisits the early 2000s, when the A’s were a 100-win juggernaut but couldn’t sell out a Friday night. Aaron lays out how the constant roster churn—Giambi, Damon, Tejada gone one by one—eroded fan loyalty. Salty po...

In this episode of Locked On A’s, we dive head-first into the seismic roster moves the A’s made as the 2025 season ends and the 2026 campaign looms. We’ll break down the departures of catcher Willie MacIver and reliever Michel Otañez via waiver claims, explore the outrightings of Anthony Maldonado, Ben Bowden and Jared Shuster, and ask the hard question: is this savvy roster management or just ano...

The A’s future is looking brighter than ever, and today, Booney brings in a familiar voice who’s seen it all firsthand—Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, the voice of the High-A Lansing Lugnuts. Together, they take listeners deep into the A’s farm system to spotlight who’s on the rise, who’s ready to make the leap, and who’s quietly building toward a breakout 2026 season. From Leo De Vries’ maturity at sho...

The A’s are turning the desert into an economic engine, and the secret is the “waterfall” tax system—a financial model that lets the stadium pay for itself. In this episode, Booney dives deep into how Las Vegas built the most efficient public-private ballpark deal Major League Baseball has ever seen, using a special tax district that funnels every dollar generated inside the stadium—beer sales, ti...

The A’s have a hole at third base the size of the Strip, and Booney says the solution isn’t in free agency—it’s in Cincinnati. In this episode, Booney makes the full-throated case for why the A’s should steal Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Reds before anyone notices his true value. Hayes, a Gold Glove defender with elite metrics across the board, would instantly transform the A’s infield and give the tea...

This episode of Locked On A’s is a full-blown offseason experiment — part front office meeting, part math class, and part therapy session. Booney rolls up his sleeves, grabs the calculator, and gets to work solving the impossible equation: how can the A’s build a contender while still living under baseball’s smallest payroll ceiling? From potential free-agent signings to arbitration raises and non...

The Locked On A’s 2025 Report Card Series keeps rolling, and this time it’s chaos in the classroom. Aaron Cameron graded. Salty Tom ranted. And now A’s Day host Joe Grotto joins Booney to challenge the GPA and stir the pot. Together they dive deep into Booney’s midseason grades, with spirited debates over Brett Rooker’s consistency, Hogan Harris’s future as a late-inning weapon, and Brett Harris’s...

From 2000 to 2006, the A’s were everything baseball pretends to celebrate—smart, scrappy, efficient, and flat-out dominant. They racked up 94 wins per year, second only to the Yankees, with a payroll that looked like a rounding error in the Bronx. This was a team that redefined player development, turned castoffs into cornerstones, and launched an entire movement called Moneyball. But while the re...

A'S YOUTH REVOLUTION: The Rise of Morales, Lopez, and Soderstrom This episode of Locked On A’s dives deep into the 2025 report card—where breakout bats and surprise arms defined the season. Tyler Soderstrom gets high marks across the board after evolving into a legitimate Gold Glove candidate in left field, while Luis Morales showed flashes of ace potential that could anchor the rotation for years...

Tonight on Locked On A’s, we’re cracking open the trade vault and reliving the most polarizing deals in A’s history — the ones that made fans cheer, curse, or both in the same breath. From the Mulder-for-Haren heist to the Donaldson-for-Lawrie disaster, Booney’s handing out some fresh 2025 report card grades and re-evaluating the deals that defined entire eras of A’s baseball. Which trades aged li...

In this episode, we dig into the actual construction schedule of the A’s Las Vegas stadium—permits, milestones, deadlines, and all. But we’re not doing it alone. We’re joined by Duntov, a boots-on-the-ground Vegas content creator whose YouTube channel has become the go-to source for tracking stadium, casino, and mega-resort construction across the Strip. With over 8 million views and a sharp eye f...

World Series Showdown: Dodgers vs. Blue Jays - Who Will Reign Supreme? The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays face off in an unexpected World Series matchup. Can the Blue Jays' complete team challenge the Dodgers' powerhouse lineup? Key discussions include team strengths, payroll disparities, and the impact of high-spending franchises on MLB. The hosts analyze starting pitching, bullpen str...

Class is in session, and Booney’s handing out grades. In this special “Report Card Day” edition of Locked On A’s, we’re breaking down every aspect of the 2025 season—who earned top marks, who barely passed, and who’s getting sent to summer school. From Tyler Soderstrom’s defensive leap to Jacob Wilson’s consistency and Nick Kurtz’s growing power stroke, we’re grading every key player, position gro...

In this episode of Locked On A’s, Booney is done playing referee. He’s calling it like it is—and calling out the hypocrisy. The A’s didn’t move because of bad luck or a broken system; they moved because their city and fanbase stopped holding up their end of the bargain. From 95-win seasons that drew minor-league crowds to years of political gridlock that buried Howard Terminal before it ever began...

In this episode, We break down the facts behind the 2026 CBA expiration, why a 2027 lockout isn’t a guaranteed apocalypse, and how the A’s future in Vegas is being shaped by far more than what the Dodgers do in October. From salary cap scare tactics to exaggerated fears of fan disinterest, we cut through the noise with a healthy dose of reason, sarcasm, and hard truth. You’ll also hear why linking...

This episode is about truth, grit, and the evolution of baseball told straight from the mound and the dugout. Jack Perkins opens up about what it means to rebuild your career after Tommy John surgery and how faith and self-belief carried him through when the radar gun didn’t. Scott Brosius takes us inside two very different clubhouses — the unraveling A’s of the 1990s and the unstoppable Yankees o...

Boonie welcomes Eric from Giants Sports Talk Live for a heavyweight crossover episode that dives headfirst into the state of baseball. From the Giants’ rollercoaster 2025 season to the Dodgers’ machine-like dominance, the two debate whether big spending is ruining the game—or redefining it. Eric defends the Giants’ blockbuster trade for Rafael Devers and unpacks how a promising start unraveled, wh...

Tyler Soderstrom’s Gold Glove nomination isn’t just a feel-good story — it’s the stat-backed validation of a young player who completely rewrote the narrative about his defense. Once labeled a bat-first prospect, Soderstrom has turned into a premier Left Fielder. In this episode of Locked On A’s, we break down the metrics that prove it. The data doesn’t just suggest he belongs — it screams it.  Bu...

In Part 2 of Boonie’s explosive conversation with Ray “Dr. Death” Perez, the gloves come off. This episode dives straight into the heart of the A’s exodus — how Senate Bill 293 Skinner, a tailor-made redevelopment tool for Howard Terminal, became the golden ticket Oakland never bothered to cash. Boonie lays out how city leadership fumbled coordination with Alameda County for nearly two years, hiri...

Part One of Locked On A’s with Ray “Dr. Death” Perez doesn’t just ask the tough questions—it rips the cover off the stadium game itself. Perez, a Sacramento native and lifelong Raiders fan who’s worked inside government, joins Boonie for a no-filter conversation on who really pays for pro sports: taxpayers or billionaires. Together, they break down the myth of “public-private partnership” and expo...