Sources - Brent Rooker reaches 5-year, $60M extension with A's - ESPN

Designated hitter Brent Rooker and the Oakland Athletics are in agreement on a five-year, $60 million contract extension, sources told ESPN late Monday night, continuing a winter of uncharacteristic spending with a long-term deal for the late-blooming slugger.

Before he joined the A's in 2023, Rooker had bounced among three teams without finding consistent playing time. The A's saw Rooker blossom into an All-Star in his first season with them, a 10th-place MVP finisher last year and the receiver of the second-largest extension in franchise history.

The A's, who will play in Sacramento for the next three seasons before a planned move to Las Vegas after leaving Oakland, already had spent $67 million this winter to sign right-hander Luis Severino and added left-hander Jeffrey Springs in a trade with Tampa Bay. The deals, as well as Rooker's, continue to push the A's payroll toward the $100 million range. If they do not spend at least 1½ times the revenue-sharing money they receive, the A's run the risk of a union grievance.

The deal signals the latest in an attempt to rebuild after years of minuscule payrolls and lackluster results. Though the A's were a success story of a team that managed to succeed in spite of meager support from ownership, recent seasons with slashed payrolls have yielded awful results and coincided with vitriol toward owner John Fisher as A's bid the city of Oakland farewell.

Rooker becomes the lone A's player under contract through their planned Las Vegas debut in 2028. The deal, which was first reported by The Athletic, will pay him $30 million over the first three seasons and includes a sixth-year vesting option for $22 million that can escalate by $10 million. The previous largest extension had