The makeshift podium room at the A’s Jack London Square offices was jam-packed with reporters, cameras and team executives — including former president of baseball operations Billy Beane standing in the back of the room.

“Wow,” general manager David Forst said as he looked around from the podium. “This is exciting, it’s not something we do every day. It’s been a while.”

The A’s aren’t big on the pricy free agency signings that might warrant a flashy news conference — a recent history of cost-cutting and low budgets forces the front office to keep spending at a minimum. So it has been a while. Think Yoenis Cespedes’ intro in 2013, or Hideki Matsui in 2010.

Fujinami’s one-year, $3.5 million deal with the A’s wouldn’t normally warrant the big gathering, but the international draw was enough to get a large group of Japanese language media who will follow “Fuji” — his preferred American nicknamed — through his MLB journey.

“Like Mt. Fuji,” Fujinami said through Japanese interpreter Issei Yamada.

Fujinami’s deal with Oakland poses a perfect opportunity for both sides. Fujinami was looking for a team that would let him pitch as a starter. And the A’s were in need of another arm in their rotation.

“It was important to him to have a chance to be a starter, and that’s how we’ve seen him perform in Japan,” Forst said.

The opportunity to start alone could have been the ultimate draw to Oakland for Fujinami. The 28-year-old was drafted in the first round into the Nippon Professional Baseball, alongside superstar and high-school rival Shohei Ohtani in 2012. He made four straight NBP All-Star teams during his 10-seasons with the Hanshin Tigers as a hard-throwing starter who can hit triple-digits to go with a low 80’s mph slider and a splitter.

But Fujinami lost his command somewhere along the way. In 2017, at age 23, his walk rate jumped from 3.7 walks per nine innings to 5.7 in 26 games with the Tigers, including 11 starts. His struggles had him switching between starter and reliever toward the latter part of his Tigers career.

Lately, he’s been able to regain some of that control, lowering his BB/9 back down to 3.0 in 25 games. The 6-foot-6 pitcher struck out 65 batters with 21 walks for a 3.38 ERA over 66 2/3 innings last season — both as a starter for 10 games and a reliever for six.

It was Fujinami’s track record as a starter that interested the A’s, who are in desperate need of some stability in their rotation with Daulton Jefferies recovering from Tommy John surgery and James Kaprielian likely to miss time to start the season with an arm injury. Oakland brought back Paul Blackburn on a one-year deal and Cole Irvin also returns, while 2022 trade acquisitions Ken Waldichuk and JP Sears are among the other rotation options.

A.J. Puk will still be stretched out as a starter, Forst said, with an opportunity for the lefty to earn a rotation spot in spring training.  The A’s also signed Drew Rucinski to a one-year, $3 million deal. The 34-year-old spent the past four seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization League.

But Forst sounded certain Fujinami will start.

“I didn’t realize we brought Mt. Fuji to the Bay Area. We’re moving mountains, I guess,” Fujinami’s agent Scott Boras said. “Today marks a very special time for him, it really does.”

The deal also plants the seed for another American League West dynamic. Fujinami could wind up facing his old friend, Ohtan,i when the A’s and Los Angeles Angels match up in at least one of the 13 times they play each other this season, including the opening week.

“No doubt about it. I’m very excited,” Fujinami said. “We’re the same age. Obviously, he’s one of the best players in the world. For the Japanese fans, it’ll be very exciting for us to play against each other. I’m very excited.”

Fujinami was posted by the Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan last month, and the A’s have agreed to bring him in on a one-year deal pending a physical, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Terms of the deal have not been reported and the team has not yet announced the signing.

The 28-year-old Fujinami is expected to join the A’s rotation, according to Passan, but CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson cited scouting sources projecting him as a high-velocity reliever.

He throws mostly an upper-90s four-seam fastball and a splitter, which is his best strikeout pitch, though he also has used a slider in the past.

Fujinami would slot into an A’s rotation that includes 2022 All-Star Paul Blackburn and Cole Irvin. Last year’s team rotated through a number of young starters to fill out the back half of the rotation, and the 2023 Athletics might well do the same as they aren’t expected to compete for the AL West.

Last month, the A’s also signed righty Drew Rucinski, who returns to MLB for the first time since 2018 following a strong season in Korea, so he will be in the mix for a rotation spot. Rucinski, 34, reportedly agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal. He made 66 appearances, mostly as a reliever, from 2014-18 with the Angels, Twins and Marlins.

According to posting rules, the team has until Saturday afternoon to sign Fujinami before his rights would return to Hanshin. The A’s must agree to a posting fee with the NPB team in addition to coming to terms with Fujinami on his salary.

Fujinami was a phenom once considered a rival to Shohei Ohtani in high school and made the jump directly to the pros. He posted two seasons of sub-3.00 ERA ball before age 22, including a 2.75 ERA with 126 strikeouts over 137 2/3 innings as a 19-year-old rookie.

His career took a dip as he struggled with command while adjusting to the professional game, but at age 28 last season, he had somewhat of a renaissance, posting a 2.77 ERA and striking out 115 batters against just 36 walks over 107 1/3 innings.

The Red Sox were also among the teams tied to Fujinami.

Fujinami becomes the second player to sign with the A’s out of Japan in the past three years. Shohei Tomioka, a 26-year-old who pitched for the A’s High-A team in Midland last year, was signed in January 2020 after attending an open tryout in Japan the A’s had advertised on Twitter. Tomioka was a pitcher for a Japanese industrial league team at the time.

Fujunami, though, becomes the third free agent to ever join Oakland directly from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. Neither of the two previous A’s signings from the NPBL made much of an impact for them – 36-year-old right-hander Keiichi Yabu, signed for $1 million in 2005 and 30-year-old infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima, signed a 2-year, $6.5 million deal in 2013.

Yabu went 4-0 with a 4.50 ERA in 40 relief appearances before being released at the end of the 2005 season. He later caught on with the Giants and went 3-6 with a 3.57 ERA in 60 games with San Francisco.

The slick-fielding Nakajima never made it to the majors. He spent two seasons with the A’s Triple-A team in Sacramento, batting .268 with an OPS of .667 in 102 games.

Jon Becker contributed to this story.

It’s largely unknown where exactly the negotiations stand between the city and its last major professional sports franchise, but the U.S. Transportation Department’s decision not to include Oakland in its list of grant recipients makes a difficult project even harder. The city is anxious to craft a deal that does not rely on substantial subsidies from taxpayers.

“They’re looking under all the sofa cushions – federal money, state, county and city money, taxpayer money at all of those different levels,” said Nola Agha, a University of San Francisco professor and expert on sports economics who has followed the project closely.

City officials had sought the $182 million grant – a request to the federal MEGA program intended to help fund infrastructure projects around the country – to pay for street and transit improvements that would ultimately ease access to the team’s proposed waterfront ballpark and massive housing development.

But, according to a DOT document released Tuesday, the project details did not meet “statutory requirements” to be a cost-effective choice for investment.

“What’s unique about this is the MEGA grant, of course, was designed to be for infrastructure,” Agha said. “And the city very much perceives this to be an infrastructure project.”

Agha authored a financial study last year of the Howard Terminal project – a report funded by local shipping industry businesses opposed to the A’s development.

While the city already has secured about $321.5 million in funding for the improvements, its most recent cost estimate – provided in response to Agha’s findings – suggests the costs may total around $600 million.

The MEGA grant would have put a sizable dent in that cost burden, and former Mayor Libby Schaaf was quick to cite it as fuel for optimism that the city could get a deal done with the A’s, who have often taken a hardball approach to negotiations.

Schaaf, who officially left office last week, was among the Howard Terminal project’s most vocal and influential advocates. When MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said last fall he didn’t expect the A’s to stay in Oakland, she was quick to jump into damage control.

The A’s have promised to pay for the roughly $1 billion ballpark, which would seat 35,000 fans. But the stadium project is contingent on the city funding the off-site infrastructure projects and eventually creating a tax district to cover the costs of building 3,000 housing units, hundreds of hotel rooms and commercial and retail space on the available port land.

Major League Baseball, meanwhile, has encouraged the A’s to look into relocating, and the franchise has long flirted with a move to Las Vegas. Team president Dave Kaval and other executives are scouting potential ballpark sites in Nevada, where their Triple-A team currently plays in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas.

Normally, teams must pay a sizable fee to MLB when they relocate, but Manfred said last year that he did not expect to charge the A’s if they moved to Las Vegas, citing the cost of building a stadium there.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday that the A’s appear to be focused on land near the Tropicana as a likely ballpark site in the city. Negotiations about the Las Vegas Festival Grounds had stalled, according to a spokesperson for casino magnate Phil Ruffin, who owns the festival site.

The A’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schaaf’s successor, Mayor Sheng Thao, promised at her inauguration Monday that she could reach a deal with the A’s without compromising benefits to local residents and businesses.

“I’m hopeful we can reach an agreement that safeguards the financial interest of taxpayers – creating good jobs, housing, retail and recreation opportunities,” Thao said. “And I know we can do this together, but only under our Oakland values.”

The fan favorite who retired after last season was hired as a bullpen and quality control coach by the Mariners, the team announced Tuesday. Vogt, 38, made no secret of his desire to get into coaching as soon as he could, with the ultimate goal of becoming a major league manager.

Vogt spent six of his 10 seasons with the A’s and represented Oakland at the All-Star Game twice. Vogt closed his career with a home run at the Coliseum in his final career at-bat. His first career hit was a home run at the Coliseum nine years earlier. His biggest moment with the A’s was during the 2013 ALDS when he produced the winning hit in Game 2 against the Tigers.

Vogt joins manager Scott Servais’ staff with the Mariners. The A’s will play the Mariners 14 times in 2023. The first is May 2 at the Coliseum.

“I am beyond excited to be joining the Mariners’ organization and major league coaching staff,” Vogt told The Associated Press. “This next chapter of my career is one I am ready for and thrilled to be beginning in Seattle.”

Vogt was a career .239 hitter with 82 home runs, also playing with the Rays, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Giants and Braves. He won a World Series ring with Atlanta in 2021.

But it was in Oakland where Vogt had his biggest successes and was adored by the fans, in large part because of his personality and a less-than-direct path to the majors. Vogt didn’t make his major league debut until he was 27, and opened his career by going hitless in his first 32 at-bats.

“I had a coach tell me, ‘Every day you take the field there’s a little boy or girl that’s at their very first baseball game and you need to show them the correct way to play,’ and I’ve taken that to heart,” Vogt told Janie McCauley of the Associated Press last season when he announced his plans to retire. “And every night that’s why I run hard, that’s why I play hard. It’s the correct way to play baseball.”

A’s fans serenaded Vogt with chants of “I believe in Stephen Vogt!” for much of his two stints in Oakland. His first stint ended in June 2017 when he was designated for assignment by the A’s. But he was back in Green and Gold last season, after shoulder injuries nearly ended his career, and played in 70 games. He hit .161 with seven home runs, including a dramatic walk-off blast to cap his playing career on the final day of last season.

The solo home run in the seventh inning of the A’s eventual 3-2 win over the Angels might have been the highlight of an otherwise forgettable season that saw Oakland lose 102 games.

“Catching seven shutout (innings), walking and hitting a homer in your final at-bat,” Vogt said told reporters following the game. “Can’t even make it up.”

At the time, Vogt shared that he had been studying current A’s manager Mark Kotsay, former A’s manager Bob Melvin and others to prepare for a second career as a coach and, ultimately, a manager.

“I haven’t always been the best player. I’ve been one of the best players in the league, I’ve been one of the worst players in the league,” Vogt told the AP. “I’ve been injured and everywhere in between, I’ve been DFA’d twice, I’ve been traded, I’ve been non-tendered, you name it. I’ve been the guy that knew he was going to have a job next year to the guy that had to fight for his job next year, and just always go out and earn it.”

Vogt and his family have lived in the Bay Area previously, but he, his wife Alyssa, and their three children currently live in Tumwater, about 60 miles south of Seattle. Alyssa is the girls basketball coach at Tumwater High and grew up in the area.

“It’s amazing to have the ability to not move the family for the first time in 16 years,” Stephen told the AP on Tuesday. “That is another perk of an already great opportunity to be coaching with the Mariners.”

The powerful and poignant images recorded our losses – from wildfires and shootings to COVID and abortion rights – and our gains, in sports arenas, playing fields and parades. There were deaths and funerals and festivals that documented the sorrow of the year and also the elation.

The astonishing and the sublime also were captured – sometimes in the same frame. Such was the retirement of a 100-year-old park ranger.

The Bay Area’s beauty is on full display – the sunsets, the salt ponds, the fog and snow. A stunning supermoon, the last of the year, rose behind the Golden Gate Bridge.

We present 2022, through the eyes of Bay Area News Group photographers.

Highs and Lows

Gabe Abatecola, of San Jose, watches the final minutes of the United States men’s national team World Cup match against Iran in San Jose on Nov. 29. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Family members embrace as law enforcement officers escort the body of Alameda County Sheriff Deputy Aubrey Phillips through the grounds of Oakmont Memorial Park & Mortuary in Lafayette on Feb. 15. Phillips died after suffering a medical emergency while carrying out a traffic stop Saturday morning in the city of Dublin. (Aric Crabb/Staff Photographer)

Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry (30) celebrate the final moments of their fourth-quarter comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference Finals playoffs at Chase Center in San Francisco on May 20. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

St. Francis’ Erin Curtis (6) hugs St. Francis’ Whitney Wallace (5) as they celebrate their NorCal Open Division Girls Volleyball Championship 3-1 win against Archbishop Mitty at St. Francis High School in Mountain View on Nov. 15. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Natalia (no last name given) and her son Stefan, 8, listen to speakers during a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine outside in Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Feb. 24. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Fr. Petro Dyachok becomes emotional during an interview in St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Center in Santa Clara on March 10. His wife, Natalya, is currently staying in the city of Chortkiv in western Ukraine to help their daughter and her family. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Tina McWright holds up the helmet of her son Camdan McWright during a moment of tribute for the San Jose State football player who was killed in a traffic accident last week, before the Spartan’s game against Nevada in San Jose on Oct. 29. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe comforts Bianca Palomera as she becomes emotional while speaking at City Hall in Antioch on Dec. 13. Palomera, 19, an employee at The Habit in Antioch, defended an autistic child who was being bullied, and lost her right eye after being punched. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

A moment of silence is held during a community meeting in Montague on Sept. 4 as the sheriff of Siskiyou County confirms two people died in the Mill Fire. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

Stacey Silva of Gilroy with a blanket made in memory of her parents at her home in Gilroy on May 10. Her father, Gary Young, died of COVID-19 in 2020. Her mother, Melody Young, died of cancer in 2019. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Split-Second Action

Coco Gauff returns the ball against Naomi Osaka in the second set during the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic tennis tournament at San José State University on Aug. 4. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

The California High cheerleaders perform a halftime routine during the Grizzlies football game against Pittsburg High in San Ramon on Sept. 9. (Doug Duran/Staff Photographer)

Li Yu-Jhun serves during the Women’s Doubles final for the World Table Tennis Feeder Series Fremont 2022 at Table Tennis America in Fremont on May 8. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Sharks’ Rudolfs Balcers fights for the puck against Florida Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau at the SAP Center on March 15. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Warriors’ Klay Thompson uses control of the ball as he’s double teamed by Celtics’ Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Chase Center on June 13. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

49ers’ Samson Ebukam strips away the ball from Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford at Levi’s Stadium on Oct. 3. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

Warriors’ Jordan Poole goes up for a basket against Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. (13) during Game 3 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series at Chase Center on May 7. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Los Angeles Angels’ Andrew Velazquez leaps to catch a fly ball hit by Oakland Athletics’ Tony Kemp in the first inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum on May 14. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Where we live

A “Starlight Ball” featuring a limo ride and a red carpet walk brought Adam Shariff and Ally Brady together on the dance floor at the Blue Oaks Church-sponsored event at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton on April 29. (Doug Duran/Staff Photographer)

Lashanna Hornage, program manager for Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs, smiles under her rainbow umbrella during Silicon Valley Pride Parade in San Jose on Aug. 28. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Members of Lisa Performing Arts take the stage for a performance during a Lunar New Year celebration at Santana Row in San Jose on Feb. 4. (Anda Chu/Staff Photographer)

Noah Pelchin, center left, of San Francisco, and Alex Morris, of San Francisco, lay in their derby car, Bathtime, during SFMOMA’s Soapbox Derby in San Francisco on April 10. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Homeless artist Daniel McClenon sleeps on a sidewalk outside a Walgreens in San Francisco on May 13 with a portrait of Jimmy Hendrix he’s been painting with pens on cardboard. His artwork was stolen a few days later. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Betty Reid Soskin, the nation’s oldest active park ranger at 100 years old, celebrates her retirement from the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Park on April 16, in Richmond. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

The obituary of Stephen Elliott, who died of COVID-19 on Jan. 5, is held by his son, Ryan Elliott of Palo Alto, on May 4 in Palo Alto. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Elise Joshi, a U.C. Berkeley student, climate and labor organizer on campus Nov. 17. Joshi evolved a TikTok For Biden account shared by a group of creators into Gen-Z for Change, a 12-employee nonprofit she executive directs, which leverages social media to promote civil discourse and political action among her peers. (Aric Crabb/Staff Photographer)

Luke and James cool off with some water at the homeless encampment near the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport at West Hedding Street in San Jose on Sept. 6. They declined to give their last names. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Peter and Tina Nguyen of San Jose pose for a picture at Duc Vien Buddhist Temple in San Jose on Feb. 1, at the start of the Lunar New Year. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Natalie Vanessa, of San Leandro, works out at Marina Park in San Leandro on Feb. 7. Warm temperatures are expected to continue through the week according to the National Weather Service. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

Dre Hernandez, of San Jose, poses in his 1979 Chevy Malibu while San Jose car clubs celebrated the city’s decades old ban on cruising being lifted at San Jose City Hall in San Jose on Aug. 31. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Members of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club carry the casket of Ray “Big Chief Hatchet” Blazio during a jazz funeral in New Orleans on July 14. Blazio, 82, the city’s oldest-living Mardi Gras Indian chief, died on June 17. He lived in Oakland for 13 years after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

San Jose Taiko performs during the Obon Festival at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuinin San Jose on July 9. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Ava Solda, left, and Riley Velasco play on the bleachers at Cory Field at San Jose American Little League in San Jose on April 7. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Franz Robert performs on the Grace-Liberty Theater pipe organ during a service at Grace Baptist Church on March 6 in San Jose. The church celebrated the 100th anniversary of the theater’s pipe organ during the Sunday service, and planned 13 months of centennial programs. (Aric Crabb/Staff Photographer)

Los Gatos-Campbell Longhorns players watch as assistant coach Jeff Whipple hugs head coach Saul Kennedy during a team meeting after practice at Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos on Nov. 29. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

California School for the Deaf’s Devan Vierra (6) signs to his team in the locker room before their game against Trinity Christian at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont on Sept. 1. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Campolindo’s Sean Spillane quietly prays in the end zone as his team warms up before their game against Las Lomas at Campolindo High School in Moraga on Oct. 28. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Sea to Sky

The Colorado Fire burns toward the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur on Jan. 22. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

The bright crimson waters of the Cargill Salt ponds flow beside a railroad in Newark on Jan. 27. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

The Transamerica Pyramid reflects sunlight as it pokes through the thick fog blanketing San Francisco early Jan. 20. San Francisco’s iconic pointy-headed skyscraper turned 50 this year. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

A visitor walks at sunset at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 25 in Fremont. The refuge marked its 50th anniversary this year. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Skiers and snowboarders ride down the slopes from the KT-22 summit during the grand opening of Palisades Tahoe gondola line in Olympic Valley on Dec. 16. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Steve Bruemmer, who was bitten by a great white shark while swimming on June 22, near the site of the attack at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove on Oct. 5. (Doug Duran/Staff Photographer)

A deer flees the Oak Fire burning near Yosemite Park on Triangle Road in Mariposa on July 22. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

Houseboats are docked in Shasta Lake as California’s largest reservoir falls to only 36% of capacity during the ongoing drought on Aug. 5. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

A firefighter battles a vegetation fire near Pacheco Boulevard in Martinez on Aug. 4. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

The Sturgeon super moon rises behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline as seen from Sausalito on August 11. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Community Conflict

Robert Hernandez lifts a tarp while exiting his trailer at a homeless encampment on the baseball fields off of Irene Street in San Jose on Sept. 19. (Shae Hammond/Staff Photographer)

Piles of belongings and debris, canopies, RVs, tents and vehicles making up part of Oakland’s Wood Street homeless encampment linger on July 14, three days after a massive fire there displaced about one dozen residents. CalTrans started clearing the city’s largest encampment in September after Oakland won a $4.7 million state grant to shelter its occupants. (Jane Tyska/Staff Photographer)

Abortion rights demonstrators protest outside San Francisco City Hall after the Supreme Court overturned the abortion rights case Roe v. Wade on June 24. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Protesters Elisa Smith and Stormy Adams react as workers cut down trees in People’s Park in Berkeley on Aug. 3.  UC Berkeley plans to begin constructing housing at the site for 1,100 university students and 125 homeless residents.  (Aric Crabb/Staff Photographer)

Emerald Johnson, aunt of Sophia Mason, an 8-year-old girl from Hayward whose mother and mother’s boyfriend stand accused of murdering her, with a photo of Mason, her drawings and school work at Johnson’s home in Hayward on June 7. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

On the eighth day of his hunger strike, Westlake Middle School teacher Maurice André San-Chez, is comforted after answering a reporter’s questions on Feb. 8. San-Chez and another Westlake teacher struck to stop the Oakland Unified School District’s plan to close or merge 16 schools. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Crime and Consequences

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, center, and her family leave the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse after the jury found her guilty in San Jose on Jan. 3. (Dai Sugano/Staff Photographer)

Antoinette Walker cries on the shoulder of Frank Turner as Penelope Scott speaks to the media in Sacramento on April 4. Walker is the older sister of De’Vazia Turner who was shot and killed during a mass shooting a day earlier. Six people died and 12 others were injured in the April 3 shooting. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Law enforcement officers from different agencies respond after multiple people were shot in a complex of schools on Fountain Street in Oakland on Sept. 28. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Kathy Teng Dwyer, from Oakland, places a candle during a vigil near where Lili Xu, 60, was killed during an attempted robbery in Oakland on Aug. 22. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Jenni Kumimoto carries her son Ben, 6, to their car after picking him up from kindergarten at Los Alamitos Elementary School in San Jose on May 25. Jenni Kumimoto, 36, a kindergarten teacher at Graystone Elementary School, spoke with her 6-year-old son Ben about the Uvalde school shooting in Texas. (Aric Crabb/Staff Photographer)

Family and friends release balloons on the one-year anniversary of the deaths of 7-year-old Sela Mataele and her mother’s partner Ramiro Castro, who were killed by a drunk driver in Pittsburg, at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Antioch on April 12. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff Photographer)

Beauty, Beholden

A dog runs through a field of wildflowers during a warm early morning at Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek on March 23. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

Members of the Huaxing Arts Group wait on their float, “The Beauties of the Tang,” for the start of the Chinese New Years Parade in San Francisco on Feb. 19. (Karl Mondon/Staff Photographer)

Editor’s Note: This frame was composed in-camera by combining two exposures captured moments apart. Giants pitcher Yunior Marte pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers in the eighth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park on July 15. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff Photographer)

People gather during the Holiday Tree lighting ceremony at Jack London Square in Oakland on Dec. 3. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

The full moon rises behind the Oakland hills and the Mormon Temple on Dec. 6. (Ray Chavez/Staff Photographer)

Elise MacGregor Ferrell, of Santa Cruz, plays the bagpipes during a memorial service for Fran the whale at Moss Landing State Beach in Moss Landing on Oct. 3. Fran, the most photographed whale in California and well known by tourists and whale enthusiasts in Monterey Bay, washed ashore on a beach in Half Moon Bay in August, a victim of a ship strike. (Doug Duran/Staff Photographer)

Photographers

Anda Chu – @anda_chuAric Crabb – @AricCrabbDai Sugano – @daisuganoDoug Duran – @duran_dougJane Tyska – @tyskagramJose Fajardo – @fuzyjoeKarl Mondon – @karlmondonNhat V. Meyer – @nhatgnatRay Chavez – @rayinactionShae Hammond – @shae_hammond

Photo/Video Editors

Anda ChuDoug DuranDylan Bouscher – @DylanBouscherLaura Oda – @lodafoto

Managing Editor: Visuals

Sarah Dussault

In the strangest of ways, it’s made him a uniquely perfect fit in Oakland.

The 100-loss, low-budget A’s and their decrepit home park aren’t really a preferred destination site for MLB free agents. But A’s general manager David Forst didn’t need to do much convincing to sign the 33-year-old New York Mets free agent to a one-year, $7 million contract Friday.

May, it turns out, has had a strange fascination with the A’s since he was a kid growing up in Seattle with a father who idolized Oakland’s 1970s world championship teams. Having both his family as well as his wife’s on the West Coast and many of their friends here in the Bay Area also helped guide his decision.

But the green and gold was the biggest allure.

“There’s always been this affinity for the Oakland A’s organization, from the Moneyball movie to my dad being an A’s fan since he was 18,” May said during a video interview with reporters Monday.

The A’s, in turn, showed their appreciated for the 33-year-old May by making him their highest-paid player for 2023. This despite May playfully compromising his market value in his typical self-deprecating fashion – he posted a choreographed, 30-second video packed with rapid-fire clips of MLB hitters launching blasts off him during his nine-year career.

Some times you just gotta clown yourself.

Time flies when you’re having fun… pic.twitter.com/UGDnpyBxPo

— Trevor May (Not Parody) (@IamTrevorMay) December 8, 2022

“Sometimes you just gotta clown yourself. Time flies when you’re having fun…” May wrote on his Twitter post.

His sense of humor was also on display Tuesday while revealing 12-15 other teams had interest in him in free agency as he looked to rebound from his worst statistical season since 2016. He defined “interest” as his name being mentioned at least once in conversations.

“I’ll give you a little context. My agent also has Jacob deGrom. So, as you can imagine, they were like, “Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake! Trevor? No.’ That’s kind of where (interest) came from a lot,” May deadpanned.

Actually, heading into last season May had been one of baseball’s better relievers from 2018-21 while carrying a 3.33 ERA over 175.2 innings with 236 strikeouts (an eye-popping 32.6% strikeout rate) while with the Twins and Mets. And, although May’s 2022 season was disappointing overall – he had a 5.04 ERA in 26 innings while missing three months with a stress reaction in his right humerus — he finished the season better than ever.

The 6-foot-5 May paired a dominating, upper 90s rising fastball with an altered changeup grip that created a swing-and-miss pitch to go along with a newly developed hard slider. It resulted in May walking just six and registering 25 strikeouts over his final 16.2 innings last season. It also resulted in May having a lot of fun again in the game.

After going from the Twins to the Mets during his first venture into free agency in 2020, May decided he wanted to try to enjoy himself even more wherever he wound up.

“I was pretty specific about what I was looking for this year,” May said. “I honestly surprised myself with how specific and how strongly I wanted to be in the area. I’m very happy that I was able to stick to my guns a little bit and really go for a place that I felt I was going to be valued and that was gonna be a lot of fun playing.”

Thus, the A’s quickly became a focus. Despite the inherent challenge of competing in Oakland, May always noticed how much fun the A’s seemed to be having. He had already been sold on Oakland after talking with Mets teammates Chris Bassitt and Mark Canha, both of whom told him they loved every aspect of playing with the A’s. They especially enjoyed the easiness with which humor was always welcomed, which further piqued May’s interest.

“If you can’t approach it, at least sometimes, from a point of levity, you’ll just go crazy,” May said.

He helps balance out the stress of playing in the majors by spending hours at a time at least three days per week streaming, which he says is a much-needed creative outlet. May enjoys interacting with friends and random players, many of whom don’t realize his identity even though his Twitch channel has a whopping 190,000 followers.

The gaming, coupled with his love of old-school Bay Area hip-hop artists such as Keak De Sneak, E-40, The Team, The Federation and Too Short, as well as his affiliation with an indoor football league make May just quirky enough to be a familiar character to A’s fans.

His peculiar profile is analogous to those of Stephen Vogt, Liam Hendriks, Sean Doolittle, Brandon McCarthy, Bassitt and Brett Anderson, all of whom became A’s fan favorites for their unpretentiousness, snarky humor and for simply embracing their inner weirdness.

May’s only been with the team for four days, but he’s already deep into the A’s spirit.

“I think there’s a lot of space to be yourself and just be crazy,” May said. “I’m growing my first beard of my life right now because I’m now an Oakland A and I want to have a beard. … And I want to go out and just really lean into the character of just playing baseball.”

He’s also up for all the challenges the young A’s face while trying to compete as the overwhelming underdogs in the stacked AL West.

“I’ve been on two hundred-win teams and one hundred-loss team in my career I know what it’s like to be in all those situations and how quickly things can change. And what a group of hungry young guys all trying to make a name for themselves in the league can do,” May said. “And that’s really exciting. That’s something I want to be a part of.”

May’s deal includes a $1 million signing bonus and the opportunity for the right-hander to earn an additional $500,000 in bonuses, ESPN reported.

The 33-year-old May spent the past four seasons with the New York Mets and figures to earn a role in the back end of Oakland’s young and inexperienced bullpen. Before adding May, the A’s didn’t have one prospective reliever with as many as two years of Major League experience.

The A’s made room on the roster for May by designating outfielder Cody Thomas for assignment.

Despite coming off his worst statistical season since 2016, May has been one of baseball’s best strikeout relievers for years. The long-time setup man – he has 11 saves since 2018 — could challenge Dany Jimenez and Domingo Acevedo, who served as closers last season for an A’s team that lost 102 games.

The eight-year veteran May logged a 5.04 ERA in 25 innings while missing three months with a triceps injury last season. However, May was still a high-velocity reliever (fastball average of 96.2 mph) and had a 27% strikeout rate and just an 8.1% walk rate.

From 2018-21, the one-time Minnesota Twin carried a 3.33 ERA while throwing 175.2 innings. His 32.6% strikeout rate during that time was 13th among 204 qualified relievers, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

May becomes the third major league free agent to join the A’s since the Winter Meetings two weeks ago. Oakland has also signed veteran utility men Aledmys Diaz from Houston and Jace Peterson from Milwaukee.

Those three additions give the A’s a projected payroll of $51 million, which is still last among baseball’s 30 teams. The current payroll projection is more than $3 million more than last year’s major-league low Opening Day payroll of almost $48 million.

The nine-player, three-team deal, which also included the Milwaukee Brewers, was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The A’s received a bounty of prospects: left-hander Kyle Muller, outfielder Esteury Ruiz and right-hander pitchers Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas. as well as veteran catcher Manny Piña, who played just five games for the Braves in 2022 before undergoing season-ending wrist surgery. The Brewers’ big piece to the deal was catcher William Contreras, 24, from Atlanta. The A’s also sent reliever Joel Payamps to Milwaukee.

The key to the deal for the A’s likely is Muller, 25, who entered last season rated as the Braves’ top prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America. He went 6-8 with a 3.41 ERA at Triple-A Gwinnett and went 1-1 with an 8.03 ERA in three starts with Atlanta. The left-hander has gone 3-5 with a 5.14 ERA in 12 career major-league appearances over the past two seasons.

Ruiz, 23, made his major league debut last season with the Brewers after hitting .332 with 16 home runs and 85 stolen bases in the minors in 2022 while playing in the San Diego Padres’ and Brewers’ farm systems. He was part of the package that came to Milwaukee in the deal that sent four-time All-Star closer Josh Hader to San Diego.

Tarnock, 24, made his big league debut in 2022 with the Braves while spending most of the season at Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi. Salinas, a 21-year-old right-hander, pitched at the Single-A level for the Braves this past season.

In another move, the A’s designated infielder Vimael Machín for assignment.

Murphy, 28, was the American League’s Gold Glove catcher in 2021 and a finalist again last season while being among the A’s most reliable hitters in a historically bad 2022 lineup. The Silver Slugger finalist slashed .250/.332/.426 with 18 home runs and 66 RB last season in 148 games, leading the team in batting average and OPS. Murphy hit 17 home runs with 59 RBI in 2021.

He’ll go from a team expected to again have one of MLB’s worst records to a team trying to contend for a World Series two years after winning the title in 2021. Murphy also will be reunited with former Oakland teammate Matt Olson, who was traded to the Braves last spring and signed an eight-year, $168 million extension with them. In that deal, the A’s got catcher Shae Langeliers, outfielder Cristian Pache and right-handed pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes.

Murphy, a third-round draft pick by Oakland in 2015, was deemed expendable in part because of his team-friendly contract status. He’s scheduled to earn $725,000 this season and is not eligible for salary arbitration until the offseason. The A’s also have significant catching depth; Langeliers made his big league debut last season and figures to at least share time with Piña behind the plate this season. Recent first-round draft picks Tyler Soderstrom and Daniel Susac are also in the system, and the team is high on Kyle McCann.

There was plenty of trade talk surrounding Murphy this offseason, especially during the just-completed winter meetings. When asked how the team might handle the catching position without Murphy, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said, “We saw Shea limited in September in the role behind the plate. I think he has all the ability to step in and be an everyday Major League catcher.”

“I was really impressed with his game planning, his preparation, how he followed Murph and learned from Murph in the time he was there, and not just Murph, but with (Stephen) Vogt. He soaked in a lot of experience in a short amount of time. But I do think if he ends up being here and Murph is not, we’ll have a lot of support for him in terms of game calling, game planning.

“Can he step in and be the everyday guy? I believe he can, yes.”

With Murphy gone, the A’s most appealing trade candidates probably are outfielder Ramón Laureano and pitcher Paul Blackburn.

Diaz, who played every infield position for the world champion Astros last season, had a slash line of .255/.313/.424 with 32 home runs and 107 runs scored in his four years in Houston.

Diaz’s deal, which is pending a physical, was first announced by the New York Post.

Diaz is a lifetime .266 hitter over his seven-year career with the Cardinals (2016-17), Blue Jays (2018) and Astros. The Cuban-born Diaz’s best season came in his rookie year with the Cardinals, where he hit .300 with 17 home runs and 65 RBIs while making the National League All-Star team.

His signing comes a day after the A’s signed former Milwaukee Brewer Jace Peterson to a two-year deal. Like Diaz, the 32-year-old Peterson figures to get time all around the infield for the A’s.

“Anytime we’re talking about bringing free agents in, the important thing to us is versatility,” A’s general manager David Forst said Wednesday. “I think we’re putting a premium on guys who can move around the diamond, give (manager) Mark (Kotsay) some flexibility. We have so many question marks in the position player group that I think we just need to stay flexible and have options.”

The two signings not only give the A’s a couple of solid, veteran players they sorely lacked a year ago, but Diaz and Peterson will allow Oakland to gradually phase in top prospects Zack Gelof (third baseman) and Tyler Soderstrom (first baseman/catcher) at some point in 2023.

Among those joining Diaz and Peterson in the infield mix will be veteran Tony Kemp (2B) and youngsters Jonah Bride (3B/2B), Jordan Diaz (2B), Vimael Machin (3B), Dermis Garcia (1B) and Kevin Smith (3B).

Forst, who said the team would be busy adding to the big league squad after losing 102 games last year, has now signed two free agents and traded for a relief pitcher (Chad Smith from Colorado) since the winter meetings began Sunday.

A’s add slugger in Rule 5 draft

The A’s may have found a gem in the Rule 5 draft when they selected left-handed hitting first baseman Ryan Noda from the Dodgers’ Triple-A team with the second overall pick.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Noda hit .259/.396/.474 with 25 home runs, 90 RBIs and 20 steals while appearing in 135 games with Oklahoma City last season. Although he did strike out 162 times, the slick-fielding 26-year-old was a pre-draft favorite of one Baseball America analyst who thought he was better than 10 current starting first basemen in the majors.

“I look at his ability to get on base. I look at the power. I don’t think the contact is that much of a deterrent overall. And the fact that he’s actually a good defensive first baseman, and can provide some value there,” said Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes. “I look at some of these guys who are playing first base on a daily basis, and you can’t tell me that Noda doesn’t have more upside than (Boston’s) Bobby Dalbec has at this point.”

Noda, a 15th-round pick in 2017 by Toronto, was sent to the Dodgers in the 2021 trade sending Ross Stripling to the Blue Jays. As per Rule 5 stipulations, Noda must remain on the A’s roster all season or be offered back to the Dodgers for half of the $100,000 Oakland paid for him Wednesday.

The A’s also added 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Joelvis Del Rosario from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization with the first overall pick in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft.

Del Rosario, a 2018 international free-agent signing from the Dominican Republic, went 7-4 with a 3.68 ERA and 1.29 WHIP as a starter for Single-A Bradenton last season.

The A’s did not have any of their players selected by other organizations during either phase of Wednesday’s draft.

MLB held its first-ever draft lottery on Tuesday night during a made-for-TV announcement, and the A’s, despite having the second-worst record in the Majors last season and sharing the best odds of any team, failed to land the top pick.

That will go to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the same chance of picking first overall as the A’s.

The A’s, Nationals (who had the worst record in the majors) and Pirates each had a 16.5 percent chance of picking first. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati had identical records, but the Pirates were slotted third because they had a worse record than the Reds in 2021.

The Giants had a .48 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick and will select from the No. 16 spot.

The lottery, similar to what the NBA and NHL use, included teams that failed to reach the postseason and didn’t forfeit their first-round pick, such as for signing a qualified free agent.

Despite missing out on their first No 1 overall pick since the initial draft in 1965, picking sixth overall is some consultation for the A’s. They are coming off their second 100-loss season in Oakland franchise history, have a stadium battle and potential relocation hanging over their heads and are facing a significant on-field rebuilding project. They were assured of getting no worse than the No. 8 overall pick.

Baseball adopted the lottery last spring as part of the lockout settlement in an attempt to keep teams from “tanking” to get the first overall pick.

This is the second time a Bay Area team was denied the first pick because of the introduction of a draft lottery. The Warriors had the worst record in NBA during the 1984-85 season and would have taken Patrick Ewing with the first pick. But they fell to seventh and the final spot in the lottery. It wasn’t all bad, considering they took Hall of Famer Chris Mullin with that pick.

This will be the 20th time the A’s have had a Top-10 pick in the 55 seasons in Oakland. It’s the first time since 2018, when they took Oklahoma two-way star Kyler Murray but were unable to persuade the current Arizona Cardinals quarterback to play baseball.

Some of the A’s biggest stars of the Moneyball era were Top-10 picks – Eric Chavez (10th overall in 1996), Mark Mulder (No. 2 in 1998) and Barry Zito (No. 9 in 1999).

Heading into the spring, the Big 3 on most mock draftboards are LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, Tennessee right-hander Chase Dollander and Mississippi shortstop Jacob Gonzalez.

The draft appears to be top-heavy in shortstops and outfielders, two areas where the A’s could use more dynamic depth.

The only time the A’s had the No. 1 overall pick was for the first MLB draft, in 1965, when the team was based in Kansas City and selected Arizona State outfielder Rick Monday.

The A’s have had the No. 2 overall pick four times, most recently taking Mulder in 1998. They also had the No. 2 pick in 1966 and selected future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. They took outfielder Ben Grieve second in 1994, as well as Pete Broberg in 1968, although the right-hander didn’t sign with the A’s.

The A’s No. 1 pick last season was Arizona catcher Daniel Susac with the 19th overall pick. It was the second time in three years the A’s used a first-round pick on a catcher.

Here’s a look at the A’s first-round picks (including supplemental first-rounders) since 2010.

2022 – C Daniel Susac (19th overall pick)2021 – SS Max Muncy (25)2020 – C Tyler Soderstrom (26)2019 – SS Logan Davidson (29)2018 – OF Kyler Murray (9)2017– OF Austin Beck (6)2017 – SS Kevin Merrell (33)2016 – LHP A.J. Puk (6)2016 – RHP Daulton Jeffries (37)2015 – SS Richie Martin (20)2014 – 3B Matt Chapman (25)2013 – OF Billy McKinney (24)2012 – 1B Matt Olson 1B (47)2012 – SS Addison Russell (11)2012 – SS Daniel Robertson (34)2011 – RHP Sonny Gray (18)2010 – OF Michael Choice (10)

Among other teams in the lottery, Cincinnati had a 13.2% chance, followed by Kansas City (10%), Detroit (7.5%), Texas (5.5%), Colorado (3.9%), Miami (2.7%), the Los Angeles Angels (1.85%), Arizona (1.4%), the Chicago Cubs (1.1%), Minnesota (0.9%), Boston (0.8%), the Chicago White Sox (0.6%), the Giants  (0.5%), Baltimore (0.4%) and Milwaukee (0.2%).

A’s moves

The A’s have reached a two-year deal with veteran utilityman Jace Peterson, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray.

Peterson, 32, spent parts of the past three seasons with the Brewers, where he played every position except catcher and center field. Peterson could fill the supersub role held by Chad Pinder, who is a free agent and not expected to return. His career slash line is .231/.321/.343. Peterson hit a career-high eight home runs last season in 328 plate appearances.

The A’s also traded pitching prospect Jeff Criswell to the Rockies for right-hander Chad Smith. Criswell, a second-round draft pick in 2020, had a breakout season with 119 strikeouts with a 1.29 WHIP. Smith, 27, made his MLB debut this season and had a 7.50 ERA in 15 appearances but had a 3.03 ERA in Triple-A the past two seasons combined.