When the Athletics committed seven years and a franchise record $86 million extension to Tyler Soderstrom, they were not just rewarding a breakout season. They were announcing, in a sport that listens closely to where money goes, that they intend to matter again. Not later. Not someday. Now.
This is how serious teams start acting before anyone believes them.
Tyler Soderstrom Extension Shows the A’s Are Following a Familiar Pattern
There are contracts, and then there are statements. This one is a statement.
Soderstrom is 24, squarely in that dangerous space where potential begins to harden into production. His bat already plays like something you build around, not something you market and trade. Twenty-five home runs. A steady on-base presence. Power that doesn’t cheat the game. And maybe most telling of all, a willingness to move off first base, away from the catcher’s gear, into left field—because winning teams are built by players who adapt, not cling.
The Athletics saw that and did the unthinkable by their own recent history: they kept him.
That’s the first step. That’s how the Houston Astros changed their fate in the late 2010s. Before the postseason runs, before October became a yearly reservation, the Astros identified a core and refused to let it scatter. They paid players early. They endured skepticism. They trusted that if enough talent stayed in one place long enough, something inevitable would happen.
This feels like that moment.
Look at the shape of the lineup now, and it doesn’t feel theoretical anymore. Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler are locked in through the end of the decade, middle-order bats who do not feel temporary. Nick Kurtz arrived and immediately played like the kind of hitter who bends game plans. Jacob Wilson hits as if contact is still a skill worth mastering. Shea Langeliers brings thunder from behind the plate. Denzel Clarke can erase mistakes with his glove.
Five regulars are performing well above league average offensively. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a foundation.
And foundations only matter if you build on them.
Tyler Soderstrom’s extension with the Athletics is the largest guarantee in the club’s franchise history, per multiple reports pic.twitter.com/35N9Q18teY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) December 25, 2025
It’s Only Step One
The annual value of Soderstrom’s deal won’t shock the sport, but that’s not the point. What matters is control—of his prime, of the narrative, of the direction of the franchise. You don’t make this kind of commitment if you plan to pull the plug when things get uncomfortable. You make it when you believe the uncomfortable years are nearly over.
Houston once lived in that same space. The losses were loud. The patience was thin. But underneath it all was a plan that didn’t flinch. When the wins finally arrived, they arrived in waves, because the players had grown together.
That’s what the Athletics are chasing now.
They’re not there yet. The rotation still needs answers. The margins in the American League West are unforgiving. But the difference between rebuilding and arriving is belief—and belief shows up in contracts long before it shows up in standings.
Soderstrom is now the face of that belief. A young hitter trusted to anchor the middle of the order. A player signed not for what he’s been, but for what the organization expects him to become.
This is how contenders are born—not in headlines about championships, but in moments when a franchise decides to stop preparing for tomorrow and starts committing to it.
Houston once showed that this path works. The Athletics are betting they can walk it too.
Main Photo Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images