Elephant Rumblings: New chants, number changes, and 25 days until baseball

MLB news roundup

Welcome to Tuesday Athletics Nation!

The long winter is slowly coming to a close. While most of the country continues to suffer from freezing temperatures, the baseball season is ready to start warming up with pitchers and catchers reporting in a mere 15 days and the first full-squad workout just five days after that. While we’re itching for any baseball news and that’s surely something to look forward to, the real start to baseball season for A’s fans begins five days after the full team gets back together. You can be certain that February 22nd is circled on this fan’s calendar, the first spring games for the Athletics. It’ll be a double dose of our first baseball of the season as the team will be having a split-squad doubleheader against the San Diego Padres. In fact, the team will be in split-squad mode for the entire first two weeks of the spring. And yes, it’ll probably be mostly rookies and non-roster invitees, but baseball is baseball.

Until then, we still have a couple weeks left of winter. Athletics Nations’ own Nico recently explored what the new rally chant should be for the A’s chapter in Sacramento, suggesting a few options for fans to chant during the upcoming inaugural season for the A’s outside of Oakland. For this writer, I’ll go with Option #2 but there’s no wrong pick here. Everyone should give it a quick read in anticipation for the coming season.

Next on deck we have a few number changes for Athletics players on tap for the coming season. While the club did add a few new players this offseason (Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Gio Urshela, Jose LeClerc), all but one will be taking new numbers previously not worn by an Athletic last season. In short, four players will be changing their uniform numbers compared to last year. Three of those are pitchers who figure to be heavy contributors to the team in 2025 while the lone position player changing numbers is more of a depth piece, though anything can happen in baseball. Give that list a check before spring training rolls around.

What better time to look back and judge some trades than just before spring training begins? The Athletics have been on the losing side of major trades over the past several years (Donaldson, Cespedes, Chapman, Murphy, Gray, etc.) but for once we get to look back on a trade that’s turning out to be an Athletics win. The AJ-for-JJ trade that happened just mere days before Spring 2023 began was looking like a wash after one year but things changed last season. The former 4th-overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, center fielder JJ Bleday finally looked like he had begun figuring things out last year.

Now 27-years-old, Bleday looks poised to build off a successful 2024 season in which he slashed .243/.324/.437 with 20 long balls while manning the vast center field of the Oakland Coliseum. Meanwhile AJ Puk has found a home in the late-innings of the bullpen, making it into 58 games for Miami in 2023 before pitching in 62 contests between Miami and Arizona last season. While that late-inning production would definitely be useful for the A’s right now, the club has seemingly found its center fielder of at least the near-term. Heck, teams were calling about Bleday’s availability and the team shut those overtures down quickly. You be the judge of that trade, but this writer is chalking it up as a win.

In other news, a couple of former Athletics (including a former fan favorite from past playoff teams) have found new homes in the same division as our A’s, and another former A has found his new home in the Bay Area with the only team remaining there. And finally to wrap things up with some off-field news, the Athletics are prepared to start selling single-game tickets to fans begining Friday morning. If you want to go to a specific game, I recommend hoping on the chance as soon as you get. Tickets are scarce and could go fast.

Have a wonderful morning, afternoon, and night A’s fans.

A’s Coverage:

• April’s Chants Encounter…
• A’s players switching numbers for 2025
• Former Athletics Jesse Chavez, Cody Thomas sign minor league deals with rival Rangers
• Did the A’s win the JJ Bleday trade with the Marlins?
• Giants sign former Athletic Jake Lamb to minors deal
• Sacramento single-game tickets go on sale Friday. Here’s what to know.

MLB News & Interest:

• Orioles sign former Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson to 1-year deal
• Cubs finalize trade for Astros reliever Ryan Pressly
• Padres discussing starting pitcher Michael King in trade talks
• Pirates sign lefty reliever Tim Mayza to 1-year deal
• What Ichiro’s HOF induction means for future (and past) Asian ballplayers
• Mets reportedly out on third baseman Alex Bregman
• Orioles hire former All-Star center fielder Adam Jones to advisor, ambassador roles
• With Profar signed, what are the Braves’ next steps?
• Texas Rangers create network to produce, distribute game broadcasts
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Just get that A’s killer out of the AL West for god’s sake:

For all you Ballers fans:

God I miss baseball: