Invoke Your 10 & 5 Rights — It’s Veterans Day!

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 10: General Manager Cam Castro of the Athletics speaks with the media during the 2026 MLB Gerneral Managers Meetings at Aria Resort & Casino on November 10, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images Today is Veteran’s Day but when is Rookies Day? In any event on this holiday we honor our fallen comrades, such as Zack Gelof, who lost a valiant battle with a wire fence, Jacob Wilson, who was callously separated from his shoulder, Nick Kurtz, whose counting stats took a dive when he suddenly could only count to 9, and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, whose promising rookie season was derailed by an endless string of jokes about his testicles.All are on the mend, however, and the next chapter in A’s history — or rather future — is the new front office’s attempt to put together a winning team sooner rather than later. Sooner might be checked on the calendar if media quotes are any indication.As told to a paywall belonging to The Athletic, the A’s may not wait to arrive in Las Vegas in order to spend “Vegas-like money/resources”. Key quotes include:From the article’s writers: “The A’s, with a big move to Las Vegas looming, look to be aggressive.”Billy Owens: “We’re not going to be content with screens and draws, we’re ready to throw the ball down the field.”Taylor Smith: “I think we’ll have a much higher degree of flexibility than what the organization has had in the past. I think the opportunities afforded by the move to Vegas will be very energizing for the kinds of things we think about and do.”Of course these quotes don’t preclude that the front office is foreshadowing aggressiveness planned in a year, but they said these things at the front end of 2026 off-season dealings so take what you will from it. Taken literally, the A’s are fully intending to throw a football a long way, so probably we shouldn’t be quite so literal.The obvious question is what does “being aggressive” mean? It probably doesn’t mean jumping into the sweepstakes for childhood A’s fan Tarik Skubal and in fact we know that high priced free agents are more often a drain than a boon, which is why teams like, say, the Brewers and Rays tend to avoid them.One could imagine a deeper dive into the International market for pitching could be on the table, though it’s worth noting that the top starting pitchers are hardly a bargain from their US counterparts — the amazing Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12 year/$325M deal with the Dodgers while the immensely disappointing Tatsuya Imai culled 3 years/$54M from the Astros.Would a trade of a core position player for a quality SP qualify as being “aggressive” or just “what we think is best”? Might “aggressive” look more like re-engaging with Nick Kurtz around his recent demand for 7 years/$200M to sign an extension?Here’s one troubling comment from Cam Castro that doesn’t exactly mirror the notion of being “aggressive” and that is his claim that he’s “very comfortable” with the A’s current pitching. Perhaps he’s comfortable mostly because the ottoman he is sitting in looks super comfortable, but you would like to hear a bit more discomfort over a staff that just set records in HRs allowed and sported a fugly 5.51 ERA — and still an awfully lousy 4.62 on the road.In citing his enthusiasm, Castro cited 2 pitchers off the top of his head and they were Gage Jump (ok fine) and…Jack Perkins. Perkins’ 6.10 ERA wasn’t all bad luck, but hey if former development and analytic gurus from Tampa Bay and Milwaukee think they can tap into the plus stuff more power to them. I just wouldn’t mistake “looking to be aggressive” for “counting on Jack Perkins”.So I guess the overarching question today is what “looking to be aggressive” means to Smith and Castro and when they intend for this aggressiveness to show up publicly with the active roster. Do they mean in the next 20 days before MLB shuts everything down for lord knows how long?