The Athletics are after upgrades at a couple positions this offseason, and have said they’re open to internal options, trades, or free agents to find the right fix for what they’re after. The two positions they’re mainly after are second and third base, and former San Francisco Giant Thairo Estrada could be a terrific option for the A’s to consider at the keystone.

First off, he’s not going to cost a ton to acquire on the free agent market, and there’s even a chance that he could be available on a minor-league deal after he missed a lot of the 2025 campaign due to various injuries. He signed with the Colorado Rockies for $2.75 million back in January.

Estrada is a career .251 hitter with a .299 OBP, which isn’t exactly the best stat line, but his strikeout rate sat at just 15.8% across 39 games this past season, and his bat speed also jumped up a little bit in the process. Over the past three seasons he has taken his bat speed from the 25th percentile up to around league average, while also cutting down on strikeouts.

It seems as though there could be some untapped potential in that profile for the A’s to explore.

But what makes him a great fit for the Athletics is his glove. This past season with the Rockies he was dealing with a right wrist fracture, and then later a sprained left thumb, and finally a right hamstring strain. With that taken into account, his -1 Outs Above Average seems to make more sense, given his track record at second base.

That track record includes a +9 OAA at second base in 2024 in 812 innings, and a +20 OAA in 2023 in 857 innings. Over the past three years, Estrada’s glove has ranked fourth among all second basemen in terms of OAA, and that’s with him missing a good portion of 2025.

A bat with some upside and a proven glove that can be available for a low price seems like the kind of free agent that the A’s would love to target, especially given the situation at second base. With Zack Gelof hurt, but still expected back at some point, Estrada could be a solution, or a stopgap depending on how the season shakes out.

In other words, he’d be providing value to the club with his glove, and potentially the bat as well, while also not eating up a ton of payroll that would make it trickier when Gelof is ready.

The A’s second base situation is challenging at the moment, because there is a real chance that No. 1 prospect Leo De Vries starts the season in Triple-A Las Vegas, and given how quickly he flew through Double-A, midseason would seem like a safe bet for an MLB debut for the 19-year-old.

That would also mean that the A’s would have to figure out who the starting shortstop is: De Vries or Jacob Wilson, with the other sliding to either second or third, presumably. That’s one of those situations that will be figured out when the time comes.

It’s still the early days of the offseason, but with Thairo Estrada freshly on the market, he’s certainly a player the A’s should take a look at, even as a short-term solution.