Wilson signing continues A's youth movement with eye on veterans as Las Vegas move nears

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Athletics, for the second time in just more than a month, formally signed one of their young players in their future city when All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson inked his $70 million, seven-year contract on Monday.

Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom signed his deal at the same desk on Dec. 30.

It's been a bit of a theme for the organization going back to last offseason, and maybe the A's will begin to attract veteran free agents to fortify their younger talent closer to their scheduled move to Las Vegas in 2028.

They will play at least the next two seasons in West Sacramento, California, and temporarily residing in a Triple-A ballpark probably cost the A's a shot at eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado, who rejected a trade.

“I think in all fairness, the Arenado situation might have worked out differently had we been here even next year instead of in two years,” A's general manager David Forst said. “So I think the combination of the talent we think we have with getting closer and closer to being here I think will certainly impact our ability to attract free agents. I've felt that way in conversations this offseason.”

Wilson gets a $3 million signing bonus, payable $500,000 on March 15, $1 million next Jan. 15 and $1.5 million on Jan. 15, 2028. He receives salaries of $1 million this year, $2.5 million in 2027, $4.5 million in 2028, $9 million in 2019, $12 million in 2030, $17 million in 2031 and $19 million in 2032.

The deal includes a 2033 option is for $26 million with a $2 million buyout. The option can escalate by up to $4 million based on MVP voting in 2031 and '32: $2 million for each top five finish and $1 million for each sixth-through-10th finish.

The 23-year-old is the fourth player the A’s have signed through at least 2028.

Their other deals include an $86 million, seven-year contract for the 24-year-old Soderstrom, a $60 million, five-year contract with 31-year-old designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker and a $65.5 million, seven-year deal with 25-year-old outfielder Lawrence Butler. Soderstrom’s deal is the richest in team history.

Up next could be contracts with 22-year-old first baseman Nick Kurtz and 28-year-old catcher Shea Langeliers.

This offseason, the A’s made a trade with the New York Mets to acquire 33-year-old second baseman Jeff McNeil.

“We've got a lot of good veterans in our clubhouse right now,” Wilson said. “Rooker and Langeliers are leaders in our clubhouse, and we got McNeil this offseason that we're super excited to have. I'm really excited to learn from him. He's a guy who's been playing for a lot of years now. He's been very successful, and having another leader come to our clubhouse is something that our younger guys are super grateful to have.”

Wilson, selected sixth in the 2023 amateur draft, played in 92 games for the then-Oakland A's in 2024. Last season, he hit .311 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs and was the first fan-elected rookie All-Star starting shortstop. He also finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Kurtz, who was a unanimous selection.

“It's just under a year after (he was) drafted he was playing in the big leagues,” Forst said. “It opened the door for a lot of guys coming to be drafted, get here and show how quickly we can turn this team over and turn it into a team we feel is ready to compete, ready to be a playoff team again and certainly, as we head towards 2028 Las Vegas, be a team that's ready to win.”

Just as Soderstrom did in late December, Wilson toured the stadium construction site. He even autographed where home plate will be placed.

Wilson, whose offseason included marrying former Arizona softball player Logan Cole in December, said he was more than happy to solidify his baseball future.

His contract takes him through the 2032 season with a club option for 2033. By signing him now, the A’s avoid salary arbitration after the 2027, 2028 and 2029 seasons. Wilson also would have been eligible for free agency after the 2030 World Series.

“I think it goes back to the teammates you have in the locker room and the guys that you share the field with,” Wilson said. “We have a very special group here that goes to work every day. For me, it was an easy decision knowing that I'm going to share the field with those guys for the next seven to eight years.”

That will include sharing the field in Las Vegas.

Wilson and many of his teammates already are familiar with the city because Las Vegas is where the club's Triple-A affiliate is located. He played in 26 games at that ballpark in 2024 and four last season during an injury-rehab stint in August.

“When I was playing here, the fans were very passionate about their sports,” Wilson said. “I've been to a couple of (Vegas Golden) Knights games. I've seen how their fan base works for them, too. It's been awesome for us to see that and knowing we're coming into a city that has a lot of sports fans.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

Athletics Assistant General Manager Dan Feinstein, from left, shortstop Jacob Wilson, and General Manager David Forst, pose at a news conference Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark Anderson)

Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson, center, joined by Assistant General Manager Dan Feinstein, left, and General Manager David Forst, signs a contract with the Athletics at a news conference, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark Anderson)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Hold on to those Thanksgiving turkeys! WKRP is coming to Cincinnati — for real this time.

“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the famous call letters, told The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”

The call sign was made famous by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” a CBS television sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It made stars of actors like Loni Anderson and Richard Sanders, whose bumbling newsman Les Nessman reported on a Thanksgiving promotion gone bad when live but flightless turkeys were dropped from a helicopter.

McIntire remembers watching the show’s first episode — featuring disc jockeys Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) and Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) — in the living room with his parents and older sister.

“And at the end of the 30-minute episode,” he said, “I got up and I proclaimed, `I’m going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I’m going to run a station called WKRP.’”

McIntire said he got his first on-air job at 13 as a news anchor at WNQQ “Wink FM” in Blairsville, Pennsylvania.

Fast forward to 2014, when his North Carolina-based nonprofit acquired the call sign from the Federal Communications Commission. Stations in Dallas, Georgia, and Alexandria, Tennessee, previously bore the letters.

McIntire laughs as he recalls his chat with a woman in the agency’s audio division.

He had two sets of call letters in mind. She told him he needed a third.

“Being the jokester that I am, I said, `Well, if you need three, and if it’s available, we’ll take WKRP,’” he said. “And 90 seconds later, she came back and she said, `Mr. McIntire. Congratulations. You’re the general manager of WKRP in Raleigh, North Carolina.’”

WKRP-LP — 101.9 on the FM dial — went live Nov. 30, 2015. The LP stands for “low power,” a class of station created to serve more local audiences that didn’t want mass-market content.

“Our format is what radio used to be 35 years ago in small-town America,” he said. “There is Greats of the 80s, Sounds of the 70s, 90s Rewind.”

LPFM is restricted to nonprofit organizations like his Oak City Media, and it’s definitely local.

“Your broadcast capacity is limited to 100 watts,” McIntire said. “So, your average range is between, depending on your terrain and circumstances, 4 and 12 miles (6 and 19 kilometers) in any direction. Enough to cover a small town.”

And, by necessity, it’s a low-budget affair.

The transmitter is in a corner of McIntire’s garage, between a recycling bin and the cleaning supplies. The broadcast antenna sits atop a 25-foot (7.62-meter) metal flagpole in the backyard. The studio — microphones and a mixing board hooked up to a computer — is in McIntire’s basement.

Like the WKRP of television, McIntire and his partners set out to be “irreverent.” One of their offerings is a two-hour show called “Weird Al and Friends,” focusing on the satirical works of Weird Al Yankovic.

They even had an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. But don’t call the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — they hand out gift certificates to a local grocery store.

“We don’t toss them out of helicopters,” he said with a laugh.

After 10 years on the air, the 56-year-old McIntire decided it was time to pass the reins.

“We’re in a position where the older members like me who started the station are turning the leadership over to younger members,” he said. “They’re not interested in radio.”

They put out a call for bids to use the call letters on FM and AM radio, as well as television and digital television.

They intend to use the proceeds for a new nonprofit venture called Independent Broadcast Consultants. He said IBC will be “geared specifically toward helping these new broadcasters get up and running, get the consulting that they need in order to be, hopefully, more successful than we have been.”

Oak City Media was all set to hand off the television-related suffixes — WKRPTV and WKRPDT — when another group defaulted on the agreement, McIntire said. But he said the Cincinnati deal is in the bag, he just can’t legally discuss it.

“It will be radio,” he said. “But that’s all I can tell you at this time.”

Whatever they do with the call sign, he hopes they will be true to the show that inspired it.

“It has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people,” he said. “And we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy.”

D.P. McIntire leans against a deck beneath the WKRP radio antenna in the backyard of his home in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

D.P. McIntire points to the transmitter for WKRP radio in a corner of his garage in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

The WKRP radio antenna sits atop a 25-foot flagpole behind D.P. McIntire's home in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

A photo of the cast members of the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" sits in a window at the home of D.P. McIntire in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

D.P. McIntire stands beneath a WKRP banner in the backyard of his home in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)