The Athletics, now two months away from beginning their inaugural season in Sacramento, announced several uniform tweaks on Friday ahead of the 2025 campaign. The most notable among them: a No. 24 patch in honor of Hall of Fame outfielder A's franchise legend Rickey Henderson, who died in December at the age of 65.

The Athletics revealed that they will be wearing two patches, one to honor Rickey Henderson and another to commemorate the capital city, for their first season at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.

Japanese baseball stars have almost exclusively come to MLB after playing in NPB. Morii is breaking precedent by signing with the A's.

In keeping with their newfound profligacy, this week it was announced that the Athletics signed 18-year-old Japanese star (in waiting?) Shotaro Morii to a record-setting deal, with a $1,510,500 bonus. Who is Shotaro Morii, and how and why did the small-market (which market?) club get theirs hands on him?

Hoping to become a two-way player in Major League Baseball just like Shohei Ohtani, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii made the rare decision to bypass Japanese professional baseball entirely and agreed Wednesday to a minor league contract with the Athletics that includes a signing bonus of $1,