This morning on All In Before 10, we’re coming to you live with boots-on-the-ground insight straight from spring training. Aaron Cameron joins the show from the complex, giving us a real-time feel for what’s happening inside A’s camp — not box score noise, not Twitter clips, but actual baseball eyes. We’re diving into the energy around the roster, the tempo of workouts, the competition battles that matter, and the names quietly separating themselves before most fans have had their morning coffee. Spring numbers can lie. Body language doesn’t.

And then we get to the kids everyone’s buzzing about. Rookie sensation Jamie Arnold is already forcing conversations he wasn’t supposed to enter this early, and Leo De Vries looks like he’s been playing this game five years longer than his birth certificate suggests. We break down what’s real, what’s sustainable, and what it means for the A’s trajectory in 2026. Is this just March hype — or are we watching the foundation being poured in real time? Aaron tells us what the cameras don’t show.

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Nick Kurtz signing an extension right now wouldn’t just be smart — it would be strategic survival. With reports from Jon Heyman suggesting early salary cap proposals in the $260–280 million range and a mandatory payroll floor of $140–160 million, baseball’s financial system could be headed for its biggest shakeup in decades. That kind of structural change doesn’t happen quietly. It leads to friction. And friction leads to lockouts. If Kurtz signs before the season, he locks in guaranteed security before a potential 2027 labor war reshapes contract rules, spending limits, and free-agent leverage.

This isn’t all sunshine and champagne. A cap and floor system would force teams to operate inside hard spending lanes — no more open-ended growth at the top, no more bottom-tier austerity at the bottom. That means star players could see ceilings placed on earning power. It also means negotiations will get ugly. A long work stoppage in 2027 isn’t fear-mongering — it’s the logical end point when billionaires and players fight over a shrinking slice of certainty. Extending Kurtz now protects both sides from the storm. Waiting could mean stepping into the middle of it.

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Nick Kurtz isn’t just a hot topic — he’s the conversation. On this episode of Where Stats Meet Instinct, Sam breaks down the reported contract extension talks between Kurtz and the A’s and explains why this isn’t just another routine negotiation. After a rookie season that included a .290 average, 36 home runs, a 1.002 OPS, and a 173 OPS+, Kurtz didn’t just arrive — he detonated. We dig into how he did it, why the swing-and-miss numbers don’t tell the full story, and why hitters like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani prove that elite production can coexist with whiffs — as long as the damage is loud enough when contact happens.

Then we zoom out. What would a massive long-term deal actually mean for the A’s? Is this just another extension, or is this the franchise planting a flag and saying, “We have our superstar”? Sam also tackles the lineup debate — leadoff, second, or third — and breaks down the math behind each spot in plain English. More at-bats late in games vs. more RBI chances early. The trade-offs are real. The panic is not. Bottom line: if the A’s lock this guy up, it’s the kind of moment that changes the direction of an organization.

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