News broke Friday evening that the Oakland Athletics had agreed to a one-year deal with free agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Terms weren't immediately reported, but Saturday, we got this: 

Lucroy is coming off a down year -- though he rebounded in the second half -- but was one of the best offensive catchers in baseball for much of the time from 2012-16. Once getting to Colorado last year, Lucroy hit .310/.429/.437 (115 OPS+) and is a career .281/.343/.433 (108 OPS+) hitter. He's lost value behind the plate, but the offensive potential here means Lucroy is a clear upgrade at catcher for the A's and a steal at just $6.5 million. 

In looking at the entire situation, my question to the A's is this: Why stop there? 

The A's payroll estimate now sits at $65,289,333, according to Cot's Contracts (and adding in Lucroy's deal). The A's ran a payroll of almost $82 million last season and nearly $87 million in 2016. 

It would appear there's room to wiggle, no? Looking ahead, it further becomes the case. 

In 2019, the A's salary commitment is only $13.833 million with arbitration and pre-arb cases taking things up to the mid-$60 million range. 

Still wiggle room. 

Keep in mind, the MLB Players Association filed a grievance against four teams, including the A's. So not only is there room to spend, but there's external pressure, too. 

The A's are definitely in the midst of a rebuild following their three straight playoff runs from 2012-14, but they aren't in a dire situation when it comes to MLB talent. The lineup is set to be one of the more powerful in the league, while there's good potential in the rotation. The bullpen could be sneaky-good as well. 

The rotation of Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden et al, as noted, has talent. It also lacks an ace. 

While the A's clearly weren't planning on aggressively pursuing MLB talent heading into the winter, plans can change based upon the changing market. With the market for free agents softening to an extreme degree and asking prices coming way down, there's a chance to strike. 

My mind now wanders ...

Could the A's pull off a signing of the now-underrated Jake Arrieta? 

We know they won't go huge, but with the state of free agency at this point, it might mean Arrieta either needs to take a low offer or sit out the season. My opinion on the matter is that he'll do the latter if he doesn't get a high average annual value on a deal.

My proposal: The A's offer Arrieta two years and $40 million. That puts their payroll in the mid-$80M range, just as it has been the past several years. We don't know if Arrieta and his agent, Scott Boras, would accept that, but it's worth a shot, right? 

All of a sudden, Arrieta-Graveman-Manaea-Mengden becomes a pretty damn respectable top four of a rotation. There's also the possibility that pitching prospect A.J. Puk joins the rotation by the end of the year, too. He was the No. 6 overall pick in 2016 and reached Double-A last year. The 6-foot-7 lefty struck out 184 in 125 innings across Class A-Advanced and Double-A last year. He's a top-30 prospect right now. 

If not Arrieta, maybe something like two-year, $35M deal for Alex Cobb works. Or even a one-year deal in the ballpark of the qualifying offer ($17.4 million) that each turned down. Such an offer might be attractive because players can't get qualifying offers two years in a row and the market might be stronger next year. 

I understand there's draft pick compensation, but the A's have a shot to be a surprise contender here. Even if they weren't planning on going after these guys, things change. The market changes, so maybe A's president Billy Beane can change his approach to this coming season. He hasn't been to the World Series. You never know what happens. Maybe signing Arrieta gets them into the second wild card and then they get hot in October. It's worth a shot, right? 

The A's just stole Lucroy. With pressure from the MLBPA and likely room to add payroll, it's time for more thievery.