The A's were nine games below .500 in mid-June, but they're now 51-44 following an impressive six-week stretch that's positioned them as contenders for a playoff berth. Here are the latest A’s-related notes and rumors…
- Rollins is not currently an option for the A's, Slusser reports. Slusser hears from two people who aren't convinced Rollins would approve a deal to Oakland (Twitter links).
- The A’s pursued Hanley Ramirez aggressively before the Marlins sent him to Los Angeles, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle confirms that the A’s were “very much in on” Ramirez (Twitter link). The Marlins recently offered Oakland a “sweet deal” that would have sent Ramirez to the A's for a couple of minor leaguers and enough cash to cover half of Ramirez’s contract, Knobler writes. But the A’s held off on the deal, and the Dodgers agreed to take on all of Ramirez’s salary.
- The A’s are still looking to add, Knobler reports. They have been scouting Stephen Drew, have had interest in Yunel Escobar, and have considered the possibility of bringing Oakland native Jimmy Rollins back to the Bay Area.
I vote Jimmy or Drew
I always liked yunnel, I don’t know if it’s true that he lacks effort at times.
He’s just very flashy
Oh it’s certainly true. It often looks a lot worse than it is though as his ‘style’ is very nonchalant so it looks like he never gives a poop.
He is still quite good defensively, but his bat this season has been very troubling. He has been pounding the ball into the ground and turned into a bit of a GIDP machine. I think his approach has changed. He doesn’t seem to be using the whole field like he did last year.
They’ve been trying to change his batting approach this year because they want him to give up batting average for more power. It has really not been working and considering he hit .290 last year on a team which is not known for its batting average one has to wonder what the Jays deal is cause we really don’t need to be hitting more solo homeruns. The frustration of not hitting well I think is getting to him as well especially since teams have been playing him to hit the ball between SS and 2nd which was his bread and butter.
A sweet deal ? Sweeter then the Dodgers offer eh? What would that have looked like I wonder: Brandon Inge, Kurt Suzuki and Travis Blackley for Hanley ? (Sarcasm Alert)
McCarthy for Escobar? Maybe with some extra pieces here and there of course.
If McCarthy could stay healthy, i wouldn’t have an issue
Why would the jays do that? Hes a FA after this year. Yunel has 3.5 years left on his deal at a below-market deal.
I wonder if Bryan LaHair could be a target for the A’s. It’d be nice if he could start hitting again…
I mean, he’s a good platoon player
Gomes/Smith/Carter has been a pretty successful platoon. Don’t see LaHair moving in since he can only play against righties.
They can have Aramis Ramirez, but not much intrigues me in their system…
Not much in the A’s system intrigues you? That seems like a minority opinion around baseball. You feel like no match or no talent?
The A’s have an impressive Minor League system right now. Straily, Stassi, Choice, Godfrey, Green, Sonny Gray, ect. Take your pick
*52-44
would have been nice to get something more for hanley. sounds like oakland had the better package.
ya i’m sure we would’ve sent you guys better prospects in return, but I’m sure it was the money aspect
Saving over $40 mill over the next 2+ years was the motivation.
Good trade for both parties. HanRam seems like he needed the change of scenery and Marlins get to back track from the overspending they did this winter.
They were never going to draw enough to justify that payroll, IMO.
It’s not like Eovaldi is trash either.
If what I heard was true, they were offering Straily and Choice. Marlins didn’t do all that poorly getting Eovaldi, but yeah, Straily and Choice beats that package to a pulp
If those were the prospects then I’m really glad the A’s didn’t do that.
Very true, I wouldn’t have done either one on their own, let alone together. Apparently I’m in the minority thinking that Griffin would’ve been a better option to trade especially since Miami (and Toronto) was/is looking for major league pitchers who’re under control for a while, and Griffin, while more polished than Straily at this point, is more of a 3/4 starter whereas Straily is a 2/3 type
As an A’s fan this one really hurts. I’m not saying Hanley would have turned into the player he was but to miss out on him when we could have had him for a song (and a truck full of cash is disappointing). I would think a similar salary dump would have been possible with him in the off season, so to me this is a mistake.
Hanley is such a high risk because of his attitude that I can understand why oak didn’t pull the trigger. Who knows if he would have been happy going to oak.
I don’t think it’s Hanley’s attitude that made the A’s hesitate. Chances are, Billy wasn’t able to convince Lew Wolff to spend the money–even with the Marlins covering part of Hanley’s salary.
First I don’t know how you understood what I wrote. And second
Youre probably right since it really wouldn’t have cost them a lot in terms of prospects.
The first thing I thought was that the Dodgers got a steal in this deal with what they had to give up. Now I just read that the Dodgers are assuming ALL of Ramirez’s salary AND giving up 2 players? Great deal for the MArlins, though I’m sure theyre wishing it didn’t have to happen
I would rather have Hanley then all of the other shortstop’s in that list. I think Hanley will be able to turn it around in L.A.
well that’s not really an option now bc lew pretty much said, “No, I don’t own baseball teams to win, I own baseball teams to squeeze money out of everyone”
Does a Headley for Choice plus 1-2 other prospects sound more inviting now? Still waiting on a Padres trade, these trades have been great so far though =)
Choice got shut down with a broken hand yesterday. That might complicate it
Ah man….. No bueno
Tell me about it
Choice for Headley straight up NO! Choice for anyone NO! Why do A’s fans want to get rid of Choice? Jesus.
lol not sure what to say to that
If Choice was healthy or not I wouldn’t do Choice for Headley straight up. Just my opinion. Especially when this is looking more and more like a buyers market (i.e. Hanley and Ichiro trade).
With A-rod out now the market just got better for a Headley trade, there’s no one like him available so comparing it to Ichiro or the Hanley fire sale is just not well thought out.
Apparently all A’s fans wouldn’t do that trade and some Padres fans would but it’s not up to us and our opinions. With his hand broken we can just end the conversation now.
They aren’t trading Headley for Choice straight up. They will likely not be fooled by the usual A’s AAAA hitters. You’ll have to throw in some young pitching. Good young pitching like a Griffin, Anderson or Peacock as part of a package.
On Ramirez—vastly overrated and underperforming. Not that great at defense. Rollins would have been an upgrade.
Say hello to Marco Scutaro! He’s about what the A’s can expect and will be much better than the trio of AAA players currently masquerading as major league SS. Inge can hold down 3B for now.
Not even in the slightest. The A’s need an upgrade at 3b, but Inge, despite his horrible batting average, is deceivingly productive, as proof with his HR and RBI numbers. Inge is also a leader of the clubhouse, and really a factor for the A’s energy to keep on winning.
The Padre’s are asking quite a lot for Headley, while an upgrade, is not worth any A prospects. So guys like Choice, Strailey, ect won’t be involved in a deal for Headley, if there is one.
Michael Taylor plus a couple B prospects sounds more reasonable.
I would absolutely love to see Drew headed to Oakland. However, recent comments by the front office make it seem like that is highly unlikely now that they have traded away Ryan Roberts. A pity really. I think most Dbacks fans would have been happy for some quality BP balls and some bats in exchange for jettisoning Drew.
i don’t see how stephen drew is a up grade
Well apparently you haven’t seen Drew lately. Line drives all over the field for outs. He’s only played in like 20 games. It’s a small sample size.
1. Sweep the Jays
2. Jays become sellers
3. Acquire Yunel Escobar
4. ???
5. World Series!
Susan Slusser just tweeted that she’s been told Rollins not an option for A’s at this point.
Now we are left with yunel or drew lol. Much rather would’ve had Hanley.
Yunel, Rollins and Drew are .250 hitters with no upside. Hanley had upside. Don’t trade any prospects for those three it’s barely an upgrade over Pennington.
exactly, I’m mad. Hanley would’ve been a perfect fit for this ball club. I think he would’ve fit in well with the group of guys we got.
Cheap ownership cost us a chance to keep the system stacked and improve right away with the chance of improving exponentially if Hanley regained form.
Drew won’t cost any sort of real prospect. But, outside of having to negotiate with Boras, he does actually have a ton of upside as an elite defensive SS with speed that is a good top of the lineup left-handed hitter.
Yunel still has upside, this is his worst year and he’s only 30, which isn’t exactly geezer age. He’s definitely a defensive upgrade over Pennington. He’s worth it to trade for.
do you guys think the A’s will be interested in a guy like Murphy from the mets? The guy is a hits/doubles machine something the A’s might need down the stretch.
I doubt the A’s are interested in a second baseman. Even with Jemile Weeks struggling this season, the A’s are still high on him and have been reluctant to deal him or demote him. While I personally think Murphy would be a good fit, I doubt the front office is in any hurry to move Weeks to another team or to AAA.
he could DH or play some 3rd his natural position.
I wonder if this deal was better than LA’s. But it obviously wasn’t that much better, I guess, because all they got from LA was 1 solid player and salary relief.
Don’t underestimate Billy Beane’s ability to get a guy nobody thinks is available. I’d love to see him pry Asdrubal Cabrera out of Cleveland or Alcides Escobar out of KC. Cleveland is kidding themselves if they think they are legitimate contenders and KC is long since out of the race. I would send a nice package to either team willing to part with their shortstop. Drew doesn’t thrill me because of his injury history and Yunel is only a small upgrade over what the A’s have now. I’d like to see Beane pull off a stunner and I think he’s capable of doing it.
Any link or other info?
are you for serious
seriously?
Funny since Slusser just reported that Jimmy isn’t an option for Oakland… but continue on.
I would actually be pretty sad too unless the return in overwhelming since he is the heart and sole of the team and now since he has heard his name in trade talks he seems to have stepped up his game and motivated the team.
Oakland would have been better off with a 2 year gamble and throwing the 30m at Ramirez, then sticking him at 3b once they saw how lousy his defense at SS was to try and reclaim his bat than 100% waste 30m on Rollins and his lethargic bat, but great glove.
Want a terrific fielder? Give Alex Gonzalez 3-4m over the off season as a FA.. he even hits far better than Rollins and should be fully healed by then and not on the hook for Rollins to continue regressing more than he already has.
Best Seinfeld reference I’ve heard in a while. Well done sir!
Pennington is a plus fielder, so the A’s aren’t really trying to improve defensively at the position, and I’m not convinced Alex Gonzalez is worth the extra 3 million that we would pay Penny, he’s essentially an older side-grade.
While Rollins is owed a good chunk of change, I would love to acquire him, as his bat is a slight upgrade, his defense is about on par with Penningtons. What really interests me is the presence in the Clubhouse that Jimmy can bring. He’s a World Series champ, he’s a local guy (He went to my High school in Alameda, Encinal High, which is a suburb of Oakland), and I think having him for a couple years could really benefit guys like Jemile Weeks.