The Athletics’ acquisition of Jed Lowrie has set the team up to trade away another infielder, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Lowrie will probably play second base, forming a double-play duo with incumbent shortstop Marcus Semien. There is interest from other American League teams in both Brett Lawrie and Danny Valencia, she reports, with the former seemingly more likely to be dealt. Lawrie, 26, slashed just .260/.299/.407 last year after being acquired as a key piece of the Josh Donaldson trade. He has two years of control remaining, with MLBTR projecting him to earn $3.9MM this year. Valencia, meanwhile, performed both before and after he was claimed by Oakland off waivers from the Blue Jays. He, too, can be controlled for another two years and is projected at $3.4MM.
Here’s more from the A.L.:
- On the other side of that deal, the Astros were in part compelled to give up Lowrie because outfielder Colby Rasmus accepted a qualifying offer, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle explains. GM Jeff Luhnow said that the club is happy to “pay a little more” given the increased certainty that Rasmus represents in his second year with the club, but that also made it harder for the organization to pay Lowrie $7.5MM to perform what might have been a super-utility role. “Given that we had a lot of options at third and first, we (thought we) could take those resources and apply them to an area of our club we didn’t have as much depth (or where we) don’t have anybody penciled into that spot right now,” Luhnow said. “Whether it’s lefthanded relief, righthanded relief or even a starter, those resources will be reallocated to something we believe will help.”
- Rasmus and the Astros have yet to explore a multi-year arrangement and are unlikely to do so before he hits the open market next fall, Drellich adds.
- The Twins are interested in Joakim Soria but haven’t made him an offer at this point, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. Soria, though, does have offers in hand from other clubs, he hears. Presumably, none of those offers have approached his previously reported three-year, $27MM asking price.
- Last week’s acquisition of Cameron Maybin from the Braves likely ends the Tigers’ pursuit of outfield help, reports James Schmehl of MLive.com. General manager Al Avila told Schmehl that a further acquisition is “doubtful,” adding that it’s not entirely clear what Maybin’s role in 2016 will be. “Some people feel he should be playing center and Anthony Gose in left,” said Avila. “Some people feel he should be playing left and Gose in center. And we still have Tyler Collins, obviously. That’s the beauty of (Maybin) — we feel good about him either way.” Schmehl reports that in addition to making an offer to re-sign Rajai Davis prior to acquiring Maybin, the Tigers also made an offer to an unnamed outfielder. While he doesn’t offer further details, I’d imagine that Ryan Raburn, Chris Denorfia and Chris Young could’ve filled similar roles in Detroit, though Raburn doesn’t really profile as a possible center field option. Franklin Gutierrez, too, could’ve been a right-handed target for the Tigers prior to his new contract with the Mariners.
Lawrie will probably go to the Angels
I could see that.
seems like a guy named valencia would be a better fit in orange county
Who are the Angels trading?
Interesting idea.
Lawrie to the Angels makes sense. I wonder who they would have to give up to acquire him? Maybe Tropeano?
I could see Lawrie plus a mid level prospect for Tropeano and a lower level prospect.
The angels do not match up with the A’s in a trade. The angels have a very weak farm system and not much depth. Lawrie would get you much better players than the angels good offer.
The A’s are looking for relief pitchers. I’m sure the Angels have some RP they might be interested in. Like Bedrosian
Bedrosian has failed at the major league level. Indians make more sense since they have a need for a 3b and have some good young pitchers worth trading for. many other teams that need a 3b could give the A’s a better deal than the angels have.
And yet the Twins are all over him for Trevor Plouffe. Bedrosian has barely any Majoreague team since mid-2014 plenty of room for him to adjust.
Not all trades are strictly involving prospects. Especially for Brett Lawrie. He’s nothing spectacular, but can keep at least a league average bat at either 2B and/or 3B while the Angels search for other upgrades. His numbers look a lot like David Freese’s, and it didn’t take much at all for the Angels to get him.
Valencia for Tyler Pill and Jhoan Urena. Or if they want major league return, Carlos Torres and Ceciliani
Not even close to enough for lawrie, still good upside there with a low ceiling
i really cant see the angels giving up starting pitching for lawrie, particularly after they acquired andrelton
Maybin in left, him & Gose will be covering some ground either way
But can they hit? Neither have a strong track record.
Neither are batting cleanup. They’ll be fine for the 8th and 9th slot.
Since they don’t have a true leadoff hitter, one will be doing that, or batting 2nd behind Kinsler. Span would have been a nice fit.
I like the NiTro idea, but him being an ex Astro I think he will be a really good pitcher. I HATED the trade for Congor that has been Luhnow’s worst trade to date.
But he has the best HR robot dance around!
I hope Maybin can stay injury-free for the Tigers, if they are counting on him as an everyday player.
Confirming the logic that Maybin will likely be in left. LF in Comerica is like another CF.
When I saw the A’s traded for Lowrie I feared in typical A’s fashion that they probably have up their #1 prospect to get him. I was happy that this time we didn’t. That being said, Valencia and Lawrie are both better than Lowrie and I can’t imagine getting a better prospect for Valencia than we gave up to get Lowrie. To trade Lawrie who was our prize for giving up MVP Donaldson would make that trade even worse as there not a team out there that would give much for him. I’d say
Keep all three and stop screwing around with playing guys like Sogard.
devon travis
and Steve Delabar for Brett Lawrie
And the Blue Jays do this because?
travis has a bad shoulder
Hell no. I wouldn’t even do Devon Travis for Lawrie straight up.
The A’s should put lawrie at 3b semien SS and lowrie 2B and finally have a decent infield without holes.
The league leader in errors isn’t considered a defensive hole?
Semien oddly posted a postive dWAR though.
The tigers need to realize that Gose is barely a 4th Of…
I don’t see the appeal in Brett Lawrie, is his upside really that much higher than what he has shown so far? He could play 2b and show some power, but outside of that, he hasn’t shown much. Reminds me of the Franklin Gutierrez debate. Also, Chris Davis debate.
so the Tigers ownership and Gm both lied to the fans.They clearly stated they were going to spend and by not bringing in any REAL help and signing on the cheap proves they are not serious about winning.I already think Avila is a liar.