The A’s are seemingly in the hunt for an addition to their bullpen, hears Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). To that end, Oakland was in on Trevor Rosenthal before the Royals traded the right-hander to the Padres yesterday, Feinsand adds.
The A’s bullpen has been a big part of their 22-12 start. Oakland relievers have pitched to a league-best 1.87 ERA and 2.92 FIP this season, with strong contributions from Liam Hendriks, Joakim Soria, Lou Trivino and others. Nevertheless, there’s little harm for the Oakland front office in seeking to lengthen the pen. The club’s starting rotation has been a middle-of-the-road unit. An even deeper bullpen would give manager Bob Melvin more ammunition to mix-and-match on the pitching staff, which could be especially useful in the postseason.
Beyond Rosenthal (who’s obviously no longer a trade candidate), it isn’t clear specifically who Oakland is targeting. There are a host of relievers who look like potential trade candidates, among them Kansas City’s Greg Holland, Baltimore’s Mychal Givens/Miguel Castro and Boston’s Matt Barnes.
So are most of the teams trying to contend this year. GET IN LINE!
This is a yearly thing. “We can’t hit, we have no starting pitching, but a strong
Bullpen…”well then let’s make our bullpen even stronger.” I know this year we have hitting and pitching but seriously this has been the story for the past decade plus. “Let’s give up one of our top
Prospects for a 39 year old journeyman middle reliever.”
They have the best bullpen in baseball. Get an ace starter or get nothing
They are probably thinking the extra arm can allow them to pull a struggling starter early, if needed? The Ace is only 1 start every 5 games. The A’s need the reserves for the games their starter can’t seem to go 5 + innings.
Exactly. With AJ coming back and probably in the pen, not sure what they’re doing here regarding prioritization of needs. BP help is always nice, but it’s a strength for them at this point.
That doesn’t make any sense. Their bullpen is first in fWAR, ERA, FIP, 2nd in HR/9, 4th in xFIP and BB%, 5th in SIERA, and 6th in K%. They have 5 guys with an ERA below 2, and 7 with an ERA below 3. Including TJ McFarland and Jake Diekman with a .68 ERA and zero ERA. There’s literally no bullpen upgrades you guys can pursue that could make the pen better.
They already found their 2B for the rest of the year. Trade with the Pirates for Musgrove, or Williams.
Rafael Montero on the Rangers is someone who MIGHT be able to be traded.
Positive test from the bullpen?
Not related, no. Feinsand’s report was from last night, before the A’s knew of this morning’s positive test result.
Can eliminate Givens because Rockies just got him per Heyman.
The Angels should offer up the entire bullpen so we can catch them