Athletics’ general manager David Forst recently spoke to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle to discuss the state of the team coming out of the All-Star break and moving towards the July 30 trade deadline. The club is planning on making additions, which is unsurprising given that they are currently holding down a wild card spot and are also just 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Astros in the AL West.
More specifically, the team seems to be focused on bullpen upgrades, a need that was recently exacerbated by Trevor Rosenthal’s season-ending surgery. “It’s a little different math now that Trevor’s not going to be part of this group in August and September,” Forst said. “But I think we still see the bullpen as a place we would hope to augment.” Forst and the A’s will seemingly be quite open-minded as to the kind of relievers they target, not worrying about specific roles they have played. “I think our focus is just on best pitchers available and not necessarily guys who have experience closing.”
Even without Rosenthal, the bullpen has held relatively steady in Oakland. Their collective 3.92 ERA is good enough for 11th in the league. But advanced metrics are a bit more skeptical of that mark, with FIP putting them at 4.27 and xFIP at 4.73.
And there could be some help coming from their minor league clubs. Forst says he sees A.J. Puk as “being someone that gets called on up here” and Jesus Luzardo could be an option but “he obviously needs to get some things straightened out down there before he’s a consideration to come back.”
Of course, with the A’s, the budget is always a question. Roster Resource currently estimates the payroll to be $86MM. The team has gone above that in recent years, but not by much. According to Cot’s Contracts, they’ve gone as high as $95MM, in 2019. If the team is willing to go to that range again, that certainly leaves room for shrewd bullpen additions.
But what about a bigger splash? Shortstop stands out as an area of need. Oakland’s shortstops have produced a wRC+ of 61 and an fWAR of -0.1, both numbers putting the team near the bottom of the league. And those are primarily attributable to Elvis Andrus, who has started 87 of Oakland’s 94 games thus far. However, Forst seems uninterested in entertaining the idea of moving on from Andrus. “Elvis is the shortstop,” Forst said. “His defense has been outstanding, his energy and positivity in the clubhouse never waned. I know Bob will tell you how valuable he’s been off the field and his on-field play the last six weeks has absolutely matched that.” These statements always have to be taken with a grain of salt, of course. A public statement could be part of a negotiation strategy that belies the club’s true intents.
But even if the A’s do try to find a new shortstop, it will be more challenging than upgrading the bullpen, given their aforementioned budget-consciousness. Trevor Story is widely believed to be traded this month. But he’s still owed more than $6MM of his $18.5MM salary. Javier Baez is slightly more affordable, with about $4MM remaining of his $11.65MM salary. But it’s still possible the Cubs could retain and extend him. Andrelton Simmons has a salary of $10.5MM but isn’t a huge upgrade over Andrus, given his wRC+ of 73 and fWAR of 0.1 this year. Of course, Andrus himself is making $14MM this season, which could allow the A’s to include him as ballast and increase the prospect payout to keep a deal relatively financially-neutral.
Adding a reliever would be much simpler. Looking at the trade candidates laid out last month by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, the top relievers on the list are Richard Rodriguez, Ian Kennedy, Kendall Graveman and Yimi Garcia. Of that group, the highest paid is Kennedy, with a salary of $2.15MM this year, leaving less than a million to be paid out. A slight shakeup in the bullpen could help the A’s strengthen the relief corps as they try to charge into a pennant race.
It would be kind of nice to see the A’s, Astros, or Angels in the Wildcard.
Angels need to get some pitching, but I have no idea as to who is available that is actually playing or if Cole Hamels will be of any use to anyone!!!
Astros as a Wild Card? Are you high? LMAO! They’re easily the AL team to beat on road to WS. Any plans the A’s have about overtaking them will surely mean they have to sacrifice the future = spend $. Had they had any sense at all, they would have traded Treinen ’18 deadline for prospects to put them over top in 2019. Instead, they even went and drafted Kyler Murray. Pure idiocy but as a HOU fan, never get in the way of your enemy implosion. Andrus is the least of their worries. They have and always will need more pitching.
@gost1
Astros as a Wild Card? Are you high?
Sweep revenge: O’s take all 3 against Astros
How soon you forget!!!!!
@gost1
Team to beat? I think the White Sox have something to say about that…remember, White Sox will likely have both Jimenez and Robert back for postseason and their starting pitching is far & away better than Houston.
Also, if Sale comes back and is even solid, Red Sox will have something to say as well.
A’s are going to destroy the Astros in the second half, happens every year….
Laureano and Kemp say hi and they are glad to be gone from the org that ruined the integrity of the game.
I mean I hope that happens but the Astros are leagues above the A’s this year.
One thing all the intelligent fans know is Kimbrel won’t be getting traded to Oakland. Doesn’t make any sense whatsoever so don’t even bring it up.
Mccan luzardo for rich rod erick Gonzalez and who says no
A’s do. You don’t trade Luzardo for a 31 year old reliever when they aren’t going to win the world series. That $ down the drain.
Who says they aren’t winning the World Series? They are playing with their food all year and still are a game or two off the second best record. They are recent-historically the best 2nd half team in the game. 100 wins this year is all but assured.
dude, lets put money on that 100 number. you surely must realize how hard it is after all.
The A’s would say no. All while laughing hysterically at such a ridiculous proposal, that doesn’t even make sense since you clearly can’t type correctly.
It’s that time of year agin where all any of us can do is guess. Oh, to be a fly on a the wall of a GM’s office right now.
I could see them getting another OF as well. With Canha back, could be a DH platoon with Moreland. Piscotty has been spotty, Pinder is out for a while and Laureano is streaky. Need some offense in the OF.
Grossman has been linked and led off with a homer yesterday and looks like he’s coming back into form. He’s a nice fit (again) (probably shouldnt have let him leave to begin with).
Kennedy + Solak for Deichmann + Hogan Harrison + Jared Koenig
Deichmann can get more than Solak, who while a good hitter, is atrocious defensively and a DH-only on a good team.
Yes and that’s exactly who Oakland is targeting…a DH. They can figure him out defensively in the offseason.
Solak & Deichmann are the exact same age, Oakland’s OF is set for awhile and Pinder is almost a FA. Solak fits well in Oakland
The A’s need a quality LHP in the bullpen and I don’t trust it will be Puk or Luzardo. Dumping Stephen Piscotty would allow for some flexibility in payroll. Piscotty is signed through 2022 at $7.5 Million. Adding a corner OF bat might be the next move. In reality, though, the A’s need a change in their coaching staff. Matt Chapman has deteriorated as a hitter and Sean Murphy looks a lot like Bobby Crosby at the plate (all pull, all the time). The A’s rank 17th in OPS for the season and over the last month only the Diamondbacks are worse in that department.
A’s need Kimbrel, another RP, an upgrade at backup C who can be trusted to play everyday in case of injury to Murphy (Aramis Garcia is atrocious) an OF and a middle INF. Then the Trashtstros will be eating their dust come September.
A team that matches up well is Detroit. Moreland can’t hit lefties, Schoop destroys them. Grossman provides said OF depth, Haase is that upgrade at C and Gregory Soto is a great longer-term piece at the backend of the bullpen.
The BBTV trade simulator accepts this trade:
Soto, Haase, Grossman and Schoop for Barrera, Brown, Criswell and Davidson.
The A’s are not going to get anyone with more than $3 Million left on their contract unless they shed a contract in the process. Kimbrel is ridiculous unless Piscotty can be unloaded.
Garcia is a fine catcher (A’s pitchers work better with him than Murphy in some cases Montas, Irvin) and the A’s have Austin Allen in AAA.
A trade with the Yankees with Piscotty in the mix makes some sense – with the A’s getting Trevor Lane (LHP), Deivi Garcia (sending him to the bullpen) and Trey Amburgey. If the A’s could swing for Hoy Jun Park I would be thrilled.
You can write this exact same article nearly every year For the last couple of decades…”seeking bullpen help”. Doesn’t matter if we have the best or worst bullpen we are “targeting relievers.”
Furthermore, the A’s then s the bed in game one because they have a bad starting pitching performance and can’t score a run and are eliminated.
Every. Year.
shhh, they won a playoff series last year! moneyball works!
Anrdus has a 90 wRC+ since May 1, DH has been a much bigger problem in the line-up. He also has a fullt NTC, which might make trading him a bit difficult..
Oakland’s payroll is sitting closer to $75 MM than $86 MM. Rosenthal’s salary counts $11 MM against the CB Tax threshold but $8 MM of that is deferred until 2022 and 2023.
Andrus is not going anywhere. I never understood the Mitch Moreland experience. Unless you have a DH who is going to put up a .900+ OPS the DH role should be a way to give players a day off from the field.
Rosenthal’s contract is very fishy and you have to wonder if the A’s and Rosenthal knew something was wrong. Curious if Rosenthal takes a minimal contract with the A’s next year with escalators or tries to hit the open market with a very liable track record.
What the A’s fans want: 1 of Baez orStory
What’s A’s fans will wind up with:
1 or 2 of Starlin Castro, Josh Harrison, Asdrubal Cabrerea, or Eduardo Escobar
No.
Escobar isnt to bad compared to the other 3