JP Sears Generating Trade Interest

The Athletics are getting plenty of trade interest in left-hander JP Sears, according to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, though Passan adds that the A’s are unlikely to move him. It’s a similar situation with right-hander Mason Miller, as Passan relays that the A’s are willing to listen to offers but don’t appear likely to make a trade. That tracks with previous reporting on Miller, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said about a month ago that the A’s were willing to listen but had a massive asking price.

Sears came over to the A’s as part of the 2022 deadline deal that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. Since then, Sears has been the most reliable and consistent pitcher on the Oakland staff as other arms have either been hurt or underperformed. He made 32 starts last year and tossed 172 1/3 innings, leading the club in both of those categories by a decent margin. Ken Waldichuk was second in both columns with 22 starts and 141 innings.

Here in 2024, he’s been the rock of the rotation yet again. The A’s currently have Waldichuk, Paul Blackburn, Ross Stripling and Alex Wood all on the injured list. Sears is once again leading the staff with 12 starts and 67 1/3 innings pitched.

While the A’s surely appreciate that quantity of work, the quality has been more decent than it has been outstanding. Sears had a 4.54 earned run average last year along with a 21.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate, with all those numbers coming in fairly close to average.

Sears has dropped his ERA to 4.01 here in 2024 but that may be more due to luck than anything else. His 6.9% walk rate is a slight improvement over last year but his 16.3% strikeout rate is a significant drop. His batting average on balls in play is .239, which is well below the .278 mark he had last year and this season’s league-wide average of .286. His 35.6% ground ball rate is below average as well. His average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate are all in the 32nd percentile or worse among qualified pitchers, according to Statcast.

Even if a bit of regression is coming, he could still serve as a solid innings eater with good control. His 4.32 FIP and 4.75 SIERA on the year aren’t as nice as his ERA but aren’t disastrous either. That can have value to an Oakland club cycling through struggling pitching prospects and injured veterans.

Whether it will be valued enough by another club to get Sears away from the A’s remains to be seen, as they should be in no real rush to move him. He came into this season with one year and 81 days of service time. That means he won’t even qualify for arbitration until after 2025 and isn’t slated for free agency until after 2028. If they don’t find any particularly enticing offers now, they can simply keep him around as part of the rotation core as they gradually try to emerge from this rebuilding process, which seems to be the most likely scenario at this point.

But the case for making him available could be his age. Sears was sort of a late bloomer, not reaching the big leagues until his age-26 season. Though the A’s can theoretically control him for years to come, he’s now 28 years old and will likely be in his early 30s by the time the club is competitive again. Perhaps that will compel them to consider pulling the trigger on a deal while his value is at its highest. With pitchers liable to suffer significant injuries at any time, there’s also a case for the club to proactively strike a deal before that happens to Sears.

Whether anything can come together will likely depend on the offers that are coming towards Oakland. Since Sears is cheap and controllable and fairly reliable, they will likely need a decent return to get a deal done. As mentioned, Sears is more a reliable mid- or back-of-rotation guy than an ace, but that could hold appeal to clubs with so many pitching injuries around the league.