A's to be Active as Deadline Approaches?

by Eli Greenspan on Jul 19, 2009 8:31 PM EDT Comment 10 comments

Due to an influx of reliable late inning relievers, teams are targeting the A's for potential trades. One reliever, Michael Wuertz, is drawing more interest than most because he has proven that he can have success in both leagues. The A's can expect power arm Joey Devine to be back and ready for the 2010 season, and moving Wuertz would clear a spot for Justin Duchscherer, who would benefit from a reduced role. Not to mention he received his first All-Star nod in the set up role.

The Athletics are not ones to swing deals on whim, so you can expect them to scour the market for an up and coming shortstop or third baseman. In a market like this, you can bet that general managers are doing their best to manufacture deals and target cheap help. If anyone has a positive track record at succeeding in trades like this, it's Billy Beane.

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They should also move

Cust, Kennedy, Ellis, Duke, Giambi, Barton, Holliday, Caberra, and Ziegler for the right package.

by A'Seahawks_Warriors on Jul 19, 2009 10:02 PM EDT reply actions

Selling Ellis and Giambi would be selling reaaalllyyy low on both of them

Also, good luck trading Duke, Giambi, and Cabrera at this point—Duke because of injuries, the other two due to performance. And why would you want to trade Barton? He’s still just 23, and has been tearing up AAA lately. His slash sits at .261/.386/.458 after an absolutely horrid two months to start the season. Also, selling him would be selling pretty low, too.

by NateHST on Jul 20, 2009 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions

agree with all of this 100%, except OCab.

He could get something in return, he is tearing the cover off the ball right now, plays good defense, and has a lot of playoff experience, with 2 world series rings. Even though he wouldn’t pull in a great return, they could get something for him, and it gives them a chance to put Pennington at SS for the rest of year, he has been tearing up AAA and deserves a shot.

What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.

by winchester5 on Jul 20, 2009 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions

I would hardly call what Pennington is doing in AAA "tearing it up"

He’s hitting .279/.360/.381 on the year. Over his last 10 games, he’s batting .233 with 1 BB and 9 K. I can’t see him hitting THAT much better than OCab this year, but obviously OCab doesn’t have a future with the A’s. Cliff might, but I’m not really sitting here with high hopes.

by NateHST on Jul 20, 2009 3:02 AM EDT up reply actions

I didnt say he would be hitting better than Cabrera, I just said that he deserves a shot at SS for the A's.

OCab is not going to be an A after this year, and when next year comes, who is going to be playing SS for them? Pennington right now is probably the most logical choice, unless you like Petit (Who cant hit at the ML level), or Patterson (who cannot play a good defensive SS).

If Pennington can translate some of his AAA stats the majors, the A’s are looking at a good major league player at a position this a black whole for the organization (unless then can sign Grant Green).

Penningtons stats may not be amazing, but I would certainly take a cheap longterm SS hitting .279/.360/.381 with 27 steals and good defense. I’m not the biggest pennington supporter and I dont believe he will be able to that in the majors, I just feel it makes sense for the A’s to give him a shot….what advantage does starting OCab the rest of this year have…..? Do you really think the A’s have a shot at the playoffs………………..lol

by winchester5 on Jul 20, 2009 4:41 AM EDT up reply actions

I made some bad grammer mistakes in there but....

its like 4:30 in the morning

by winchester5 on Jul 20, 2009 4:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Im surprised there isn't more interest over Holliday. Yes, he costs a lot and would take prospects, but he plays great defense, is heating up, and can steal bases.

I would really rather have a couple prospects than the two draft picks, even though beane has been a good drafting gm, I still like to see already established prospects if he can get them.

As for anyone else, I think they could get a good haul back for Orlando Cabrera, because he is on fire lately, plays good d, and has playoff experience. Wuertz has been a stud and would be a great fit for the Dodgers with their bullpen questions. Adam Kennedy could also be a decent trade chip.

A’seahawks_warriors: No one would take Giambi, he is hitting .184, Cust isn’t going anywhere, he is struggling and would be impossible to trade, Duke wouldn’t get them back any prospects because of health issues, Ziegler is cheap and under control, so they should trade Wuertz/Springer before him. Barton is still very young and was at one point a great hitting prospect for a reason. They should DFA giambi and start Barton at 1B the rest of the year.

by winchester5 on Jul 19, 2009 10:07 PM EDT reply actions