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The Athletics have been pretty busy over the last few days. After signing Scott Kazmir to a two-year, $22M deal on Monday, they quickly shifted gears to the trade market where they acquired closer Jim Johnson from the Orioles for second baseman Jemile Weeks early Tuesday morning. Continuing that trend, they've made another swap, this time with the Texas Rangers.
Final trade between Oakland and Texas: A's get Craig Gentry and Josh Lindblom, Rangers get Michael Choice and Chris Bostick.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 3, 2013
Gentry has been one of the best defensive players in baseball over the last few seasons, putting up 28 DRS (defensive runs saved) and a career UZR/150 of 29.3 in the outfield. He has also been outstanding in the batter's box for the Rangers over that time with wRC+ marks of 106 and 108 in 2012 and 2013. The only real knock on Gentry is his age -- he turned 30 years old on Friday.
Lindblom has seen mixed results in his young MLB career so far. The right hander had a 5.46 ERA in 31.1 innings for Texas last year, but was much better with the Dodgers before being traded for the first time in his career (to the Phillies in a package for Shane Victorino). In addition to struggling with the Rangers, he wasn't spectacular in his short stint in Philadelphia, but pitching at O.co could help him whittle away at some of his bloated peripherals.
The Rangers acquired a high-floor power bat in Michael Choice. He was recently ranked as the second-best prospect in the A's system by Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks. Chris Bostick also made an appearance on that list at No. 8. Texas appears to have valued the youth they acquired in the deal, and they already have Leonys Martin who can play regularly in center field.
