A’s have the look of sellers at MLB trade deadline, but will they make any moves?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The A's hold a 47-63 record and near-zero chance of making playoffs this season.
- Trade talks swirl around pitchers Severino, Springs, Sears and infield depth.
- Front office eyes future Las Vegas roster, unlikely to move core players now.
Buyers or sellers, history shows the Athletics have typically been active around the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
Things seem to pointing in a clear direction this summer as the team wades through its first full season playing its home games in West Sacramento.
The team entered Wednesday with a 47-63 record and has been in last place in the American League West since May 20. FanGraphs is giving the A’s a 0.1% chance at reaching the playoffs. Baseball Reference says it’s less than 0.1%. Playoffstatus.com says they have less than a 1% chance at reaching the Wild Card round.
All of which would indicate the A’s are far more likely to be sellers than buyers ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline.
But the trade market throughout the Majors has largely yet to materialize. Many presumptive sellers are unsure if they will part with their most valuable assets, while many players pegged as trade candidates early in the season aren’t performing up their expectations.
For the A’s, ace starting pitching Luis Severino falls under that latter umbrella. His first home victory of the season came Tuesday after starting 0-9 at Sutter Health Park, where he had a 6.68 ERA. Severino has been much better on the road, posting a 3.03 ERA in 10 starts, but the 31-year-old right-hander’s inconsistencies throughout the season might be giving teams pause given he’s due $25 million and $22 million the next two years, respectively.
On the other hand, he could be rounding into form. Severino has won three consecutive starts and has allowed six earned runs in his last 21 2/3 innings. Severino was asked after Tuesday’s start if he’s had conversations with A’s brass about trade scenarios.
“I haven’t. Nothing that I know of. If you know something, let me know,” he quipped.
Who are A’s possible trade candidates?
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported earlier this month the A’s were listening to offers for their top three starting pitchers: Severino, Jeffrey Springs and JP Sears.
Sears confirmed to The Sacramento Bee earlier this week the front office has kept him in the loop amid the uncertain rumors about his future.
Third baseman Gio Urshela is said to be on the market, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. Infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar is said to be drawing interest from multiple teams, according to Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com.
But the rumor mill has been mostly quiet with the deadline approaching Thursday. And despite their history of moving on from key building blocks, the A’s don’t seem likely to trade core players like sluggers Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker or closer Mason Miller.
The team has said it wants to have a team capable of competing when it moves to Las Vegas, which they hope will happen in 2028. All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson and budding star first baseman Nick Kurtz could be franchise centerpieces by then.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay was asked about where his team stands earlier in the week.
“You can’t use the word ‘sellers’ for us,” Kotsay said Monday. “We’re not chasing something outside of finishing the season where we feel like we’ve gotten better. It doesn’t mean we can’t have an opportunity to win because we’re not mathematically eliminated, but we’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole.
“We’re looking at building. And any piece that we move, will be a piece that’s replaced with somebody we feel like can impact our future.”
Navigating deadline uncertainty
Kotsay played for seven teams over 17 Major League seasons, but he was never dealt at the trade deadline. The closest he came was when he was moved from the Atlanta Braves to the Boston Red Sox in August 2008 after the deadline when teams were still allowed to trade players who cleared waivers first. The August waiver trade period was removed in 2019.
Kotsay this week noted players shouldn’t put blinders on when it comes to hearing their names in trade fodder, and he makes himself available to players to have conversations about the uncertainty.
“It’s not the players that are the ones searching it out,” Kotsay said of trade rumors. “It’s generally the wives and family members that relay all that great information, and are stressed out. I think the players know that it’s out of their control and they’re just going to focus on playing baseball.”
Kotsay was asked if he’s been having those conversations in recent days.
“They’re all scared of me,” he said.
