The offseason has been quiet for the A\u2019s but there\u2019s been lots of movement this past weekend that could have down-the-road implications for the A\u2019s and their search to upgrade on the free agent and trade markets.<\/p>\n
The big shoe to drop this past weekend was the massive three-team, six-player trade that saw Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe head to Pittsburgh, young Pirates starter Mike Burrows traded to Houston, and Tampa getting prospects. Now that Lowe is off the proverbial board any teams still in need of second base will have to move on to their Plan B\u2019s and C\u2019s, including the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Lowe was never directly connected in trade rumors to the A\u2019s but the fit would have made general sense on paper. The Athletics are in need of second base help and adding an All-Star caliber player like Lowe would have added a big left-handed bat to the lineup. That said Lowe is on an expiring contract, not exactly fitting the A\u2019s long-term timeline. Adding him would have helped this year, sure. But the A\u2019s aren\u2019t \u201cgoing for it\u201d this upcoming season and adding Lowe is the type of move you push your chips in for when you think he\u2019s the final piece. The A\u2019s aren\u2019t ready for that move just yet.<\/p>\n
Lowe is now off the market and the options are dwindling. On the trade front the Cardinals are in sell mode and have second baseman\/utility man Brendan Donovan, who has attracted lots of attention this winter. Arizona has also been listening on expensive cornerstone Ketel Marte. The price for both of these guys likely just went up thanks to Lowe no longer being an option and that\u2019s likely taken the A\u2019s out of consideration, if they were in on either of them in the first place. Donovan will cost too much in the way of prospect capital and Marte has a massive contract that would soak up any dollars the A\u2019s front office has to play with.<\/p>\n
On the free agent market the pickings are even slimmer. Former batting champion Luis Arraez is still available but is more of a first baseman these days. Willi Castro can play all over on defense but isn\u2019t a great fielder at any of them as well as being a below-average hitter. Jose Iglesias is still a solid defender but horrible in the batter\u2019s box and he\u2019ll be 36 next year. And all the other options below those guys have even bigger question marks. If you haven\u2019t solved your second base problem by now, you\u2019re just about out of time.<\/p>\n
Which is where the A\u2019s find themselves in. Not that they were ever going to be serious suitors for top-of-the-market guys like Jorge Polanco or Gleyber Torres (who didn\u2019t even hit free agency, instead accepting his QO from the Yankees). We\u2019ve heard reports and rumors that the A\u2019s have been kicking the tires on second and third basemen and now it seems the Athletics have few options remaining to them.<\/p>\n
Currently it seems that former top prospect Zack Gelof will get first crack at the job when everyone reports in a couple months though he hasn\u2019t done much to inspire confidence over the past couple of years. Former first-rounder Max Muncy got time at the keystone last year and had some moments but generally looked overmatched against tougher pitching. Max Schuemann is best suited for a utility role and not everyday at-bats. Unless the A\u2019s have a massive change of heart it seems like these are the three guys who will be vying for the starting second base spot come Opening Day. At least we should be getting an answer one way or another regarding Gelof. And maybe we throw in another name before the winter is out? We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
Have a great Christmas week everyone!<\/p>\n
Should the A\u2019s have made a run at Murakami?<\/p>\n
Recap of recent A\u2019s movement:<\/p>\n
Possible starting pitcher target?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason has been quiet for the A\u2019s but there\u2019s been lots of movement this past weekend that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[44003,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-490375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-as-commentary-and-analysis","9":"tag-baseball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115767737322286659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}