Last night, the Oakland Athletics turned a strength into an outright monopoly when they traded top prospect Addison Russell, pitcher Dan Straily, and last year’s first round pick Billy McKinney to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Their pitching was among the best in the league before last night, but now it’s not a stretch to say that the Athletics have the best rotation in baseball, at least on paper. Good luck to anyone who has to face this rotation come playoff time:
- Sonny Grey
- Samardzija
- Scott Kazmir
- Hammel
Combined with their extremely strong bullpen, it’s going to be tough to beat the Oakland Athletics in a seven game series.
With all that being said, the Oakland Athletics should not be done making moves. With this move, it’s clear that the Athletics are going all-in for this season. It’s hard to go all-in when you have several glaring holes. They still have two big holes. If they are not upgraded, those two holes could cost them a World Series. So what are these holes?
The biggest hole for Oakland would be second base.
It is a testament to how good the Oakland Athletics are that they have gotten away with a second base platoon that features two guys who probably should not be seeing regular playing time: Nick Punto and Eric Sogard. How bad have they been? Let’s take a look:
- Nick Punto: .222 BA/.317 OBP/.285 SLG, 77 wRC+ (100 is average), 0.0 WAR
- Eric Sogard: .191 BA/.262 OBP/.224 SLG, 41 wRC+, -0.3 WAR
The Oakland Athletics desperately need to find a full-time starter at second base. That would allow Punto to be a valuable asset off the bench with his defense and versatility, both in the field and at the plate as a switch hitter. They could target Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, but I’m not sure if the Astros would be willing to trade within the division and it would require an expensive package to pry him away from Houston. However, the Athletics have a very deep farm system, so they might be able to pull it off.
Another attractive trade target would be Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley. He’s an extremely talented and experienced second baseman. They could also target Chicago Cubs infielder Luis Valbuena. They could also pursue Tampa Bay Rays second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist. The Oakland Athletics love versatile guys like Zobrist, so I think he might be the best fit for the Athletics other than Altuve.
The second-biggest hole for Oakland would be the other middle infield position: shortstop.
The Oakland Athletics do not need to upgrade at shortstop nearly as much as they need to upgrade at second base, but they could still definitely stand to upgrade at shortstop. Jed Lowrie is a perfectly capable shortstop defensively, but he’s been struggling mightily at the plate. He’s been one of the better fielders in the league, but his bat has dragged his WAR down to 0.6.
There aren’t too many attractive trade targets at shortstop, but the Oakland Athletics could target another Phillies infielder: Jimmy Rollins. I think Rollins’s game would translate well in Oakland and I think being in a competitive atmosphere would be a good thing for Rollins as well.
The Oakland Athletics could take a chance and trade for extremely talented but often injured Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Like Altuve, he’d probably command an expensive package. However, the Athletics can probably handle that. If they traded for Tulo, the A’s could try moving Lowrie to second base or move him to the bench and have an extremely versatile and strong bench.
If the Oakland Athletics can fix these two holes, they would be doing their part in ensuring that trading three very good prospects would not be in vein. The Athletics are clearly going all-in this year, so why not continue to go all-in?
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