{"id":15995,"date":"2018-12-11T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=15995"},"modified":"2018-12-11T10:52:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T15:52:36","slug":"oakland-as-have-expressed-interest-in-dj-lemahieu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2018\/12\/11\/oakland-as-have-expressed-interest-in-dj-lemahieu\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland A’s Have Expressed Interest in DJ Lemahieu"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle<\/b><\/a>, sources have told her that the Oakland Athletics have expressed interest in free agent second baseman DJ Lemahieu.<\/p>\n

Oakland A’s Have Expressed Interest in DJ Lemahieu<\/h3>\n

While the A\u2019s are working to bring back All-Star second baseman Jed Lowrie<\/a><\/strong>, his asking price may raise too high for their liking this offseason and they are putting a back-up plan in order.<\/p>\n

At 30 years old, Lemahieu is four year younger than Lowrie. He could certainly be had on a two-three year deal.\u00a0MLBTradeRumors.com estimated that he might receive two years and $18 million this offseason.<\/p>\n

A Look at Lemahieu’s Career<\/h3>\n

The Colorado Rockies acquired Lemahieu from the Cubs in 2011. He spent the past seven seasons of his big league career has a serviceable second baseman for the Rockies.<\/p>\n

In 2015, he broke out in a huge way and was named to his first career All-Star game. For the season, he hit .301\/.358\/.388 with 21 doubles and 23 stolen bases. Since then, Lemahieu hasn\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n

The 2016 National League Batting Title<\/h3>\n

In 2016, he finished fifteenth in National League MVP voting. He took home the National League batting title after finishing the season with a .348 batting average. Lemahieu also set career highs with a .416 on-base percentage, a .416 slugging percentage, and a .911 OPS.<\/p>\n

Last season, Lemahieu had a bit of a decline in the average department, but he picked up his power numbers. Over 128 games, he hit .276 but tied his career high with 32 doubles. He also set a new career high with a total of 15 home runs.<\/p>\n

Potential Logjam in Oakland?<\/h3>\n

If Oakland were to bring in Lemahieu, they create a bit of a logjam at second with top infield prospect Franklin Barreto<\/a><\/strong>. As Slusser notes, a platoon between the two righties wouldn\u2019t make sense, as Lemahieu hit just .249 against right-handed pitching in 2018.<\/p>\n

Slusser suggests that the Athletics could look to trade Barreto for starting pitching help. She also suggests that if Oakland were to add a full-time second baseman Barreto could be moved to shortstop or see some playing time in the outfield.<\/p>\n

Some other options the Athletics could consider are free agent\u2019s Daniel Murphy<\/a><\/strong>, Brian Dozier<\/a><\/strong>, and Ian Kinsler<\/a><\/strong>, and in the trade market Scooter Gennett<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>