Having already acquired All-Star closer Jeurys Familia from the New York Mets in a trade this past weekend, the Oakland Athletics are in no way done adding to their talented core group.
Surprisingly in the thick of the American League Playoff race with a 57-43 record entering Monday’s action, this up-and-coming team is now looking for more reinforcements.
“There’s still room to find an upgrade on this club. Hopefully in the next eight days,” A’s general manager David Forst told 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area on Monday. “I never know for sure if we’re going to be able to do something but, again, any little upgrade that makes up a game or two somewhere along the way could be critical.”
Logically, the expectation here is that Oakland will look to add to its starting rotation. The team has run through 12 starters already this season and doesn’t have a ton of proven talent on the roster.
Unfortunately, the market just has not been strong when it comes to adding top-end rotation arms. Oakland has been linked to Detroit Tigers starter Mike Fiers, which would make a lot of sense from an experience standpoint.
With the New York Yankees potentially set to sell low on Sonny Gray one year after acquiring him from these A’s, he could be a potential option on the trade market.
In any event, Oakland has always proven itself to be active during the deadline. This year, it seems that the team is going to continue being buyers.
The A’s entered this week’s action three games behind the division-rival Seattle Mariners for the final wild card spot in the American League. They are also surprisingly just eight games behind Houston in the division.