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The Case for Sean Nolin as part of the Oakland A's 2nd-half rotation

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Over the course of the last month, rumors have been swirling around the Athletics front office as to what their plans are come the trade deadline later this month. At a record of 36-45 and 11 games out of 1st place in the AL West, the A’s will almost certainly be looking to ship some proven talent in exchange for younger, cheaper players and or prospects with high ceilings.

At the top of the to-do(or to-trade in this case) list for the Athletics is starting pitcher Scott Kazmir. So far in 2015, Kazmir has a 4-5 record with a 2.79 ERA, which is good for 7th best in the AL. With Kazmir in the last year of his $22 million deal and a plethora of teams hungry for pitching, the writing is pretty much on the wall that he’ll be wearing a different uniform come August.

So, in the event that the Athletics trade Kazmir, who is to replace him? Before I showcase my pick, it must be noted that the A’s do have options. Drew Pomeranz has already proven he can be a serviceable starter(although I believe he’s best suited for the pen). Chris Bassitt looked very good in his spot-start for Sonny Gray on Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies, allowing 1 earned run through 5 innings. Last but not least, Barry Zito has turned some heads in Nashville with his performances in late May. He posted 14 scoreless innings and was named PCL Pitcher of the Week. He has a 3.84 ERA in 96 innings pitched for the Sounds so far in 2015.

Enter my selection: LHP Sean Nolin

Nolin came over in the Josh Donaldson trade along with Brett Lawrie, Kendall Graveman, and Franklin Barreto. Before going on the DL with a sports hernia, Nolin was in serious consideration for a spot in the rotation; however, a bad post-surgery pen session in February put Nolin all but out of the running.

Fast forward to June 2015: Sean Nolin is healthy and making noise is the music city —He’s got a 2.67 ERA in 33.2 innings pitched with the Nashville Sounds. What makes this even more impressive is that the PCL is by and large a hitters league. The lefty’s success comes from his fantastic changeup that’s set up by his command and aggressiveness with his fastball. He’s currently ranked 8th on the Athletics Nation community prospect list.

The only hiccup is that Nolin has only one start in which he’s thrown 100 pitches or more. This isn’t because he has a Pomeranz-like high pitch count tendency; it’s more to do with his gradual comeback from his sports hernia surgery that he had earlier in the year. Here’s his line from his last start on June 27th(via: @JeffHemPBP):

https://twitter.com/JeffHemPBP/status/614972003699793920


The good news is that Nolin should be ready to go by the time a spot opens up in the A’s rotation —presumably after July 31st.

Bassitt’s quality outing against the Rockies on Tuesday night might delay Nolin’s Athletics debut, but the numbers say he’s the best man for the job.