The Oakland Athletics traded 3B/2B Brett Lawrie to the Chicago White Sox for two minor league pitchers on Wednesday December 9th. These two minor leaguers don't appear to figure into the MLB roster for the A's.
What does this mean for the 2016 Oakland A's?
First of all, it allows us our first glimpse at what the 25 man roster will look like:
Field:
- Stephen Vogt C
- Yonder Alonso 1B
- Jed Lowrie 2B
- Danny Valencia 3B
- Marcus Semien SS
- Coco Crisp LF
- Billy Burns CF
- Josh Reddick RF
- Billy Butler DH
- Josh Phegley C
- Mark Canha 1B/LF
- Eric Sogard 2B/SS
- Sam Fuld OF
Pitching:
- Sonny Gray
- Jesse Hahn
- Rich Hill
- Chris Bassitt
- Kendall Graveman
- Sean Doolittle
- Fernando Rodriguez
- Marc Rzepczynski
- Liam Hendriks
- Ryan Madson
- John Axford
This is only 24 players, so there is room for one more... Perhaps Ryan Dull stays on the MLB squad. Jake Smolinski might be on the MLB roster - he's a pretty solid bench guy. Maybe, just maybe, we will see a one or two call ups of top prospects... I'm thinking Sean Manaea, Matt Olson or Joey Wendle. Who knows what other moves the A's might make? For now, this is essentially what we're looking at.
I'm almost 100% sure the A's will make more moves to better their roster. I have a hard time believing that the A's won't be actively searching out more pitching options for the rotation or bullpen as well as more outfield options.
Now, it's your turn. Head to the comments and explain what other moves the A's should make and why. I'll check out comments and edit this post to reflect what fans want to see happen. I'll also include a poll to see where you all think the front office should focus their efforts following the Winter Meetings.
