Elephant Rumblings: Trade Rumors, Sonny's Transformation, and Trolls

Trade Rumors:

MLB.com's Jon Morosi reports that Yonder Alonso has been the source of "ongoing trade discussions" between the Yankees and A's. No deal appears imminent, but these things can come together quickly.

Various outlets have opined that a package deal sending Sonny Gray and Alonso to the Yankees makes sense for both sides. The Yankees certainly have the farm system to make the deal happen. While Alonso is a cheap rental, Gray is under team control through 2019 and would likely push the prospect return beyond that which the A's received in the Rich Hill/Josh Reddick trade.

And an update on Jed Lowrie:

Still strange that as of this afternoon the A's still haven't had a call on Jed Lowrie

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) July 17, 2017

More on Sonny Gray:

Jeff Sullivan wrote about the transformation of Sonny Gray at Fangraphs. While I suspect most A's fans will reach a different conclusion, it was an interesting piece nonetheless.

Miscellaneous:

Echoing many of Praulinde's sentiments, Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that A's fans aren't buying the promise of this latest rebuild...

The A's have release their own "Game of Thrones" theme...

The Astros held a memorial service for Carlos Beltran's glove yesterday, proving the age-old wisdom that it's easy to have fun when you're 30 games above .500.

Best of Twitter:

Well this was a bit of a downer...

Announced attendance of 9,736 is A's smallest at the Coliseum since May 2, 2011 (9,193).

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) July 18, 2017

In spite of the low attendance, the A's scoreboard crew did their part with some first class trolling...

"Top Ten Rays" as seen at the Coliseum. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/Fkr4vAFy4b

— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) July 18, 2017

The A's are primed to get another young utility player back soon.

Pinder is heading to Nashville on a rehab assignment and could rejoin the A's at end of month. Dull could rejoin A's in another week or so.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) July 17, 2017

And finally, a major false alarm was rung last night when J.D. Martinez and Victor Robles were removed from their respective games at the same time. Was J.D. going to be a Nat? A three team deal?! For a very fun moment, the trade rumors were running rampant. As it turned out, Martinez was suffering from back tightness.

Hmmm. Tigers removed J.D. Martinez from game in 6th inning. Word is, Washington CF prospect Victor Robles removed from game in minors. Hmm?

— Bob Wojnowski (@bobwojnowski) July 18, 2017