Elephant Rumblings: A’s announce 2020 upgrades to Access program

A’s Coverage:

• Slusser: A’s Mailbag — 2B issues, and Noah Syndergaard: what would it take to get him?
• Gallegos: A’s are buyers...so what’s their next purchase?
• Martino: Oakland “on the periphery” of discussions for Mets righty Zack Wheeler...
• Slusser: A’s take fans’ pulse, tweak popular ticket plan for 2020...
• Lockard: A’s minor-league notebook — As the trade deadline nears, several top prospects are improving their stock... ($)
• Slusser: A’s Jharel Cotton comes off IL, sent to Triple-A Las Vegas...

Best of AN:

• Hall: Exploring Tanner Roark as Oakland A’s trade target...
• Hall: Oakland A’s DFA Brian Schlitter...
• Fatrolf’s Monday Sketches: The Treinen Kept A’ Rollin’, All Night Long Edition...
• Hall: Buy your Don’t Mess With Ramon T-shirt today!

MLB News:

• Zolecki: Phillies grab lefty Jason Vargas from Mets for minor league catcher Austin Bossart...
• McCalvy: Pirates trade righty Jordan Lyles to Brewers for minor league reliever Cody Ponce...
• Rosenthal: With Stroman off the board, who’s next?; Diamondbacks may be buying and selling; Braves look for relief... ($)
• Neal III: Twins turned off by Mets’ high asking price in Noah Syndergaard discussions...
• Chisholm: Elbow soreness lingering for Blue Jays righty Ken Giles...
• Feinsand and Olney: Red Sox, Rays among teams interested in Mets closer Edwin Diaz...
• Olney: Pirates-Dodgers discussions for lefty Felipe Vazquez halted by Pittsburgh’s demand of top SS prospect Gavin Lux...
• Weaver: TA30 — Cat-in-an-octopus-costume trade deadline edition... ($)

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Gammons: Who can tell what strange things might happen right before the trade deadline? ($)
• Sarris: The budget alternatives to the trade deadline’s biggest prizes... ($)
• Edwards: The Case for Noah Syndergaard...
• Baumann: The Four Dominoes That Could Shape the 2019 MLB Trade Deadline...

Today in Baseball History:

• 2009 — A story in the New York Times states that sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are among the 104 major leaguers who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The test results were supposed to be kept secret, but Alex Rodriguez’s presence on the list of those who tested positive had already been leaked earlier this year. Ortiz states that he was not aware he had tested positive six years earlier and denies using steroids.
• 2013 — The A’s acquire IF Alberto Callaspo from the Angels for Grant Green.

Best of Twitter:

• The full rundown on A’s Access, which has been very successful in its first year...

• You gotta love Sean Doolittle...

• A butt-tweet, trolling, or something more?