Elephant Rumblings: Puk may return to rotation

Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!

The din of Sean Murphy trade chatter is deafening at this point—so much so that I’m inclined to simply accept that Murph will be traded before spring, and quite possibly much sooner. Over the weekend, Nico discussed some intriguing potential returns for the A’s most valuable trade chip.

Matt Kawahara at the San Francisco Chronicle also examined some trade possibilities in looking forward to this week’s Winter Meetings. Kawahara also considered the A’s numerous roster gaps to fill and potential free agent pursuits.

One tidbit from the Chronicle piece that really piqued my interest came from A’s general manager David Forst, who stated that top starting pitcher prospect turned reliever A.J. Puk will be training to vie for a return to the rotation in Spring Training.

“Frankly, he put in a lot of work, he got through a season healthy — which is something we’d asked him to do — and we felt like he deserved the opportunity.”

Soon we’ll find out exactly what this Big Week has in store for the A’s. Let the deals begin. And let’s hope Lady Luck smiles upon us when tomorrow’s draft lottery determines who gets the top picks!

A’s Coverage:

• Nico: Big Week Ahead For The Green & Gold
• Kawahara: Will Winter Meetings kick-start A’s offseason activity? ($)
• Adams: Cardinals, Braves Among Teams That Have Spoken To A’s About Sean Murphy
• McCaffrey: Red Sox trade scenarios: Exploring deals for Sean Murphy, Bryan Reynolds and others ($)
• Polishuk: Athletics Moving Closer To Sean Murphy Trade; Braves Not The Acquiring Team

MLB News & Interest:

• Polishuk: Fred McGriff Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame
• Stark: It’s over for Bonds, Clemens — 5 things we learned from the Hall of Fame Contemporary Era election ($)
• Franco: Rangers Sign Jacob deGrom To Five-Year Contract
• Ahram and Polishuk: Chris Bassitt Looking For At Least A Four-Year Contract
• Rosenthal and McCullough: MLB pressure watch: 10 names under the most scrutiny at Winter Meetings ($)
• Polishuk: Aaron Judge “Increasingly Likely” To Land A Nine-Year Contract
• Biertempfel: Bryan Reynolds asked for a trade. What will the Pirates do now? ($)
• Lin and Rosenthal: Padres have met with top free-agent shortstop Trea Turner twice ahead of Winter Meetings ($)
• McDonald and Franco: Rays Present Redevelopment Plan For Tropicana Field Site
• Adams: Mariners Acquire Kolten Wong For Jesse Winker, Abraham Toro
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

McGriff to be enshrined by unanimous vote.

Not a promising sign for the ‘roid bros.

HBD Paul Blackburn!

Czech-ing in on Eric Sogard.

Castro retires.