Elephant Rumblings: A’s labeled ‘aggressive sellers’ as trade deadline draws near

While the focus will soon be on the MLB Draft and the MLB All-Star Game, the trade deadline will be coming into view soon. There will be far more teams looking to buy which will create a seller’s market. That could be a good thing for a team like the Oakland Athletics if the right team comes calling. The Athletic took a look at the trade deadline landscape Friday and placed the A’s in the “Aggressive Sellers” tier. They also pointed out that it isn’t quite clear what they have to sell.

It takes a special kind of lousy to have a record like the A’s do right now, and you don’t get there by having a surplus of talented players. The A’s don’t have a single reliever who would make a team like, say, the Dodgers feel more comfortable in October. They could sell high on rookie Ryan Noda in a market that should be hungry for bats, and they could sell even higher on JP Sears, who wouldn’t be a free agent until after the 2028 season, but there aren’t a lot of other players that other teams would want.

I’m not convinced they would trade either Noda or Sears. I do think there is a possibility they could look to move both Aledmys Diaz and Jace Peterson, but the return would likely be minimal. There are some bullpen arms such as Sam Moll, Lucas Erceg or Trevor May that could draw some interest. Brent Rooker could be another interesting name among a number of outfielders, although he has cooled off significantly since his hot start to the season. With starting pitching at a premium, teams are sure to check in on Paul Blackburn. Whatever the return, expect the A’s to continue on the rebuilding path and that means staying active at the trade deadline.

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