Elephant Rumblings: A’s kick off trade season with Fuji trade

Good morning, A’s fans.

Late yesterday evening the A’s made their first trade of the year, dealing pitcher Shintaro Fujinami to the Baltimore Orioles for left-hander Easton Lucas:

And so ends the Fuji era in Oakland. A roll of the dice, Fujinami was guaranteed a rotation spot out of Spring Training but quickly lost that role. Constantly getting through one or two innings before blowing up, the club moved him to the bullpen. It took a while for him to really start thriving in the role but he settled in recently and had become one of the better relief arms the A’s had right now. That fastball plays up coming out of the bullpen and the O’s are getting him at the right time.

Coming back for the A’s is the left-handed Lucas. He’s split the year between Double-A and Triple-A and had a strong year overall. Over 29 ²⁄₃ innings he has a 2.73 ERA with a great strikeout rate. He’s been especially hard on same-handed hitters, holding them to a .200/.265/.377 line. With the A’s season going nowhere, you can be almost certain that Lucas will make his big league debut in the coming weeks, maybe even sooner.

A’s Coverage:

• Rill: Orioles acquire Fujinami from A’s
• Franco: A’s claim Tayler Scott from Red Sox
• Gallegos: Thomas puts ‘‘icing on the cake” with first career home run in win against Red Sox
• Shea: Soderstrom, Gelof dealing with developing as A’s losses mount ($)
• Franco: A’s release Garrett Acton

MLB News & Interest:

• Reuters: Phillies top prospect Andrew Painter recommended TJ surgery
• ESPN: Orioles place Cedric Mullins on IL
• McDonald: Giants place Crawford on IL with knee problem
• Judge: ‘Exciting’ if Ohtani breaks HR record
• ESPN: 12 teams score double digits in first since 1894
• AP: Marlins coach hit by foul ball, breaks leg
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

Another top rookie going on the IL:

Boooo:

Gotta love Ken:

From Dallas: