Elephant Rumblings: Deadline Day

It’s deadline day everyone!

Baseball’s annual Summer Trade Deadline is today at 3 p.m. PCT, and the A’s have already gotten into the trading game after yesterday.

Oakland has only made a couple of trades so far, sending Shintaro Fujinami to the Baltimore Orioles, and yesterday’s trade of Sam Moll to the Cincinnati Reds. Of all the bullpen arms that the A’s could trade, those were two of the three most obvious candidates and the club has turned them into a couple younger reliever prospects.

Third baseman Jace Peterson joined Fuji and Moll on the way out after a late evening trade sent him to the Diamondbacks for yet another pitcher. Oakland is stocking up on the arms.

There should be even more movement today. Fellow reliever Trevor May is seen as exceptionally likely to be dealt as the most expensive player on the entire roster. And fellow off-season signed Aledmys Diaz might also be following Peterson and company out the door. The club really needs to go with the young guys and trading Diaz opens up at-bats for them.

And then there are the real long shots. Paul Blackburn is starting to get (for the A’s at least) expensive and the club could decide to cash in whatever they can right now. Outfielders Seth Brown and Ramon Laureano are also getting relatively expensive and the A’s have young outfield prospects the club might want to get a look at. And the biggest name to keep an eye on is All-Star Brent Rooker. There are some teams desperate for corner outfield help and the A’s might want to get what they can now for a player having a career year. This afternoon should be fun!

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics trade lefty reliever Sam Moll to Reds
• A’s acquire reliever Joe Boyle from Reds for Moll
• The best chance for A’s fans to make a big point is with tiny crowds

MLB News & Interest:

• Rats acquire Aaron Civale from Guardians
• Brewers acquire former Athletic Mark Canha from Mets
• D-Backs acquire Mariners closer Paul Sewald
• Giants acquire AJ Pollock, Mark Mathias from Mariners
• Cubs acquire Jeimer Candelario from Nationals
• Mets, Astros continue talking Verlander deal
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

A quick breakdown of the new guy in the org:

A notable promotion:

And another promotion for one of the new guys that just joined Oakland: