Oakland Athletics send Tommy Milone to Minnesota Twins

Tommy Milone, who was demoted to Triple-A upon the Oakland Athletics acquired Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs, got his wish. He has been traded to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for outfielder Sam Fuld. This is according to a pair of tweets from Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports.

Also per Rosenthal, Milone had expressed his desire for the team to trade him after his demotion. The demotion seemed more of a “we don’t have room for you in our rotation right now” move. It wasn’t as if Milone had struggled this season, posting a 6-3 record with a 3.55 ERA and 1.215 WHIP.

With today’s deal for Jon Lester, the A’s apparently saw no value in keeping Milone. The A’s will still have depth within their rotation in 2015 even if they are unable to keep Lester in Oakland and in trading Milone. The issue there will be how soon Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin return.

Fuld could likely compliment Jonny Gomes, both returning to Oakland, in left field with Yoenis Cespedes now with the Red Sox. But with the recent rash of injuries, Fuld will likely be in center as MLB Network’s Peter Gammons noted on air.

Fuld began 2014 with Oakland, appearing in seven games, and was selected off waivers by the Twins in late April. As a member of the Twins, Fuld played in 53 games and produced a slashline of .274/.370/.354 with a home run and 17 RBI. He also scored 15 runs.

Milone will be entering his first year of arbitration next year. He won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2017 season.