Oakland Athletics Banking on Pitching Depth

The Oakland Athletics find themselves out of the playoff hunt once again in 2016, so at this year’s trade deadline they decided to move mainstay Josh Reddick and free agent signee Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers for three solid pitching prospects.

The fact that Oakland made a trade at the deadline shouldn’t be a surprise, nor should the fact that they added to their pitching depth in said trade. How important is pitching depth to Oakland?

Just in case you had blocked the trades of the 2014 deadline from your memory, they involved giving up all-star shortstop Addison Russell for Jeff Samardzija and Yoenis Cespedes for two months of Jon Lester. Cespedes later turned into Michael Fulmer, but we won’t get into that.

Following the A’s collapse in 2014, they then traded away 2015 MVP Josh Donaldson and a slew of other all-stars from the previous season. Right now, the top players in the A’s system are readying for their calls to the big leagues, as the promotion of Ryon Healy and subsequent decreased playing time for Danny Valencia can attest.

Sonny Gray should be able to rebound to his Cy Young contender form at some point, and Sean Manaea has been coming on strong of late, posting 3.13 ERA (3.10 FIP) in July. Kendall Graveman, one of the pieces from the Donaldson deal, posted a 2.68 ERA last month and could be a part of the A’s future rotation plans. Add in Daniel Mengden, who has had mixed reviews in the big leagues this season, and Oakland has a decent foundation with which to work moving forward. 

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On Monday they added Grant Holmes (#3 in Oakland’s farm system), Frankie Montas (#11) and Jharel Cotton (#16) to the mix, adding even more pitching depth to a team that seems to churn out pitchers on the regular.

And let’s not forget that in June’s draft the A’s selected left-hander A.J. Puk sixth overall (#2 prospect), as well as Logan Shore in the second round and Daulton Jefferies in the fourth. If all of these players (not even including some of the other talented arms in Oakland’s top 30) remain starting pitchers, which could happen outside of Montas, then that leaves the A’s with ten rotation options to choose from.

Obviously not every pitcher will be lights out, and some may not even make it to the majors, but what the Oakland Athletics have done is improved their odds that some of them will by adding some very talented arms.

With a strong rotation, the A’s don’t have to rely on their top position prospects, like Franklin Barreto (another Donaldson acquisition), Renato Nunez, Chad Pinder and Matt Olson all mashing all the time. When the A’s have had success, it’s generally been on the backs (or arms) of their starting rotation.

Next: Winners of the Trade Deadline

With the departure of Reddick, number 22 prospect Jaycob Brugman could certainly be getting the call to join the team soon, joining Healy, and with Oakland waiving the white flag on the 2016 season, a number of their top prospects should be seeing regular playing time down the stretch to help give the front office an idea of what they have to work with moving forward.

It’s also worth noting that the A’s traded Reddick and Hill to the Dodgers, who very well may have offered the best package for the pair, but are also the blood rivals to the thorns in Oakland’s side from San Francisco. Potentially sticking it to the Giants for a free agent bargain and a player that cost Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney back in 2011 isn’t a bad deal whatsoever.