Oakland Athletics Have a Valueable Trade Piece–And It’s Not Sonny Gray

The Oakland Athletics, regardless of where they stand as the trade deadline approaches, will likely sell to some degree. Whether that means a full-fledged fire sale, or a more moderate moving of players on expiring contracts will likely be determined by their place in the standings at that point in time.

While most teams will be clamoring for Sonny Gray, there is no guarantee that the Oakland Athletics are sold on moving him without a huge overpay. The odds are high, however, that they’ll be looking to trade second baseman Jed Lowrie.

Lowrie is batting .303 with a .369 OBP and an OPS of .857, which rank fifth, fourth and third among all second basemen. In his age 33 season, Lowrie is only making $6.5 MM and has a team option for next year for another six million, or the team can buy him out for one million. The production that Lowrie has been providing coupled with an extremely team-friendly contract could make him a big pickup for a contending team.

What’s more, the price tag won’t be too high, either, meaning that a team like the Angels could even make a run at him. The Halos are currently trotting out Danny Espinosa at the keystone, and according to FanGraphs, he ranks 63rd among second basemen in WAR at -0.4. Keep in mind that there are only 30 teams, which means that each team’s backup is also beating out the Angels starting option.

Jed Lowrie ranks first in all of baseball at the position in WAR at 1.8, ahead of last year’s NL batting champion, DJ LeMahieu, the MVP runner-up Daniel Murphy, and the always impressive divisional rivals Jose Altuve and Robinson Cano.

Back to the Angels, Espinosa is batting .141 with a .231 OBP and an OPS of .492. To upgrade to a player like Lowrie would move them from one of the worst producers at second to one of the top options, and could only take one mid-level prospect to acquire. While Lowrie’s defensive abilities are average at best, pairing him with Andrelton Simmons could only help.

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The one downside for the Athletics could be that the teams that are generally in contention, or are expected to make a push this season (outside of the Angels) all are either getting production from their second basemen, or have a solid veteran presence at the position.

To that point, from the bottom up in terms of fWAR at second are the Padres (-0.5), Angels (-0.2), Rangers (0.1), Giants (0.1) and Braves (0.1). The Giants and Rangers would be the only two other teams in that group that could make a push and be looking for an upgrade at the deadline, but the Giants have Joe Panik, who is a solid defensive force and fits their scheme, while Texas has Rougned Odor who should turn things around shortly.

The rest of the bottom half of the league is filled with either rebuilding clubs, or situations like the one in front of the Tigers, who have Ian Kinsler. Once you get too high on the list, is trading for Lowrie really worth the upgrade?

The one trade partner that would be interesting would be keeping an eye on the Twins here. They have Brian Dozier signed through 2018, but the past three seasons he has been tapping into his power numbers a bit more and should be worth quite a bit if he’s moved. What Minnesota could do would  be to move Dozier for a decent prospect haul, helping them in the coming years as their young core matures, while bringing in Lowrie as a sign to the fan base that they aren’t trying to throw in the towel on this season.

Granted, Dozier is beloved in Minnesota, so this could be a hard deal to maneuver, but the long-term payoff could be worth it.

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In the end, Jed Lowrie is going to be moved this season, because he is currently blocking Chad Pinder from more playing time, and Pinder has been scorching the ball in his limited opportunities. By the time the deadline rolls around, however, the chants for Franklin Barreto (the main piece in the Josh Donaldson deal) will become a little louder if the A’s start to fall off. Barreto is going to get his reps this season, and for that to happen, Lowrie is going to have to be moved.