MLB Trade Rumors: The Latest on Sonny Gray

Sonny Gray is still a member of the Oakland Athletics, though the MLB trade rumors have been picking up around his name with each passing day. Soon we’ll be getting hourly updates.

The Oakland Athletics have one big trade piece left, and that is their ace Sonny Gray. Fans from nearly every fan base have been tweeting at their club’s social media interns asking their front office to add the A’s ace, but in the end only one group’s pleas will be answered.

In Ken Rosenthal’s latest Facebook post (ugh, video) he starts off with one hell of a lede: “Mariners general manager Jerry DiPoto is going to make another trade, perhaps his biggest yet. Jerry DiPoto is going to add Sonny Gray.”

Rosenthal goes on to say that the M’s and A’s haven’t talked in about a week and mentions that “there is significant doubt whether the Mariners possess enough young talent to land Gray, with one rival exec saying, “I don’t see them as a threat at all.” I wrote something similar on this very site just a couple of days ago when their lone big trade piece, Kyle Lewis, left a game on Monday night. Lewis is recovering from a knee injury, and if he is going to be the most valuable piece in the deal, he has to hit for Oakland. Any doubt there basically takes them out of the running.

Rosenthal states that with the weakness of the Mariners farm system, they would have to include someone like Mitch Haniger from their big league squad, plus Lewis and more.

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While the Mariners are only in play for a wild card spot this year with the Houston Astros running away with the division, any postseason appearance would be a good thing for the fans up in Seattle. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001 and have the longest postseason drought in the bigs. While a one-game playoff isn’t necessarily the best option, the other option is to not make the playoffs and have a downtrodden farm system with Lewis rather than without him.

Their window isn’t going to remain open much longer, either.

With Stephen Strasburg headed to the disabled list and number two prospect Erick Fedde set to make his big league debut on Saturday for Washington, the Nats have been showing interest in both Sonny Gray and Yu Darvish, per Jon Morosi. He states that the Athletics have shown interest in Nats’ top prospect Victor Robles as a part of the return, who is a player that Texas would also be targeting.

The difference between Darvish and Gray? Darvish is a rental and has a 4.78 ERA in July while Gray is under club control through the 2019 season and has a 1.48 ERA this month and a 0.98 ERA in the second half. In two playoff starts Darvish has a 5.40 ERA across 11 2/3 innings while Gray made two starts in the ALDS his rookie year (2013) and held a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings.

Which one would you give up Robles for?

All of these MLB trade rumors boil this down to a couple of decisions for the A’s. First, which outfielder do they like the most out of Lewis (Mariners), Robles (Nats), Florial (Yankees), or potentially Derek Fisher of the Astros? From there, are they looking to add as much top talent as they can, or are they looking for quantity of quality? Taking one top tier outfielder, which is the A’s biggest need, and adding some guys with injury histories and high upside could be one route to go. Adding some more projectable (and more readily available) role players would be another.

Next: Who's the next Brewers' addition?

With so many talented players being floated in trade talks, it must be a nice time to be an A’s fan.

Today’s Gray forecast: Jerry DiPoto may be emphatic in his desire to land Gray, and he should definitely be pushing whatever chips he has to the center of the table, but he’s sitting with a pair of two’s while the competition around him is playing Battleship. Right now it’s a toss-up between the Yankees and Nationals for me, but with the extensive trade history between Oakland and Washington, I’ll peg them as today’s winner in the Sonny Gray sweepstakes.

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