The Oakland A’s are known for making their share of moves at the trade deadline, but General Manager, Billy Beane, insists that the team will remain relatively quiet this year. The A’s, who enter Tuesday one game below .500 and 8.0 games behind first-place Texas, have a few chips they could potentially deal before the deadline. Ben Sheets, who was signed this offseason for a healthy $10 million, could be dealt to a team looking for a solid arm. Sheets (4-9, 4.53 ERA), who has pitched better recently (1-2, 2.51 ERA in July), should stay in Oakland simply because of the role he plays in the rotation. This season, the A’s strength has been their pitching, and it’s not insane to say that a veteran guy like Sheets has had some kind of impact on the younger guys.
The A’s team ERA as of today, stands at 3.81 (6th in MLB). The young guys like Trevor Cahill (9-3, 3.19 ERA), Gio Gonzalez (8-6, 3.63 ERA) and Vin Mazzaro (5-2, 3.50 ERA) seemed to have matured a lot since last season. And it does help to have a veteran guy in the rotation like Sheets, who is a four-time NL All-Star. When it comes to Ben Sheets, the A’s should consider keeping him around for the rest of the season, especially if the team manages to put together a serious playoff run. Pitching would be key—if such a run were to happen—and Sheets would be a integral part of the success.
Also mentioned in the recent trade rumors were relief pitchers Michael Wuertz (2-1, 5.12 ERA) and Craig Breslow (4-2, 3.09 ERA). With Wuertz, the A’s would have to receive a pretty good offer in order to deal their veteran reliever. Same probably goes with Breslow, too. The A’s really like their bullpen, and their entire pitching staff for that matter. Despite being stuck in third-place, the A’s probably won’t be sellers at the deadline. In my opinion, they probably will stay relatively quiet in the next week.