A Kyle Blanks Trade to the Oakland Athletics?
By Jason Burke
Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Twitter is abuzz with speculation from sources (reported by Chris Cotillo, @ChrisCotillo) that are saying that 1B/OF Kyle Blanks could be on the move soon. His likely destination? The Oakland Athletics.
A potential trade between the San Diego Padres and the Oakland Athletics makes sense, due to the two team’s recent trade history. This past offseason, the A’s shipped OF Seth Smith to San Diego in return for setup man Luke Gregerson.
As stated before, Kyle Blanks is a 1B/OF, much like Brandon Moss. Blanks is a career .228 hitter with a total of 28 HR in 6 seasons. His value, from an Oakland standpoint would come in facing LHP, and also adding depth. Against LHP over the past 3 years, Blanks is hitting .250 with a .335 OBP. While these numbers don’t jump out at you, the work that Chilli Davis has done with current A’s sluggers leads one to believe that there is much room for improvement.
If a Kyle Blanks trade goes through, he wouldn’t be solely platooned with Brandon Moss. The Athletics are dealing with an injury to Coco Crisp; Craig Gentry has spent some time on the DL already this season, and Josh Reddick has been largely ineffective. Adding Blanks would give manager Bob Melvin another option in the outfield, or at DH, where Alberto Callaspo has been struggling of late.
Blanks and Moss are actually quite similar, if you look at Moss before his time in Oakland. He had a total of 23 HR in 5 years, totaling 112 RBI. Blanks has 98 RBI after just starting his 6th season. If Blanks turns into another Brandon Moss in the A’s lineup, they could be nearly unstoppable.
An addition of Blanks to the Athletics’ roster wouldn’t be a splashy move, but since when to the A’s make splashy moves? Billy Beane makes moves that constantly improve the team. A name like Blanks shouldn’t cost the A’s a ton to acquire either. This has the potential to be a low-risk, big reward move. He could wind up being similar to the Chris Carter of 2012 for this squad: added power potential to the lineup and flexibility for Bob Melvin.