Hammel, Lindblom, and Moss: Where Are They Now?
By Tony Frye
The Winter Meetings are well underway and there’s been a lot of action surrounding 2014 Oakland Athletics including the huge trade of Brandon Moss, which we reported on earlier, as well as a free agent contract for Jason Hammel and a waiver claim of Josh Lindblom.
Of course, the most meaningful action to A’s fans today is the trade of Brandon Moss to the Cleveland Indians and over the course of the next few days, we’ll probably have pages and pages of analysis and commentary so I’m not going to dwell on that until my tears have dried.
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In other news, Jason Hammel is heading back to the Chicago Cubs after signing a two year, $18 million deal. The Oakland Athletics never seemed particularly interested in signing Hammel to a free agent contract and it would have been a complete shock to see them offer him nearly as much as they just gave Billy Butler.
Hammel got off to a slow start when he came to Oakland, along with Jeff Samardzija who may be the next big Beane trade, but ultimately proved himself as a member of Oakland’s pitching staff.
Josh Lindblom was placed on waivers, along with Kyle Blanks, to make room for the prospects acquired in the Donaldson trade. It was announced today that he has been claimed off of waivers by the Pirates. As you’ll recall from our analysis of his designation on Black Friday, Lindblom may not be a loss worth crying too much over but it may have come as a surprise to Beane that Lindblom didn’t clear waivers.
There are several other 2014 Athletics who are free agents now who are appearing in rumors through the MLB Winter Meetings. Jon Lester is taking offers from a number of teams, Jed Lowrie is, reportedly, being scouted by the Astros, there has been some interest in Alberto Callaspo and Jim Johnson has recently signed with the Atlanta Braves, proving just how brave they truly are.
Over the course of the winter meetings, we’ll be posting updates on all of the Athletics’ free agents as these free agent acquisitions do come with a draft pick for Billy Beane which will help in his attempt to rebuild Oakland’s farm system. Be sure to come back often this week, there’s a lot going on in baseball!