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MLBTR 2022-23 Offseason Chat: Oakland Athletics
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Steve Adams
2:34
I think the A's would be a great landing spot for him, and he's not going to cost them much this year. Plus, if he hits, they control him for another season via arb.
MostlyToasty
2:35
FWIW Kevin Smith had just about the best September of any minor leaguer at any level with a nearly 1.200 OPS and 11 HRs. Maybe something sticks for him.
Steve Adams
2:36
That's a good call. I remember seeing that late in the season but it didn't stick in my brain. Dude hit .398/.429/.860 with 11 homers, six doubles and two triples in his final 98 Triple-A plate appearances. Nice finish to an otherwise lost season -- and hard to luck your way into that type of output, no matter how hitter-friendly Vegas is.
Raw Sewage
2:36
Any chance of a Manaea coming back on 1 year deal to rebuild value?
Steve Adams
2:38
If he can't get the multi-year deal he wants and is sitting around in March looking for a team, I can see that. But we predicted a four-year deal for Manaea and I was the driving force behind that. Up until late June of this year, he was basically the same guy he's been since 2018. High-3.00s ERA, solid K%, solid BB%... doesn't throw especially hard but just a rock-solid No. 3-4 SP. He had a brutal finish, mostly due to a pair of starts at Dodger Stadium where the Dodgers wrecked him for eight runs each time.
2:39
I don't know that a bad second half driven largely by two bad days against one of the game's best lineups against LHP should be enough to drop him to one year.
This is from our Top 50 FA rankings this year:
"Miserable as Manaea’s finish was, teams will be largely focused on the fact that from Opening Day 2018 through this year’s All-Star break, Manaea racked up 524 1/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball with fielding-independent marks to match (3.91 FIP, 3.93 xFIP). Over that span of 92 starts, the lefty whiffed 22.1% of his opponents with a terrific 5.8% walk rate and a roughly average 43% grounder rate. It’s easy to get caught up in a poor finish to the season, but over a span of nearly 100 big league starts, Manaea was a solid No. 3 starter averaging better than 5 2/3 frames per outing."

I still basically feel that same way. Time will tell if teams agree.
Will
2:40
Do small market teams even bother to check in with the big money players?
Steve Adams
2:40
I doubt the A's have called Page Odle about Aaron Judge, if that's the sort of thing you're referring to.
Guest
2:41
Does Tony Kemp have any trade value?
Steve Adams
2:43
Not a lot. Platoon 2B/LF with one year of club control remaining. Good clubhouse guy by all accounts, really good bat-to-ball skills. Could see the White Sox, Brewers (if/when they trade Wong) and a few others having some mild interest, but the return's not going to be anything particularly meaningful.
Who’s on 3rd Base
2:43
Doesn’t seem like the Team has a clear Candidate at 3rd Base.  Jonah Bride and Vimael Machin are Singles hitters and profile more as Backups rather than as everyday players.  Kevin Smith looked over-whelmed.
Steve Adams
2:45
Nothing more fun than having a whole answer typed, trying to open a new tab quick, and pressing "Ctrl+R" instead of Ctrl+T
Long answer short: as with Dom Smith, I think the A's are good landing spot for Brian Anderson following his nontender from the Marlins
2:46
They don't get the extra year of club control since he has five-plus years of service, and maybe he doesn't love the idea of rebuilding stock in their giant park, but the cost won't be excessive, he's 29, there's some upside.
2:47
Can see my previous comments on Smith -- I don't think he's a lost cause necessarily, but even if you sign a 3B, there's enough fluidity and uncertainty on the A's roster that you could get Smith some looks.
kurt the hurt
2:47
Could Candelerio be a 3rd base option ?
Steve Adams
2:48
Yeah, Candy's another one. I like Anderson better as a player, but Candelario's a bit younger, has more power. Same service bracket, so no extra year of control, but he checks a lot of the same boxes as Anderson
JM
2:49
With the neverending supply of young talent the Braves have, did Forst/Beane just target the wrong centerpiece in Pache, or were guys like Grissom and Harris not even in the conversation (esp if Langaliers was in the deal)?
Steve Adams
2:50
I can't speak to exactly how the Braves and A's valued the players at the time of the trade, but Harris had surpassed Pache in prospect status by that point. I haven't seen any indication that he was on the table or available in those talks. I certainly don't think the Braves would've considered Harris and Pache interchangeable in the proposals that were being discussed.
Old Timer
2:51
What do you make of Beane's promotion.  Can we assume it is a David Forst show now?
Steve Adams
2:51
It's not really a promotion
2:52
Beane seemingly voluntarily moved into an advisor role that'll reduce his obligation to the A's, allow him to pursue some other business interests while remaining somewhat involved, and probably spend a lot more time with his family.

As far as baseball operations go, it is Forst in charge now, yes.
Casey
2:52
Dom Smith, Brian Anderson, lets add Cody Bellinger and Clevinger too. That could be fun and at least watchable.
Steve Adams
2:53
I do think Clevinger is a one-year guy who makes some sense for the A's. I think Bellinger still has a chance at $15MM-ish on a one-year deal and not sure the A's would do that ... certainly not if they've already added Smith, Anderson and Clevinger
A's Fan
2:54
Per Billy Owens, A's AGM, the first thing Atlanta told Oakland during the Olson talks was that Harris WAS NOT available.
Steve Adams
2:55
I hadn't seen this before, but this is correct. From Melissa Lockard at The Athletic in September:
“The moment we talked to the Braves they made it clear that they wouldn’t have moved Michael Harris, even if we included the Golden Gate Bridge in the Olson deal”
(That's Owens being quoted there, not Lockard, ha)
saguaro
2:55
I believe the Athletic reported that the Braves wouldn't move Harris. And Langeliers was always the centerpiece of the deal anyway. Pache lost a ton of value in the years before the trade
Steve Adams
2:56
Yeah even at the time of the trade I saw a lot of people saying "Wow they gave up Pache," to which my reply was "Well, yeah, but he's not considered what he was two years ago" Langeliers was the more clear-cut headliner in the deal, I agree.
Zac
2:57
Seth brown over/under 29.5 HRs next year assuming the 502 PA to qualify as a regular player.
Steve Adams
2:57
Giving Brown 500+ plate appearances means loads of ugly PAs against lefties. He just had 555 PA and hit 25 homers. I'd take the under on that.
JM
2:58
Sometimes with rebuilds it can take years to really get a sense for how all of the trades in the fire sale can really be evaluated - but is there anyway to look at the Olson/Chapman/CBass trades other than disasters at this point? I'd think Shea and Hoglund would have to be very good at some point, as well as one of Ginn/Oller.
Steve Adams
3:01
I think it's fair to say the A's have to be very displeased with the first year of the returns. I'm sure they didn't expect Smith, Pache, Langeliers, Logue, Oller, etc. to all just immediately cement themselves as big leaguers, but basically no one acquired in their fire sale stepped up and seized a clear roster spot. If they'd targeted all low-level guys, you'd shrug and say "who cares"?

But the A's have a habit, more than other teams, of targeting near-MLB assets who can step right onto the roster, even if they're not always regarded as high-end prospects. They've done pretty well with that strategy in the past, but this batch of acquisitions looks pretty shaky right now
Tim
3:02
How many years before the A’s payroll hits the $100m mark?
Steve Adams
3:02
They never have before, and I don't feel comfortable predicting it anytime soon. Maybe if they get a new stadium sorted out at some point, but that dog's been chasing his tail for a good while now.
Bobmac
3:02
Does Acevedo begin as closer?
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