Oakland Athletics Deadline Acquisitions Off to Hot Start
By Jason Burke
This past off-season the A’s continued their trend of sending prospects away for veteran players in an effort to compete this year. While the plan–on paper–seemed like a good one, early injuries derailed what was already a long-shot season for the Oakland Athletics. Now that the non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone, and the A’s have officially waved the white flag on their season, we take a look at what Oakland got in return for the likes of infielder/outfielder Ben Zobrist (Royals), reliever Tyler Clippard (Mets) and starting pitcher Scott Kazmir (Astros).
In trading these three players, the A’s loaded up on prospects, landing pitchers Sean Manaea and Aaron Brooks from Kansas City, catcher Jacob Nottingham and pitcher Daniel Mengden from Houston, and, yes, another pitcher, Casey Meisner from the Mets.
Let’s begin with Brooks, who started Saturday’s game for Oakland against the visiting Cleveland Indians. Brooks went 7 1/3 innings, allowing just five hits and one run, a solo home run by Lonnie Chisenhall in the fifth, while striking out five. The six foot two right-hander threw 94 pitches, 66 for strikes, starting 16 of the 27 batters he faced with a first-pitch strike. His performance Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum was solid and provided some immediate hope for the fan base in Oakland.
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Nottingham was very highly regarded at the time of the trade, with some saying he’s a potential all-star catcher in the future. In the 11 games that he has played with the A-Advanced Stockton Ports, Nottingham is 11-for-44 (.250) with an RBI and three walks. He’s started slow, but prior to his acquisition the 20-year-old Redlands native was batting .324 with the Lancaster JetHawks, Houston’s High-A team. Nottingham has hit 14 homers in 87 games this season, so the catcher has some pop, and is still maturing. Nottingham is Oakland’s #8 prospect.
Meisner, also of the Ports, pitched on Saturday night in San Jose against the Giants’ affiliate of the same name. Meisner struggled through 3 2/3 innings with his new team, allowing six hits and four runs (three earned), while walking four and striking out just as many. Even with this start, and his 7.36 ERA through one game with Stockton, the 20-year-old former third round pick still holds a 2.51 ERA and has just gone from one team that has been on point in drafting pitchers in recent years, to a team in the Oakland Athletics that seems to develop just as many solid young arms. Meisner is ranked #11 in the Athletics’ system.
Daniel Mengden, he of the best mustache since Rollie Fingers, has made two starts with the Ports since being involved in the unofficial kick-off to the trade deadline. In his two starts, Mengden has tossed a combined 12 innings. allowed just three hits, two runs, a walk, and has struck out 13. His WHIP in this short timeframe stands at a minuscule 0.33. Even with that stat line, Mengden is ranked #25 in the A’s farm.
Manaea, 23, has vaulted from Rookie ball to Double-A this season at the age of 23. The lefty dazzled in his first start for the Midland RockHounds, holding the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros), the best team in the Texas League by nine games, to three hits over seven innings while fanning nine. Manaea has a swing-and-miss fastball at times and could fit into the Oakland Athletics rotation in the near future, according to MLB Pipeline. Manaea is ranked third in the Oakland system.
The potential of a huge haul for three rental players is certainly present, but time will be the true test for each of these players. Jim Bowden of ESPN said this of the A’s return for Kazmir, Zobrist and Clippard: “The Athletics traded three rental players (Tyler Clippard, Scott Kazmir and Ben Zobrist), and in return picked up two legitimate middle-of-the-rotation starters in Sean Manaea and Casey Meisner, a potential future All-Star catcher in Jacob Nottingham, and two back-of-the-rotation starters in David (he meant Daniel) Mengden and Aaron Brooks. An impressive haul for the rentals.” He also graded the work Billy Beane did at an A-, ranking him seventh among all GMs but highest of those that were selling their assets. The full list is linked, but is only available for subscribers to ESPN.com.
While Beane has praised the work that Houston has done in building up their farm system and ultimately competing this year with many of the players they have drafted, the A’s GM would be hard-pressed to take the same approach full-throttle due to an ownership group that is unwilling to spend their money on large salary increases, something that Jim Crane in Houston has said is coming as these players develop. Whether or not these new acquisitions make it to Oakland is an entirely different story, but the A’s have some new assets to play around with, and by the looks of things, they’re pretty talented.