Justin Verlander thinks A’s made blockbuster trade with Tigers in mind
On Friday, the Oakland A’s and Chicago Cubs agreed to deal that strengthens one of the best starting rotation in the American League, with Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel being the main pieces.
After taking some criticism for the signing of Jim Johnson, A’s general manager Billy Beane made a big splash by improving his team’s chances for making a deep postseason run.
Speaking of the postseason, the Detroit Tigers have been the end of the road for the A’s each of the last two seasons, knocking Oakland out in the American League Division Series both years. Among those who had a hand in helping the Tigers advance is Justin Verlander.
The former Cy Young Award winner weighed in on Oakland’s recent trade and thinks it was done with his team in mind.
Verlander on A's trade: "When I saw that trade, I thought that they made that trade for us. No doubt about it in my mind."
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) July 5, 2014
More Verlander: "If they want to win a World Series, they're envisioning they're going to have to go through us."
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) July 5, 2014
The Tigers and A’s each have 3.5 game leads in their respective divisions at the moment, albeit with a lot of baseball yet to be played. While there’s no guarantee each will make the playoffs, it would be fun to watch a series with the arms in the starting rotation each team possesses. It would have my attention for sure.
