The Oakland A’s are having another one of their frequent firesales and are stocking up on players while dismantling their major league club.
Two weeks ago, the A’s traded MVP candidate Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays. On Monday, they traded outfielder Brandon Moss to the Cleveland Indians for second baseman prospect Joey Wendle. They also reportedly finalized a trade with the Chicago White Sox that sends Jeff Samardzija back to the Windy City in exchange for three players.
According to the SF Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, the A’s are getting Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt and a third player for Samardzija, whom the A’s acquired from the Cubs last season.
Semien was a sixth-round pick by the White Sox in 2011 out of Cal. The Norcal native batted .272/.374/.465 over parts of four minor league seasons. He hit 51 home runs and stole 45 bases over 387 career minor league games. Semien is versatile and has mostly played shortstop, though the White Sox played him at third base when they brought him up. He has batted .240/.293/.380 over 85 career games in the bigs (full stats at The Baseball Cube).
Bassitt seems like a more valuable player than Semien. A 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher out of Akron, Bassitt went 22-10 with a 2.95 career ERA in the minors. He also was strong in his MLB debut with the Sox last season. He went 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.58 WHIP. He averaged 8.55 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors and 6.30 in the bigs (full stats at The Baseball Cube).
The third player in the trade could be the key determining factor in defining this trade for Oakland. GM Billy Beane was said to be targeting Tim Anderson, a shortstop who was a first-round pick by Chicago last year. If he is the third player, then this deal suddenly looks a lot better for the A’s. If he isn’t, then you might have to question Beane’s mentality.
Samardzija is entering his final season of arbitration. After that, he becomes a free agent.
