Diekman Says it's on his Teammates to Force Athletics Hand at Trade Deadline
It is just over a week before the trade deadline, and speculation is on who the buyers are, who the sellers are and who doesn’t know which way they’re leaning.
The Oakland A’s have a 19-8 record, the best in the American League, heading into the second game of a series against the Angels Saturday afternoon, and you would think they’d be in the buyer queue.
A’s reliever Jake Diekman issued a cautionary warning Saturday. Nine days out from the Aug. 31 deadline, the veteran left-hander sees almost no team being locked into any of the three slots.
“So, there are nine days left (before the deadline), and we can either put ourselves in a position where the front office thinks `Okay, let’s go all in,’” Diekman said. “There are going to be a lot of teams in the next nine days where they might not know if they’re a buyer or a seller until basically the last day.”
Diekman know how the system works. He’s been included in trade deadline deals three time since 2015, going from the Phillies to the Rangers on July 31, 2015, from the Rangers to the Diamondbacks on July 31 2018 and from the Royals to the A’s on July 27, 2019.
Since the season didn’t start in this era of COVID-19 coronavirus until July 23 this year, the trade deadline has been pushed back to Aug. 31. But the point remains the same. And when they fancy themselves as contenders the A’s management team of Billy Beane, David Forst and Co. tends to go all-in for last-minute additions.
Last year, in addition to landing Diekman, the A’s went calling on the Reds, picking up starter Tanner Roark. The right-hander would go 4-3 in 10 starts down the stretch as the A’s won 97 games and made it to the post-season.
In 2018, it was much the same. The A’s added Jeurys Familia from the Mets, and he would pitch in 30 games down the stretch in setup relief of Blake Trienen, going 4-2 with a 3.45 ERA in another 97-win season that included a postseason appearance.
The A’s were sellers from 2015-17, but in 2014 they were contenders when they made a July 31 deal that sent Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox for Jonny Gomes and Jon Lester, who seemed to have pitched the A’s into the AL Division Series before a bullpen collapse in Kansas City ended the season in the Wild Card game.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin said that the moves of the past couple of years have helped the team have success, but they were made because the team had shown it knew how to have success.
"We've been a second-half team," Melvin said. "A lot of thst is due to the fact that we add players that can help us. I would expect us to be looking right now.
"If we don't do anything, I'll always say I'm fine with the team we have, because I do like the team we have, but I know Billy and David always look to add something. And everybody's looking for pitching. I hear more talk about pitching than I do about position players."
Diekman has already looked at the schedule. The A’s leave on a road trip after Sunday’s series finale against the Angels, and will visit the Rangers, the Astros and the Mariners before they return. The trade deadline will fall in that last series.
“And we'll be in Seattle, so it's possible we see new teammates in Seattle,” Diekman said. “We just have to keep on that road where we keep pressing, so we put them (Beane, Forst, et al) in that position where we kind of force their hand.”
The A’s could use one more starting pitcher, because, as deep as the A’s starter rotation seemed to be at the beginning of the season, that depth has been tested, although things are looking up The last three starts, from Jesús Luzardo, Sean Manaea and Mike Fiers, have all been upgrades from their earlier efforts, and while opening day starter Frankie Montas was shelled his last time out, he’d had four good ones before that. Chris Bassitt, who began the season filling in for Luzardo, has been the most consistent with a 2-0 record and a 2.93 ERA that is 11th-best in the American League.
The A’s will probably look for another bullpen arm, although the ones that have seem to be doing fine for now. The Oakland pen has allowed one or zero runs in nine of the last 10 games and has a 2.16 ERA that leads the AL and is second in the majors to the Dodgers’ 1.81.
With Khris Davis having struggled the second half of last season and the first four weeks of this one, Oakland will also consider the addition of an impact bat. Although Davis is right-handed, the team as a whole is so predominantly right-handed the A’s may go looking for a left-handed bat with some power.
A second baseman or a veteran catcher might also be fits for the A’s going forward.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.