The Oakland Athletics are entering another rebuild. General manager David Forst has made that much clear as day.
No one on the A’s roster is untouchable, Forst said at the GM Meetings in Carlsbad, California. The nature of Oakland’s small market makes it so the A’s can compete in five-year windows. The window is closing.
The Athletics have made the playoffs three of the last four years and have a plethora of talented players, including starting pitchers Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea.
The Giants, conveniently, have a need for starters, with only Logan Webb under contract. SF only has $79 committed for 2022, including projections for its eight arbitration-eligible players, meaning president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi should have over $100 million to play with — whether that be in free agent signings or absorbing salary via trades.
The Athletics are sellers. The Giants are buyers. The prospect of a rare cross-Bay trade (or trades) seems like more than just a possibility.
The last time the Giants and Athletics made a trade was 1990, when the Giants sent Ernest Riles across the Bay Bridge for Darren Lewis. Forst told reporters in Carlsbad though that there’s no reason why a deal between the Giants and Athletics can’t happen and that he talks to SF president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi as much as any other executive. Zaidi also notably worked from 2011 to 2014 as the A’s assistant general manager, forging relationships with the executives who remain in charge.
In any trade, the Athletics’ goal would be to turn present talent into future pieces in the form of prospects. The Giants have the eighth-best farm system in MLB and are in win-now mode.
So all signs point to the Giants, aiming to retool a 107-win roster, and the Athletics, putting up fire sale signs, ending a 30-plus year trade drought.
The next question becomes: Which A’s pitcher might best fit in San Francisco?
RHP Chris Bassitt
2021 stats: 12-4, 157.1 IP, 3.15 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 9.1 SO/9, 2.2 BB/9
Bassitt, 32, earned his first career All-Star appearance by leading the American League in winning percentage (.750). The only bump in his campaign came in August, when he suffered a facial fracture after getting hit by a line drive comebacker.
But Bassitt returned from the scary injury and made two starts at the end of the season.
Bassitt recorded a career-best strikeout rate and WHIP in 2021. His fastball averages just 93.2 mph, but batters hit .185 against it. Bassitt also reintroduced a slider to his arsenal, which became his best putaway pitch.
At $8.8 million, Bassitt is entering the final year of club control — a factor that should depress some of Oakland’s asking price. Still, Bassitt is the most accomplished starter of the three and may be the most difficult to pry away from Oakland, but he also fits the mold of a short-term arm Zaidi has previously been interested in.
Verdict: Interest level should be high.
RHP Frankie Montas
2021 stats: 13-9, 187 IP, 3.37 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 10 SO/9, 2.7 BB/9
The 28-year-old righty is one of the most prolific split-fingered starters in the game. Montas throws his four-pitch arsenal about evenly, deploying his splitter about 22% of the time.
It’s possible the Giants could view his skill set as redundant if SF brings Kevin Gausman back on a multi-year deal. Like having a diverse array of bullpen options, there’s value in trotting out unique starters in the rotation; letting a team see two splitter-heavy starters in a series may diminish their shock value.
Gausman, a free agent, told The Athletic he feels there’s “unfinished business” for him in SF, but also referred to the Giants in the past tense. He’ll likely garner significant interest from around the league, including San Francisco.
And Montas is a tremendous talent. His four-seam fastball hovers around 97 mph and he’s in the 91st percentile in chase rate. Montas also tied the AL lead in games started in 2021 with 32, but doesn’t have too many innings on his arm — he’d never topped 100 innings in a season prior.
Montas is the youngest of the A’s three pitchers and is under contract for the longest; he’s due an estimated $5.2 million in arbitration in 2022 and will hit his third year of arbitration in 2023. This makes him Oakland’s most valuable starting pitcher trade chip.
The asking price may be too high, but the Giants likely have the necessary prospects to make a competitive offer. If SF has the appetite for a blockbuster trade, Montas appears to present as good an option as any.
Verdict: Interest depends on how the Kevin Gausman market plays out
LHP Sean Manaea
2021 stats: 11-10, 179 IP, 3.91 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 9.7 SO/9, 2.1 BB/9
Manaea threw a no-hitter against the 2018 World Series champion Boston Red Sox as a 26-year-old, but missed most of the next season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder. He’s since bounced back to become a dependable third or fourth starter.
Manaea also started an AL-high 32 games in 2021 and recorded a league-high two shutouts.
The only elite thing Manaea does is locate; he’s in the 89th percentile in walk rate, per Baseball Savant. He throws his sinker 60% of the time. Working in an additional pitch could make him more dangerous.
His raw numbers project similarly to those of Alex Wood, who was a reliable back-end starter for SF in 2021 (the Giants and Wood could renew their vows). But Manaea is younger and has the ability to go deeper into games.
With Webb returning and Anthony DeSclafani possibly coming back on a multi-year deal, it would behoove SF to lock up a strong southpaw to the rotation. Manaea fits the bill as a 29-year-old who could grow under the tutelage of Brian Bannister and Co..
Manaea matches the mold of a player the Giants have targeted in recent years: a pitcher under a reasonable one-year contract and a chance to prove themselves.
Verdict: Could be the most realistic option for both sides