The Oakland A’s are known for making their share of moves at the trade deadline, but General Manager, Billy Beane, insists that the team will remain relatively quiet this year. The A’s, who enter Tuesday one game below .500 and 8.0 games behind first-place Texas, have a few chips they could potentially deal before the deadline. Ben Sheets, who was signed this offseason for a healthy $10 million, could be dealt to a team looking for a solid arm. Sheets (4-9, 4.53 ERA), who has pitched better recently (1-2, 2.51 ERA in July), should stay in Oakland simply because of [...]

I’m the first to admit that I initially hated the Nick Swisher deal that took place unexpectedly after the 2007 season. For one, the A’s had just finished locking up the fan favorite Swisher, to a multi-year deal worth $45 million. Secondly, when the A’s had sent Swisher to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos, and Ryan Sweeney, I had no idea how they’d pan out in Oakland.
Well, two seasons later I now know what Oakland got in return for Swisher. For the sake of this blog, I’ll only be focusing on one of those [...]