The Oakland Athletics are always a team that can never really be overlooked. Just when you think they're out of contention, president of baseball operations Billy Beane builds them up to an MLB powerhouse.
However, if they're not successful during the first half of 2016, rumors indicate Sonny Gray and Josh Reddick could become trade candidates.
"If the Athletics are better than expected, they could always keep Gray, who has provided high-end production on the cheap; he'll be arbitration-eligible for the first time next winter," writes ESPN's Buster Olney. "But if the Athletics follow their business model of the past 20 years, then at some point they'll move Gray, as they did Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill, while he still has peak value."
"[Reddick's] 28, he has big power and he'll be eligible for free agency next fall."
With that being said, Beane appeared on MLB Network Radio over the weekend and talked about the rumors and speculation surrounding Gray. He said the A's have been "adamant with teams" about keeping Gray and that they've "resisted some pretty aggressive suitors this winter." He also added the team is still looking to improve, with upgrades likely coming in trades.
Beane didn't mention anything about Reddick this weekend, but he told MLB insider Peter Gammons back in November that he "just cannot see" the team trading Gray or Reddick in the offseason.
Gray, 26, is under club control through the 2019 season and Reddick, 28, will hit the open market after 2016.
Oakland figures to be competitive in 2016, even among the other talented AL West teams. Injuries really hindered the team's ability to succeed last season, but a few new additions and a healthy roster heading into the new year should help them recover. The A's will welcome Jed Lowrie, Yonder Alonso, Liam Hendriks, Marc Rzepczynski, Rich Hill, Henderson Alvarez, Ryan Madson and others to the new-look club.
With that being said, it's certainly possible the A's are prepared to adapt in the event they quickly fall behind in the division like they did last year. They have a glut of starters signed on for 2016 (Gray, Alvarez, Hill, Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman, Chris Bassitt Aaron Brooks and Jarrod Parker) and a few other outfielders on hand (Sam Fuld, Mark Canha and Jake Smolinski) to step up in the event Gray or Reddick are traded.
Remember last year when Beane said Josh Donaldson was untouchable? All it took was persistence throughout the offseason from former Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos to pry the AL MVP away from the A's. Beane also traded Brandon Moss, Yunel Escobar and prospect Boog Powell before the 2015 season even began. He then dealt Scott Kazmir, Ben Zobrist and Tyler Clippard at the trade deadline once the team was pretty much out of the playoff picture.
It's all about acquiring assets for Beane. The Athletics constantly need to keep the future in mind as they assess their present standing because they do not have the spending power as most MLB clubs do. Beane is always looking to capitalize on the market, and with young controllable starting pitching and power-hitting outfielders in demand across the league, he should get a formidable return if he needs to get value for one or both of them.
