Elephant Rumblings: A’s trade a pair, keep their best

MLB news roundup

Happy Wednesday, Athletics Nation!

The trade deadline is officially behind us. The A’s did some things, and they didn’t do some other things. Namely, they didn’t trade two of their top players: All-Star closer Mason Miller and slugger extraordinaire Brent Rooker will continue suiting up in green and gold this season, and I for one am very happy about that. Apparently, Rooker is too.

However, the A’s did move two players of note: starting pitcher Paul Blackburn and reliever Lucas Erceg.

Blackburn has been an important part of the A’s rotation since 2022, when he had a stellar first half of the season and became the only Athletic to earn All-Star honors. Paulie B also got off to a great start this year, setting a franchise record with 22⅓ consecutive scoreless innings.

But on aggregate, the 30 year-old righty with one year of arbitration remaining has achieved mixed results and spent a lot of time on the IL. Blackburn has posted a 4.83 ERA through 404 innings since his major league debut with the A’s in 2017, and the maximum workload he carried in a single season was 111⅓ innings.

All that said, Paul has been pure class and a clubhouse leader with the A’s, and his Cinderella moments—especially the All-Star appearance—were a joy to follow. AN wishes Paul Blackburn all the best as his career continues with the Mets.

Erceg was lights out as the A’s setup man earlier in the season, but has since come down to earth somewhat. He’s got great stuff and potential, but the A’s are holding on to their best pitcher by far in Miller, receiving an infusion of four prospects for the pair of arms dealt, and not sacrificing too much in terms of the team’s overall competitiveness. Blogfather is satisfied with the results, and while the jury is still out with respect to the net on-field effects of these trades, I’m hopeful that they will ultimately be satisfactory, too.

Be sure to check out Nico’s piece as well as coverage from Kris Willis on Blackburn and Connor Ashford on Erceg right here on AN for more details on the trades and the prospects the A’s received in return. Check out and weigh in on the comments, too—community discussion is always especially robust and insightful in the wake of trades.

The A’s have yet another sweep opportunity at Oracle Park tonight. It would be sweet to pull it off with a huge day at the plate to cap off a terrific July. Let’s go, Oakland!

A’s Coverage:

• A’s strike first in final Battle of the Bay
• Blogfather Officially “Satisfied” With Trade Deadline Results
• Oakland trading Paul Blackburn to Mets
• Athletics trade Lucas Erceg to Royals
• A’s grade out well in two deadline deals with Royals and Mets ($)
• Minor 40-Man Moves: Twins, A’s, Blue Jays, Red Sox, White Sox
• Clarke showing ‘tremendous talent’ at Double-A

MLB News & Interest:

• MLB trade deadline: All of The Athletic’s 2024 trade grades in one place ($)
• MLB trade deadline takeaways 2024: Ranking the winners, losers and snoozers ($)
• Giants Acquire Mark Canha
• Dodgers Acquire Kevin Kiermaier
• Rangers Acquire Andrew Chafin
• Guardians To Acquire Alex Cobb
• Orioles Designate Cole Irvin For Assignment
• Dodgers Acquire Jack Flaherty
• Yankees Reportedly “Backed Out” Of Jack Flaherty Trade Following Medical Review
• J.D. Davis Not Traded To Rays
• Orioles Acquire Austin Slater, Livan Soto
• Pirates Acquire Isiah Kiner-Falefa
• Diamondbacks Acquire Josh Bell
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Roster moves.

Sheer domination.

Gunnar up.