Newly-acquired A's pitcher Homer Bailey got off to a rocky start in his A's debut Wednesday, but settled into his first outing and helped the A's prevail over the Mariners.
The veteran pitcher was acquired from the Royals via trade Sunday, but the A's don't appear to be done bringing more arms into the equation as the July 31 trade deadline nears.
“We’re hoping we’re active," A's executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami. "We’re looking for pitching -- we don’t have a lot of depth there, it would be nice to add relievers and/or a starter would probably be the area that we’re looking at."
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SIGN UP HERE Beane mentioned that with the hard 31st deadline this year -- there is no longer an Aug. 31 waiver deadline -- it could make other teams aggressive early on. But with the A's sitting pretty, it would be crazy to think they wouldn't be involved in the trade market.
“Where we go from here, I hope we make a bunch of trades, this is the reason you get the job is to be in the playoff hunt and to ultimately make transactions," Beane said. "If you're right around .500 near the trade deadline, you're still in a pretty good position in most seasons to have a shot at the wild card."
But it appeared any of those transactions wouldn't be geared toward any of the guys out in the field.
"I think we feel pretty good about the position players."
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As they should.
Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Ramón Laureano and Marcus Semien were those named and complimented by Beane and those four are just part of the successful offense/defense force that the A's have constructed. And as much as the team is seeking out players to throw on the hill, Beane is rather impressed with what he's seen thus far.
"[Mike] Fiers coming back, [Brett] Anderson's pitched very, very well, [Frankie] Montas was one of the best starters in the league and we lost him," Beane told Kawakami. "So they've kind of held their own and done well."
Beane said heading into the season the starting rotation was something the A's had to invent.
"It was a big concern, but we also knew about halfway through that we had the chance of getting A.J. Puk back, Sean Manaea back, [Jesús] Luzardo -- you know, would be back."
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Manaea would continue to have a starting job once he finishes his rehab assignment. He will start for the High-A affiliate Stockton Ports on Thursday night.
Puk will more than likely take a bullpen role once he is with the big league club. And when it comes to Luzardo, it could be similar for the A's No. 1 prospect. Beane hopes all three of them will be in an Oakland uniform by August -- it's just a matter of when during the month we will see them.
They don't want to rush the trio.