Two of the Athletics’ top relievers not named Mason Miller are drawing heavy interest before the 2024 MLB trade deadline.
Lucas Erceg has a “significant” market ahead of the July 30 deadline, and Scott Alexander is generating interest, too, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Monday, citing a source briefed on the A's discussions.
“Miller might be on the injured list and essentially off the table, but the Oakland A’s still could take advantage of the soaring market for relievers,” Rosenthal wrote.
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Alexander, 35, has a 2.82 ERA through 27 appearances. The right-hander brings a decade of experience, including a 2020 World Series win with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and will be an unrestricted free agent this winter.
Erceg, however, causes heads to turn.
The 29-year-old righty has a 3.68 ERA over 50 appearances through the 2024 MLB season. Erceg throws heat, averaging 98.8 mph on his fastball, which is 13th-best across the league.
Erceg also has a 26.3-percent strikeout rate and 50.5-percent groundball rate, per Statcast, and he is above baseball’s 82nd percentile in generating chases (31.4 percent), whiffs (29.8 percent) and hard-hit contact (33 percent).
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Erceg has served as the A’s setup man before Miller for much of the year -- except for recently, as the closer broke his hand pounding a padded training table, bumping the set-up man up in the order -- and is due $750,000. As Rosenthal mentioned, Erceg is under contractual control for five more years, making him a financially flexible target for interested teams.
The A’s have been deadline sellers since general manager David Forst took over in 2015.
However, Forst recently told "A’s Cast" host Chris Townsend Monday about the team’s different approach to Tuesday’s deadline, which might mean Erceg and Co. will stay put.
"We’ll be opportunistic," Forst told Townsend. "We may do some things. But anyone who expects we’re going to continue to just move guys out for prospects will probably be disappointed in the next week because there’s guys here we think are part of the team beyond this year.”
Forst’s claims also align with the New York Post’s Jon Heyman’s report from Saturday, which stated The A's do not want to trade JJ Bleday and recent All-Stars Brent Rooker and Miller.
At 44-64, Oakland could trade their talent for prospects and flexibility and nobody would bat an eye.
But the A’s might want to take their biggest names with them to Sacramento and ultimately Las Vegas to lure fans in their future cities, rather than relying on rival stars such as the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge.