Ahead of Wednesday's game against the Boston Red Sox, injured A's starter J.T. Ginn was on the mound facing the trio of Zack Gelof, Carlos Cortes and Denzel Clarke. He threw around 30 pitches this time around, and will be throwing another bullpen on Saturday to continue to build up. 

With the live bullpen today, the plan is to gauge how he feels before determining whether he goes right back into the Athletics rotation when he's eligible next week, or if he needs a rehab start.

Given the limited time that Ginn has missed, it would make sense for him to be back in the rotation when he's eligible, even if that includes a limited pitch count of 75-80 pitches that first time out. 

"The biggest thing is just stressing the finger, seeing how it responds," A's manager Mark Kotsay said before the game. "Overall it looked good. The importance of [the bullpen] was getting him on the mound, going 30 pitches, and seeing how the finger responds." 

Gelof said after the bullpen session that Ginn's stuff looked really good — comparable to what he's seen from him in the past when standing in the box. Gelof was also thankful to Ginn for not throwing him any sinkers, because "that pitch is nasty." 

Thursday's starter is listed as to be determined ahead of Wednesday's game, though Kotsay mentioned that right-hander Mason Barnett is set up to be the bulk guy for that game. The question is more about how he'll be deployed.

In his last appearance, Barnett went 3 1/3 innings as the bulk pitcher, tossing 54 pitches (35 strikes). Brady Basso opened that game with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball against the Minnesota Twins. Barnett gave up four hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out two in the A's 2-0 loss. 

"Barnett is in line to be a bulk guy," Kotsay said. "We'll make a decision post-game as to how to align him, whether he goes out as a starter or if we use an opener." 

Over his minor-league career, 82 of Barnett's 88 appearances have been as a starting pitcher. That includes all 10 of his outings this season with the Las Vegas Aviators. But when he's been with the A's in 2026, he's made 14 appearances and none of them have led off a game. 

While deals could certainly happen, the belief around the A's is that this could be a quieter deadline for the franchise. Of course, they tend to make at least one move around this time of year, but right now the focus appears to be more on fielding a full roster that can be competitive, given the number of injuries this team is facing. 

Trading away a big-league piece would further eat into already-depleted roster depth. 

That line of reasoning does seem to suggest that if the A's do make a trade, then an infielder could be on the move. The A's have both Darell Hernaiz and Max Muncy still in the minors, and each has shown the ability to play at this level to varying degrees. 

Teams have also been asking about the A's outfielders, and we wrote about which of those players would be most likely to move earlier this month.