With the MLB Trade Deadline just a few hours away, and the Athletics not expected to make any major moves, the focus is going to turn to the rest of the season. With the club sitting at 45-67 and over ten games back in both the AL West and the Wild Card and injuries continuing to pile up, these last two months will be about development. 

Manager Mark Kotsay already gave a sneak peek at one move to expect in the coming days, with Mason Barnett set to continue in the rotation. J.T. Ginn will be rejoining the rotation on Tuesday as well, and the club is not going to roll with a six-man rotation. Someone is on their way out soon. 

Who that player is and to what extent they are removed is unknown. It could be as simple as sliding someone to the bullpen for length while the young arms continue to grow. 

Growth is what Kotsay is looking to see in these final months. 

"The adversity continues to kind of come our way," Kotsay said on Sunday. "The injuries continue to stack up and the only way to look at this is that there's opportunity for guys to step in and show us that they're capable of contributing to this club's success." 

He added that this doesn't mean that they won't be trying to win games, but they'll be focusing on both winning and "pouring into the young players that are on the roster to improve them and get as much out of them as big leaguers as you can."

We asked Kotsay if there was a particular player that the team was looking to see something from, and his response was the pitchers. 

"Most of the pitchers. [Gage] Jump, [Jack] Perkins, [Mason] Barnett. The guys in the bullpen, I would need to see [Luis] Medina take a step forward," Kotsay said, while adding Elvis Alvarado's name to the list. 

"Obviously, we know, going into the offseason, pitching will be a priority," Kotsay continued. "At that point, we're going to have to still manage how we attack that, and building these guys." 

Hayden Juenger seems to have caught Kotsay's eye in his brief time with the A's. He's made six appearances spanning 7 ⅔ innings thus far, and holds a 1.17 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP. He is also a relief pitcher with options, which is key to building out the depth of the bullpen moving forward.

Scott Blewett will also be getting a chance to stick around, per the A's skipper. The 6-foot-6 right-hander has pitched well with the A's so far, holding a 2.70 ERA across 3 ⅓ innings. This is an interesting mix of veterans, rookies, and players in between that will be looking to make their impression on the A's front office, becoming a solution to the A's pitching problems. 

The A's rank 29th in team ERA with a 5.42 on the season, and 30th in team ERA in the second half with a 6.70 — nearly a full run higher than the 29th-ranked Texas Rangers (5.72). 

Gage Jump has rocketed through the minor leagues, needing just a season and a half of work to reach the big leagues, making his MLB debut at the end of May. He's had some tremendous starts, like when he went six scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox last week. He's also had some less-than-stellar outings, like on Sunday when he gave up six earned runs and walked six in 3 ⅔ innings. 

Sunday's outing also came with some lowered velocity. His four-seamer was 1.5 mph below his season average, as was the rest of his arsenal. After the game, Kotsay said that they could be making some adjustments to his in-between game work.

"There was some arm fatigue," Kotsay said after the game. "Last year his season was spent in the minor leagues, where he pitched every sixth day. This is a routine now where he's not really used to the workload that's in front of him. We're going to talk to him about some of the work that he does in between starts that could be adding up to that fatigue." 

The plan is to look at the totality of his throwing program with the training staff and the strength and conditioning coaches and pitching coaches with Jump to see where they may be able to decrease some of his routines. 

"He's a hard worker," Kotsay said. "This kid wants nothing more than to succeed, and so he puts every day as a priority to get better. That's what we want, as well as understanding that some of that workload can impact that fatigue."

Jump admitted that he does a lot in between his starts to try to get his body right. 

"I do everything I can on the field, off the field, scouting reports, everything," Jump said. "So, whatever it is that's going to help me going forward."