With trade pieces limited and injuries piling up, the Athletics' deadline inactivity reflects a broader organizational strategy—and a catcher dilemma that complicated everything.
Last week it was pretty clear that the A's wouldn't be terribly active at the deadline, as we reported at the time. That was hammered home a couple of days later when A's GM David Forst said he wasn't looking to break up the team just because there is a deadline coming up.
With the Athletics holding a 45-67 record and 12.5 back in the AL West, there are no delusions that they'll be pushing for a postseason spot this season, so why didn't they make some trades?
The hangup is twofold.
First, the club doesn't have a ton of expendable trade pieces to move. Forst said that this team is built for the long haul, meaning those key pieces weren't going anywhere. That really limited the number of players that could even be involved in a deal.
Colby Thomas was the type of player that could have been moved, and he ended up landing with the Philadelphia Phillies at the buzzer. He'd gone 1-for-17 against right-handers this season and batted just .227 against left-handers, so there wasn't a huge market for him.
Carlos Cortes is a solid bat with questionable defensive skills. Jeff McNeil is a solid veteran presence for the team right now and loves playing for the A's.
Jonah Heim is a free agent at the end of the season, but as we talked about last week, the A's will be focused on developing pitchers these final two months, and without Langeliers available, the club simply doesn't have another catcher with Heim's experience to help develop the young arms.
Trading Heim for a High-A pitcher for two months may be nice on paper, but the A's wouldn't be providing guys like Gage Jump, Mason Barnett, and Jack Perkins the guidance they need. Those three being ready for 2027 will be a determining factor in how the team performs.
Beyond those players, the pitching staff hasn't been great overall, so there aren't a lot of arms that other teams would be clamoring for. Elvis Alvarado is a work in progress, but the A's want to see what they can get out of him. Hogan Harris is their veteran and gets the ball in big spots. Luis Medina could be the team's closer with more development.
The second big reason is the number of injuries this team has dealt with over the past two months. Brent Rooker is out for the season. Langeliers is walking around the clubhouse, but it's still unclear if he'll be able to make it back. Luis Severino has been out since May. Zack Gelof is nearing a return, but has missed the past month.
Mark Leiter Jr., another potential trade piece, had surgery last week, ending his season. Even replacements like Joshua Kuroda-Grauer have been lost to the IL.
There are more names to add to that list, but the larger point is that those injuries have made it difficult to field a roster filled with MLB-level talent. When that's the case, it's hard to make the argument that players should be moved at all, especially when so much of the roster is under team control past this season.
