Last night the A's were up 6-1 headed to the bottom of the seventh inning and the bullpen needing to secure just nine outs with a five-run cushion. 

Scott Barlow gave up his first two runs on the road this season in the seventh, cutting the lead to 6-3. Still, the green and gold entered with a three-run lead going to the bottom of the ninth, but the Chicago Cubs put up four in the inning to walk off the A's and avoid the sweep. 

You can point to the misplay by Alika Williams on a hard-hit ball that bounced off the pitcher's mound as a missed opportunity to close out the game. Some are pointing to manager Mark Kotsay's "mismanagement" of the bullpen. 

To pin this on Kotsay is insane. After Ginn, he brought in four different relief pitchers. Three of them gave up runs. His best option, Hogan Harris, was likely unavailable after pitching the previous two games. The guy that was supposed to start getting more serious looks at closing — Jack Perkins — is now in the rotation. 

Exactly which button was he supposed to press here? Does San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen have a great "feel" for the bullpen, or does he have three ace relievers he can go to when he wants to close out a win? San Diego has four separate relief pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched and an ERA under 3.00. 

The A's had three coming into this one, but with Harris presumably unavailable, Kotsay turned to the other two, Joel Kuhnel (2.88 ERA) and Luis Medina (2.92). After having four earned runs charged to him in two-thirds of an inning, Kuhnel's ERA is now 4.21. 

Sometimes guys just don't have it, and this was one of those nights. The goal is to make sure this is the last one of those types of evenings for the A's, so here are three arms the A's can trade for right now. 

Lynch has been terrific for the Royals and currently holds a 1.85 ERA (2.56 FIP) across 24 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate has also nearly doubled year-over-year, going up to 28% this season, along with a walk rate of 8%. Perkins is the only member of the A's bullpen with a better K-BB rate, though his 20.8% is now in the rotation. 

Lynch's stuff grades have all jumped this season as well. He pitched in 57 games last year, holding a 3.06 ERA (4.76 FIP), but his Stuff+ was largely mediocre across the board. 

His four-seamer has jumped up from an 86 (stuff+ grade) to a league-average 100, while his sinker is up to a 113, his slider jumped 20 points to a 116, and his changeup has also spiked by nine points, up to a 104. In other words, he now has four pitches that are at least league average, while last year he had one. 

The left-hander's whiff rate is in the 94th percentile at 34.1%, he limits hard contact with an average exit velocity of 86.2 mph (89th percentile) and his 50% ground ball rate is in the 80th percentile. He's an arm that could be a huge weapon for the A's.

The good and bad news is that he's under team control through the 2028 season. On the one hand, he wouldn't be a rental, and that helps the club as they continue to bring in pieces for the Las Vegas arrival. On the other, more team control means a higher price tag. 

Lynch is the type of arm the A's should be going after, but they're going to have to part with a prospect with some value.

Perhaps the A's even add to the deal and bring in starter Kris Bubic, who is a free agent after this season. He's a veteran innings eater that could be very valuable if the A's offense takes off. Right now the A's are relying on young arms, with Gage Jump, Kade Morris and Jack Perkins in the rotation. 

If you bring in Bubic, Perkins could slot back into the back-end of the bullpen, and the addition of Lynch all of a sudden makes this a much better-looking group with shutdown potential, especially if Medina and Perkins take a step forward. 

Yesterday we mentioned that only eight relief pitchers had both a win probability added and a Clutch stat as high as Hogan Harris. After his inning of work on Wednesday, Harris' numbers actually went up to a 1.25 WPA and a 0.49 Clutch. Now he is one of just five players with those numbers each that high. Lynch is one of the other five. 

The addition of Lynch could give the A's the type of top-heavy back-end of the bullpen that can thrive in the postseason — if the A's make it. 

The level of prospect that the A's may have to give up would likely be around No. 10, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer as the centerpiece for both players. 

Bachman ranks fourth in WPA, behind Louis Varland (0.29 ERA) of the Toronto Blue Jays, Mason Miller (0.72 ERA) of the Padres and Antonio Senzatela (1.30 ERA) of the Colorado Rockies. The 26-year-old reliever holds a 2.22 ERA himself, with a 3.56 FIP and is reliant on a solid sinker/slider mix.

He's more of a stuff over command type of pitcher, with a 25.4% strikeout rate and a 12.3% walk rate, but he has a blazing fastball that averages 98.6 (97th percentile) and generates plenty of swing-and-miss with a 34.9% whiff rate that ranks in the 96th percentile. 

He's also a ground ball pitcher like Lynch, meaning that hit mix could translate nicely to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. Swing-and-miss stuff plus grounders should lead to success no matter where he's throwing. 

The big complicating factor here would be twofold. On the one hand, he's a former ninth overall pick of the Angels back in 2021 out of Miami and despite pitching in the big leagues since 2023, he only has one year of service time racked up. That means the cost will be high.

The Angels valuation would be even higher for the A's, since they both play in the AL West. Those two factors would drive the price up, likely costing the A's a couple of top-20 prospects.

One that would make sense would be Devin Taylor, the A's No. 8 prospect, given that he was viewed more as a DH candidate out of college. Given that the A's DH and left fielder (where you stow away DH-type gloves) are both signed to extensions, Taylor could be a trade piece this summer. 

The other prospect would depend more upon the Angels' needs, and what kind of a deal they're looking to make. If they're tearing everything down, a lower level prospect makes sense. If they're looking to go for it again next year, maybe someone like Mason Barnett (No. 17) works for them instead. 

Hill is more of a wild card candidate, given his 3.43 ERA (3.10 FIP) with a 1.43 WHIP in 21 innings with the Rockies this season. His 24.5% strikeout rate is solid, and his 11.7% walk rate is lower than Bachman's by a touch, which is another plus. 

The big difference here is that the A's would be hoping for a slight boost in production by getting him out of Coors Field. His four-seamer and sinker rate well below average in stuff+, while his slider and changeup are his two best "stuff" pitches. Both the slider and the four-seam have a batting average against of .174 this season. 

One reason he would work for the A's is that he'd be more of a middle reliever with upside for the club, and his 10 holds on the season are tied with Justin Sterner for the most on the team, while Scott Barlow and Hogan Harris have nine holds apiece.

The other key reason that Hill would make a good target is that he has had success in the only park that is more hitter-friendly than Sutter Health, holding a 2.53 ERA at Coors Field this season. 

On top of that, his 1.7% barrel rate is among the best in baseball, ranking in the 98th percentile. His ground ball rate (40.7%) isn't quite as good as the other two pitchers mentioned and his Baseball Savant page isn't filled with quite as much red, but he's an interesting arm for the A's to take a look at, given the conditions that they and the Rockies share. 

Hill has less than a year of service time accrued, meaning he comes with plenty of team control remaining. That said, he's the least surefire bet of the three of them, so the control helps Colorado with a return, but not as much as it would for a top-tier guy. 

We'd probably be looking at an A's prospect on the back-half of the top-30 list. 

All three of these relief pitchers could be available shortly, as the Royals (25-38), Angels (24-39) and Rockies (24-39) are three of the worst teams in baseball with little hope for contending this season. That means they could throw in the towel a little earlier, and with the A's needing a boost now, those are the teams the A's should focus on making a deal with.