Astros, American League West Round Up Pre-Lockout

Oakland Athletics

New Additions

• Brent Honeywell (via trade with Tampa Bay Rays)

After a few unsuccessful attempts to capture the American League Pennant, the Athletics have decided once again to begin a retooling of their organization.

It appears the Athletics are poised to start unloading various some key players to stock up on young assets. Aside from tendering their arbitration eligible players, the Athletics haven’t signed any free agents so far this offseason.

The Athletics did make a small trade for a once touted prospect, Brent Honeywell, from the Tampa Bay Rays, who if you haven’t noticed have a stockpile of young arms.

Honeywell has been battling injuries and really hasn’t found his footing in the organizational depth chart. This is simply a low risk move for both teams.

For the moment, the A’s still have some talent on the team anchored by the likes of Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Frankie Montas and Chris Bassitt. However, over a dozen A’s players became free agents at the end of the season that included half of the starting lineup and nearly all of the key bullpen arms.

That doesn’t bode well for a team who has finished the last four seasons with a winning record. While they don’t seem to be a 100-loss team at this point, the AL West bar has been moved, making the Oakland Athletics a candidate for the bottom of the division.