Major League Baseball

Will Oakland A's become 'sellers' at trade deadline?

Published Jun. 7, 2015 1:10 p.m. ET

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The Oakland Athletics have been playing well lately, taking three of four from the New York Yankees and sweeping the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. 

That recent hot play, which ended with the club dropping the first two games at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox this weekend, gave some a glimpse into what the team 'could be' if it was able to play at a more consistent clip than it had so far in 2015.

But despite the past week, Oakland is still 23-35 and in last place in the AL West. While general manager Billy Beane did say previously that his team's tough start didn't really 'concern' him, the reality could wind up being more dire for the green and gold considering their injury situations. 

Beane spoke with 95.7 the Game earlier this week about that, and made some interesting remarks that could portend some activity around the July 31st trade deadline. As Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area recapped, Beane touched on the thought of the A's being a 'contending' club: "First thing, we’ve got to get to .500 before you even consider yourself quote unquote contending, or being a part of the conversation,” Beane said. “You can’t realistically be a team under .500 and expect that you’re a playoff-type team. It just doesn’t happen. It’s too early to say. I think we have to be realistic when the time comes and see where we’re standing.”

Part of that 'we have to be realistic' pertains to the situations faced by reliever Sean Doolittle (back on the D.L. with a shoulder issue) and outfielder Coco Crisp (out indefinitely with an ongoing neck issue), both of whom Beane doesn't expect to see much of the rest of the way: “One of the things we have to be realistic (about) is that both Sean and Coco probably aren’t going to be playing a whole lot this year. They could come back, maybe later, but they’re a long way off, and I think we have to keep that in mind with whatever we do.”

With attractive veterans Ben Zobrist and Scott Kazmir on the 25-man roster, teams are already contacting the A's asking about trade possibility, so it will be interesting to see what Beane does in conjunction with where the A's are in their quest to get back to .500 in the next month or so. 

(h/t CSN Bay Area)

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