Should the A's Trade Brent Rooker?
The Oakland A's sit at 34-58 on the season, 15 games out in the AL West, 16.5 back in the AL wild card race, and on pace to lose 100+ games for the third year in a row. That's the bad news. The good news isn't necessarily great, but this year's club sure feels a lot more competitive than last year's. Heck, they just split the season series with the 57-33 Baltimore Orioles. The O's only have a losing record against two teams in the American League, the Cleveland Guardians (1-2) and the Houston Astros (0-3), and the Toronto Blue Jays are the only other team to have a .500 record against them.
On July 7 of last season the A's record was 25-65 and they were on pace to win 45 games. This year their pace is for a 60-win campaign, or a ten game improvement over where they finished in 2023. Their run differential on this date last year was -240, whereas it sits at -89 this season. Having a negative run differential isn't ideal, but it's a drastic departure from where the club was not too long ago.
This all brings us to a pretty big question: How active should the A's be at the Trade Deadline. The goal for this club has to be to get competitive soon, presumably with the idea being to hit their stride by 2028 when they're hoping to open a new ballpark in Las Vegas. Right now the team is looking at which players will be with the organization long-term.
Is Brent Rooker one of those players?
After having a better first half than he did when he was deemed an All Star last year, Rooker's name has already been mentioned in trade rumors. The question isn't whether other teams are interested (like they are in Mason Miller), it's whether or not he'll be moved (like it is with Mason Miller).
Rooker is a top-12 hitter in baseball with a 153 wRC+ (100 is league average), which is better than Bobby Witt Jr. (151), better than Rafael Devers (150) and Carlos Correa (148), and right behind Yordan Alvarez (157), Freddie Freeman (157) and Mookie Betts (158). He's an upper echelon hitter in baseball that just flies under the radar.
With the A's not in contention for a postseason berth, it would make sense for them to explore trade packages. At the same time, with Rooker still having three years of team control past this one, there's no rush. A's GM David Forst can afford to wait out a potential trade until it's to his liking.
That said, Rooker is 29-years-old, and if the team decided to keep him around for a Vegas grand opening, they'd first have to re-sign him and make him into one of their core players moving forward. He'd also be in his age 33 season in 2028, and even if he was superb all the way up to that point, there would be questions, as there are for all players in their 30's, about how long he could keep it going.
The most likely scenario is that a trade offer comes along and does the trick to get a deal done this month, but Oakland doesn't have to be in any rush to make it happen, either.
More A's News:
Mason Miller Named to All Star Game--Here's What His Teammates Said
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.