A's morph future rotation options with series of Hot Stove deals

The Philadelphia Athletics have been the most active team in the WFBL by far during the 2023-24 Hot Stove season. And with a sweeping series of moves, GM Matt Veasey has significantly altered and upgraded the club's starting rotation as part of the major rebuilding program.

After suffering through self-inflicted rebuilding pangs which resulted in the worst season in franchise history in 2023, a group of trades combined with a key waiver wire move have been aimed at upgrading the club's starting pitching for the future, some for the coming season. They are considered a big step towards hopefully returning the A's to contending status sooner rather than later.

"We have significant depth and talent in our minor league system where position players are concerned," said Veasey. "Some of the young talent arrived last year and we  believe will continue to improve. More is coming quickly. As our offense begins to gel, we felt that providing this support on the mound might accelerate our return to standings success."

The signing of Japanese ace starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto highlighted a series of moves as 2023 drew to a close. On October 19, the A's dealt away the top pick in the 2024 Minors Draft and a PTBNL to Brantford, swapping places on the Waiver Wire with the Bisons. That moved the A's to the top of the wire with Brantford moving down to the eight spot. It was with that top pick on the wire that the Athletics picked up Yamamoto after he officially agreed to his MLB deal. 

Exactly one month after the deal with Brantford, the A's GM finalized a trade with Alabama. In that deal the club sent Matt Manning back to the Farm Boys along with the fifth overall pick in the 2024 Minors Draft in exchange for the return of starting pitcher Aaron Nola. 

Manning had been acquired from Alabama as part of the pivotal July 2022 trade of Mike Trout, a deal which essentially kicked off the major Athletics rebuild that would kick into high gear that fall. In October 2022, Nola had then been dealt to Alabama in furtherance of that rebuilding process.

To cap off the 2023 calendar year, Veasey cut a deal with Montreal in order to move back up the waiver wire into the number three spot, positioning the Athletics to jump on another high-value international prospect sooner than later.

When the calendar flipped over to 2024, the A's GM continued to strike, making three trades in four days. Arriving in those deals were veteran right-handers Jack Flaherty from Eugene, Yu Darvish from New York, and Dylan Cease from Spokane.

But still not finished, Veasey acquired ace starter Zack Wheeler from Portland along with fireballing reliever Jose Alvarado. In that deal, the club sent away outfielders Sal Frelick and Jared Kelenic along with pitchers Bryan Woo and Connor Phillips, all of whom had expected to contribute with the A's in the coming year.

Then, shuffling pieces they had acquired, the A's startled the fan base by flipping Nola along with starter MacKenzie Gore, outfielder Riley Greene, and hot prospect Max Clark to Eugene. In that deal, Veasey returned young stud pitcher Eury Perez to the fold and added power prospects James Wood and Colt Keith. 

Days later, Wheeler was flipped to Las Vegas for young arms Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone. And then Cease and Darvish were packed in order to get talented righty prospect pitcher Cade Horton, with veteran Drew Smyly brought back as well for depth purposes.

"We paid a significant price in future Minors Draft capital over the next few years," said Veasey. "We also surrendered a handful of veteran pitchers and solid prospects. But we felt that with the depth of talent in our system, it was a price we could afford to pay in order to upgrade our Majors-level rotation talent for the future."

Yamamoto, Perez, and Flaherty join an Athletics rotation which was a strength of the club last season. Returnees George Kirby and Brayan Bello figure to also be a part of the 2024 starting group.  

As the season progresses, either one or both of Sheehan/Stone should join prospect arms Paul Skenes, Shane Baz, and Jacob Misiorowski to emerge from the minors system and further bolster that starting rotation. Next year the club expects Horton to emerge along with the return of Andrew Painter.