CINCINNATI -- Athletics general manager David Forst made it clear last week that he did not feel compelled to make a deal just for the sake of doing so ahead of the Trade Deadline on Monday, and he certainly wasn’t looking to break up the foundation of the team.
Those words proved to be true.
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As opposed to last year, when they pulled off a blockbuster trade by sending Mason Miller and JP Sears to the Padres for a prospect package headlined by top prospect Leo De Vries (No. 2 overall), the A’s remained mostly quiet as the 3 p.m. PT Deadline passed on Monday, sending outfielder Colby Thomas to the Phillies in exchange for right-hander Seth Johnson in their lone move of the day.
TRADE DETAILS
A’s receive: RHP Seth Johnson
Phillies receive: OF Colby Thomas
Thomas, 25, was on the A’s 40-man roster but was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on July 31 after struggling as mostly a short-side platoon hitter against lefties. The A’s had high expectations for Thomas, who ranked as high as their No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline in 2025. But with a surplus of outfield depth both in the Majors and Minors, the slugging outfielder became an expendable player who now could get a chance to contribute in a playoff race with the Phillies.
Johnson, 27, was the 40th overall pick by the Rays in the 2019 Draft before getting traded to the Orioles in 2022 and to the Phillies in ‘24. Johnson has seen some big league time with Philadelphia in each of the past three seasons. This year, he’s posted a 5.51 ERA in 16 relief appearances with 20 strikeouts and 14 walks in 16 1/3 innings.
Bringing a fastball that sits 97-98 mph along with a wipeout slider and good ability to generate swing-and-miss, Johnson will likely get a chance to slot into an A’s bullpen that is looking for young arms to establish themselves as pieces beyond this season.
If there was any direction the A’s (45-67) were going to go, it was clearly going to be in selling mode, as their free fall over the past month or so has dropped them to a distant fourth place in the American League West. But the club has its reasons and beliefs for why they preferred not to deal away key players. Here’s a look at those factors:
A promising young core
The A’s have invested in young players such as Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler by signing each to long-term contract extensions that will take them will into the club’s relocation to Las Vegas, set for the start of the 2028 season. Nick Kurtz, meanwhile, will not become eligible for free agency until 2031.
The A’s are falling short of their postseason aspirations for this year, with both underperformance and injuries to several key players playing a part, but they are not giving up on that core group.
“We obviously have underperformed,” Forst said. “We haven’t succeeded this year the way we wanted to. That doesn’t mean that this same group can’t continue to grow and develop and be what we expect the next couple of seasons.”
Injuries
All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers is a player whose name was starting to heat up in trade rumors just before a meniscus tear in his right knee required surgery last week. By no means were the A’s eager to deal Langeliers, who is under team control through the 2028 season, though it would have been interesting to see what type of offers they would have received in a catcher-hungry market that saw Adley Rutschman, Liam Hicks and Joey Bart all get traded on Monday.
Could the A’s have gotten a Miller-type haul for Langeliers? We’ll never know.
Other A’s players on the injured list who might have been trade candidates had they been healthy include Mark Leiter Jr., Luis Severino and Justin Sterner.