Homer Bailey settled into his first outing as a member of the Green and Gold following a rocky start in a 10-2 win over Mariners on Wednesday.
The veteran pitcher was acquired from the Rockies via trade on Sunday, but the A's don't appear to be done bringing more arms into the equation as the July 31 trade deadline nears.
"We're hoping we're active," A's executive vice president of baseball operations, Billy Beane told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami. "We're looking for pitching -- we don't have a lot of depth there, it would be nice to add relievers and/or a starter would probably be the area that we're looking at."
Beane mentioned that with the hard 31st deadline this year, it could make other teams aggressive early on. But with the A's sitting pretty, it would be crazy to think they wouldn't be involved in the trade market.
"Where we go from here, I hope we make a bunch of trades, this is the reason you get the job is to be in the playoff hunt and to ultimately make transactions," Beane said. "If you're right around .500 near the trade deadline, you're still in a pretty good position in most seasons to have a shot at the wild card."
But it appeared any of those transactions wouldn't be geared toward any of the guys out in the field.
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"I think we feel pretty good about the position players."
As they should.
Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Ramón Laureano and Marcus Semien were those named and complimented by Beane and those four are just part of the successful batting/defensive power force the A's currently possess. And as much as the team is seeking out guys to throw on the hill, he's rather impressed with what he's seen thus far.
"[Mike] Fiers coming back, [Brett] Anderson's pitched very, very well, [Frankie] Montas was one of the best starters in the league and we lost him," Beane said. "So they've kind of held their own and done well."
Beane said heading into the season the starting rotation was something the A's had to invent.
"It was a big concern, but we also knew about halfway through that we had the chance of getting A.J. Puk back, Sean Manaea back, [Jesús] Luzardo -- you know, would be back."
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Manaea would continue to have a starter role once he finishes his rehab assignment. He will start for the High-A affiliate Stockton Ports on Thursday night.
Puk will more than likely take a bullpen role once he is with the big league club. And when it comes to Luzardo, it could be similar responsibilities for the A's No. 1 prospect. Beane hopes all three of them will be in an Oakland uniform by August, it's just a matter of when during the month we will see them. They don't want to rush the trio.
