Done Deals: A’s trade Brandon Moss to the Indians
This is The Stew’s running list of trades and signings that happen during baseball’s Winter Meetings. We’ll keep updating this post as the news happens. For more chatter and rumors, be sure to check out our Winter Meetings tracker.
MONDAY
A’s trade Brandon Moss to the Indians
Our first trade of the Winter Meetings is in the books. The Oakland Athletics continue their roster shuffling, sending All-Star Brandon Moss to the Cleveland Indians. Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan was first to report that the deal was done, though the two sides have been working on this since last week. The return for Moss — who hit 25 homers with 81 RBIs in 2015 — is second baseman Joey Wendle, 24, a former sixth-round pick who hit .253 in Double-A last season.
BLS Take: The Oakland A’s of 2015: No Moss, no Yoenis Cespedes, no Josh Donaldson. Where’s all the power going to come from? It’s another typical Billy Beane move. The A’s GM has to figure he’s gotten the most out of Moss, who had hip surgery in October. But Moss has hit 76 homers the past three seasons, and that’s desirable for a club like the Indians looking to leapfrog the competition in the AL Central. Overall, it’s a good deal for the Indians, as they get Moss for their ninth best prospect according to MLB.com. The risk for the Indians is that Moss, 31, could end up being another Nick Swisher-type and they’re already burdened with one of those. Moss’ OPS plummeted from .954 in 2012 to .772 in 2014. If the Indians think they can trade Swisher (as has been rumored), Moss is a much cheaper first base/DH option.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
