A's Trade Sam Moll to Reds for Hard-Throwing Righty

The A's added another pitcher with control issues but tantalizing stuff

With less than 24 hours until the trade deadline, the Oakland A's have made their first move in nearly two weeks, sending left-handed veteran reliever Sam Moll to the Cincinnati Reds for the team's #28 prospect, Joe Boyle. 

Moll is 0-3 with a 4.54 ERA this season, but has been really solid over his last seven appearances, posting a 1.80 ERA across five innings. The southpaw has also eaten up left-handers this season with a .197 batting average against and a 1.00 WHIP, while right-handers are batting .276 with a 1.77 WHIP. He's a better reliever than the numbers would suggest and won't be arbitration eligible until the 2025 season. He'll reach free agency after the 2027 campaign.

The A's also sent some international bonus pool money to the Reds in this deal. 

As for Boyle, the player headed back to Oakland in the trade, he is a 6-foot-7 right-hander that can reach triple-digits but sits at 97 as a starter. The 23-year-old was taken in the fifth round of the 2020 draft out of Notre Dame and also has a high-80's slider and a low-80's curve. 

As is the case with a number of trade acquisitions the A's have made in recent years, Boyle has had trouble with command, but possess good stuff. In Double-A this season, Boyle is 6-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 19 starts (84 innings), and has struck out 13.1 per nine while walking 8.0 per nine. 

Since he started in the minor leagues, Boyle has amassed 316 strikeouts in just 204.1 innings pitched. He has also walked 173. One bonus is that Boyle's hits per nine sits at 6.8 this season, so he's not giving up too many baserunners that way. If the A's can figure out his mechanics and lower that walk rate a bit, Boyle could be a very interesting arm to watch in the A's system.

He is also reminiscent of Luis Medina, whom the A's acquired at last year's trade deadline and finished out the 2022 season with 9.6 walks per nine after joining the A's Double-A affiliate in Midland. His BB/9 currently sits at 4.3 in the big leagues. 

The A's have been targeting big arms that throw hard and have "stuff" while lacking consistent command, similar to what the Houston Astros were doing back in 2020 when the A's bullpen was littered with command pitchers and Liam Hendriks. 

By stockpiling a number of these types of pitchers, the A's just need a few of them to hit in order to lead the team to success in the near future.