Former huge A's trade acquisition signs minor-league deal with Baltimore Orioles

Jason Burke | 2 Hours Ago

Jul 16, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics second baseman Franklin Barreto (1) throws the ball against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning at the Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images / Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Back in 2014 when the Oakland A's traded Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays, the team received four players. There was left-hander Sean Nolin, who bounced around until 2023, and righty Kendall Graveman, pre-breakout, who was a starter with the A's. He'd find his home in the bullpen (and excel) after leaving Oakland.

They also added third baseman Brett Lawrie, who stuck with the club for one season and actually played in more games than in any season in his career, 149, before the A's traded him to the Chicago White Sox.

The biggest piece of the deal was shortstop Franklin Barreto, who was just 18 at the time of the deal. As you can guess by the headline, it didn't work out with him either. Barreto recently signed a minor-league deal with the Baltimore Orioles as has been assigned to their Triple-A affiliate.

Now 28, Barreto is returning to affiliated baseball after spending 2024 playing in the Mexican League where he hit .343 with a .430 OBP, though he still struck out at a 26.6% clip.

In his last stint in the minors in 2023, he batted .202 with a .282 OBP and a .736 OPS with the Washington Nationals Triple-A affiliate across 29 games.

Barreto made his MLB debut at the age of 21 in 2017, and in parts of four seasons in The Show, he hit .175 with a .207 on-base and a .549 OPS across 101 games. He also struck out 42.2% of the time. In the middle of the 2020 season, the A's decided to trade Barreto to the division-rival Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Tommy La Stella, in a fateful trade for the A's.

It was La Stella that introduced first baseman Matt Olson to a hitting machine that changed the trajectory of his career, and inflated his trade value two seasons later.

Given the amount of talent that the Orioles have in their farm system, it's tough to see Barreto having much of a shot at earning a spot on Baltimore's 26-man roster in 2025. They are presumably hoping for him to show some flashes of the prospect that made him the centerpiece of the Donaldson deal, only to then flip him at some point over the course of the season.