Should the A's Trade Mason Miller? There's More at Stake Than Just the Return

Jason Burke | Jul 24, 2024

Jul 22, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Mason Miller (19) pitches the ball against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Whether or not the Oakland A's should trade Mason Miller will be a hotly debated topic over the next week, and potentially for the next few years. Oakland's GM David Forst hasn't shown any interest in trading away Miller over the past couple of months, and according to Ken Rosenthal, some rival GMs "are exasperated about Oakland's seeming reluctance to trade Miller."

So the good teams are exasperated because the A's, at 41-62, won't trade away a player that is under team control through 2029? It's almost as if Miller's dominance in the ninth inning could be of use in helping turn the franchise's fortunes around at some point before the end of the decade.

Oakland is 11-6 in July, and the last time they had a winning record in a full month was July of 2022. Trading away Miller would be a huge slap in the face to the rest of this roster that is beginning to come together.

What this sounds like is that episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders' parents weren't keen on disciplining him, and Ned's dad says "We've tried nothin' and we're all out of ideas, man!" If other teams haven't made the A's change their position on trading Miller, then they aren't offering enough. It's not the A's job to trade Miller away, it's their job to make an offer that the A's have to accept.

Obviously the goal of any team is to be competitive, and there are plenty in the industry that don't think the A's will be in the postseason hunt any time soon. Yet, they're building something, and the organization believes in a lot of the guys they have playing right now, and they believe in Mark Kotsay to continue to lead this group.

It's also worth noting that aside from Miller's five years of team control being a ridiculous number that would disqualify him from being traded off of most teams, the A's are also in the process of relocating away from their long-time home in Oakland. They've burned a lot of bridges with their fan base that largely won't be making the trek out of Oakland along with the club.

With that being the case, people in Sacramento and potentially Las Vegas will be keeping an eye on how the A's operate. They've heard the horror stories from A's fans over the past year, but the club has made promises that once they leave, things will be different. They'll spend money. They'll retain key players. Miller is a key player.

If the A's were to trade Miller now, that could turn off the fans that the A's haven't even won over yet, which would lead to this entire relocation going even worse. Oakland has been treated like a farm team for other clubs for decades, but if that narrative is going to change (and it will need to), then holding onto Miller and taking on that injury risk is the cost of doing business.