A's 'focused on' trading Sean Manaea, undecided on Frankie Montas?

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sean Manaea. Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Athletics 'focused on' trading SP Sean Manaea, undecided on SP Frankie Montas?

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 3/23/22

The Oakland Athletics have had arguably the biggest fire sale of any of the 30 MLB teams this offseason. They've already shipped off corner infield stars Matt Chapman and Matt Olson to the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves respectively.

A pair of their talented starting pitchers could be moved next, although one is reportedly more likely to be traded than the other.

Teams in discussions with the A’s say Oakland currently is focused on trading LHP Sean Manaea, and is waiting to decide how to proceed with RHP Frankie Montas.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 23, 2022

Manaea has spent his entire MLB career with the A's, while Montas has pitched all but seven of his 102 regular season games with the club. The former was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the 2013 draft, but one year before his big-league debut, was traded to Oakland along with pitcher Aaron Brooks in exchange for utility man Ben Zobrist and cash.

The 30-year-old southpaw is coming off of one of his finest seasons, as he set career-best marks in innings pitched (179.1) and strikeouts (194) while posting career-highs (and American League-high) 32 games started, two complete games and two shutouts. In 129 career games and 727 innings pitched, Manaea holds a 50-41 record with a 3.86 ERA, 641 strikeouts and a 1.20 WHIP.

Montas meanwhile, led all Athletics pitchers a season ago in wins (13), innings pitched (187) and strikeouts (207), while finishing third on the squad (second among starters) in both ERA (3.37) and ERA+ (121) and fourth in WHIP (1.18). The 29-year-old right-hander was particularly good at the end of the regular season, earning AL Pitcher of the Month honors for September and finishing sixth in the AL Cy Young voting.

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