Athletics pitcher JP Sears has read his name in trade rumors and confirmed the team’s front office is keeping him in the loop ahead of the trade deadline on Thursday, he said after the team’s 3-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Monday.
Sears was tagged with his ninth loss of the season after allowing three runs, two earned, while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings. He battled through a second inning that started with a home run from Seattle’s new first baseman Josh Naylor and ended with a double-play after the Mariners (57-50, second in American League West) were threatening with two runners on.
The A’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak following their four-game sweep in Houston against the first-place Astros.
“I just want us to win the game, so any time you’re out there, and you feel like you’re not doing your job, it’s not fun,” Sears said.
Sears, who came to the A’s in 2022 in a trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the New York Yankees, said this is the first time he’s been involved in trade rumors. He was in the minor leagues when the Yankees dealt him and was taken by surprise by the move to the West Coast.
The A’s, with their latest loss, fell to 46-63 and have been in last place in the AL West since May 20. A’s manager Mark Kotsay downplayed the notion that his team would be sellers at the deadline.
“You can’t use the word ‘sellers’ for us,” Kotsay said before Monday’s game. “We’re not chasing something outside of finishing the season where we feel like we’ve gotten better. It doesn’t mean we can’t have an opportunity to win because we’re not mathematically eliminated, but we’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole.
“We’re looking at building. And any piece that we move, will be a piece that’s replaced with somebody we feel like can impact our future.”
Moving Sears would come while the team’s pitching has been among the worst in baseball throughout the season. The A’s staff ranks last in the American League and 29th in baseball in pitching WAR, according to FanGraphs. The A’s 5.10 team ERA prior to Monday’s game was the third highest in the majors.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this month that the A’s are listening to offers on Sears, along with fellow starters Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs, all of whom have produced below their expectations coming into the season.
Severino, of course, has struggled mightily at the team’s minor league ballpark in West Sacramento, compiling a 6.68 ERA in home games compared to 3.03 on the road. The 31-year-old right-hander has been vocal about his inability to get comfortable at Sutter Health Park because he can’t go to the clubhouse between innings.
Severino leads the Major Leagues in hits and earned runs allowed.
Springs, 32, is 9-7 with a 4.13 ERA. He’s the A’s only regular in the starting rotation with a winning record.
The A’s came into the game leading the Major Leagues with 92 extra-base hits in July.
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