MLB Trade Deadline: Oakland A's Acquire Alberto Callaspo from Angels

It is being reported by Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that the Oakland A's and Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a trade just a day before the non-waiver deadline sending Alberto Callaspo to Oakland in exchange for Triple-A prospect Grant Green.

Callaspo, a switch-hitter, is expected to step in immediately and be the second-baseman in Oakland and end the platoon of Eric Sogard and Adam Rosales. On the year, he is hitting .253 with just five home runs. On defense, he brings a versatile glove to the A's as he can play every position except first-base and center field.  

If Callaspo is now Oakland's everyday second-baseman, he will be the next man to try to lock down the job which has seen Jemile Weeks, Grant Green, Eric Sogard, Adam Rosales and Cliff Pennington all come and go since the start of the 2012 season.

It was known that general manager Billy Beane and the A's were looking for help to make a push deep into October, but it was a surprise to see the Angels help out their division-rival with that playoff push without acquiring an immediate contributor in exchange.

The A's had been linked to other players such as Chase Utley and Jake Peavy, but those two players would have commanded much more in a trade than the Angels were asking for in Green. Peavy and Utley would have also taken up large chunks of Oakland's small-market payroll, but co-owner Lew Wolff has said that he would accommodate any of Beane's acquisitions.

Callaspo is signed through the 2014 season, so he will just be a rental like Utley would have been. Also, Callaspo is only on the books for $4.8 million in 2014 making him about one-third the cost of Peavy in 2014.

Green is the only player that the A's are giving up in this trade. After a brief call-up earlier this year, Green looked far more expendable than he did before.  Green has been hitting steadily around .300 in the minors, but when he got his first taste of the big leagues, he never found his first hit. Green went to high-school in Anaheim and went to USC for college, so he will enjoy a homecoming playing for the Angels.