Oakland Athletics Trade Rumors: Josh Willingham, Others Staying Put at Deadline

There has been quite a lot of quietness coming from Oakland this summer. Their bats have been muted. The pitching has been good but rather noiseless. The attendance has been quiet. And the front office has been rather mum with regards to making any changes to their roster prior to the MLB trading deadline.

In most seasons, the Athletics are usually one of the more active participants in the trade market, either acquiring players in blockbuster deals for a playoff push, or ridding themselves of large contracts to rebuild for the future.

This year, however, has been rather hushed, as general manager Billy Beane and staff have yet to make a trade as the deadline approaches. What has caused this overly taciturn turn of events? Why hasn’t Beane pulled the trigger, unloading veteran players with larger salaries?

It’s not as though there haven’t been whisperings or even shouts of interest in certain A’s players. Many of the offseason acquisitions have been rumored to be trade bait. Notably, left fielder Josh Willingham has received inquiry from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox. But apparently there hasn’t been enough seriousness in what each team is willing to offer in return for Willingham.

While it is true that the A’s have had a terrible offensive season, Jane Lee of MLB.com states that Beane is not looking to unload players for the sake of unloading players. It’s likely that there has been numerous attention being paid to players like Willingham, Oakland has become wary of the risk of acquiring prospects in return for outgoing veterans.

According to Beane, "Everybody is in the mood to have conversations about trades, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to do something.”

So while Willingham’s right-handed bat, with his 15 home runs and 56 RBI, will not be going anywhere, the A’s will be content on taking on his contract for the remainder of the season and acquiring the supplemental draft picks in the likelihood of him not returning as a free agent in the offseason.

In years past, the A’s have signed free agents like Matt Holiday, Orlando Cabrerra and Jason Giambi with the hope that they would help lead the team to contention by the All-Star break. When Oakland wasn’t in the playoff hunt, each of those players were dumped, an attempt to salvage some balance to their roster and finances.

Though the Athletics are a long, long way from the division lead, and certainly lagging in the wild card race, it appears that they will keep their roster intact to give themselves a full year of performing together as a team. Management is comfortable with the notion of seeing what happens.

From a competitive standpoint, it’s hard to see where staying pat make sense. The A’s are so far out of the hunt that it would be expected for them to bring in their top prospects to get their feet wet in the summer waters of August and September. It would also make sense to rid themselves of some salaries while restocking their farm system through trades.

But the A’s are not in a hurry to concern themselves with financial housecleaning. In what has been a rather uneventful summer for the Athletics, Beane will fold his arms and not make a trade, thus adding contributing additional ennui to the 2011 campaign.

Unfortunately for a player like Willingham, who signed with the A’s with his own playoff aspirations, he will have to suck it up and play out the season.

Whether he likes it or not.