For teams hoping to land the Oakland Athletics’ Mason Miller at the MLB trade deadline, the standout closer hit the injured list at the worst possible time. Miller landed on the 15-day IL just five days before the trade window officially closed for the 2024 season. Despite the injury, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal is adamant that the A’s still should have attempted to move Miller.
“He’s out for a little bit but you still could have traded him. Players on the injured list did get traded. And that was the one guy I thought, ‘You know what, take advantage of this. See what you could get.’ And they probably would have done quite well,” Rosenthal stated via Foul Territory on X.
Rosenthal’s argument essentially boils down to his belief that the A’s should have struck while the iron was hot with Miller, who has been just about as hot as any relief pitcher in baseball this year. According to Rosenthal, “He is a guy that, you don’t know he’s going to be great for the next five years because relievers are so volatile and he’s got an injury history.”
It appeared as though the A’s planned on keeping their young bullpen star even before the injury. That approach, Rosenthal believes, was a mistake. “In terms of pure market forces, the time was probably right to trade Mason Miller and they didn’t do it,” he lamented on Foul Territory.
Had the A’s opted to shop Miller at the deadline, he would almost certainly have brought a massive haul of top prospects to Oakland. The A’s closer has been spectacular in his sophomore season, posting a 2.21 ERA, 0.836 WHIP, 182 ERA+ and 70 strikeouts in 40.2 innings.
He’s put up 1.7 WAR in 34 appearances for Oakland so far in 2024. Miller has even managed to save 15 games for a team that’s 20 games under .500 entering play on Thursday.
The A’s held onto injured closer Mason Miller at the trade deadline
In addition to the eye-popping stats, Miller possesses eye-popping stuff. The 25-year-old righty routinely hits triple digits with his fastball and has been clocked just shy of 104 mph. That speed has helped him produce an absolutely bonkers strikeout rate of 45.8 percent. Yes, Miller has struck out nearly half of all the batters he’s faced this season.
The breakout campaign turned heads and teams were hoping to land the 25-year-old hurler at the MLB trade deadline. But instead of fielding offers for the All-Star reliever, the A’s were suddenly embroiled in Pinkie-Gate.
Miller landed on the injured list on July 25 with a fractured left hand sustained in a non-pitching incident. When a big-name closer is lost to an injury that doesn’t occur on the field, people are going to want to know the details.
However, things took a bit of an odd turn when the injury was explained. In the initial report, the pitcher was hurt in a freak accident when he prepared to do a postgame exercise and placed his hand awkwardly on a training table. As it turns out, that information (or misinformation depending on how generous you’re feeling) came from Miller’s agent, according to Yahoo! Sports.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay was having none of it, however, and officially set the record straight.
As it turns out, after tossing a clean, 11-pitch ninth inning and slamming the door on a 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros on July 22, Miller was told that he needed to hit the weight room. Frustrated by the news, the pitcher then slammed his fist into the training table, fracturing his little finger.
It’s another odd story from one of baseball’s oddest franchises. Yet, despite Rosenthal’s protestations, it could be the most important slam in A’s history if Miller goes full Dennis Eckersley and helps lead the A’s to a new era of greatness – wherever the team ultimately calls home.
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