MLB Rumors: 5 teams who should trade for Trevor Bauer

1. Oakland Athletics

Entering Thursday, Oakland is 4.5 games back in the AL West and in a virtual tie with the Indians for the second Wild Card spot. The suspension of early season ace Frankie Montas seemed to be torpedo their playoff chances, but the A’s are 15-5 since then (June 21) with a six-game winning streak going entering Thursday. Over their last 24 games, after sitting at 36-36 on June 16, they are 19-5.

Cleveland would surely be hesitant to trade Bauer to a team their competing with for a playoff spot, and his cost looking toward next year seems to be prohibitive for Oakland. But we’ve seen the Billy Beane-led front office go all-in when they saw an opportunity before. Heading into and at the trade deadline in 2014, the A’s added Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester to the starting rotation. Samardzija had one year of team control left and was traded to the White Sox the following offseason, while Lester was headed toward free agency.

Oakland has already traded for Homer Bailey, and they should be able to add Jesus Luzardo, Sean Manaea and/or A.J. Puk to the rotation at some point soon. But with 11 games left against the Astros, who have also had rumored interest, a trade for Bauer would be a bold move for a realistic playoff push that didn’t look so realistic just a month ago.