The Athletics are on the move from Oakland to Sacramento, and potentially one day on to Las Vegas. While this is supposed to be good news for the organization, it could also have some ramifications, specifically when it comes to the current World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
The A's and Dodgers have made a few trades over the years, with the then Oakland squad sending Rich Hill and Josh Reddick to Los Angeles in 2016, and getting a package back that included Frankie Montas. It worked out well enough for both teams.
Just this past year, the A's received left-hander T.J. McFarland for cash considerations, and now McFarland is back for another round with the Sacramento-bound club.
While they may not be constant trade partners like the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, they have had some deals over the years. But could that change if the A's end up moving to Las Vegas?
As things currently stand, Vegas is Dodgers' territory, and making a deal with the Athletics would presumably mean that the A's are getting a piece in return that could help them in the short or long-term.
Helping the A's roster could mean hurting their own market share. If you're the Dodgers, it may not be wise to give the people of Vegas a reason to tune into A's games and potentially find a new team to track that's a bit closer to home.
When the A's were in Oakland, the pairing of the two clubs made sense. The Athletics were the geographical rival of the San Francisco Giants, L.A.'s biggest rival. An enemy of an enemy, if you will. Helping the A's would hurt the Giants, and in turn, also help the Dodgers in another way besides the return they got in the trade.
Could this be a matter of overthinking things a bit too much? Of course. But it doesn't seem outside of the realm of possibilities.
There is a reason that the Dodgers are the best team at drafting, developing, and marketing their franchise, and it's because they think of the little details and look for the incremental differences that all add up to make one big difference at the highest level. They take care in their approach to what they do.
It seems as though scratching the A's off of their list of potential trade partners could be a wise business decision. The one big caveat here would be if the A's were looking to trade a player like Mason Miller or someone of similar stature in the next few years. He is the type of player that any team would be after, and allowing he A's to move him wouldn't be a bad idea from the Dodgers' standpoint.
Plus, given the team's relative success in dealing players (outside of Yordan Alvarez), they haven't been burned too much, even when acquiring a former MVP like Mookie Betts. If they were able to forecast correctly in this hypothetical deal, then the A's wouldn't receive much in the end after shipping out one of their best players.
That is the type of deal that will get a fan base to turn on a team, which would actually be beneficial to the Dodgers. If these two franchises come together on a deal, Los Angeles may be very calculated in their approach.
Again, this may be getting too deep into the weeds, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on over the next few years.
