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OAKLAND, CALIF. The Oakland Athletics traded all-star closer Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday for outfielder Josh Reddick and prospects Miles Head and Raul Alcantara.

In the deal, first reported by ESPN, new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine has found a reliable ninth-inning guy in Bailey to replace the departed Jonathan Papelbon, who signed a four-year, $50-million US contract as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in November.

Bailey — the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year who made the all-star team that season and again in 2010 — has been the subject of trade talk this off-season.

The right-handed Bailey, 27, went 0-4 with a 3.24 earned-run average and 24 saves in 41 2-3 innings this year. He spent time on the disabled list for the second straight season, pitching for the first time in 2011 on May 29 after being sidelined with a strained right forearm.

Bailey becomes the fourth key pitcher traded this month for the rebuilding A’s, who dealt starter Trevor Cahill and reliever Craig Breslow to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Dec. 9 and then sent left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez to Washington last Thursday.

Reddick will look to fill a big void in Oakland’s open outfield.

The 24-year-old Reddick batted .280 with seven homers and 28 RBIs in 87 games for Boston in 2011. He can play any outfield spot and likely will get immediate action for the A’s, who already lost outfielders David DeJesus and Josh Willingham in free agency. Center fielder Coco Crisp isn’t expected to return either.

Oakland general manager Billy Beane is retooling his roster for the future in hopes of the franchise getting the go ahead to build a new ballpark in San Jose despite the San Francisco Giants owning the territorial rights to technology-rich Santa Clara County. Beane and owner Lew Wolff have said they expect to hear soon from commissioner Bud Selig, and Beane said the unsettled stadium situation would affect him being able to sign his own free agents this winter.

The A’s (74-88) haven’t posted a winning record or earned a playoff berth since being swept in the 2006 AL championship series by Detroit.

At last summer’s trade deadline, the A’s and Red Sox were near completion on a deal that would have sent Oakland right-hander Rich Harden of Victoria to Boston for triple-A first baseman Lars Anderson but it fell through late because of Harden’s lengthy list of injury issues.

Former Red Sox pitching coach Curt Young returned to the A’s this off-season to work under manager Bob Melvin

The Associated Press

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The Oakland Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks completed a big trade Friday, and the biggest names exchanged were right-handed pitchers Trevor Cahill (heading to the desert) and Jarrod Parker (going to the East Bay).

But they weren’t the only players involved. Five players in all changed teams, including left-hander Craig Breslow, who was sent to the D-backs. Apparently, details sometimes get lost when a major deal goes down — details such as letting all of the parties involved know that a trade has happened before it goes public. Let Breslow explain:

No! Breslow found out about his own trade on Twitter? It’s not the first time an athlete has learned such news from the media. Every so often you’ll hear about a guy who learned he was traded from TV or radio or even a newspaper (once upon a time). But this Twitter social media thing is kind of a new deal. New but powerful. It has aided revolutionaries across the Atlantic, it has helped pro football players keep in touch during an owner’s lockout. So I don’t know what Breslow means about Twitter’s lack of relevance. A Yale graduate? C’mon. Well, he learned the hard way.

Not that Breslow has reacted with bitterness:

Thanks for all the well wishes as I head to the @dbacks!

That message, plus at least 30 individual thank-yous, came after the first tweet. Can you imagine Albert Pujols sending 30 thank-you notes to … anybody?

Breslow probably would have preferred to hear about the deal from Billy Beane or David Forst from the A’s front office. That’s on them. And the power of Twitter.

Follow Dave on Twitter — @AnswerDave — and engage the Stew on Facebook

Related: Albert Pujols, Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill, Jarrod Parker, Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, BallMedia, Transactions

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(c)2011 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) Visit the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) at www.contracostatimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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The Oakland Athletics kicked off their latest roster makeover Friday by trading pitchers Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Oakland received pitchers Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook and outfielder Collin Cowgill, three prospects who could play significant roles in 2012.

Cahill’s name surfaced Wednesday as a trade possibility. Until then, it was fellow starter Gio Gonzalez and closer Andrew Bailey who were most heavily rumored to be leaving Oakland. Both remain strong candidates to be dealt, with the Rangers interested in Gonzalez.

“It’s never easy to trade a guy who was a focal point of your team for three years,” A’s assistant general manager David Forst said of Cahill. “But we understand every so often you need to shuffle the deck.”

Cahill broke into the A’s rotation in 2009, a 21-year-old who appeared part of the foundation upon which the team would build. He went 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 2010 and was an All-Star. In April, he signed a five-year, $30.5 million contract extension with club options for 2016 and 2017.

That affordable, long-term contract was attractive to the reigning NL West-champion Diamondbacks, who will add Cahill to a rotation that includes Daniel Hudson, Josh Collmenter and Ian Kennedy.

“We think we’ve got four young starters who are as good as anybody in the N.L. West,” Arizona GM Kevin Towers said.

The A’s are looking to stockpile prospects — cost-controllable and with little big league service time — who can develop together as the team hopes to build a new ballpark in San Jose.

Cahill took news of the trade hard. He said he was happy with Oakland and looked forward to being reunited with pitching coach Curt Young, who returned to the A’s after one season with Boston.

“Maybe another piece or two and we would have had that core thing and been good for a long time,” Cahill said. “You kept thinking in the future, and then, all of a sudden, it passed you up, and now you’re on a new team.”

In Parker, 23, the A’s get a right-hander rated as Arizona’s No. 4 prospect by Baseball America. He was their top prospect before missing the entire 2010 season because of elbow surgery.

He went 11-8 with a 3.79 ERA last season for Double-A Mobile.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

Well, the Oakland Athletics finished up another ho hum campaign during the 2011 season, ending with a record of 74-88, 22 games behind the AL West pennant champs, the Texas Rangers. Dumpy season aside, there are still plenty of things to be thankful for when it comes to our beloved Oakland A’s. Before you turn all doom and gloom about those paupers from the east bay, consider the following:

1. Jemile Weeks – Batting .300 with 22 stolen bases in just 400 at bats? That’s the kind of production that the typically offensively inept A’s should swoon over. Weeks is a bona fide table setter. He’s just 24, and had not been called up prior to the 2011 season. He’s still a work in progress, striking out about three times as often as he walks. But Weeks is the kind of offensive talent that A’s fans have been hungry for. Now if they could only put some serious power behind him in the batting order, maybe we won’t have to suffer quite so many 2-1 games.

2. Gio Gonalez – Trevor Cahill(notes) stole the spotlight in 2010, but 2011 belonged to Gonzalez. Gio is a 20 win pitcher if you put him on a team like the Yankees or Texas, and other GMs around the league know that. His name has been tossed around heavily during the winter meetings, and rumor has it that they’ll trade him if they can’t get a stadium deal done soon. But even if Gonzalez is traded (and I’m hoping he isn’t), he’ll return top flight prospects in any deal.

3. There’s movement on the relocation front – Of course, if you’re an Oakland resident this is kind of bittersweet news. Personally I’d rather see a competitive San Jose Athletics than a bankrupt Oakland squad, or worse yet, see the franchise flee to some place outside norcal altogether.A few weeks ago, the San Jose City Council approved a land option for the A’s to purchase some real estate down in San Jose that they could use for a new stadium. Sure, it’s minimal progress, and a lot depends on whether the MLB wants to get behind the deal, but at least it represents some forward movement.

4. There’s a new labor agreement – It’s hard to cheer for the A’s if there’s another work stoppage. Hey, that’s something isn’t it? More specifically, the new labor deal allows the A’s to receive revenue sharing through 2016 if the stadium deal remains in limbo. That will help stabilitze things if it takes an ecnomic rebound to get a new stadium approved, be it in Oakland, Fremont, or San Jose.

5. The Giants imploded – When life’s got you down, there’s always schaenfreude. The epic collapse of our bay bridge rival was perhaps the sweetest highlight of the 2011 season. And to the Diamondbacks, of all teams? Call me petty and spiteful, but I had enough of the manufactured personalities on the Giants some time in mid 2010. Shave the beard, drop the act, and play baseball.

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That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

SAGINAW – Former Arthur Hill and Central Michigan University star Curt Young is returning to the Oakland Athletics as their pitching coach after one year with the Boston Red Sox.

Young was the pitching coach for Oakland from 2004 to 2010, but left after the 2010 season to take a job with the Boston Red Sox.

After the season, however, Boston parted ways with manager Terry Francona and Oakland fired pitching coach Ron Romanick. Boston gave the Athletics permission to interview Young.

During Young’s time with Oakland, the Athletics had the league’s lowest ERA (4.03) and batting average allowed (.257).

According to the San Franciso Chronicle, the Red Sox will pay for a large part of the salary for Young, who had one year remaining on his Boston contract.

Young is familiar with just about all of the Oakland pitchers, including Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden.

Young, a member of the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame, pitched for Oakland for 10 years and has spent 23 years in the organization.

sfgate.com: “I started with Curt. Why not continue with him?” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s a great thing. It feels like he just took a year off, took a vacation.”

“The roots run extremely deep,” Braden said. “His pedigree is Oakland all the way. He’s back in his element. He knows what wave to catch.”

Leave your comments on the news below.

The Associated Press 
Aug 18, 2011 – 11:21 PM ET
| Last Updated: Aug 19, 2011 1:01 AM ET

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The Oakland Athletics (49-62) come into St. Petersburg today, opening up a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays (58-52). These two teams faced in a four-game series last week on the West Coast, and I’m sure the Rays would love to imagine that series was all a dream. The Athletics rolled over the Rays, winning three of the four games by a combined score of 34-20.

When that series ended, the Rays were in a tailspin. They hadn’t won a series since July 3rd, and they had just been outscored over four games by the team that had scored the 2nd fewest total runs in the American League (425, currently). While the Athletics’ rotation is above average and young, their offense is anemic. To put it in perspective, their best hitter is Josh Willingham, and his season line is .248/.331/.458 (.789 OPS).

Since that series, the Rays have started getting hot again; they have won two series in a row, beating both the Mariners and Blue Jays. And most importantly, their offense has seemingly woken up with some help from rookies Desmond Jennings and Robinson Chirinos, scoring 35 runs over those six games. The Rays have some favorable pitching matchups in this series, so it’s a good opportunity for them to keep rolling. 

***

Friday, 7:10pm: Guillermo Moscoso vs. Jeff Niemann
Saturday, 7:10pm: Brandon McCarthy vs. Alex Cobb
Sunday, 1:40pm: Trevor Cahill vs. David Price

Available On: Sun Sports, WDAE 620

That’s all for today.

SEATTLE —
Mariners 8, Athletics 4

Dustin Ackley continued his hitting tear with a pair of extra-base hits, including a bases-loaded triple, rookie righty Blake Beavan escaped early trouble to pitch well into the seventh and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 8-4 on Monday night.

Ackley now has 19 extra-base hits in his first 37 games. It’s the second-highest total for any Mariners rookie in their first 50 games. Ackley passed Ken Griffey Jr.’s total of 18 with his triple in the second and a double in the fourth. Alvin Davis had 26 extra-base hits in his first 50 games during the 1984 season when he was the AL rookie of the year.

Ackley led a barrage of 16 hits that knocked Oakland starter Trevor Cahill (9-10) out after just four innings, his second shortest outing of the season.

Beavan (2-2) escaped a bases-loaded, none out jam in the first inning without giving up a run and then held the A’s to just one hit over the next five innings.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

There is the quick update of the day.

OAKLAND, Calif. —
Athletics 13, Rays 4

Hideki Matsui and Ryan Sweeney both homered as part of a nine-run fourth inning and the suddenly resurgent Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays 13-4 on Wednesday night.

Matsui was 3 for 5 with five RBIs, Jemile Weeks had three hits, three RBIs and three runs scored, and Scott Sizemore added two hits and two RBIs to lead the A’s to their third straight win over the Rays.

Trevor Cahill went 7 1-3 innings with six strikeouts for his first win in more than a month, benefiting from Oakland’s best offensive output of the season.

The Rays, who broke one of baseball’s oldest records when they played their 705th consecutive game with a starting pitcher younger than 30 years old, lost for the 11th time in 15 games.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Not much else going on in the MLB planet today.

Read More: mlb draft 2011, mlb draft results, oakland athletics first round pick history, athletics mlb draft history, mlb draft history, Nick Swisher (RF – NYY), Bobby Crosby (SS – ARI), Jeremy Bonderman (P – DET), Landon Powell (C – OAK), Richie Robnett (RF – CHC), Gio Gonzalez (P – OAK), Bradley Sullivan (P – OAK), Jemile Weeks (2B – OAK), Andrew Bailey (P – OAK), Trevor Cahill (P – OAK), Grant Green (SS – OAK), Michael Choice (CF – OAK), Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics enter the 2011 MLB Draft with the No. 18 pick in the first round. The A’s farm system has produced some excellent young starting and relief pitching. Trevor Cahill is actually the only one of the new Big Thre that was drafted by the A’s, while Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez were acquired via trades with the Diamondbacks and White Sox respectively. The other big name pitcher from the draft is closer Andrew Bailey.

On offense, Cliff Pennington and Kurt Suzuki were both A’s draft picks. Daric Barton and Mark Ellis were acquired via trade but sufficiently developed with the A’s. Beyond that, the A’s farm system has struggled to produce in recent years. A look at their first round picks shows how much of a struggle there has been to get production out of the farm system. A team needs to hit on more than their first round picks, but when you’re striking out with such regularity at the top of the draft, there are going to be problems.

Here is a quick rundown of the A’s first round picks since the turn of the century, with their current team and brief statistics. The A’s have a chance to get some impact players up to Oakland soon. We’ll see if the A’s can get some kind of consistent offense from one of these guys soon.

2010 - Michael Choice – A+ Stockton Ports – .250/.347/.486
2009 - Grant Green – AA Midland Rockounds – .289/.346/.381
2008 - Jemile Weeks – AAA Sacramento Rivercats – .324/.419/.453
2007 - James Simmons – MIA – I think he’s hurt but can’t figure out for sure
2005 - Clifton Pennington – Oakland Athletics (starting shortstop) – .262/.316/.348
2004 - Landon Powell – Oakland Athletics (backup catcher) – .204/.278/.265
- Richie Robnett – Last seen playing in 2010 for the Atlantic League’s Camden Riversharks
2003 - Bradley Sullivan – Out of baseball
- Bryan Snyder – Out of baseball
2002 - John McCurdy – Out of baseball
- Joseph Blanton – Philadelphia Phillies – 1-2, 5.50 ERA, 1.57 WHIP (on 15-day DL)
- Ben Fritz – Last seen pitching in 2010 for the Atlantic League’s Lancaster Barnstormers
- Nick Swisher – New York Yankees – .213/.339/.331
2001 – Jeremy Bonderman – Out of baseball
- Bobby Crosby – Out of baseball

We’ll be here for the next three days covering the 2011 MLB Draft. For more in-depth discussion about the Oakland A’s head to Athletics Nation. For more general minor league and draft discussion, check out Minor League Ball and Baseball Nation.

Thanks for reading! .