Former A’s, Giants land in postseason

Say this much for the Oakland Athletics and their practice of trading away their core players: They tend to do them favors by finding desirable landing spots.

The A’s made five major trades after last season, dealing two corner infielders and three starting pitchers as part of a fire sale that brought several prospects to an organization thrown into a major rebuild.

All five traded core players not only found grass-is-greener locales, but in their first seasons in their new uniforms, all reached the playoffs.

The A’s were non-contenders for the first time since 2017, but their fans could hang on to yesteryear by pulling for any number of teams with former A’s representation. The 2022 postseason is flooded with old Oaklanders, and some ex- San Francisco Giants are sprinkled in as well, enough to fill out an impressive roster of players once rooted in the Bay Area.

First baseman Matt Olson bats in the heart of the Braves’ lineup, a nice replacement for Freddie Freeman, and collected 34 home runs and 103 RBIs while appearing in all 162 games. Third baseman Matt Chapman hit 27 homers in 155 games while flashing his Gold Glove prowess for the Blue Jays.

Pitcher Chris Bassitt was 15-9 with a 3.42 ERA as the No. 3 starter behind Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer on the Mets, who drew the Padres in the first round. Like his team in San Diego, Sean Manaea was up and down (8-9, 4.96 ERA). Frankie Montas, the only player among the five traded in season, was the least effective (6.35 ERA in eight starts) after joining the Aaron Judge bandwagon in the Bronx.

Of the five, only Chapman had numbers showing an uptick from his final A’s season, but all got to a place that their former team never had a chance of reaching: the playoffs.

The team that benefited most from acquiring players off last year’s A’s was the Mets. Aside from Bassitt, outfielders Starling Marte and Mark Canha moved to Queens via free agency, and all three ranked among the Mets’ top 10 players in WAR.

The Mets also landed Darin Ruf from the Giants at the trade deadline, but Ruf struggled as a Met and went homerless. Kevin Gausman, a much bigger loss to the Giants, helped Toronto reach the playoffs as the sidekick to Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah.

Here’s our roster, which might be a bit thin at catcher and shortstop, but it’s deep enough to fare well against a couple of teams we know:

Catcher: Curt Casali (Mariners), Christian Bethancourt (Rays)

First base: Olson (Braves), Ruf (Mets)

Second base: Max Muncy (Dodgers)

Shortstop: Mauricio Dubón (Astros)

Third base: Chapman (Blue Jays)

Left field: Jurickson Profar (Padres), Adam Duvall, (Braves, missing postseason with injury)

Center field: Marte (Mets), Trayce Thompson (Dodgers)

Right field: Canha (Mets), Robbie Grossman (Braves)

Designated hitter: Josh Donaldson (Yankees)

Rotation: Gausman (Blue Jays), Bassitt (Mets), Luis Castillo (Mariners), Zack Wheeler (Phillies), Tyler Anderson (Dodgers).

Bullpen: Will Smith (Astros), Blake Treinen (Dodgers), Lou Trivino (Yankees), Wandy Peralta (Yankees), Jesse Chavez (Braves), Chris Stratton (Cardinals), Matthew Boyd (Mariners), Pierce Johnson (Padres), Manaea (Padres), Montas (Yankees)

Manager: Dusty Baker or Bob Melvin, depending on which side of the bay is your preference.

Around the majors

• The Giants can continue scouting free-agent hitters

Aaron Judge, Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson, all awaiting their respective Division Series. Turner and Swanson will be part of a deep shortstop class that will get deeper still once Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts opt out of their contracts, as expected.

Another tempting option in the playoff field, Brandon Nimmo, is the second-best freeagent outfielder behind Judge and would be a defensive upgrade in center.

• On the pitching front, four members of the Mets’ staff can be free agents: deGrom, Bassitt, Taijuan Walker (the latter two with opt-outs) and closer Edwin Diaz, he of the 50.2% strikeout rate.

The last couple of years, the Giants emphasized signing free-agent starters and would need someone to replace Carlos Rodón if the lefty bolts.

Other free-agent starters in the postseason: Mike Clevinger, Jose Quintana, Anderson and oldies but goodies Justin Verlander (who can opt out of his deal) and Clayton Kershaw.

• Old-school fans without a playoff team to root for now have one: the Guardians, who rely on baseball smarts and are exceptional defensively and at

making contact — they strike out less than any team in the majors, an 18.2% clip. It’s not the modern-day homer-or-bust attitude (only the Tigers homered less), and they rarely shift, ranking 29th among 30 teams. It’s the youngest team in the majors, with the lowest payroll among playoff teams.

• By the way, enjoy the shift while it lasts. The postseason will provide the final glimpse of three infielders overloading one side of the diamond. Next year, it’ll be mandatory for two infielders to position themselves on the left side of second base and two on the right side, and all must be on the dirt. That can be a challenge when an infielder can’t back up to the grass when someone can hit a ball 122.4 mph, which Oneil Cruz did this season.

• Will Baker get his first World Series title as manager? His Astros sport the majors’ lowest bullpen ERA and second-lowest rotation ERA and entered the postseason as the American League’s No. 1 seed.

Meantime, Baker’s future in Houston is uncertain. Neither he nor general manager James Click has a contract for 2023, and owner Jim Crane has given no indication he’ll re-sign either,

apparently waiting to see how October plays out.

• Congrats to the batting champs, the Mets’ Jeff McNeil (.326) and Twins’ Luis Arraez (.316). Arraez’s average was the lowest for an American League crown since Carl Yastrzemski hit .301 in 1968. But in an era in which Muncy remains in the lineup despite a .196 average, batters still take pride in winning batting titles. McNeil said it had been a goal, and Arraez said he had trouble sleeping the night before he clinched it.

• The batting title wasn’t quite that important to Judge. He sat out the final game and conceded the crown to Arraez, who played the finale and went 1-for-1 with two walks. Judge settled for hitting .311 and was denied a Triple Crown — he was tops in homers and RBIs — but no one can blame manager Aaron Boone for benching him. The man played nearly every game until he broke Roger Maris’ AL homers record in game 161. And on the 162nd day, he rested.

Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman, a one-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner with the A’s, hit 27 homers in 155 games with stellar defense on the way to a postseason berth.