Athletics Seeking Exorbitant Return For Closer Mason Miller
While the Oakland Athletics have fielded calls regarding star closer Mason Miller, they’re unlikely to move the right-hander ahead of the July 30th trade deadline for anything short of a substantial return, reports The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
The price has been set incredibly high for Miller, who’s under club control through 2029 and won’t become arbitration-eligible until ‘26, making the 25-year-old hurler an extremely appealing player for a rebuilding franchise such as the A’s.
Rosenthal writes Oakland has yet to find a team willing to meet its high demands and wonders if management ever will, at least in 2024. He also adds the asking price likely includes a young player with a similar upside to Miller or multiple controllable assets with lower ceilings.
Few have dominated on the mound this season more than the Athletics’ flamethrower, whose average fastball velocity (100.8 mph) ranks first in the majors. He’s been a strikeout machine, punching out 55 percent of his batters faced, which leads all qualified big-league relievers.
Miller leads his position in a few other categories as well, including FIP (-0.14), xFIP (0.72), K-BB% (48.3%) and fWAR (1.2). He also sits in the 100th percentile in xERA (0.76), xAVG (.087) and whiff rate (46.1%).
The third-round selection from 2021 is a perfect 8-for-8 in save situations this season, his first since transitioning to a full-time reliever, pitching to a 1.10 ERA in 13 relief appearances. After allowing two runs in his season debut, he’s thrown 15.1 consecutive scoreless frames, surrendering just four hits and three walks.
It’s easy to understand why teams have been calling the A’s about Miller, one of the sport’s top closers and earning a cost-effective $740,000 in 2024. But they haven’t ruled out trading him, as Rosenthal notes, given the immense volatility of relievers and his prior injury history.
Less than a month into his 2023 rookie campaign with Oakland, Miller suffered a mild UCL sprain in his right elbow that sidelined him for nearly four months before returning last September. He made six appearances the rest of the way, pitching three innings or less each time out.
In 2022, the hard-throwing righty missed most of the year due to a rotator cuff strain, preventing him from exceeding 14 innings of work.
Miller’s past ailments are also why he’s no longer working as a starting pitcher, with the team hoping a move to the bullpen will help keep him healthy. Along those lines, they’ve provided him with plenty of recovery time between outings, as he’s only pitched on consecutive days once thus far.
If the A’s don’t trade Miller this season, he’ll likely become one of the few points of relevance during the franchise’s tenure in Sacramento starting next season, ahead of its scheduled relocation to Las Vegas in 2028.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native has formed a lethal one-two punch with fellow right-hander Lucas Erceg at the back end of Oakland’s bullpen, sparking the club’s surprising 18-21 record – which has them third in the AL West entering Friday’s slate.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Quinton Soloviev. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.