An Old Fashioned Trade

You don't often see deals like this: division rivals swapping well-known veterans. But that's what came down between the rebuilding Rangers and reloading A's. 

Texas ships out the last remaining member of its back-to-back AL pennant winning teams, Elvis Andrus. Now 32, and with two years left on his contract, the 12-year veteran and MLB's first-ever player sharing his first name with the King of Rock and Roll, heads to Oakland, where he'll replace recently departed free agent Marcus Semien. While the A's say goodbye to strikeout-prone slugger Khris Davis. The man who holds one of baseball's weirdest records -- having hit .247 four years running -- reached 40 or more home runs in 2016, '17 and '18. But those numbers fell off in 2019 and again during last summer's 60-game season. 

While Oakland sees Andrus as the easy solution to a lineup hole, Texas brings in a pricey veteran who'll see some time at DH and in left field -- and could be a walk year player to be flipped at the trade deadline. Looking more carefully, the Rangers are just as excited about the two prospects they landed in the deal -- especially catcher Jonah Heim, a .300 hitter two summers ago in Triple A.

These days, teams are more hesitant about trades involving division rivals. Yet here, the rewards outpaced the risks and two longtime veterans will head to different training camps 10 days from now.