3 Oakland Athletics the Mariners should target at the trade deadline

One team's at the top of the AL West, one is at the bottom. Can two rivals help each other get better?

Minnesota Twins v Oakland Athletics
Minnesota Twins v Oakland Athletics | Michael Zagaris/GettyImages
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OF JJ Bleday - .242/.323/.439

While Rooker had his breakout season in 2023, Bleday is having his breakout season this year. After two lackluster seasons, he's finally swinging the bat with some bad intentions. He's already got 22 doubles, three triples, and 11 home runs.

He doesn't smoke the ball quite as hard as Rooker but he's got much better plate discipline, striking out at a much more reasonable 19.0% clip while walking a respectable 10.3%. To further compensate for his league-average exit velocity, Bleday's average launch angle of 18.8 degrees and sweet-spot rate to 37.6% limit ground balls. He has even splits against both lefties and righties and has a very balanced hitter profile, something Seattle could use.

Bleday has played center field for his whole major league career but he has also spent some time in the outfield corners as well. He's another prime candidate to replace a sputtering Mitch Haniger. Furthermore, while he still isn't a great defender, he's not as bad as Haniger or Rooker this year. He's only got -2 defensive runs saved and -1 outs above average so he's at least a little closer to sufficient.

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