By Jason Wojciechowski on July 29, 2011 at 5:30 PM
A young, affordable and proven closer such as Bailey is attractive to Texas for obvious reasons, and Bailey could fetch a lot in a deal. Or at least the A's should demand a lot and see if the Rangers bite.
The second sentence seems precisely correct. There's no real harm in not trading him. He's young and cost-controlled, and, as long as he doesn't get hurt (again), there will be teams who want him this off-season and at next year's deadline and so forth. If the A's get an offer they can't refuse now, sure, do the deal. If they don't, maybe they'll get one down the line. And if they never do? Then maybe by 2013, he's still around and the A's are in the postseason, playing close games in which a good bullpen makes the difference between playing more games and sitting at home.