Trade season got started a bit early for the Oakland A’s this year.
The A’s traded veteran hitter Christian Bethancourt to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. The deal was first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and Jeff Passan of ESPN, and was later confirmed by the team.
In return, Oakland receives two prospects from the Rays, outfielder Cal Stevenson and right-handed pitcher Christian Fernandez.
Thus ends the brief but fascinating tenure of Bethancourt with the A’s. He hadn’t appeared in the majors since 2017, but he signed a minor league contract with Oakland last winter and by mid-April he had found his way up to MLB for the first time in five years.