Raising Hal (OAK Dynasty / 1975 Trade Deadline)

Hal McRae joins Oakland.

As you all know I have been doing an alternate history of the great Oakland Athletics dynasty in the early-to-mid 1970's. My goal is to continue the dynasty as long as I possibly can for the Oakland fans, who have since wondered "What if..."

It's July 29th, 1975, and I have the Oakland Athletics sitting on a 69-35 record with a comfortable lead over the 2nd place California Angels who are sitting 11.5 games back. Oakland is on pace for 107 wins, and with the trade deadline just a couple days away, I really only need to add maybe another bullpen arm.

I wasn't going to do anything major, but when I was looking at the players placed on the teams' trading blocks, one player caught my eye... Hal McRae.

With the Kansas City Royals going nowhere in 1975 (40-62), McRae, at age 29, is having another solid year, following his breakout 1974 campaign. McRae is an on-base machine, and although my Oakland team has been cruising (mainly due to its solid rotation), the lineup could use a player like McRae, who has solid contact and gap power. McRae also has plenty in his career tank, considering he did most of his career damage in his 30's.

I started placing players in the trade queue that the Royals may want, and they were immediately fine with a one-for-one, with Claudell Washington being that option. I was initially going to offer both Washington & Dan Ford for McRae -- So I offered both for McRae and prospects Rich Gale (SP) and Sheldon Mallory (1B/OF). Deal done... Royals get two ready to play outfielders in Washington & Ford, while I can plug McRae at DH in the #2 slot of the lineup.

It's also a good thing that I voided the preseason deal (that owner Charles Finley did) that involved Ford, so that he could be a valuable trade chip in this deal.

I take the risk of losing a little depth, but I feel pretty confident that Lee Lacy (for this season, at least) will be able to hold down the fort in left (filling in for the Washington void). This may also open up some playing time for Chet Lemon (backup CF, OF), who has played very little so far during this 1975 season. Lemon, was originally drafted by Oakland in the 1st Round of the 1972 MLB June Amateur Draft.

I needed to add another bullpen arm to that of Rollie Fingers, Dave Hamilton & Jim Todd. Bob Locker & Darold Knowles have had limited innings, while Paul Lindblad has an ERA just short of 5.00, and has now been limited to a left-handed specialist.

Oakland would end up trading RP-Paul Lindblad along with 3 prospects (RF-Derek Bryant, RP-Timothy Juran & C-Michael Rodriguez) to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for their closer Bill Campbell. Campbell will serve as the 7th Inning-or-later setup man to Rollie.

We'll see if this puts Oakland over the top, time can only tell.


Other Divisions outlooks...

• The Baltimore Orioles lead the A.L. East with a 62-41 record, 6 games ahead of the New York Yankees & 8.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians.

• The N.L. East is a four-team race with the Montreal Expos (57-44), St. Louis Cardinals (57-45, 0.5 GB), Pittsburgh Pirates (56-46, 1 GB) & the Philadelphia Phillies (53-51, 5.5 GB). Montreal has won 7 straight games. 

• The Big Red Machine owns a 65-39 record in 1st place, while the San Francisco Giants are 3.5 games back with a 62-43 record. The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the rearview mirror at 56-48 (9 GB).