Deck McGuire traded to Oakland for cash considerations

The Oakland Athletics announced today on Twitter that they have traded for Toronto Blue Jays right-handed pitcher Deck McGuire.

McGuire, who just turned 25, was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays more than a week ago. However when no immediate announcement was made that he had cleared waivers after the allotted three day period, and Sergio Santos, who was DFA’d after Deck was announced as cleared it seemed strange that no one was reporting McGuire had made it through.

He technically cleared waivers but it appears his designation caught the eye of the Athletics, who were able to work out a deal with the Blue Jays for an as of yet undisclosed amount. I have a feeling it’s less than the $25,000 the Athletics would have had to pay the Blue Jays to claim him, but hopefully it’s more than the $1 they paid the Milwaukee Brewers for Brad Mills earlier this year.

Speaking of Mills, he also cleared waivers today and will report to Triple-A Bufflao according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Basically the Blue Jays swapped McGuire (25) for Mills (29) in their minor league system with the thinking likely being that Mills is more ready to contribute at the major league level this season. He’s not as bad as he showed the other night but with reverse splits he’s of no real use out of the bullpen and will likely only return to the Jays if they need a spot start later in the season with Liam Hendriks likely still ahead of him on the depth chart.

The A’s already snatched Marcus Walden from the Blue Jays when the Jays tried to slide him through waivers earlier this season (without having Walden appear in a game) and also took a chance on outfielder Kenny Wilson, who was a second round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2008, when he was DFA’d. The A’s were able to outright Walden to Double-A while Wilson remains on their 40-man roster but is struggling mightily in the PCL.

After spending parts of four season at Double-A, McGuire pitched well early on and finally earned a call up to Triple-A. Despite a seven inning, one run, ten strikeout performance in early June he wasn’t able to consistently produce for the Bisons and gave up a ton of long balls en route to a 5.56 ERA and 1.455 WHIP.