Kurt Suzuki was the longest tenured Oakland A.

The A’s have traded catcher Kurt Suzuki to the Washington Nationals for minor league catcher David Freitas.

Kurt Suzuki has a career .254/.311/.286 slash line with a .304 wOBA.  This season he had a slash line of .218/.250/.286 with a .237 wOBA, .069 ISO and 49 wRC+ over 75 games.

In January, John Sickels ranked David Freitas as the Washington Nationals 13th best prospect giving him a C+ grade (borderline C) and stated he “Draws tons of walks, has some power, not great at nailing runners but doesn’t give up many passed balls or errors. We need to see him higher than the Sally League, but an interesting player.”

Freitas has spent the season in Single-A and has a .217/.374/.407  slash line with a .358 wOBA over 78 games with 5 HR, 22 2B and 46 RBI.

It’s always hard to see a player go, especially with one who has been on the team as long as Kurt has.  Unfortunately for Kurt, Derek Norris is the future of this team and he is not.  I will miss Kurt, but I am glad to see him going to a contender and it’s good that he will get to play every day again.

The A’s have yet to announce a corresponding move, but unless someone (Seth Smith) lands on the DL, the 10 day waiting period for Derek Norris still applies before he can be called up again.

I wish nothing but the best to Kurt and he will truly be missed in Oakland.