A's acquire local outfielder from Cardinals

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UPDATE (8:15am on Thursday) -- The A's acquired Stephen Piscotty, the team announced.

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It appears the A’s have checked one very large item off their to-do list at the Winter Meetings.

They’ve agreed to a trade for St. Louis outfielder Stephen Piscotty, according to a report from FanRag Sports. The A’s have not announced any deal, but Jon Heyman reports that two minor leaguers are going back to the Cardinals. Those players have not been identified.

If a deal is in place, there won’t be any announcement from the A’s until Piscotty has taken a physical. There’s no indication of how quickly that will happen.

Piscotty, who is from Pleasanton and attended Stanford, is not a household name. But if this trade reaches the finish line, it’s an impact addition for Oakland. Piscotty would assume one of the starting outfield corner spots; the majority of his major league starts have come in right field, but he appeared at all three spots for the Cardinals and even saw brief time at first base.

He fills a need that Oakland’s front office considered its most crucial of the winter — a right-handed hitting corner outfielder, which will allow the A’s to move their most dangerous hitter, Khris Davis, from left field to designated hitter.

Piscotty turns 27 in January, and he’s under team control for the next six years. He’s guaranteed $29.5 million over the next five seasons — a very manageable sum — and the A’s will hold a $15 million club option for 2023 that includes a $1 million buyout.

Piscotty made his big league debut in 2015 and followed up with an excellent 2016, when he hit .273 with 22 homers and 85 RBI. Last year was a step back — he finished at .235 with nine homers and 39 RBI in 107 games. But it’s worth noting that Piscotty dealt with quite a burden off the field, as his mother was diagnosed with ALS. He left the Cardinals for a period after her diagnosis.

Reports out of St. Louis were that the Cardinals were looking to find a trade that brought him closer to home.

A major league scout who has seen Piscotty plenty over the years said that for a man of his size, 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Piscotty shows good athleticism defensively and has an above average arm, with an above-average power bat that can play well for either corner outfield spot. The A’s can decide which spot fits best for Piscotty and returning right fielder Matt Joyce, with Chad Pinder likely to fit into the equation at one of the corner spots as well.

Oakland remains on the lookout for a left-handed reliever, likely to be found via free agency.

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