OK, so this is pretty fantastic.
Athletics general manager Billy Beane strengthened his team’s rotation this morning by acquiring left-hander Jon Lester from the Red Sox. Hours later, the Tigers answered by picking up left-hander David Price as part of a three-team deal with the Rays and Mariners. As Jane Lee of MLB.com relays below, Beane received some good-natured smack talk from Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski just moments before the 4 p.m. ET non-waiver trade deadline passed:
Re: Price to Tigers, Beane "had a feeling it was going to happen." Dombrowski jokingly texted, "You have 1 minute to acquire Chris Sale"
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) August 1, 2014
Competing both on and off the field. I dig it. The arms race between the Athletics and Tigers is just too much fun. There’s still two months remaining in the regular season and I have no horse in this race, but it would be quite a treat to see these two teams square off in the playoffs for a third straight year.