There’s no room for Nick Franklin in Seattle because the Mariners don’t trust his defense at shortstop and Robinson Cano kind of has second base locked down for a while, but he’d make plenty of sense for a lot of other teams.
And apparently the A’s are one of them, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Franklin “is a top target” for Oakland “but the question will be whether Seattle--currently in a playoff spot--would want to strengthen a division rival.”
Oakland would use Franklin at second base, which is where he played for Seattle last season before Cano pushed him out of a job and back to Triple-A. He hasn’t produced much in the majors yet, but Franklin is still just 23 years old and has hit .300 with nine homers and an .875 OPS in 60 games at Triple-A this season after posting even better numbers there last year.
Trades within divisions are rare, but the Mariners have been said to be shopping Franklin since signing Cano this offseason and Joe Stiglich of CSNBayArea.com says the A’s still have plenty of talent in their farm system even after the big trade for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.