A's Closer Mason Miller on Trade Rumors Swirling Around Him

Mason Miller's name has been mentioned in plenty of trade rumors since he made it to the big leagues, and on Wednesday, the rumor mill was circling yet again. The Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers were all mentioned as suitors that have checked in on the hard-throwing closer.

The Phillies seemed like the most likely potential trade partner, but reportedly didn't want to give up top prospect Andrew Painter in a deal, and ended up pivoting to Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Durán.

That would appear to take the Phillies out of the Mason Miller business, while the Mets have acquired both Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals and Tyler Rogers from the San Francisco Giants. The Mets may have also moved on.

Athletics on SI spoke with Miller about the rumors ahead of Wednesday night's game against the Seattle Mariners.

Obviously there's a lot of trade rumors and you can't control any of that, but what has the communication been like with the front office?

Mason Miller: "Yeah, I mean they aren't super motivated to move me, at least from what I understand, but they always listen. I think unless they're blown away, I'll be here. This year feels a little different than last year for sure."

How so?

MM: [smiling] "I'm not hurt. I think it was like five days before the deadline. Not a lot has changed. Still the same mentality. They're not super transparent like like year."

There was a speculative rumor out there awhile back that teams were interested in you because they could just make you a starter. Can you just flip a switch like that?

MM: "I mean, not midseason."

Not right now, but what about for next season?

MM: "I don't feel like I'm super motivated to do it. It's hard enough to have success in this league doing anything, but I've carved out a role that's been good. Also, just financially through arbitration it doesn't really make sense to make that switch unless there's some sort of guarantees."

Obviously if you do get traded, it would be to a contender. But you've been with this team, were drafted by this team, and developed by this team. How much would it mean to you to be with this team as they reach the postseason?

MM: "I want to win here. Everybody here wants to do that. I think the second half of last year was obviously a big step. Adding the pieces that we've added this year, Sevvy, Springs, Kurtz and Jacob [Wilson] coming up, and having the success that we've had, I feel like the sustainability of it looks much better, as opposed to it just being Law and Rook being the Bash Bros.

"I think that's got to play a piece of it too. How valuable is one guy that throws one inning when you're winning? You can go and get guys that can be impactful for more than 40 innings at the end of July. I feel like that makes sense in a sense. Out of our hands here. I love the guys here. There's a sense of loyalty and a sense of pride coming up from the team that drafted you."