Athletics have plenty of reasons to trade fan favorite defensive wizard

The Athletics are trying to rebuild their team for their move to Las Vegas, and while they have some fun young position players, the pitching group needs a lot of help.

While they could look to add players in free agency, the trade market might be where they really make some significant upgrades. One of the reasons why is thanks to their strong outfield depth, which they could trade.

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand revealed plenty of reasons why the A's might trade away defensive center field wizard Denzel Clarke. While seeing the fan favorite outfielder go, there are some good reasons why a trade would make sense.

Athletics could trade Denzel Clarke for many reasons

"The Athletics will be looking to upgrade their pitching this offseason, and dealing from the outfield would seem to be their most sensible option," Feinsand writes. "Clarke won't even enter arbitration for at least another year, making him a controllable, cost-effective option for clubs seeking help in center field."

Thanks to a strong collection of outfielders, with Lawrence Butler, Henry Bolte, Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom, Clark can easily become the odd man out.

Pitching is much more important to this team than keeping five good outfield options, so Clarke would make a lot of sense as a trade candidate this upcoming offseason to upgrade the rotation.

He's a 26-year-old outfielder who might play some of the best defense in all of Major League Baseball. There's just one major issue with his game: Clarke is not a good hitter.

MORE: Cubs SP Shota Imanaga gets bad free agency news thanks to 92 mph issue

During his two MLB seasons, Clarke has accumulated just 0.4 bWAR in 75 games thanks to some poor offensive numbers. He has a .207 batting average with a .565 OPS and 56 OPS+ in the big leagues.

With 87 strikeouts and 11 walks, three home runs, two triples, nine RBIs, eight stolen bases, 18 RBIs, and 44 total hits in 213 at-bats, Clarke is a net negative on offense.

As fun as Clarke is to watch out in center field, trading him away to a team seeking better defense out in center field in exchange for some pitching help would make a ton of sense.

He's under club control through the 2031 season, and will be very cheap to have on a team's books. Whether he's only a defensive substitution or he breaks out as a hitter, that future might not come with the A's, as he's a top trade candidate this offseason.

More MLB news:

• Phillies' Jesus Luzardo on track to be best road pitcher in MLB history since 1913
• Why Braves could trade Spencer Strider this upcoming offseason
• MLB insider accuses Shohei Ohtani of misleading Dodgers about injury issues
• Mariners not likely to pick up $9M option on Victor Robles this offseason
• Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski makes all kinds of MLB history with 1,000 pitches of 100 mph