Athletics' Billy Beane defends Jon Lester trade

Barely 24 hours after his team was eliminated from the postseason, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane defended his decision to swap outfielder Yoenis Cespedes for left-hander Jon Lester at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

"Simply put, if we don't have Jon Lester, I don't think we make the playoffs," Beane told ESPN on Wednesday as players packed their belongings in a quiet clubhouse.

Though Lester dominated in 11 starts for the Athletics, the club's late-season slide was fueled mainly by a lack of offense, prompting critics to question Beane's decision to trade Cespedes, who blasted 17 home runs with a 115 OPS+ through 101 games in Oakland this season.

"When we traded for Samardzija and Hammel, I think one of the first questions was, 'Why would you trade for two pitchers, you're first in the league in ERA?' " Beane said. "We weren't going to stay there. We knew it. Our job is to try and correct things before they become a problem, and some of the problems that we had we could see coming."

Lester, incidentally, hurled seven solid innings in Tuesday's wild-card game against the Kansas City Royals before things unraveled in the eighth. The 30-year-old was ultimately charged with six earned runs over 7 1/3 frames as Oakland's bullpen faltered in the late innings, allowing the Royals to secure a 9-8 victory in 12 innings at Kauffman Stadium.