Billy Beane defended the midseason trades he made in July, claiming the Oakland Athletics might not have played in the Wild Card game if not for Jon Lester.

The Athletics lost to the Kansas City Royals in the one-game playoff on Tuesday night.

"Simply put, if we don't have Jon Lester, I don't think we make the playoffs," Beane said.

Beane's other deals included the July 4 acquisition of Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs for three top prospects.

"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."