When he finally came up for breath after a 24-hour shopping binge -- one of his biggest to date that netted him five players in four separate moves -- Billy Beane began to laugh.

"This is fun," said the A's general manager. "That's why we do the job, to have days like this, and we've always had a pretty fraternal group here. It made for a late night for everyone, but I think we're satisfied with the outcomes. As you can imagine, it was at a pretty frenetic pace, and we're satisfied we were able to pull everything together."

It all began Monday morning, when Beane signed right-hander Scott Kazmir to a two-year, $22 million deal that is expected to be finalized Wednesday. By evening, he had swung a deal for another All-Star in closer Jim Johnson, giving up Jemile Weeks in the process. But the GM wasn't done.

On Tuesday, Beane gained further traction in his push to take his club on a deep postseason run, first by making an intra-division deal with the Rangers and acquiring outfielder Craig Gentry and right-hander Josh Lindblom in exchange for Michael Choice, Oakland's top outfield prospect. Texas also received Minor League infielder Chris Bostick in the swap.

Hours later, the A's announced they had traded outfielder Seth Smith to the Padres for yet another bona fide reliever, righty Luke Gregerson.

Gregerson has been one of the most reliable setup men in baseball over the last few years, most recently posting a 2.71 ERA over 66 1/3 innings in 2013 with San Diego. The 29-year-old has 16 saves, a 2.88 ERA and 352 strikeouts against 107 walks in 363 relief appearances over his five-year big league career.