If you followed Major League Baseball for most of the this century, you probably remember David DeJesus. The now-retired outfielder posted a solid career as part of a few different teams from 2003-15, during which he amassed 25.5 fWAR. DeJesus spent one of his seasons in Oakland, and though he didn’t have a banner year then, the franchise is still benefiting from his acquisition – one that could pay dividends for at least a few more years.
Back in November 2010, DeJesus was coming off one of the most productive seasons of his career. Although he only played in 91 games that year with the Royals, DeJesus batted .318/.384/.443 (127 wRC+) with 2.5 fWAR. However, after spending the first eight seasons of his career in Kansas City, the non-contenders traded him and his $6MM salary to Oakland for pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks. The Royals received little to no value from either of those players, though. Mazzaro threw 72 1/3 innings of 6.72 ERA ball in their uniform, and the Royals dealt him to the Pirates after that. Marks tossed just two frames in KC (both in 2014) and was out of the organization after that.
Oakland made out far better, though it took some time for that to become the case. Both the team and DeJesus underwhelmed in 2011, in which the A’s went 74-88 and DeJesus saw his line plummet to .240/.323/.376 (96 wRC+) with 1.7 fWAR over 506 trips to the plate. DeJesus became a free agent after that, and the A’s let him leave for the Cubs on a two-year, $10MM contract (fun fact: He was president of baseball operations Theo Epstein’s first free-agent signing in Chicago). So the trade was close to a wash for the A’s, right? Not quite.
As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes wrote when DeJesus joined the Cubs, “DeJesus was offered arbitration by the A’s last week, so they’ll receive a supplemental draft pick in 2012 for their loss.”
This is where it gets good for the Athletics. With selection No. 47, the one the club received for DeJesus, it chose a Georgia-born high school first baseman named Matt Olson.
“The A’s see Olson as a future middle-of-the-order hitter,” Baseball America wrote at the time. And though Olson was long a well-regarded part of the A’s system, he was never a premium prospect across the league. Now, though, he’s one of the most valuable players on the A’s and among the most well-rounded first basemen in the sport.
After a run as a productive minor leaguer, Olson made it to Oakland in 2016, though he struggled over a mere 26 plate appearances. The next season, however, Olson turned into a monster at the MLB level. The lefty swinger racked up 216 PA and slashed .259/.352/.651 (164 wRC+) with 24 home runs. To this point, that has been Olson’s lone elite showing as a hitter, but that’s not to say he hasn’t been easily above average since then. Dating back to 2018, Olson has slashed .256/.342/.495 (126 wRC+) with 65 homers over 1,207 PA. Those numbers, not to mention his all-world defense, helped him post 7.3 fWAR during the previous two seasons.
Among all major leaguers dating back to 2018, Olson ranks seventh in Ultimate Zone Rating (18.1) and eighth in Defensive Runs Saved (31). One of the few better defenders than Olson has been teammate and third baseman Matt Chapman. He and Olson comprise one of the premier corner infield tandems in the game, and they’ve done it at affordable prices for low-budget Oakland. That’s going to start changing soon – b0th players will enter arbitration for the first of three potential trips next winter. Whether the A’s will be able to keep either around beyond their arb years remains to be seen, but there’s no denying they’ve already gotten excellent value from the two. In Olson’s case, it all began with a trade that didn’t bring potentially strong returns in the beginning.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
How long before he gets traded since A’s can’t afford him
The A’s have only Piscotty’s 7.5 million dollar salary on the books in 2022, which will be Olson’s second year of arbitration eligibility and there is zero on the books for 2023.
The A’s might be able to extend both Olson and Chapman.
doubt they will
Keep him through 2023, or extend him?
One of the two seems more likely than a trade, unless the team suddenly falls off a cliff and decides to rebuild… again.
Problem with that is health
Beane wants to contend every year and learned a valuable lesson with Eric Chavez
You extend a player and that player doesn’t stay healthy you are screwed.
Not about if the A’s can it is a question about if the A’s want to
His health isn’t a question right now. He played in all 162 games in 2018 and the injury last season came from a foul ball that broke his hamate in that opening series in Tokyo. He returned and didn’t miss a beat. Finished the season with 547 PA’s after missing all of April.
You aren’t getting the point…
If the A’s give them extensions they will have zero financial flexibility.
Beane is in a position where their fanbase understands and the backlash isn’t huge so he has more freedom to make these moves.
At the end of the day the A’s need to get Stadium situation taken care of so they can have the revenue where they can resign their players.
As of right now it isn’t worth the risk.
This is why Billy Beane doesn’t resign players unless he can do it in a way where he won’t put the future of the franchise in question financially
I know what you were implying, but I think you’re mistaken.
We discussed this before, if you recall.
You probably discussed this with someone on here.
Wasn’t me.
You won’t find many who think the A’s will resign either.
The bigger question is when do the A’s move on.
Haven’t checked their farm system but most likely the A’s already have their replacements.
Risk involved is too much especially if they don’t receive value in return
Beane buys low and sells high.
In this belief he can turn every player into 1 or more future stars.
Every player will be sold.
Nope, it was you! You had mistaken the amount of control Oakland still had and suggested they would be moving both him and Chapman in the near future.
You keep mentioning Beane, but Forst is the GM and they don’t have any clear successors for either player.
Regarding risk, there’s always risk in a contract, but there’s little reason to worry about either player. Neither have Davis’ issues.
It’s entirely possible neither player would be interested in an extension and would prefer to at least test the market before committing to anything. But there’s no reason to believe either player are being shopped right now. Oakland’s window is opening wider and those two are a key, affordable part of that.
Things might change in 2023, but they aren’t likely going anywhere anytime soon.
You are forgetting that their value goes down tremendously once they get closer to FA.
Not going to trade them for 1/2 season..
Either going to be now if Beane can get a lot back or he will let them walk to get a draft pick.
Chapman is definitely one who should be moved.
Has nothing to do with current cost..
It has more to do with their trade value.
Even without the both of them the A’s still have some coming up to contend after 2021
But Semien is gone.
Khris Davis is a question
The peak is near an end.
Have to prepare to get the young players ready.
Those affordable years have value.
Not like you are trading a player worth 25-30 million a year
You are trading a player during his arb years so you get a lot back…
If the A’s missed that they have invested time and effort into these players and aren’t going to get much in return.
They want to cash in when the price is high.
This is what Beane has established as the norm
This is exactly the same arguement you were trying to make before.
You are looking at this backwards. Their goal isn’t to develop players and sell them for as much as they can. Their goal is to win a World Series. You seem to be forgetting that there’s value in competition picks, which is the minimum they would get if he walks and, ironically, exactly how they got him to begin with!
If the lose Semien, it will sting. They might try to replace him with Nick Allen, but their success is dependent on whether or not Semien stays. Murphy, Puk, and Luzardo are all coming into the fold. They’re a team that is going to get better as your Astros start losing many of the pieces that weren’t enough to get it done last season.
There is zero reason to move Chapman or Olson right now, or anytime before they’re out of serious contention.
stevil those talking about trading A’s players are just trolls. There is 0 reason to trade them at this time. Chapman will test FA since his agent is Boras and has already said no extension for Chapman. Olson could be signed long term of all the position players on the team.
The commenter I’m debating isn’t a troll. He’s been respectful, he just sees things differently and happens to be wrong (ha!).
Neither player is arbitration-eligible yet. Way too early to be talking about trades.
But money talks when it comes to extensions. With zero dollars on the books in 2023, nothing can be ruled out. Not now, anyway.
Just because someone disagree with your view point doesn’t make them a troll. Now, someone being a contrarian for the sake of it, that’s a different story.
Yes there is….
Because you are throwing your future away for a World Series.
Something the A’s did early and have moved away from that.
I don’t even remember the last A’s player who became a FA that was considered a star for awhile.
May have been Tejada.
That is 15 years ago.
A’s have traded every player
Semien is different because he didn’t have a huge season until his 5th year but I was in the opinion that Semien may be moved this year.
Have to look at the track record
The A’s learned their lesson.
Regarding Semien. May hold onto him because you can get more value with a draft pick but the early years of the A’s with Giambi, Ziyo and Tejada taught Billy Beane a lot.
Regarding the World Series
Some believe it is a crap shoot.
When this is the case your goal is to get as many chances as you can.
He never will go all out for a WS if it is hurting his chance to have future playoff appearances
You’re talking in circles and you’re continuing to fail to understand how the team is currently positioned for the next 3-6 years.
It’s the not the same as a team taking their last shot at contention before their window closes. It’s just opening.
Have a nice evening.
Not about their contention window.
Semien on his way out and Khris Davis in question shows that window isn’t getting any wider.
It is about holding onto Chapman and Olson and losing value on them as commodities.
Look at the players as commodities.
Cost production analysis….
Arb years are by far the most valuable so these players have higher trade value.
The A’s as an organization have two choices.
1)Hold onto to them for the next three years and lose value
2) Trade them when they have value and hope these other young players can step up.
These next 3 windows the A’s aren’t win at all cost except if they can get their stadium situation fixed.
So the chance of keeping Chapman and Olson depends on revenue…
More than that…
These other players you mention can bridge the gap.
The Oakland mentality is compete every year more than win just 1 WS.
They aren’t Kansas City.
You see how that ended for the Royals
You throw everything into 2-3 years does that give you a better chance at winning the WS than if you can make the playoffs 7 out of 10 years.
Look at the A’s
2012
2013
2014
2018
2019
5 out of the last 8. Probably will be 6 out of the last 9
Gives them a much better shot than if when they held onto the players and try to make a 2 year run.
Playoffs are a crapshoot.
More chances you get the better odds you have.
Crap like this is why the entire Type A/Type B system was scrapped.
arguably also the most handsome player in the game as well
I know, David DeJesus is beautiful isn’t he?
DeJesus’ wife wasn’t horrible looking either.
But she was one who caused her husband issues during his career
If you’re stringing things together with the old Type A / Type B compensation system, look at the lineage of moves involving Nomar Garciaparra. It links all the way to Chris Sale.
A’s should trade both Chapman and Olson, they could get so many prospects that they could bring up over time and then trade them. It makes sense. The A’s won’t get past the Yankees, so get it while the getting is good. Do not do what the Nats did with Harper, it’s not something the A’s can afford to do.
Established players, even stars, are not getting huge prospect hauls anymore. Syndergaard didn’t in 2018 or 2019. Betts didn’t. Bryant didn’t. Even Lindor didn’t. Everyone wants to keep their low-cost, long-control prospects now.
Matters the player and the team.
Boston traded Betts and for Betts the Dodgers had to eat Price’s contract.
In return they did get some talent.
Not Lux nor May.
Betts is only going to play for the Dodgers for 1 more year.
Regarding the other two…
You have no idea what was offered and what either teams wanted.
Syndergaard still has 2 more arb years left and couldn’t have been traded this off-season because of health reasons.
I have no idea about Cubs and Bryant.
I did hear there was a chance they moved him.
Don’t know what the Cubs wanted in return.
Yankees aren’t in the position to move for a third basemen for a short time because they have money issues coming up.
Chapman and Olson can be moved.
Chapman much easier.
Olson is the question.
They may get more value with the draft pick.
By the way, Syndergaard has just 1 more year of arbitration-eligibility left. Free agent in 2022.
The Mets are in a tough place with him, because we won’t likely be 100% himself immediately upon his return next season.
Any kind of significant set-back in his rehab and he might be a non-tender candidate.
San Diego attempted to get Syndergaard in both 2018 and 2019. In 2018 the ask was Tatis and/or Paddack. That didn’t happen. Last year the Mets asked for Gore plus. That didn’t happen. The Indians asked for Lux and/or May from the Dodgers for Clevinger or Lindor. Didn’t happen. The original ask for Betts way back in January was Lux or May. Again…
People always think they can trade star players and get all the top prospects from any team’s farm system in return. That doesn’t happen anymore. Everyone wants productive CHEAP players.
Every team is in a different position.
Ultimately it comes down to..
Is that draft pick more valuable than what the team can get.
Regarding Cleveland. I would hate to be with that organization. Pittsburgh is just as bad
Their fans go crazy when you trade a player. At times they stop showing up.
In regards to Lindor. They are in a bad position. They have to get a monster deal.
Cleveland going lo lose on Lindor because of this
In regards to Paxton
Seattle received Sheffield and two other players.
Sheffield isn’t Whitley but is a future starter in the majors
Good point, Javia. I’d add the return for Paxton was a light as well.
A’s will get past the yanks. A’s great young staring pitching is coming up. Yanks players are getting old fast so now Its A’s time.
I remember David DeJesus was my favorite player growing up because he was the first Royals players I got as a baseball card.
I thought it meant they traded for a ten year old LOL
arc89 The A’s will still need to spend some money on players to beat the Yankees. The A’s had great young pitching before with Hudson and Zito and still couldn’t beat the Yankees. The Yankees unfortunately don’t know how to draft and develop young pitching. They do know how to buy them when a team like yours refuse/won’t pay them anymore. The window for winning is even smaller for a small market team. The Royals were lucky to goto consecutive WS before they blew everything up.
I’m a pretty big fan of both the A’s Corner Matts! Good ballplayers there!
Billy Beane is just a incredible, talented VP/GM. Problem is, Billy’s just a minority owner of the A’s (billionarire John Fisher owns the Athletics, as well as the GAP chain and other businesses). That said, it’s not really up to Beane who can be extended or not. Billy can only do so much. It is what it is…
I’ve got a better one: When the Cleveland Indians signed a washed up Nick Swisher, the Yankees received a compensatory pick in return. That pick was Aaron Judge.
Swisher wasn’t washed up quite yet. He put up decent numbers his first year in Cleveland, whereas the Yankees replaced him with Overbay. They finished 3rd that year and got nothing from 1B.
But yes, they did well with that compensation pick,
I love these origin story stories. Keep em coming
He slugged over .600 for a long spell? Dang, I never knew that.
Evan White vs. Matt Olson is a division 1B “rivalry” that I hope turns into a fun one. They’re similar in more than a couple aspects of their profiles, but I imagine Olson has the advantage in the power department, whereas White could see the better defense and batting average. The huge obvious, unavoidable elephant in the room however, is the fact that Evan White hasn’t accomplished a lick in the majors yet. He’s just a prospect with a contract.
The Yankees did Okay with that compensatory pick getting a injury prone Judge. Could of been better taking Cody Bellinger. All the money the Yankees have they still can’t spend on great scouts and talent evaluators. Good thing they were lucky to get Torres via a trade. They need to learn to develop more top notch home grown talent.