The Athletics lost stalwart shortstop Marcus Semien to the Blue Jays via free agency this week, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Oakland never made a formal offer before Semien signed in Toronto for $18MM. Rather, the A’s “floated” the concept of a one-year deal at a $12.5MM guarantee. Given that $12.5MM would represent a pay decrease, Semien was never likely to consider that in the first place, but Rosenthal further adds that a whopping $10MM of that sum would’ve been deferred over a period of 10 years.
No one expected the A’s to spend much this winter, but a contract structure of that nature feels borderline insulting to a player like Semien, who has been a constant on the A’s roster over the past six seasons. That’s all the more true when Semien had a clearly stronger offer from the Blue Jays and, seemingly, a stronger offer from the Twins (via The Athletic’s Dan Hayes). If the A’s are that strapped for cash, it’s both hard to envision them making any serious additions this winter and unsurprising that fellow infielder Tommy La Stella found a greater offer across town from the Giants.
Some more notes on the A’s…
- Despite those payroll concerns and the escalating prices of third baseman Matt Chapman and first baseman Matt Olson, the A’s aren’t discussing either of their corner infielders in trades, Rosenthal further reports. Chapman agreed to a $6.49MM deal for the upcoming season, while Olson will earn $5MM. Both sluggers figure to be in line for considerable raises next winter, however, and it’s an open question as to just how long the A’s can hang onto them. Oakland controls both through the 2023 season, but it’s not unreasonable to think that one or both sluggers could vault close to the eight-figure range in 2022 or even exceed that threshold (particularly in Chapman’s case).
- Free-agent righty Mike Fiers tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he hopes to return to the Athletics in 2021. “I had the best time there,” Fiers told Slusser. “I felt like I could be myself, just be the guy I am and help people and play for Bob Melvin, who is obviously one of the best managers in baseball and a guy that really wants to win and does everything he can to win.” Fiers added that while he’s pitched for several franchises, the A’s felt like “home.” The righty is open to a one-year deal, which almost feels like a prerequisite given the Athletics’ aversion to spending this winter, but it remains to be seen if they’ll even put forth an offer of any type to the righty. Fiers’ fastball dipped to a career-low 88.4 mph in 2020 — a 2.4 mph decrease from his 2019 velocity. He was still serviceable, however, with a 4.58 ERA in 11 starts and 59 innings. Since being traded to Oakland in 2018, Fiers has an even 4.00 ERA in 296 2/3 innings with the A’s. He’s logged a below-average 17.6 percent strikeout rate, but his 6.5 percent walk rate is much better than the league average of 8.6 percent.
If our only move this offseason is to resign Fiers I will simply have to buy the A’s
Hey, Cey Hey ^ lmao
ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!
If you spend more money on the team than Fisher does than please do.
Fiers is the snitch who told on me for using a buzzer
Sell the team Fisher!!!
Right!? Can’t stand this
It’s not so much if the A’s CAN hold on to the Matt’s, but WILL they. Because they obviously can.
A shame Oakland’s ownership has always been so bad, especially with Fisher – who I believe will end up selling the franchise once (or if) they finally get that new stadium. I’d love to see what Melvin could be doing with a team that would even support a mid tier payroll.
Melvin is a trash manager too, 7-13 record in the postseason, he gets rings run around him by superior managers every single time. He doesn’t have what it takes to win a ring and all his MGR of the year awards should go to Beane for giving him players he cant lose with. Joe Maddon is going to destroy the A’s this season by simply being smarter than Melvin. Melvin needs to retire ASAP, he’s the most overrated manager in American sports.
I don’t believe that analysis, Melvin has no control over who the front office gives him so he can compete each year. I think he’s made the best of what he has.
@Balk thats what Im saying, he gets teams made by Beane that should win WS every year, but they flop in the playoffs because Melvin makes the dumbest possible decisions all the time. You or me could manage those teams to a ring. Melvin is a .500 manager at his core.
He is bad at when to pull pitchers and has a tendency to “stick” with a guy who is struggling which in a 162 game season can be good at times to show confidence in your guys but leaving Lester in late in the WC game when he already gave up 3R and then not just going to Doolittle to end it was prime examples. Other then that achilles heal he is pretty good, and his rosters have had problems in the playoffs.
The A’s rarely have a team that could/should win the World Series. Beane and co do a great job of digging up hidden gems and developing some decent players, but saying Melvin gets a WS caliber roster every year is beyond ludicrous and plainly false. They overperform most years and Melvin must be given credit for that
…you have no clue what you are talking about. Go look at Sean Doolittle’s numbers in the post season.
Sticking with Lester was not a bad call in that situation. Lester had playoff experience, was a proven ace, having a career year, in his walk year looking for a mega-contract and smart. He was exactly the type of pitcher who could have gotten through just fine. Besides the A’s had the lead after Lester was taken out of the game. Doolittle is the one that lost it. Gregerson who relieved Lester seemed to have a bit of postseason nerves and should carry the blame for the loss. His wild pitch gave up the insurance run which would have probably calmed Doolittle down for the 9th. The reason the A’s lost that game was Soto getting injured and leaving the game in the 3rd. The Royals played small ball and without a decent defensive catcher like Soto the Royals ran rampant on the base paths. They stole 3 bases on Norris between the 8th and 9th and scored on Gregerson’s wild pitch. None of that was Lester’s fault.
ChapmenV is correctwith everything he wrote. Melvin butchered the 2014 WC game with his decision making. Does not mean he’s bad.
The A’s needs an Ace pitcher.. They have great journeyman pitchers, but you need that one stud of a pitcher that can bring you over the hump. A Catfish Hunter, a Randy Johnson, a Dave Stewart, a Vida Blue, a Mad Dog Bumgarner, a Justin Verlander, so on ……
Who do we have as an Ace pitcher currently?
ZZZZZzzzzzzz
Exactly what I thought!.
I’ve heard some dumb takes recently, but this might be the dumbest of the week.
@Bochy good to know? either break down the why, or delete your reply. You think a 7-13 record is good managing? The playoffs are where the best teams and managers are and Melvin routinely gets destroyed by superior managers. This is a fact.
@paddyo875 – at least I have takes, all you have is being a cowardly troll
@Marty You really like to get all worked up about yourself don’t you? Its funny you call someone a coward on the INTERNET. Also, Bob Melvin is one of the best, lay off. We get you got a hard on for him.
youre the one making it about me, tough guy
@Marty McRae Why you always hating on Oakland based teams coaches? haha
Every year Melvin has a roster that’s questionable. As an A’s fan, I have no idea if they’ll make the postseason one year to the next. The A’s always have teams filled with players having some sort of career or outlier season, and they fizzle in the postseason because they’re just not that good. I hate to say it, but it’s proven time and time again.
Dude if you think his playoff record is indicitive to his managerial expertise while only being utilized a garbage payroll to fulfill the best possible lineup against teams who spend three times the amount for star players – you sir, are either purposely trolling or literally just dense.
Sign our petition to force our owner to sell please
Translation: The A’s gonna give me a payday so that I don’t rat out their wrongdoings. I like money, so I like the A’s.
If you like money then the A’s aren’t for you.
AA, go get Chapman.
Smarter and better for him to go and get Kris Bryant. You can play Bryant or Riley in LF or 3B. So play KB in LF to keep developing Riley at 3B. The Cubs are cheap, pitching starved, and they know that Bryant is not coming back after next season. The Braves have both the pitching and the other positional minor league depth to swing this trade without hurting their championship aspirations for the next few years.
@John Kappel
I like your Idea. Hopefully by some miracle we will get him.
As if the A’s would trade with AA again after Donaldson LOL – keep dreamin.
They’re not 6 year-olds in a schoolyard. Some trades don’t work out or are regretful. Holding a grudge against a potential trade partner is about stupid as it gets.
If you think that logic isn’t exactly what egomaniacal GMs like Beane would use, you’re in for a rude awakening.
Hate to break it to you, but the A’s ownership and front office really is that stupid.
That stupid front office, frequently putting together strong teams on low budgets.
Marty, in a post above, you say, “… he (Melvin) gets teams made by Beane that should win WS every year, but they flop in the playoffs because Melvin makes the dumbest possible decisions all the time. You or me could manage those teams to a ring.” Your comments would suggest that Beane is a pretty good President of BB Operations/GM.
In this post you say the A’s front office is stupid. And in a later post below, you say, “Beane’s whole deal is he wants to find an entire winning team for cheap, which will never happen.” Both of these posts suggest Beane is less than stellar.
So does Beane put together a WS team every year that you could manage to a ring or is Beane stupid and it will it never happen?
did you re-read what you wrote before posting? you should have.
Yup, because they get a soft schedule every year with at least 2 tanking teams in their division and are doubly stupid to settle for being 80% as good as they can be, instead of spending money to get to 100%.
Stop defending them, boy, Moneyball propaganda sure did work, huh? Brainwashed….
Unbelievable… But also believable as a long time A’s fan. We’ve seen this disrespect towards the players and fans too often. I think its time to just enjoy the game of baseball itself lol.which I do anyways.
Lacob needs to buy the A’s like, 40 years ago.
No, my mind would explode if the A’s started paying more tax than any other team. Doubly so if Lacob jumps in his time machine to alter history.
The A’s have $0 debts.
Why does Oakland never have much money to spend? Is it because of ownership? Maybe their revenues from tv, ect are a lot less? Curious to know.
Basically they have always been cheap dating back to Connie Mack selling off the famed $100,000 infield in the early 1910s. They will never be buyers until they move and get a better owner and Stadium.
They have not always been cheap. I believe they carried the highest payroll in baseball during the late 80s and early 90s. They’ve puts great teams on the field and still not drawn going back to their move from Kansas City..which was a mess itself.
Yes, the A’s had the highest payroll and top 3 attendance in 1990.
And the Haas family almost went bankrupt because he was spending his own personal money on the team during those years.
The A’s have one of the wealthiest ownership groups in MLB, its unfathomable what they are doing here. Moneyball was ownership propaganda to make fans think big contracts don’t help the team win, which is BS – Theo Epstein is the only one who can claim he does Moneyball correctly, because he adds money to fill in the parts he can’t find for cheap. Beane’s whole deal is he wants to find an entire winning team for cheap, which will never happen.
The lack of TV revenue is big. The A’s did MLB/the Giants a favor and ceded San Jose as their territory. Silicon Valley emerged soon thereafter and funded the Giants resurgence.
That said their payroll is consistently less than the sum they receive for revenue sharing and MLB. So the owners are definitely cheap.
The A’s were being phased out of revenue sharing sharing since 2016, culminating in zero last year. They’d been getting ~$30MM+ to level the playing field but they weren’t obviously investing the money back into their product, which was (at least part of) the intent of revenue sharing. They have been repeatedly chastened by the league to spend more, and ultimately it was pointedly addressed in the last CBA. They responded by spending even less (30th in 2018!) and now that the free money is gone as of last year you are seeing Athletics operations with no subsidy.
2020 – 26th in payroll
2019 – 21st
2018 – 30th
2017 – 27th
2016 – 26th
They mostly float within the bottom quarter except for a couple of outlier years in 2007 and 2004 where they were in the late teens.
According to Fueled by Sports, since 1990 the Marlins are the only team to win the World Series and not have a payroll ranked in the top half (Florida was ranked 25th in 2003) fueledbysports.com/mlb-payrolls/
Aoe3. The A’s have no fans. No stadium. They need to move.
What would it take dodgers to get Chapman?
The Dodgers owner would need to buy the Athletics owner lunch. Perhaps a nice bottle of wine as well for the Mrs. That would save the A’s owner some serious buckage.
The Dodgers need to focus on replacing the great Alanna Rizzo. It won’t be easy.
where did she go?
Supposedly filling the soda machine in the clubhouse was part of the Carlos Pena trade so perhaps a coke freestyle machine would get a deal done
A bottle of mad dog 20-20
Deferred.
Hillary Clinton’s 30,000 emails.
The knuckleheads who post on Dodgers Nation.
Gonna sell my GME stock to pick up the As for a cool $1000
That’s cool, but throw a couple $100M contracts around when you do or else you’re no better than idiot loser Fisher.
I’ve got some Gamestop shares and have my eyes set higher on a new expansion team in Hawaii.
I’m going to use my GME payout to become a hedge fund investor!
“Rosenthal further adds that a whopping $10MM of that sum would’ve been deferred over a period of 10 years.” That’s it, it’s time to close up shop in Oakland, it’s obvious they’re completely out of touch w/reality. As Charlie O’Finley once said & I quote, “Cant this fu%*ing city do anything right!”
O’Finley also said baseball owners are stupid.
That offer to Semien was disgusting. Imagine how he must have felt, his team of 6 years making that kind of offer to him. Real slap in the face right there. Glad they did though, cause now I get to root for him on the Jays!
GO JAYS GO!
The author should read these comments and realize how complicated he made his article. He reports the offer was supposedly thought about within the A’s but not actually made…so theres no hard fact there. Then a bit later he speaks on how that offer is an insult to Semien…..it reads odd. No wonder people are reading it that the offer was made.
Gothamcityriddler
Come on man. The City isn’t the problem here. Ownership has repeatedly demonstrated that it has little to no interest in investing in its stars. So placing blame anywhere else is simply ignorance.
millano, if that works for you, then roll w/it man. Ahahahaha
I doubt there are fans. But A’s fans should just hold it for 4 hours. I wouldn’t venture into the restrooms.
Owner is worth $2 billion, the A’s have $0 debt. The A’s have 5 elite players in the starting lineup, and their rotation is among the games best. They are a 2B (Wong), SS (Didi) and a couple of RP away from being West frontrunners. But “theres no money” – just insulting to all A’s fans and fans of the game in general. ALL A’s fans should strike in front of the stadium so thier press-ducking coward owner actually sees how his actions are infuriating people.
Also asking Semien to play for $2.5M this season is just beyond insulting and MLB really just needs to step in here and force Fisher (and the cheapo loser who owns the Pirates) to either invest in on-field product/winning, or sell their teams. Sports are not “investments” – they are bigger than that, and there’s plenty of new money billionaires out there who would throw hundreds of millions at players if it meant playing in October.
In retrospect Moneyball was really just about taking money away from the players and giving it directly to the owners, not winning – puke. Only Theo Epstein has ever done Moneyball correctly – you STILL have to spend to fill in the blanks your “cheap production” players can’t fill in, you hear that, you soulless moron, John Fisher???
Why bother to make an offer like that at all? Tell Semien you value his time on the team and his contributions, but know he’s going to be priced out of your range and wish him luck.
They actually never did. Just floated.
My boss offered me 75 as a truck driver. By far harder work at 14 hours a day than playing baseball,, I countered with 77…he let me go and I found 76. Big deal. The GAME I loved no longer exists.
Don’t flatter yourself. Driving a truck is not harder than playing Major League Baseball. What training did you have to do?
Just waoooo.
I don’t see the A’s moving Chapman and Olson this season at all, Next off season maybe with there salary increases. They should still get a nice return with 2 years of controll left.
You’d think as an A’s fan you’d be used to it, but nope. I’m still sitting here last couple of off-seasons hoping we’d add to push us over the edge. And the team just lets guys walk that are part of the core. Basically 3 consecutive 97 win seasons (or projected 97). Matt Olson and Matt Chapman can still get better. Luzardo and Puk can really emerge. Fisher needs to go. How is this good for baseball?
Did the Oakland owner make a significant investment in GameStop?
He shorted and almost lost his A’ss!
Fisher sounds like a scumbag. Never done anything for himself and inherited his money. All that wealth and he’s still a tightwad. Do something for the good of the game and sell the team. I’m not even an A’s fan and I would chip in just to…see…you…go!!!
Exactly, there’s literally nothing worse about MLB in 2021 than the coward billionaires who own MLB teams – it’s the worst part of the game by far how much these losers cry poor from their yacht or mansion and the A’s are destined to never ever win another title again because of it – its just the movie Major League at this point.
“Never done anything for himself…”
That’s why he won’t sell the team. He’s making money off it without having to do anything.
Sign the petition! A’s fans would appreciate it. Fisher is bad for baseball.
Idk, I think Fisher is good for baseball… Rangers’ baseball, that is…
When u say Rangers, the only thing that comes to mind is the N.Y. Rangers. 😉
It’s funny because it’s the exact opposite for me! When I hear *hockey* Rangers, all I can think of is the baseball team lol.
When I hear Texas Rangers, I think of the Steve Earle song “Ben McCulloch.”
When I think of Texas rangers all I can remember was Nelson Cruz in the outfield in key World Series situations
He has no problem donating millions to the Republican party, to his alma mater Stanford and have an extensive art collection. He also owns the MLS San Jose earthquakes team that he is also cheap with roster spending. Terrible sports owner in general
Old money billionaires absolutely need to be banned from pro sports unless they agree to spend at least $200M on their pro roster. Young money freespenders ONLY.
He bought into the A’s when he didn’t have to and he ousted Lew Wolff who wasn’t doing anything but trying to build a mall and housing.
If an owner spends X on a business the expectation is that business can stay afloat by itself. The owner shouldn’t have to pump it full of personal wealth to prop it up. Spending money has always blown up in Billy Beane’s face, anyway. Name a single free agent with more than a 1 year contract that worked out or when the A’s bought out the arbitration years for a player that worked. Khris Davis, prime example. How did that contract work out?
The Rays play the money ball game better than the A’s. 😉
They gave Longo $100M and aren’t scared to spend if it means winning – the Rays do it right!
Good point.
The A’s gave Eric Chavez a $66M contract in 2004. Adjusted for inflation to 2016 when Longo had signed, that’s $84M. Today, that’s $90M.
Are you joking? There have been $100M contracts given out since the 90s, what a silly thing to write. Delete this.
Your argument against the A’s in this thread is flawed.
You have poor reading comprehension skills and are making yourself look dumb.
Didn’t they trade him before that got expensive?
Doesn’t look terrible with Didi at SS and Fiers at #5 / Puk in bullpen
1. Laureano, CF
2. Chapman, 3B
3. Canha, LF
4. Olson, 1B
5. Davis, DH
6. Gregorius, SS
7. Pinder, 2B
8. Piscotty, RF
9. Murphy, C
1. Bassitt, SP
2. Luzardo, SP
3. Montas, SP
4. Manaea, SP
5. Fiers, SP
CL – Diekman
RP – Puk
RP – Wendelken
RP – Trivino
I know the A’s don’t need to part with him yet, but Chapman would be a great fit at 3B for the Braves or Dodgers.
That offer to Semien was an insult. You look worse offering it than no offer at all.
I can’t ever see owners opening up there books, but I just can’t fathom any MLB team, of not being capable of spending 100m per season and not losing money.
Please tell me if I’m wrong here?
You might be wrong in a place like Tampa. They have an awful television deal and they are always in the bottom 3 in attendance. Even with revenue sharing, I wouldn’t be surprised that after deducting all of their other costs (management, minor leagues, ballpark employees, etc..) they are left with well under $100M to invest in the team payroll. Owning a baseball team is very expensive. Just look at Atlanta’s Financials. They brought in well over $400M in revenue in 2019, had a payroll of about $160M and yet only made $40M in operating profit (they lost money from a GAAP perspective). So the Braves have over $200M in non MLB payroll expenses. I think a lot of people look at the revenue the teams generate, subtract the team payroll and think the owners just pocket the difference. That is far from reality. In Atlanta’s case, their MLB payroll only makes up about 45% of their total operating costs.
Thank you Dorothy for keeping it real. Everyone here loves to talk about prospects but it does cost money to scout them, sign them, operate with minor league payrolls, etc etc. Rare are the players who jump from college to the big leagues. Ever more rare are those who come right from high school. And if they are that good, their signing bonus is well above a minimum 3-4 major league minimum salary spots on the 25 man roster. You have to spend money to be good. And the good franchises with smaller mlb payrolls like Tampa Bay spend it in scouting, both major league and amateur scouting.
Nothing like a quadruple negative to get your point across in a comment section…
How is Oakland and SF cross town? One is north and the other is south closer to LA.
Its a 20 minute drive from Oakland to SF. LA is 10 hours away from both
No wonder the Pirates can’t draw. Their fans stink at geography.
That drive to L.A. would only be a little over 5 hours Marty. I’ve done it many of times.
Ive done it many times too, its usually between 6-12 hours depending on this thing called traffic, but Im also not a psycho driver like you are lol
That offer thought sounds like something that could bring friction in the club house like What if Chapman Olson or anyone hears about that Semien offer idea and thinks what if they offer me a similar insulting offer? Granted I know it’s oakland and their cheap but that’s a whole different level of cheap
This article sums up why I’ve never understood how anyone from the Bay Area could be an A’s fan instead of a Giants fan.
4 rings in Oakland, cooler uniforms and more iconic, non-boring players probably has something to do with it. Like, its Rickey vs Posey – who you got?
More like Bonds v Rickey, and I’d take Bonds all day. The Giants also had all three of their WS be within a 5 year time span in what was one of the best dynasties in MLB history, and the A’s had theirs spread out over two decades. “Cooler uniforms” is very subjective, and if you want to get to another aesthetic argument, then which stadium is better? They both have very rich histories as they both have over century long lifespans (can you guess which team has been around longer?). I’d rather be a fan of the Giants imo.
@Rangers29
Unless you cast Bonds out into the cold for steroids, which many do. I personally think that MLB screwed it up and once the cat was out of the bag it’s just ridiculous to single out a few when use was widespread..
As for the 3 in 5 I have called that a dynasty many times here on MLBTR but have also faced compelling arguments against, because of what SF did in ’11 and ’13 (4th!), the argument that a team must be dominant for the duration in order to be a dynasty. And the SFG were not that. I’m on the fence about it, now leaning a bit against.
@Rangers29, No, not “Bonds V Rickey” – Bonds has no titles. Posey does, and Posey is boring as a chalkboard.
The A’s literally won 3 WS in a row and in 89 VS SF , not “spread over decades”
How are you not just trolling when you make dumb comments with zero factual info on here. You deserve to be banned.
Definitely not a dynasty simply because the team did NOT even make the post season following each championship.
Other than the ’89 team, the Giants lacked an identity after Mays/McCovey era. Their rings all came in a 5 year window, which was amazing, but the A’s had a more proven track record since the 1970s. They won three titles in a row in the 70s, then went to 3 more in a row in the late 80s. They 90s were marginal, but they went back to an annual contender in the 2000s. They did it with a far lower payroll and no Barry Bonds level star. A lot of A’s fans have been on board for decades.
The Giants also stayed home the last few years while the A’s make the playoffs with a nothing budget.
How many playoff series have teams Beane put together actually won? I believe the answer is one, but correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not saying the A’s don’t have a talented roster fairly consistently. I’m saying the ownership consistently spits in the fans faces and expects them to take it with a smile. The Fisher’s are one of the richest families in MLB and yet all the A’ s do is cry poor when it’s time to retain a home grown player. It’s a joke, and all baseball fans should take offense.
They beat Minnesota in 2005 and the White Sox in 2020. 2 times.
2006. Not 2005.
Totally agree. There is no excuse for Fisher. MLB has to brunt some of the blame for not thoroughly vetting him prior to approving the purchase. Walter Haas Jr please save the A’s!
Jesus 10 million defered in a 1 year contract? That sounds like something that brad Pitt would do in that movie moneyball.
One firm of revenue sharing is that each franchise puts in 48% of their local revenue into one pot and each takes out an equal 3.3%.
The best estimates from 2019 show each team receiving $118 million from this.
Any owner who doesn’t use that sum entirely on payroll is simply pocketing the other owners money and needs to go. Plus, their no star teams are a drag on attendance at other owners stadiums.
Payroll, or MLB roster payroll?
The A’s didnt make the offer!!
the problem is that no one wants to come to Oakland to watch a baseball game…or a basketball game…or a football game…
They used to PULL away from Giants games to the point SF almost relocated
@WarrenSphan is a liar, ban him.
Ignorant comment.
I was offered a job near Oakland, CA three years ago. I turned it down when I discovered that a two bedroom house with no garage was on the market for $1M.
I’m usually resolute when it comes to defending the A’s and their frugal ways, but this is a bit ridiculous.
Not only is 12.5m significantly lower than what he got, 10m of it would have been deferred; what? Maybe there’s more to it, but that’s unfortunate to hear.
The lack of revenue sharing hurt the league so much. Some teams are used to nearly empty stadiums. When stadiums can be full, the next CBA should have a salary floor. You have to spend 100mil on your 40 man roster. This is nuts. It’s getting easier to field a playoff team, you think more teams would beef up a little.
All that’s going to do is artificially inflate salaries. What a horrible suggestion.
The A’s didn’t lose him to the Jays if they never made an offer. They lost him to free agency.
I wonder if the A’s tried to differ their share of the payment(s) to get the plumbing sewage etc fixed in their dumpster fire of a stadium…if they even tried to fix it lol
They put millions into upgrading their stadium like 2 years ago, way to stay up to date with your hating.
Olsen needs to not bat .195 again before the Athletics worry about trading him or having his salary jump up significantly next season. Granted it was hopefully just an outlier due to the strange nature of the Covid shortened season. But still trading him now would be selling low… and if he repeats his .195 performance from 2020 I don’t think he’ll be looking at much of a pay increase next year in arbitration. Having said all that… assuming he does return to form… it’ll be interesting to see if the the Athletics have the $ to invest in the pair for the long term or if they’re actually that cash strapped that they’ll have to consider trading either or both or eventually just letting them walk when they hit FA.
why are you acting like 2020 stats matter? it was a small sample size. stop doing that.
$$$ It all matters $$$
Marcus, here’s our final offer. We’ll pay you $12.5M over a decade on a one year contract, but only after you loan us $13M up front. How does that sound?
Come on man. The City isn’t the problem here. Ownership has repeatedly demonstrated that it has little to no interest in investing in its stars. So placing blame anywhere else is simply ignorance.