We all know the Oakland A’s of 2022 and 2023 had become the laughing stock of the MLB leading up to their move to Las Vegas in a display of disgusting ownership. Yes, the future is bright for the A’s, flush with young talent paired with a few successful drafts, I truly believe we’re a few short years away from being a playoff team again. But how did they end up in this position?
Don’t forget this was a team that had two consecutive 97 win-seasons in 2018 and 2019, and racked up 84 wins post-Covid in 2021. The tanking was truly incredible, going from knocking on the door of a Championship to moving the team out of the city that loved them so much.
As I reminisce on a team I have a strange attachment to, and the one we all love with some help from Moneyball, I can’t help but think about how this A’s squad should have been a dynasty, and still could be for that matter. With potential for at least one World Series ring in the last six years.
Chapter 1: The Great Tanking
It was truly a herculean effort to pull off the tank-job the A’s management did over the last decade, starting all the way back in 2014.
Sure, some of this will be a little dated, and teams are never perfect in terms of trades, or resigning big time players, but when we take a deep look at their body of work and who they got rid of with their return, I can’t help but believe that it was intentional, and this plan has been unfolding for the better part of a decade.
In 2014, the A’s shining star was Josh Donaldson, who had received top 10 MVP votes the year prior, and at just 28-years old in 2014, posted a 6.9 fWAR with 29 home runs and 98 RBI. In November of that season, he would be traded to Toronto, less than a calendar year before winning his first MVP Award.
Surely they must’ve got a hefty return for such a high-ticket player, right? With control through the 2016 season on Donaldson, the A’s returned Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, Franklin Barreto, and most notably, Brett Lawrie, who would be out of baseball after 2016.
So while they may have not gotten an extension done in 2016 like Toronto did through 2018, we can safely assume Donaldson should’ve been in Oakland through the 2016 season, but more than likely the 2018 season. After the Donaldson deal, the A’s went from a 88-89 win team, to a 68-70 win team through the years Donaldson’s contract was still active.
This wasn’t the only questionable trade during this time, as 27-year old Sonny Gray would be moved in 2017 to the Yankees for Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, and James Kaprielian. Sure, Gray had battled injuries in his tenure in Oakland, but if they just held steady, they could’ve locked up an arm who has withstood the test of time, and received top three Cy Young votes in his age-29 season in 2019, and his age-33 season in 2023.
Gray could’ve easily been an anchor of the 2018 and 2019 seasons to potentially put the A’s in the World Series talk rather than getting bounced in the Wild Card.
There are plenty of other horrible deals that led to the tanking and move to Vegas, those will be highlighted in the next section as it pertains more to the dynasty that could’ve been.
Chapter 2: The Dynasty That Never Was
If we remove Gray and Donaldson from the equation and go slightly more recent, starting with the 2018, 2019, and 2021 seasons where they would win 97 games in ‘18 and ‘19 and 86 in 2021, to all of a sudden being the worst team in the MLB, it was no accident (in my opinion).
Here’s a list of players from the 2018-2021 A’s that would be shipped away for scraps including their age:
Matt Olson (2021) - 27
Sean Murphy (2021) - 26
Matt Chapman (2021) - 28
Ramon Laureano (2021) - 26
Jurickson Profar (2019) - 26
Marcus Semien (2019) - 26
Sean Manea (2021) - 29
Frankie Montas (2021) - 28
Chris Bassitt (2021) - 32
Jesus Luzardo (2021) - 23
Blake Treinen (2019) - 31
Liam Hendriks (2019) - 30
Thinking about how the careers of most of these players panned out, I can’t help but think about the powerhouse the A’s could’ve continued to be through the 2020’s carrying the momentum they had in 2018-2019.
Again, this list is without Josh Donaldson and Sonny Gray who along the way, would’ve made significant impacts.
Chapter 3: The Trades
I’m going to list some trades for the above players and the A’s return, some are much worse than others:
In 2022, Matt Olson would be moved to the Braves for basically just Shea Langeliers, which… hasn’t aged well to this point.
Matt Olson → Braves
Shea Langeliers, Cristian Pache, Joey Estes, Ryan Cusick → A’s
The A’s would also move off of one of the best catchers in the game in Sean Murphy and this one, made me vomit just a little bit:
A’s Receive:
OF Esteury Ruiz from Brewers
C Manny Piña from Braves
LHP Kyle Muller from Braves
RHP Freddy Tarnok from Braves
RHP Royber Salinas from Braves
A’s Send:
C Sean Murphy to Braves
RP Joel Payamps to Brewers
I don’t think I even need to use a BR stat comparison for this one because none of the players the A’s got in this trade play in the MLB, or are no longer in the organization.
Matt Chapman who has aged like fine wine playing some of his best baseball since joining the San Francisco Giants, and the A’s traded him for next to nothing to Toronto, who they let rob them for Josh Donaldson just a few years prior:
Matt Chapman → Blue Jays
Gunnar Hoglund, Kevin Smith, Zach Logue, Kirby Snead → A’s
Again, only one player in the Bigs on this list and I’m not going to bother comparing them because we know who has been better.
Just to prove my point that they didn’t just make out horribly trading superstars, they also did a terrible job trading their mid-tier players that have gone on to have great careers.
Chris Bassitt → Mets
J.T. Ginn, Adam Oller → A’s
I mean…. it genuinely feels like the league was playing MLB The Show with force trades on in 2022 and pillaged the A’s for everything they had leaving them with a 50 win team.
Chapter 4: The Finale
This final part is just my rant on what happened in Oakland, because there is only one of two things that happened.
The ownership was SO bad and dense that they genuinely thought they were making out like bandits, and had maybe the worst hit rate on prospects ever over the course of 10 years of bad trades.
Or (the more likely version), they knew exactly what they were doing and it was all an elaborate plan to get the A’s out of Oakland and into Las Vegas. It’s nearly impossible to move a team with a passionate fan base that wins games and gets into the playoffs, so take that away and you have yourself a case.
This is a team that legitimately could be atop of the American League still to this day, and sure they wouldn’t have the top prospects like Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, but their draft strategy since the great tanking makes me believe they know how to develop, and develop well, but were intentionally taking on prospects and players they knew would play zero role in their long term success.
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Great piece...as an A's fan, what really nags at me is that these trades were bad at the time they were made! Forst is a great GM (for the most part), but I really will never understand how the best return you got for trading like 8 all-stars was Shea Bangaliers.