The 2016-17 Oakland A's Official Offseason Thread

[Green & Gold Heart]

This postseason was rough for A's fans, wasn't it?

Here's something I wrote after the NLCS, and it's continues to ring true as the Cubs are celebrating their World Series championship:

The Pain of 2014 is on Full Display This Postseason |

And here's a good related piece from Athletics Nation on double standards and hindsight:

The double standard of ripping the Oakland A?s over Addison Russell - Athletics Nation

So, what do Billy and Forst have for us this offseason?

And are the Raiders moving to Las Vegas or what?

Are there any A's fans left around here besides me and mirff?

Lots to discuss this offseason

[Green & Gold Heart]

I didn't think to post this here the other day. But we had our first trade of the offseason on Friday, Danny Valencia to the Mariners for Paul Blackburn.

A's trade Danny Valencia to Mariners, who pick up a lefty-crushing bat - CBSSports.com

Not unexpected, considering Valencia seemed to be replaced by Ryon Healy the middle of last season.

Blackburn was a 1st round supplemental pick in 2012, so hopefully there's some upside there. He's also a Bay Area guy.

Paul Blackburn Register Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

And are the Raiders moving to Las Vegas or what?

Long story short, the Raiders want to, but it probably won't happen.

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Are there any A's fans left around here besides me and mirff?

Nope. And the A's organization had a lot to do with that.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I didn't think to post this here the other day. But we had our first trade of the offseason on Friday, Danny Valencia to the Mariners for Paul Blackburn.

I heard about the trade a couple days ago, I hope Blackburn is good. For some reason I thought he was a reliever...... But I'm glad to see he's a started.

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Not unexpected, considering Valencia seemed to be replaced by Ryon Healy the middle of last season.

Yea, I didn't think Valencia would make it to spring training. Which is a bit of a shame, he was the most reliable hitter for the past year and a half. -Well, except for Khris.

It seemed like the front office really had something against Danny. I would like to know if that was just my feeling or if it was really true.

[Bobbuttons]

[Green & Gold Heart]

Lew Wolff - gone

Lew Wolff steps down; A's hire new president too

Does this mean anything? He was pretty much the face of A's ownership, but only had a 10% stake.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Lew Wolff - gone

Lew Wolff steps down; A's hire new president too

Does this mean anything? He was pretty much the face of A's ownership, but only had a 10% stake.

I have no idea what that means. But it couldn't mean anything bad for the stadium issue, because nothing was happening with that at all.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mirrf

I have no idea what that means. But it couldn't mean anything bad for the stadium issue, because nothing was happening with that at all.

True dat.

[mirrf]

The image is a screenshot of the front page of baseball reference. A's estimated at the lowest payroll... About 3 times less than 3 (DET/BOS/LAD) other teams. Sigh.

[Green & Gold Heart]

The A's signed Matt Joyce to a two-year deal.

Athletics Sign Matt Joyce - MLB Trade Rumors

Typical Oakland A's platoon guy. Hopefully he's more Seth Smith and less Chris Coghlan.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

The A's signed Matt Joyce to a two-year deal.

Athletics Sign Matt Joyce - MLB Trade Rumors

Typical Oakland A's platoon guy. Hopefully he's more Seth Smith and less Chris Coghlan.

Is he better or worse than Jake Smolinski/Brett Eibner? I mean, that's who he is competing against, right? Because you gotta expect that the A's will get a legitimate CF. Ewww. I just looked at the free agent CFers. Not much there that the A's could afford and/or want. Please pull a rabbit out of your hat, A's front office.

[Green & Gold Heart]

MLB Will No Longer Allow The Oakland A's To Pretend To Be A Small-Market Team

Sounds like MLB is sick of the A's ****.

"highlights":

If you’re fed up with hearing about the Oakland Athletics’ half-assed quest to find a new stadium, MLB and the MLBPA want you to know they’re right there with you. A stipulation in the new collective bargaining agreement reclassifies the Athletics as a major-market team, which does away with the exception they were given under the last CBA to receive revenue sharing checks.

The hint here for the Athletics is to get their **** together and figure out how to make a new stadium happen, finally. They were given the market-size exemption in the 2012 CBA due to the big concrete toilet where they play their games, but enough is apparently enough.

The Athletics are currently a nightmare all around: Their stadium is garbage and ownership can’t figure out how to find a location for a new one, and the team keeps sending away its good players and refusing to sign high-priced free agents, leaving fans with no one to get attached to and frustrated by watching their former guys in the playoffs. All of this adds up to a lack of fan interest that is reflected in the Athletics’ home attendance averaging 18,784 butts in seat per game in 2016, beating only the Rays across MLB.

But Athletics ownership seems to want to point fingers everywhere other than at itself. Sharing a stadium with the Oakland Raiders, who also want to get the hell out of the Coliseum, is indeed a complicating factor, but the team has made it clear they are waiting for Mark Davis and company to make their move first.

The team is also still bitter about their cross-market rivals, the Giants, blocking the Athletics from moving to San Jose, where team Managing Partner Lew Wolff owns the MLS’s Earthquakes. The dream of San Jose is dead, though, as it wound its way through the legal system and was turned away by the Supreme Court.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Is he better or worse than Jake Smolinski/Brett Eibner? I mean, that's who he is competing against, right? Because you gotta expect that the A's will get a legitimate CF. Ewww. I just looked at the free agent CFers. Not much there that the A's could afford and/or want. Please pull a rabbit out of your hat, A's front office.

I would guess he's to platoon with Smolinski and they get a CF via trade. Eibner didn't show enough last season unfortunately.

[Green & Gold Heart]

The A's did nothing at the Winter Meetings, but I got a kick out of this nugget:

Chris Cotillo
‏@ChrisCotillo
Interesting wrinkle in Matt Holliday's deal with Yankees. Contract allows him to block trades to one team: Oakland Athletics.

Remember how he never smiled when he was an A, and some people thought it was because he hated being an A and I just though they were reading too much into it? Well they were right, apparently!

I find the one-team no trade clause quite hilarious, in a sad and pathetic way. It's so A's.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Matt Holiday

Remember how he never smiled when he was an A, and some people thought it was because he hated being an A and I just though they were reading too much into it? Well they were right, apparently!

I find the one-team no trade clause quite hilarious, in a sad and pathetic way. It's so A's.

He's not the first player I remember *hating* being traded to the A's. Kenny "The Gambler" Rogers threw a hissy fit until he was traded back to the east coast in 1999.

That just makes it so much worse when decent players want to be here (I'm looking at you Josh Reddick) get traded away. 13 Million that Houston gave Josh is a lot, but not too much. I mean, that's close to Coco Crisp / Billy Butler price for a much better player.

[RchW]

I heard it said that outside full no-trade clauses about 95% of no-trade lists have Toronto on them.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mirrf

He's not the first player I remember *hating* being traded to the A's. Kenny "The Gambler" Rogers threw a hissy fit until he was traded back to the east coast in 1999.

That just makes it so much worse when decent players want to be here (I'm looking at you Josh Reddick) get traded away. 13 Million that Houston gave Josh is a lot, but not too much. I mean, that's close to Coco Crisp / Billy Butler price for a much better player.

Yeah, I would've liked to see Josh come back at that price, but after being traded, not sure he would've wanted to.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Is he better or worse than Jake Smolinski/Brett Eibner? I mean, that's who he is competing against, right? Because you gotta expect that the A's will get a legitimate CF. Ewww. I just looked at the free agent CFers. Not much there that the A's could afford and/or want. Please pull a rabbit out of your hat, A's front office.

Rajai Davis as the "legitimate" CF?

[mirrf]

The A's signed another guy, a 3B, Trevor Plouffe. Not that I know who's on the A's radar at the moment, but I wouldn't have thought he's the guy.

Looking a little closer, he's exactly what the A's go for. A moderately talented guy, who's under the radar, coming off an injury, to give the A's more depth.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Rajai Davis as the "legitimate" CF?

Sure, let's do that. I'm intrigued.

Originally Posted by mirrf

The A's signed another guy, a 3B, Trevor Plouffe. Not that I know who's on the A's radar at the moment, but I wouldn't have thought he's the guy.

Looking a little closer, he's exactly what the A's go for. A moderately talented guy, who's under the radar, coming off an injury, to give the A's more depth.

The only thing I don't like is that they're now saying Healy will be playing 1B/DH while Plouffe is at third. Wasn't Healy pretty solid defensively at 3B or am I mis-remembering?