The young A’s have been the surprise of the 2023 season. However, with early success can come negativity in different ways. In the case of the A’s it has been some of the veterans raising a stink.
Fans near the bullpen overheard a conversation between ‘the old guys’ and decided to post it on TikTok. The post has gone viral as the discussion covered topics about other GM’s being stupid to take trades from Blackstone and how some of the attention being given to young rookies is insulting to those that have ‘earned’ it.
Blackstone was surprised that it was an issue at all.
“I thought veteran ballplayers would behave a bit more like you know, veterans.”
As most of this season has taught us, the A’s don’t care if anyone has a problem with how they do business on or off the field. Blackstone also makes it clear daily that he won’t have his hand forced one way or the other.
“I don’t really care if someone wants to complain as long as their play backs up what they claim and then we can look into making it right for them. What I have a problem with, is when players complain and play like garbage. That makes my decision easy, though – so I guess it’s not really a problem.” He continued with his discussion and pointed out one issue he noticed with his trades and how he is running the team in general.
“I know we have made some big moves for young talent. Some people on forums have a problem with that because it isn’t realistic. It’s a good thing I operate on my own terms and don’t need to run things by some ‘experts’ in a forum, asked if he had anything to say to those critics he smiled and said “Yeah… F**k you!”. To make his final point, “If they think this is about fairness, ask how the Mets were able to make any sort of trade to get Steven Kwan for Brett Baty. They are $50 million over their budget and shouldn’t be able to make such a move, but the league let it happen. Did I complain? Nope. I am making my own moves and we will do what is allowed and what other teams agree to. That is business.”
The A’s are currently operating with an enormous budget of $82 million and it looks likely to grow as the team continues to part ways with anyone over the age of 25 or without any real developmental future.
“We have room in our organization for good ballplayers that have a future. If you have tools we can work with, we can make you into an asset.” said an unnamed coach during practice.
As it stands, Blackstone made more moves after the meeting.
Parting ways with Jhonkensy Noel and Ernie Clement along with speedy OF prospect Esteury Ruiz, the A’s grabbed Brett Baty away from the Guardians. With 3B continuing to be a defensive issue for the A’s (Ezra Guzman and Sherten Apostel have both had trouble holding down the hot corner) the hope is that Baty will be the long term answer. The problem? The A’s are starting to get long term answers halfway through a season that might cause a logjam very soon.
The answer to the TikTok video was clear as well when Blackburn was traded with Austin Beck and Cristian Pache to the Blue Jays for pitching prospect, Ricky Tiedemann. As the A’s started to thin out their recently full compliment of OF prospects they also ended the stolen bases contract they had to start the season. The kickstart to earn $10 million was accomplished and now they have entered into agreements for rotating sponsorships for wins, saves, double plays, home runs and strike outs.
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