Totally forgot the A's got Shea in the Olson deal. With Pache rapidly ascending and Shea hitting like this, this is like the complete opposite of the Josh Donaldson trade when the A's got completely fleeced.
I was sad to see Olson go, but I also knew the A's weren't going to re-sign everybody and even before we started seeing results it already looked like the talent coming back was worth investing in. I didn't mind the Bassitt trade either -- that was just maximizing value on a proven starting pitcher coming off his best season. There's enough pitching depth to lose one member of the rotation and Bassitt was the best sell high candidate. Oakland has consistently made smart trades like these over the past 20 years and that's a big reason why they continue to have one of the best overall records in baseball over that time period.
However, recently we've also seen the team make desperate money saving trades like the subsequent fire sales of Chapman and Manaea, and those are the ones that continue to pee me off. Neither one brought back much value -- just organizational depth which likely won't amount to much. What they did accomplish was saving the front office millions of dollars that
every other team in baseball would have paid, even the cheap ones. The team is playing well right now and when Laureano comes back they should get even better but they're going to top out at the same 80-90 wins they get every season unless the front office is willing to invest $100 million -- which is still less than half of what all the top franchises are spending.
Currently there's a whopping
$1 million in guaranteed contracts on the books for 2023. This is a team gearing up to leave. That's why nobody is going to the games. When the Maloof led Sacramento Kings did this the fans stepped up and made their voices heard. The Oakland approach of disappearing is basically rubber stamping their inevitable exit, and yet I also can't blame people. When you jack up the prices and put a bargain basement product on the field you're basically saying "we don't care if you come, in fact we'd prefer that you didn't". I'd like to get excited about the future of the team, but I don't think they'll be there much longer. I haven't completely given up hope but Howard Terminal still looks like a longshot and the A's are already securing land in Vegas "just in case". The odds seem to favor them leaving California for good.