OAKLAND — A’s fans happily made their way to Jack London Square for FanFest, but their jubilation of the impending baseball season quickly turned into frustration during the Q&A portion of Saturday’s festivities with Executive Vice President Billy Beane.
Lamenting the club’s constant turnover with players, fans grilled Beane with questions about when the day A’s fans can feel comfortable about buying their favorite player’s jersey, without the fear of them possibly getting dealt just a couple of years later, will come. It’s the type of questions Beane has dealt with for two decades. Even in his own household, Beane recalled the puzzled look on his wife’s face after trading away both Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder following the 2004 season.
“It’s obviously the theme we’re trying to end here,” Beane said. “What I can tell you is it’s not something myself or Bobby (Melvin) likes. It’s a situation where unfortunately we’ve had many players in and out. From a revenue standpoint, we’re trying to solve that. Hopefully at some point it’s not the case anymore. It’s less fun for me than it is for you, trust me… I feel you’re pain, we’re trying to end that.”
Beane’s hope for a better revenue stream comes from the club’s everlasting quest for a new stadium. Despite the planned Peralta site near Laney College falling apart last month, A’s president Dave Kaval was as positive as ever when speaking to fans before Beane’s Q&A. Kaval said the goal remains to open a privately-financed stadium in Oakland by 2023, with the Howard Terminal, Coliseum, and Laney sites all still in play.
A’s manager Bob Melvin understands if fans are skeptical when hearing promises of keeping players around long-term. It’s something they’ve been hearing each year, only to be disappointed midway through the season. Last year’s letdown came when the club traded away a pair of fan favorites in ace pitcher Sonny Gray and closer Sean Doolittle.
“There always has been frustration. We want to keep people here, and hopefully that’s what the next narrative is going to be. Going into a new ballpark with some revenue streams that will allow us to keep players,” Melvin said during his media session at FanFest. “Billy doesn’t want to trade them, it just gets to a point where you have to because we’re not going to be able to withstand it payroll-wise.”
Although the club is depleted of stars that once existed over the past few years, the silver lining for Melvin comes in the haul Beane has been able to acquire for them. Holding what is widely regarded as one of top farm systems in baseball, Melvin couldn’t recall a more promising group of players that are either already in the majors or knocking on the door of a call up.
“Now you look at our system, not only do we have a younger group here at the big leagues that’s being impactful already, there’s a whole host of them in the minors coming too,” Melvin said. “This is probably the best our organization has been in going forward as far as high profile players on the way.”
Fitting the description of future “high profile” players already on the roster are Matt Chapman and Matt Olson. Melvin is doing his best to temper his expectations of the corner infielders, both whom have yet to play a full season in the big leagues. But if the A’s are truly going to commit to keeping guys around for a long time, these two are expected to become the cornerstones of the franchise.
“Olson is a little bit quieter as far as leadership goes, but he’s got a nice presence about him. We had him in right field a couple of years ago, and I joked with him that it looked like he was smoking a cigarette out there. That’s how calm he looks when he plays,” Melvin said. “Chappie is a little bit of the opposite. A lot of emotion and certainly a lot of athleticisim. He’s an excitable guy. They’re a little bit different in how they go about it, but we look for these guys to be leaders along the way.”
Of course this could all just be smoke from Beane, and guys like Chapman and Olson could be gone by 2020. But as Beane told one fan, entering his 21st year in the front office, there’s only so much more fan backlash he can take.
“Finding the talent, I think our staff has done a pretty good job on that. Retaining it has been the problem. It’s not by choice,” Beane said. “We’re trying to change that narrative. That’s why Dave (Kaval) is up here doing everything he can. I’m running out of time myself, so I’m with you. There’s only so many times I can let you guys yell at me every year for doing this.”
