Chapter 24
Pissing Match
By the time November rolls around on the calendar, most baseball executives are making a wish list for the offseason. Hopefully they look at their roster, find a couple of weaknesses, and can shop for replacements either via trade or free agency. The A's do not have the luxury of doing this right now.
Instead, David Forst is fretting over which players the San Francisco Giants will pluck from his roster as part of its agreement with Major League Baseball. The Giants will receive, among other things, three players from the A's organization. Forst gets to select three players from the team's active Major League roster, and three more from his farm system, and "protect" them from being picked by the Giants. Also, players who are under guaranteed contracts, such as pitcher Jarrod Parker and third baseman Mike Moustakas, are considered protected from this compensation draft.
David's protected Major League players, after much deliberation, are shortstop Addison Russell, and pitchers Taijuan Walker and Dan Straily. In the minors, David protects outfielders Sancho Fajardo and David Dahl, along with first baseman Matt Olson.
"It's kind of a game of cat and mouse," David says, explaining his reasoning for picking certain players. "I chose not to protect Travis d'Arnaud (a catcher in his prime coming off a career year) because I know the Giants already have Buster Posey at catcher. I'm counting on them going after positions of need, not want."
It's a sound strategy, though there isn't anything stopping the Giants from selecting d'Arnaud, for example, and flipping him to another team for a similar caliber player.
"That's the risk, I guess," David sighs.
The "Draft" is held by conference call, with only the A's, Giants, and Commissioner's Office privy to the conversation. It is not open to the public or the media. Commissioner Sandy Alderson's biggest concern is that he hasn't thought everything through... that there's some sort of loophole that either the Giants or A's will exploit. The last thing he needs is a PR nightmare in his first year on the job.
The Giants' first selection, not surprisingly, is left fielder Dayan Viciedo. The Cuban outfielder hit a combined .302 with 25 homeruns and 84 RBI with the A's and White Sox during the past season. At age 26, he is just entering the prime of his career and will be a big asset for the Giants for the next few years. Like all other players that will go in this draft, Viciedo will be controlled by the Giants, meaning he is not eligible for free agency for quite some time. He will bring tremendous value to San Francisco.
The Giants have two more selections, and David is sure they'll go after Yoenis Cespedes.
"Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," David says, half believing what he's saying.
Cespedes has a unique contract with the A's, in that his original deal signed as a free agent out of Cuba is now expired, but now he has three years of arbitration ahead of him. Given the A's current financial situation, they have no hope of inking Cespedes to a long-term deal, which means they will be at the mercy of an arbiter for the next three years. Depending on which way the arbiter rules from year to year, Cespedes could command a salary anywhere between $12 and $18 million. That's the kind of money that the A's simply don't have.
The second pick comes over the conference call...
"B.J. Boyd, centerfielder..."
This is not unexpected. Boyd, a 4th round pick of the A's in 2012, is the top unprotected player in the A's farm system, belting 27 homeruns in 67 games in AAA Sacramento last season, before earning a late-season call-up. The A's are fortunate that also have another young centerfielder, David Dahl, coming through the minor league system to offset the loss of Boyd.
That leaves one final choice. David is hoping and praying the Giants don't select their catcher. He's second guessing himself for leaving such a valued player on the table. The Giants would be wise to take d'Arnaud. Posey may be a career .304 hitter and the team's franchise player, but players like d'Arnaud don't fall into your lap. But in this case, he has.
Luckily for the A's, the Giants aren't that bright.
"Josh Rutledge, second baseman."
David lets out a sigh of relief, though he's just lost his starting second baseman, a guy who hit .302 with 30 doubles in 100 games for the A's this past season.
After the third and final pick, both teams are warned not to discuss the results of the draft until after the Commissioner's Office releases an official statement. After Sandy hangs up on the line, there is no idle chit-chat between the A's and Giants. If they were cool to each other before, now relations are downright frigid. Before David can hang up, Giants CEO Larry Baer gets in one final shot.
"Hopefully these guys don't clog up our toilets," Baer says.
It's a sucker punch. Several years ago, the A's had an embarrassing incident during a game where the Coliseum's sewage system backed up, unable to handle the load from the A's and Mariners during a particularly hot summer day game. It was a bizarre chapter in the increasingly strange and infamous history of the Coliseum.
But David can't resist firing back before he leaves the line.
"Just make sure you leave the toilet seat up for us," David says as he hangs up.
"F***er."
It's a zinger that Baer probably won't get for another minute or two. The A's and Giants are going to have to share AT&T Park for the next two years while the A's new ballpark is constructed in San Jose. And it appears the two sides are off to a very rocky start.