Chapter 39
The King... Has Returned
No sooner did Billy Beane return as General Manager of the San Jose A's, had he unleashed a flurry of trades that left some fans scratching their heads, and scores of others screaming in agony and protest.
Three days after his introductory press conference, Billy was back at the podium on a Friday afternoon, answering questions about how he had traded away two top pitchers, a franchise catcher, and countless other players. In a span of 48 hours, Beane had made three separate trades with Boston, Milwaukee, and Colorado that had netted him a boatload of prospects, a Rookie of the Year, and a once promising pitcher.
TO BOSTON:
C Travis d'Arnaud (2-time All-Star, .258, 17 HR, 75 RBI in 2021)
1B Jonathan Singleton (2-time All-Star, .291, 27 HR)
MR Joe Ross (1-2, 3.55 ERA in relief)
MR Dorin Leonte (minor league reliever)
TO SAN JOSE FROM RED SOX:
SP Cliff Jensen (2018 All-Star Selection, 7-9, 4.71 ERA in 20 starts in 2021)
TO COLORADO:
SP Taijuan Walker (2-time All-Star, 15-10, 3.80 ERA, 218 IP, 183 K)
1B Arturo Baca (.262, 4 HR in 42 AB)
SS Jim Palmer (.213, 12 HR in 277 AB)
2B Jose Altuve (.252 in 90 games)
TO SAN JOSE FROM ROCKIES:
1B Josh Starling (NL Rookie of the Year, .309, 41 HR, 116 RBI)
OF Jason Dallimore (2019 #22 overall draft pick, #21 prospect in MLB)
TO MILWAUKEE:
SP Dylan Bundy (2017 Cy Young Winner, 12-10, 4.05 ERA, 208.2 IP, 219 K)
1B Raul Gonzalez (21 year-old minor league prospect out of Dominican)
SS Brian Brine (AAA prospect in Sacramento)
CF Merrill Bubser (Class-A proscpect in Stockton)
TO SAN JOSE FROM BREWERS:
C Terry Coleman (2019 #2 overall pick, #5 prospect in MLB)
SP Jorge Diaz (2019 2nd round pick, #16 prospect in MLB)
In one fell swoop (or in this case, three), Beane had shipped off two frontline pitchers and a starting catcher for... a lot of question marks. Aside from Starling, coming off a monster season in stat-inflated Coors Field, the A's got a bunch of "high ceiling guys" in return. In other words, the A's were going from "Win Now!" to "Rebuilding" mode.
"What you have to understand about Billy is that he's always playing way ahead of the curve," says A's head scout Eric Kubota. "You and me? Yeah, we don't get it. But he's thinking way outside our normal process. Sometimes I don't understand. Most other times, I'll never understand. But in the end, he's somehow beaten the system."
In this case, Billy spouts off about playing to the ballpark. He says that the A's were never adequately prepared for the move from the spacious Oakland Coliseum to the bandbox Cisco Field. Bundy and Walker were both flyball pitchers, perfectly suited for the Coliseum. But now he wants pitchers who will roll up ground balls for his infielders to take away potential homeruns to the opposition.
"The number one key to any business is to have a plan," says Beane. "Maybe it's not perfect. Maybe it's flawed. But you have to go with it. If you try to be all things to all people, you're going to sink. On our budget, you can't have a team full of five-tool guys. Instead, you have to look at playing to a particular strength. So right now, what I want is groundball pitchers and really good infielders. That's what we can afford, and that's what we're going to do."
While that sounds all well and good, the impression it leaves on A's fans in the Bay Area is something very different. The trades just happen to save San Jose roughly $22 million in payroll for the 2022 season. It's interpreted as a cost cutting measure for a GM who's interested only in making money and not winning World Series rings.
"They can believe what they want to believe," Beane says. "If this was a popularity contest, I would've been fired decades ago."