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The Oakland Telegraph
30 November 2032
Beane turns to youth to cut payroll and solve 2034 budget crisis, as Dickson, Gusman, Jimenez and Ortiz depart, while Childress and Reynolds arrive
By W. T. F. Ishedoing, shocking trades correspondent
Oakland GM Paulie Beane hasn't even waited till the winter meetings to complete a sensational double trade, which has simultaneously solved his looming 2034 budget crisis and sent shockwaves through a stunned A's fanbase.
Beane yesterday dispensed of the services of both starter pitcher Karl Dickson and second baseman Alejandro Gusman, who have joined Milwaukee and Seattle respectively. A's fans spokesman O. Clandmad expressed his horror that their eight-time World Series winning general manager had moved out his best starter and his lead off hitter from a successful squad. Impressively managing to contradict himself within the space of a single sentence, he said, "Experience tells us not to question Paulie's roster management, but I do have to question what he's doing here."
Other than the fact that this is just a computer game with nothing actually riding on it, Beane's motivation is clearly to relieve the organisation of two players with a combined $43m annual salary whose performances were not justifying that level of remuneration. Moving to Seattle along with Gusman were minor leaguers first baseman Javier Villanueva and shortstop James Collins. Oakland have received two excellent prospects in return: 19-year-old starting pitcher Palmer Reynolds, BNN's #8 prospect at the start of the year, and 24-year-old first baseman Raleigh Young.
Dickson has 3 years and $60m remaining on his contract, signed two years ago. While he was still the A's best starter this last season, his statistics and scout ratings have been on a precipitous decline the last couple of years, and Beane has clearly decided to cash in his chips while Dickson still has trade value. Moving to the Brewers with him were minor league catcher and spellcheck bamboozler Tewfik Fogo, along with promising young reliever Pedro Ramirez. In return, Oakland get highly promising 23-year-old second baseman Herb Childress, who was the eighth overall draft pick in 2031 and replaces Gusman on the A's active roster, and utterly unremarkable minor league reliever whose name you probably need not bother remembering, Ben Nixon.
Third baseman Juan Jimenez and infield reserve Salvador Ortiz have also left the club after their contracts expired. Oakland's 2034 projected payroll is now a heart rate calming $144m, compared to the previous palpitatory $200m estimate. The current payroll for 2033 is only $104m. Shifting those two large contracts was clearly necessary move to balance the budget, but Beane didn't need to do it this year. Has he surrendered the chance of a second career three-peat?
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