The Athletics announced an extension yesterday with slugger Khris Davis — the club’s first in five years. That’s the big news, but there’s more to cover out of Oakland …
- If the A’s had their way, they’d probably already have made at least one additional long-term investment. The club has tried to lock down third baseman Matt Chapman in the past to no avail; he has only continued to boost his value in the meantime. But he says he’s interested in remaining with the A’s “for a long time,” as Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Interestingly, Chapman cites the Davis contract as “a step in the right direction” for his own situation. Whether a deal comes together, he says, “is out of [his] control.”
- In a recent profile of superstar quarterback Kyler Murray, who just so happens to have previously signed a contract to join the A’s, SI’s Robert Klemko covers plenty of topics of general interest. From a hot stove perspective, though, there’s one nugget of particular interest: per Klemko, the Oakland ballclub dangled an additional $14MM contract to keep Murray from heading to the NFL. That offer evidently was made in January as Murray was pondering whether to declare for the draft (which he ultimately did). The A’s would have added that sum on top of the $4.66MM they had already promised him. While there’s no evident path to a deal at this point, now that Murray has positioned himself as the likely top overall pick in the NFL draft, it’s a fascinating number to contemplate — with multi-faceted connections to the valuation of amateur talent, the evaluation of recent extensions signed by current MLB players, and the willingness of MLB teams to sacrifice draft picks (when you consider the huge risk that the A’s took — and were willing to double down on — for a talented but still undeveloped player).
- That cash is small potatoes compared to the still-uncertain stadium situation in Oakland. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted yesterday, there has been a notable recent development. Alameda County has lined up a deal with the team to sell the municipality’s ownership interest in the O.co Coliseum site to the A’s, with a vote scheduled for tomorrow to approve. That’s part of the club’s recently announced plan to build a new park on another site while redeveloping its current home. (That idea arose after prior plans were scuttled.)
- Focusing on the immediate roster needs, the A’s are surely anxious to get Matt Olson’s bat back in the lineup. The first bagger’s injured hand seems to be on the mend; as manager Bob Melvin told reporters including Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle, via Twitter, Olson was able to take cuts off a tee for the first time today. That’s a promising development, though there’ll be further hurdles to clear before Olson is ready to make it back to the MLB roster.
That whole Kyler Murray deal sucks for the A’s.
The A’s were foolish allowing him to play his final year at Oklahoma. What makes me most angry about this whole thing is there was verbal conformation from both Murray and Boras, after he initially signed the deal and during the early part of the football season, that he will play baseball for the A’s. Those two are definitely not men of their words and they disrespected the A’s.
VERBAL. Get in writing otherwise it’s not a legit agreement.
I guess the contract he signed was not a legit agreement?
Welcome to the real world aamatho18
the contract with a clause saying he could forfeit the signing bonus if he chose the NFL you mean?
Gentleman’s agreement. They weren’t gentlemen of their word and the deal fell thru.
However, I don’t blame Kyler Murray too much. Hard to go into baseball after winning the Heisman trophy for football.
It’s not really anyone’s fault but MLB not giving the A’s a comp pick in next years draft because they did not sign their pick, because they did, and he reneged on it. MLB should be cool to the A’s and give them one if they promise to let Murray’s rights go. I don’t think any other MLB team (other than the Giants) would dislike that.
I think a lot of other MLB teams would dislike that. Talent-wise, he would’ve arguably been the #1 pick in the draft, but he fell because teams weren’t sure he was committed to baseball. The only reason he made it to Oakland was because of the risk associated with picking him. Oakland decided it was worth the risk, and it didn’t pan out (as of now). It sucks, but it is what it is. Nobody should feel sorry for them.
Yeah, it sucks and it is what it is. A’s need to move on from it. There is still a very real possibility football does not work out for Murray. In that scenario, A’s will have first dibs on him and I’m assuming they will only sign him to a minors deal with no signing bonus. So, A’s have that going for them.
It’s worth the paper it’s
NOT written on.
Than he just wouldn’t have signed.
From what I understand, they didn’t have much choice in allowing him to play – lots of teams that sign college juniors do the same. I don’t think anybody predicted he was going to win the Heisman. As much as Football is a lousy bet, because of the non-guaranteed contracts and the serious injury risks, Murray will at least get one contract worth real money, while in MLB he’ll spend three or four years making below minimum wage in the minors
His $4.66MM initial contract alone insures he wouldn’t have been making below minimum wage in the minors. Add in the reported extra $14MM offered him and that would make him earning more than a large number of MLB players. So your claim, in that regard, is nonsense.
do you understand how a signing bonus works?
Do you know it is still money…huge money…that would be paid to him. Unless someone is a complete imbecile, that money still should make him comfortable throughout his minor league tenure.
The only good thing going for the A’s with this is they have first dibs on him if football does not work out, which is a very real possibility. At that point, I’m assuming they would sign him only to a minors deal instead of giving him that huge signing bonus. If that’s what happens, A’s will be saving a ton of money on a intriguing, athletic, raw talent. I don’t wish ill on Murray and his football endeavor, but that would be great for the A’s if he becomes a bust in football.
How are they allowed to offer money to Murray after? Was it a MLB contract? Draft pool amount is there for a reason.
i believe he would’ve had to been added to the 40 man roster
Matt Chapman is evolving to one of the best players in the game. His stats since the all star break of last year when he finally had his wrist issue fixed are very impressive!
should Rendon sign, I’m sure he’ll aim for between his number and Arenado’s in an extention. i dont think he’s better then Arenado, but some do, so im sure he’ll at least want close.
He’s wayyyyy better than Arenado. Chapman in Colorado = 50 bombs and a 1000+ OPS guaranteed.
You know the only reason Murray declared is because now he has leverage for more money. He’s going to play for the A’s but he just made himself a ton more cash. A’s are gonna have to offer more money then whoever takes him in the NFL draft.
Your wrong. He’s most likely going #1 overall, if and when he is, he will be make more than the 15+mill the As offered. He will be in the NFL for at least the next 4 years
You are wrong, even if all the happens the A’s still own his rights and can offer him an 8/80 deal and a 40 man spot.
Best thing about the stadium area is that BART takes you right there.
No the downside. It’s in a horrible area in a horrible city. If they can’t make it happen in San Jose, leave the state. Las Vegas or somewhere else. Oakland is a trash dumpster.
What? JLS/downtown/lake merritt is beautiful, idk what you’re talking about
I understand downtown and Lake Merritt, but most of the concerns about a ballpark at Jack London Square are silly.
Traffic isn’t much of a concern, because probably 2/3 of home games happen at 7PM at night. Most of port traffic happens during the day, not in the late evening. Most large ships don’t travel down that way and can’t turn that far into the estuary so that doesn’t matter. The ballpark is already going to be Gold LEED approved, so lighting pollution isn’t a problem. Howard Terminal itself is basically used for parking and training, and Port Authority has stated it isn’t adequate as a storage dock.
Howard Terminal is starting to tick boxes, and ownership and management are over small groups getting in their way with petty concerns.
I’m a Giants fan, but anyone that thinks Oakland is still a “trash city” as you so elegantly put it, hasn’t been there recently.
In the last decade Oakland has become so gentrified and expensive that it’s almost SF lite. Not a good thing, but it’s certainly not the gang battlefield that many people used to think of Oakland as.
I was at lake Temescal last weekend and it was so beautiful, most people wouldn’t see the views and think “Oakland”, but it is a great city
“in a horrible city” – this is the dumbest thing ever written on these threads. Oakland is absolutely a beautiful and great city. Seriously who hurt you to lie this abhorrently like that? Oakland is incredible, you are an outright, bald faced liar.
Ban this clownshoes “murphydog”, MLBTR, we dont need posts like this here.
There are parts of the city that aren’t so nice, but there are parts of literally every large city in America that aren’t so nice. With that being said, the rougher parts of the city are starting to shrink as the people get priced out of their homes. They’ll still be there, but it isn’t overall as rough a city as it used to be.
Anyone who bashes Murray either really loves the A’s (and/or baseball) or really dislikes certain people having options.
It’s his choice.
I’m def not blaming Murray, but the thing that stinks the most is MLB not giving Oakland a comp pick because at the end of the day, they did not sign their draft pick, and that’s what gets you a comp pick.
Do they really deserve a comp pick though? That was the basic understanding when teams passed on Murray. There were calculated decisions to not draft him, because It was not 100% set in stone that he would chose baseball. The A’s took a risk, and they sadly got burned. That doesn’t necessarily mean they deserve a pick back.
Kyler mad the right choice why sit in rot in the minors riding busses from town to town when you can play in packed NFL stadiums and make more money. 14 mil on top or 4.6 he already got doesn’t add compare to the cash the NFL will throw his way
They both have pros and cons. If you’re after short-term gain and more marketability then the NFL is a better idea. Baseball offers more guaranteed money, longer careers, and almost zero risk of traumatic brain injuries.
I really don’t care what Murray does, but he has just as much a chance to be the next Johnny Manziel as he does Baker Mayfield.
That’s exactly what I was thinking!
Counterpoint: Baseball players make more than football players, period.
Counterpoint: First round NFL quarterbacks make more than minor league baseball players chosen in the draft, period.
Well, hopefully the A’s can get their new Stadium. Now, thinking the stadium will create enough revenue to keep the Chapmans or Olsons of the world that is just a wait and see situation.
Best part was the $200k Murray got to keep for doing nothing. And his father tried the same BS with the Brewers years ago
At this point, I’d rather see Canha and his bad-side platoon split than trot out Country Breakfast V2 every freaking day at first base until Olson comes back
Like for real, do these idiots know Profar played 1B almost all last year? Pinder can play 1B too but he gets benched so terrible Morales can waddle out grounders.
Morales is so bad just seeing his ugly mug makes me mad
They wanted a balance. Part of the A’s charm last year was the ability to see a lot of pitches and force the starting pitcher out of the game early to get to the opposing teams bullpen.
So it was a great thought, but unfortunately Morales hasn’t really done much with the bat, and is obviously not the defender Olson or Canha are. I will say that nothing makes me more mad when he makes an out on the first pitch.
I definitely knew that Morales was going to fill a platoon side, it just seems he’s getting all of the playing time now, and looks incredibly out of shape…also, I’d love to see Pinder and his bad platoon side in LF over Grossman, who’s made two really good plays but has done nothing else…
Kyler Murray was an awful draft pick. The As didn’t weigh the risks appropriately. They shouldn’t have dicked around with their top 10 selection… plenty of other men to choose from with less risk.
Agreed. His college baseball numbers really aren’t impressive if we are talking about 1st round picks. A’s no doubt looking at his skill-set and see tons of potential
Beane has PTSD from passing on Trout for Grant Green and has pretty much always taken CFs over better picks ever since, which explains Murray, Beck and Hannah getting picked higher than projected. Which is weird because now he has the best defensive CF in baseball and doesn’t even need a CF.
Laureano isn’t the best defensive CF in the majors. He has a lot of assists because guys run on him a lot. Runners don’t even test the best OF arms. Besides, he was barely even in the majors when Murray was picked and he was not a top prospect. So I am really not understanding your point.
Haha. Good one. A’s fan tho… and they were taken advantage of by Murray. He claimed he was born to play QB – the problem is he just didn’t say that to Oakland until AFTER they promised the cash. If he’s been honest when started and said “man… I was born to be a QB” the A’s obviously don’t sign him and they pick someone else. So many defend him – it’s frustrating.
Yeah, the A’s took a gamble and lost, but they thought they had a guy who was going to play and Murray had no intention of doing so. No class. Hope he gets eaten alive tbh.