Chapman frustrated A’s didn’t get called sooner
Monday night, the A’s were all in the parking lot. Idled. Most stayed in their cars or stepped out for a bit to talk with each other in a socially-distanced conversation. Meals were brought out, too.
The Oakland A’s were willing to wait those two hours for final clearance to take the field after lags in testing results delayed position players’ report date by a day already. They were itching to get on the field and, finally, by 7 p.m., they were in.
While this shined a bright light on glaring blips in Major League Baseball’s testing process at the onset, A’s third baseman Matt Chapman wondered why the A’s procrastinated on getting players into the Bay Area to start the testing process.
“I know that it’s an honest mistake,” Chapman said on a call with reporters. “But I think that had we been a little more proactive and gotten guys into town a little earlier like some other organizations did and gotten testing done a few days before (July 1), there wouldn’t have been a testing delay because we wouldn’t have been cutting it close.”
The San Francisco Giants, for example, ran into the feared intake-testing delay caused by stalled weekend shipments — forcing the team to cancel workouts on Tuesday. But, pitchers and catchers took the field on July 3 with the full squad close behind without a hitch. Giants players began testing
on Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the weekend workout.
Most A’s position players tested on Friday.
“I think that it’s not anyone’s fault per se, but when you wait until the last minute to do things, eventually things will catch up to you,” Chapman said.
“I think that we would have liked to see them be proactive and get guys out there early and be more well-prepared for when we were given the green light to go.”
Granted, the A’s were mired in Coliseum troubles during the shutdown, including a rent spat that came to a close when the A’s $1.25 million rent hit the bank on June 23.
The Alameda County health board OK’d Coliseum use for operations and on-field practice starting on June 26, but the A’s needed that week to get the Coliseum facilities properly set up and sanitized, as well as testing tents pitched for staff and players. Weight rooms needed to be moved, the clubhouse in the Raiders’ old locker room needed to be set up for baseball purposes, too.
Testing began that Tuesday, June 30, for staff so that they could move all the pieces before players arrived. Pitchers and catchers were tested on Thursday.
Chapman says players weren’t provided an explanation for why the others had to wait until Friday.
“I just work here,” Chapman said. “I would have (asked), but those things are out of my control.”
Chapman’s frustration could just stem from a fear of falling behind the curve.
“From a team standpoint, we want to be given the same opportunities that every other team is given,” he said. “Especially when we know every day matters and we’re fighting with those teams, we’re not just some other team, we consider ourselves one of the best teams in the big leagues.”
2021 schedule
Just three days after releasing the schedule for its abbreviated 2020 season, Major League Baseball surprisingly released its 2021 schedule on Thursday, which includes the A’s hosting the sign-stealing Houston Astros to begin the season.
The Astros will visit the Oakland Coliseum to start 2021 in an intriguing April Fool’s Day season opener filled with subplots. Since A’s fans aren’t likely to be allowed to attend games at the Coliseum for the duration of the upcoming 60-game regular season due to COVID-19, the 2021 season opener could be their first chance to let Houston’s players know how they feel about the sign-stealing scandal that rocked baseball. Of course, that’s assuming social-distancing restrictions will be loosened by then.
Anyone up for the A’s re-signing impending free agent Mike Fiers, who helped blow the whistle on his former Astros teammates’ practice of illegally stealing opponents signs, and having him on the mound during the season-opening series?