Alonso enjoys dream season
All-Star may be moved but wants to stay on as foundational piece for rebuilding A’s
It has been a fairy tale season in many ways for A’s first baseman Yonder Alonso. With his career potentially in jeopardy after a punchless 2016 season, he worked tirelessly in the offseason to completely revamp his swing and reinvent himself as a hitter.
Alonso did it so well he will be an American League All-Star on Tuesday in Miami, his hometown, where he rose out of an impoverished Cuban neighborhood to save the family that once saved him after his parents defected from Cuba when he was an 8-year-old boy.
It’s hard to believe there could be a more poignant story at this year’s game. Alonso was so excited about going home for the first All-Star Game of his eight-year career, he was euphoric. He hoped to get 100 family and friends into the game, and upgrade the seats for his father, Luis, and mother, Damarys. He was working on an itinerary planned almost down to the minute.
“I want to savor and remember every step,” Alonso said last week, flush with pride.
Fairy tale, indeed. But once the Midsummer Classic is over, the dream season so far could turn into a pumpkin. Alonso returns to the struggling A’s, where it’s possible he could be traded in the next few weeks despite all the effort the club put behind his AllStar bid. It will leave a sour taste for Alonso and everyone who has come to know and admire him.
Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. If you’re an A’s fan sick of the seemingly endless revolving door, you should hope Alonso isn’t traded for one very important reason: He doesn’t want to be traded. He yearns to stay in Oakland and be the veteran lightning rod for the latest crop of young prospects who ostensibly will be the next wave of winners following this current down cycle now in its third year.
A seasoned, proven major leaguer who sees the Oakland mission and wants to be instrumental in nurturing it? Why trade that away for yet another middling prospect who may or may not make it? Oakland has enough of those.
Alonso, 30, could be the first modest step in a sea change for long-term stability. He’s not a superstar, but he’s a solid two-way player — 20 home runs and .278/.374/.569 slash line along with being one of the best defensive first basemen in the game today.
And he’s a better man: He has grown close to A’s top prospect Franklin Barreto, to the degree that he was texting him tips and encouragement while Barreto was still in the minor leagues. He has counseled several other A’s prospects as well. They love the guy, much as they loved Stephen Vogt before Vogt was cut loose last month. With Vogt gone, Alonso is the obvious heir apparent as clubhouse sage and guiding inspirational spirit.
A player with Alonso’s experiences can be exceedingly valuable to young players dealing with the challenges and uncertainties that go with trying to make it in the majors. As he told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal in an interview two weeks ago, “I’ve been around. I’ve got six years under my belt. I’ve stunk. I’ve been hurt. I’ve almost gotten released. I’ve been traded. I’ve sat, gotten benched, and started. I’ve done it all.”
He also hasn’t been paid all that much, comparatively speaking. The A’s resigned him for $4 million in the offseason, an incredible bargain considering the club gave $30 million to one-dimensional, overweight, past-his-prime Billy Butler (and yes, they’re still paying Butler $11.6 million this season).
While the A’s have prospects who could man first base by next year, namely Ryon Healy and Matt Olson, Healy needs defensive improvement and Olson needs to start hitting left-handed pitching better than he has shown. So there could be a window for Alonso to stay, at least a year or two more after this one.
“I feel like the guys here are hungry and they are very aware that I can do good things for this club,” he said. “It would be great to be a leader, not so much with my voice, but by setting an example, just going out every day and grinding with the guys and helping them get better.”
Alonso told Rosenthal he is confident things will work out and he will remain in Oakland, even though he is a free agent at year’s end and could be a quality stretch-drive rental for several teams, notably the New York Yankees, who have an obvious hole at first base.
He seemed less sure when asked about it again this past week, however.
“As much as you want something, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s out of my control. It’s not up to me. But this team has given me the chance to play every day and I relish that. It’s just another reason I want to stay.”
A’s general manager David Forst said he and baseball operations chief Billy Beane are aware of Alonso’s public statements about wanting to remain with the A’s, and that while there have been no discussions about a possible extension, there will be.
It would be the perfect end to Alonso’s All-Star fairy tale if he stuck around in Oakland. It just seems like the wisest choice for the A’s, too, on a number of levels.