Plenty of fish still left in the sea
A’s: Oakland staying the course in going with young talent
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. » Shohei Ohtani signed with an A’s division rival last week.
“Typical,’’ said Billy Beane said Monday.
The A’s will see Ohtani, the so-called Japanese Babe Ruth, and the rest of the Los Angeles Angels on opening day next season. The influx of high-priced talent into the American League West over the years also includes Robinson Cano, Albert Pujols and
Justin Verlander.
The Ohtani signing prompted Bob Melvin to tell Beane: “Ever since I’ve been manager here, all these big names always go to the AL West.”
But the biggest blockbuster deal of all is the trophy acquired by the Houston Astros last fall. That’s the piece that gives Beane the most pause at these winter meetings.
“The World Champions are in our division, and I think they could be better next year,’’ the A’s executive vice president said during a meeting with reporters.
“I think it’s probably incumbent upon us to realize where we are and make sure we don’t interrupt where we’re headed by doing something in terms of trading a young player that would only hurt us down the road.”
Beane has spoken repeatedly over the past year or so about following the model set by the Cleveland Indians in the mid-1990s. That team loaded up on young talent, then locked up top players with long-term contracts to coincide with the opening of Jacobs Field.
But there’s already a crack in the A’s desire to follow suit. The apparent ending of negotiations with the Peralta Community College District over a 13-acre site leaves the A’s without their top option for building a stadium.
Beane said Monday that the sudden unraveling of the ballpark deal will have no affect on how he will build his team.
“No. I mean, we’re going to keep moving forward,” he said. “This doesn’t really change it. We’re going to do the same thing we set out on last year and keep going.”
A’s fans are accustomed by now to seeing their team ship talent out of the AL West. But Beane
said Monday that there are players he considers untouchable in trade talks.
“There are a couple of guys sitting on the corners there that you can start with,’’ he said, referring to first baseman Matt Olson, 23, and third baseman Matt Chapman, 24, who are coming off terrific seasons.
“There are a lot of guys, actually. Probably more than usual. … I think we’re trending in the right direction.”
• The A’s traded Joey Wendle to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Wendle, 27, the lone player acquired from Cleveland for Brandon Moss in 2014, spent most of last season in Triple-A Nashville. In eight games with Oakland, he went 4 for 13 with a home run.
• The A’s continue to have interest in St. Louis outfielder Stephen Piscotty, 26, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, with Adam Duvall and Stephen Souza Jr. also high on Oakland’s radar. Piscotty, who grew up in Pleasanton and played at Stanford, had an off-year last season but in 2016 batted .273 with 22 homers, 85 RBI and an .800 OPS.
• A’s executive Grady Fuson won the Chief Bender Award on Sunday night, presented annually by minor league baseball to salute “an individual with distinguished service” in the area of player development. On Wednesday, Fuson will be presented with the West Coast Scout of the Year award.
“The whole week has been Grady-palooza,’’ Beane joked. “Not since the Queen Jubilee has there been so much celebration.”
Turning serious, Beane saluted Fuson’s years of success in identifying future stars — including pushing for the drafting of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito.