San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
A’s have no grievance over Murray NFL move
MESA, Ariz. — When baseball teams are unable to sign their top picks, they receive compensation picks in the following draft. The A’s, though, get no such consideration after losing their top selection from last June, outfielder Kyler Murray, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and who is now setting his sights on the NFL.
Oakland has no plans to file any grievance, however. The A’s aren’t crying about an injustice. They knew the deal when they took Murray with the ninth pick of the 2018 draft.
“We understood the existing rules,” general manager David Forst said Friday. “We were aware that there was a risk.”
The problem: Murray did sign a contract with Oakland last summer before announcing Monday he plans to pursue the NFL over baseball. So even though the end result is the same — the A’s will not have their top draft pick in the organization once Murray has repaid the bulk of his signing bonus, and they have placed him on the restricted list — the fact there was a signed agreement in place nullifies the possibility of getting anything back this June.
“It’s just a loophole that wasn’t considered because there are so few Kyler Murrays out there,” Forst said.
Should the loophole be eliminated? The A’s aren’t lobbying for that. “I’m not a fan of making rules based on one exceptional case,” Forst said.
Major League Baseball clearly would like to be able to compete for prominent two-sport athletes, however. The league sent a top marketing executive with A’s officials to meet with Murray the day before he declared for the NFL draft, and MLB also had approved Oakland placing Murray on the 40-man roster to increase his compensation. To encourage teams to pursue such players, does the compensation rule need to be changed?
“For the good of the game, it would be great if there was a way to handle two-sport athletes,” Forst said.
The A’s do retain Murray’s baseball rights.
“It’s water under the bridge for the A’s at this point,” one agent said. “Usually, these firstround picks who are really standouts in two sports and who sign wind up playing baseball: (Stanford quarterback) Joe Borchard, (Notre Dame receiver) Jeff Samardzija, (Princeton basketball player) Chris Young. I don’t know if you need any rule change, and the A’s are just going to write
this off.”
Back in Oakland: Cliff Pennington arrived at A’s camp Saturday for the team’s first full-squad workout and, he noted, he finds himself in a “weird” position.
“I think I know more staff and coaches than players,” he said, mentioning that hitting coach Darren Bush was his coach in the lower levels of the minors. “But it’s good to be back. Obviously this is where it all started so it’s fun to see some familiar faces.”
Pennington was an A’s firstround pick in 2005 and he played shortstop for the team from 2008-12. Manager Bob Melvin said Pennington could be a resource for some of the team’s younger infielders, and Pennington said he likes to be a “mentor-player-coach in the dugout or on the field” when possible.
“I love helping out,” he said. “To come in and get to talk to some guys, maybe give them a few things I’ve learned over the years to a group that is already good — that’s always fun.”
Briefly: Infielder Franklin Barreto was expected to arrive in camp a day or two late because of visa trouble, but he was on the field Saturday . ... Melvin gave his annual introductory address and, like last year, had A’s greats Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart speak. Team president Dave Kaval also talked to the group. “You get a little superstitious at times, so we had Stew and Rickey speak again like we did last year,” said Melvin, whose club was a surprise 97-game winner in 2018 . ... Third baseman Matt Chapman (shoulder) took more swings in batting practice and did all defensive drills with the team.
Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.