For A’s, each day is crucial
Chapman says team’s late start is ‘frustrating’
Matt Chapman, silent throughout baseball’s coronavirus shutdown as he “went off the grid” to work out, hasn’t lost his ability to speak his mind forcefully.
Chapman expressed dissatisfaction with the A’s late report date to spring training 2.0 in a video call with reporters Thursday, saying, “We would have liked for them to be a little more well prepared for when the green light was given to go.”
Oakland’s Platinum Glove third baseman said that had the A’s moved things up, they might have avoided the testing delays that kept position players off the field an additional day this week.
“I know it’s an honest mistake, but had we been a little more proactive and gotten guys into town earlier, like some other organizations did, and got testing done before ( July 1), there never would have been a testing delay because we wouldn’t have cut it that close,” Chapman said. “It’s not anybody’s fault, per se, but when you wait until the last moment to do things, eventually things are going to catch up to you.”
The A’s couldn’t enter the Coliseum until given the goahead by the Alameda County health department, which allowed them to open the facility June 26. The truck carrying the team’s equipment from Arizona didn’t arrive until June 29, and then the team had to set up a new clubhouse in the former Raiders locker room and make numerous other changes to comply with MLB’s safety protocols before the A’s could start testing, which began June 30.
The Fourth of July holiday and a delivery snafu Sunday kept the A’s from receiving position players’ test results until Monday evening, a day after their first scheduled workout.
“I know it’s uncharted territory for everyone, MLB, front offices, players,” Chapman said. “You’d like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But it is frustrating, we feel like this year we have a really good club and have a chance to make a run, especially this year with the short season, anything can happen. We know how valuable every
The A’s know where they’ll open the 2021 season — even as a shortened 2020 season has yet to begin amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Major League Baseball released its 2021 master schedule Thursday, days after announcing the 2020 slate, with all teams playing Opening Day on April 1.
The A’s will open at the Coliseum against the Astros in a fourgame series, followed by a threegame home series against the Dodgers. The A’s then will travel to Houston for a series April 810 and also finish the regular season with a threegame road series (Oct. 13) against the Astros.
The A’s could get an early sense of how they match up against the Astros, who’ve won the AL West the past three seasons, as the teams meet 10 times before the A’s play another division opponent. The A’s don’t play another AL West team until May 21, in a threegame road series against the Angels.
After having 20 of 60 games in 2020 scheduled against NL West teams, the A’s again will face that division in interleague play in 2021. They will play the Giants at Oracle Park, June 2527, and at the Coliseum, Aug. 2022.
The Bay Area teams have also scheduled exhibition games in Oakland on March 28 and 29 and one in San Francisco on March 30.
Oakland’s schedule includes a travelheavy stretch starting in late June of 16 of 22 road games ending in a sixgame trip to play the Astros and Rangers before the AllStar break. The AllStar Game, canceled this season, is scheduled in 2021 for July 13 in Atlanta.
The A’s are scheduled to open the abbreviated 2020 season July 24 at home against the Angels.
Briefly: Manager Bob Melvin said that reliever Lou Trivino missed a few days with some shoulder discomfort, but he was expected to resume throwing again during the team’s afternoon workout Thursday . ... Melvin said that Mike Fiers, who was a little bit behind after a delayed coronavirus test result, was throwing his first bullpen session Thursday.