The Oakland A’s have had a very busy couple of days.
However, busy does not necessarily mean productive, and they were anything but that this week, having traded away Chris Bassitt, Matt Chapman, and Matt Olson.
The A’s roster is now in shambles, and they look to be headed towards a rebuild, going from hanging around in the American League Wild Card race to the bottom of the AL West division.
Longtime baseball writer Peter Gammons threw some shade at A’s owner John Fisher, criticizing him for making political contributions, seeking help for revenues and finding a new ballpark, but not trying to improve the roster of his ballclub.
So A's owner John Fisher is able to make significant political contributions while sheding players and seeking help with a ballpark an revenues. $5M to "Americans for Job Security" is one contribution. Matt Olsen, Matt Chapman now have that.
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) March 17, 2022
Fisher Is A Hypocrite
Gammons is spot on here.
It’s puzzling why Fisher wants to make a political statement instead of helping make his team a contender, while he openly sheds players from his roster.
Donating $5 million to “Americans for Job Security” is of course one of the political contributions Fisher has made, as Gammons noted.
But it is a bit ironic that Olson and Chapman have that now.
Fisher shedding players while making donations to “Americans for Job Security” is quite hypocritical.
He could be putting that money towards trying to make the A’s better, but he isn’t.
Trading away three of your best players while still donating to Americans for Job Security is odd because he isn’t providing that job security for any of his top players.
There’s a lot to be said for an owner like that, and it’s interesting to see Chapman and Olson finally have a little more security now that they aren’t with the A’s anymore, and with an owner who makes major political contributions.
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