Former Oakland A’s manager Bob Melvin in Aug 20, 2021 photo on the field before a game against the San Francisco Giants at the Oakland Coliseum. Melvin signed a three year deal to manage the San Diego Padres on Thu Oct 28, 2021 (AP News file photo)
By Barbara Mason
OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s have had a few successful seasons getting to the playoffs twice in the last three years and missing the playoffs in this last 2021 season. Under Bob Melvin they played in the 2012, 13 and 14 playoffs as well. This was of course accomplished by not only the players but under the brilliant leadership of Manager Bob Melvin.
Unfortunately for the team, upper management has an ugly history of refusing to spend the money needed to put together a championship team. I was in fact pleasantly surprised this season when they brought Josh Harrison, Starling Marte, Yan Gomes and Andrew Chafin aboard. They made some real waves from the get go but it was too little too late with them coming in later in the season.
Had the A’s kept Marcus Semien, who had a banner year with the Blue Jays, we will never know what could have happened. I do hate the shoulda, woulda, coulda but if the shoe fits…. Oakland’s purse strings were under lock and key and this team did the best with what they had, and in my opinion Bob Melvin was brilliant.
Despite the stingy nature of upper management this team had one of the best managers in MLB who in fact won Manager of the Year twice while with the A’s. We also have a group of great players with our golden gloves Matt Olson and Matt Chapman immediately coming to mind.
There has been so much talk regarding the new stadium that fans have grown weary of it all. It is moving at a slugs pace, and surrounded by such a penny pinching mentality you knew that something was bound to happen and it would not be pretty.
We have seen players come and go and then we hear what we have heard so often, and that is the re-building scenario. The last thing that we ever expected to see was for Skipper Melvin to move on. Even though Melvin’s option for the 2022 season was exercised in June he was able to pursue and actually accept any other offers. I believe that in this case enough was enough and the cheapness in this organization gave Melvin no other options.
There is a winner however; a big winner in this entire situation and it is the San Diego Padres who knocked the ball out of the park attaining Bob Melvin for three years to the tune of 12 million dollars guaranteed. The Padres were of course looking for a manager and boy did they get one.
One of the best managers in baseball will reside in San Diego next season. What made Melvin so wildly successful was despite the meager payroll he still got the job done putting together some pretty successful teams although never reaching the promised land.
How could upper management in anyway, shape or form be unhappy with this guy. The bottom line is that if you want a successful baseball team, you spend money. If you spend money you can put together a very good team. If you do this the team will start winning and guess what, fans love winning.
You complain about, low attendance but who wants to come to a miserable ball park and watch losing efforts. That’s not to say that we do not have some great players, we do but how long they stay is always up in the air. I would say, in most cases not very long.
In a sport like baseball, the driving force is money and the success of any team comes down to how much money you are willing to spend. If you are cheap, that’s the reputation that you will deal with and the losing results that you will have to live with.
We will now be looking towards the future and the hiring of a new manager. We will have to also deal with the loss of a number of beloved players because the word is that the Oakland A’s Management are looking to tighten their purse strings, so they will reap what they sow and it will not be pretty.
It doesn’t get anymore ludicrous than that. It is heartbreaking for fans and players alike to have to deal with this. These are a group of individuals who could care less about the sport of baseball, who don’t care about the fans or their team and their only love is the love of the almighty dollar and how they can hang onto it.
