What's weird about this is Elvis has been the A's second-best position player, slightly better than Seth Brown. Seems like they want to go all-in on Nick Allen, whose value so far has mostly on defense. They are replacing him with Sheldon Neuse, who is 27 and didn't hit last year or this year, and isn't a sparkling defender either.

So I don't understand it, other than the A's are trying to purge the roster of anyone who can hit.

They are trying to purge the 2023 roster of anyone who can get paid.

They had benched him to make sure he didn't get to the magic number but he was raising holy hell so they just let him go to find another home now. He should be in reasonably high demand. This is the kind of move you could see the dodgers doing. I'm guessing he ends up on Cubs or Rockies who seem to like fallen angels.

Btw. Lamet stunk up the show last night for Colorado.

They are trying to purge the 2023 roster of anyone who can get paid.

They had benched him to make sure he didn't get to the magic number but he was raising holy hell so they just let him go to find another home now. He should be in reasonably high demand. This is the kind of move you could see the dodgers doing. I'm guessing he ends up on Cubs or Rockies who seem to like fallen angels.

Yes they didn't want him to get the $15 million player option for next year if he got to 550 PAs. I assume they shopped him everywhere before the deadline but no one wanted him.

I have liked him as a player. He was a lot of fun last year when the team was fun, and seemed to really be playful with his teammates--he and Chapman often were messing with each other in funny ways, and he seemed to get really excited when Marte brought his reckless (in a good way) attitude to the team last year. And this year he's been solid and professional as everything has dissolved around him.

Narrowly, they need to see if Nick Allen is their shortstop of the future, and having Allen mess around at second didn't make sense. And clearly the team didn't want Andrus to get his option. So the only choices were elder statesman playing sometimes but not much, or release, once there wasn't a trading partner.

Seems like a good fit for the White Sox with Anderson out.

they didn't want him to get the $15 million player option for next year if he got to 550 PAs.

Well, burned once more for not reading the article :-(

Anyhow, yes he was one of the bright spots on the A's. Seth Brown isn't arbitration eligible next year, Sean Murphy is. So I guess they play their new catcher now and dump or trade Sean Murphy. Seth Brown will join the long list of underperforming Athletics first-basemen who hang around way too long, with Daric Barton, Dan Johnson and Yonder Alonso.

Better Headline: Elvis Has Left The Rebuilding A’s.

like most veterans, Elvis says he is pissed. He's "an everyday player". Well, yeah, your OPS the past 3 years is 633, wehn league avg is about 700. And you make too much money. If you give up your salary, you'll be an everyday player, and you stay on a turly lousy team, you'll still be an eveyrday player. But you are not worth $14 million

Yes, good luck to Elvis and I hope he is picked up soon. He needs one hit for 1,949 to tie Steve Sax and Jim Edmonds for 315th career, some club will want to promote that milestone. He needs one game at SS to tie Davey Bancroft for 29th career, five games to tie Dick Groat for 28th … that is an awful lot of games at shortstop (currently 1,872).

Elvis Has Left The Rebuilding A’s.
Ha!

[Andrus] was raising holy hell
Really? I hadn't heard that. Who reported this?

like most veterans, Elvis says he is pissed. He's "an everyday player". Well, yeah, your OPS the past 3 years is 633, wehn league avg is about 700. And you make too much money. If you give up your salary, you'll be an everyday player, and you stay on a turly lousy team, you'll still be an eveyrday player. But you are not worth $14 million

He had an OPS+ 11 points above his career average, and was 4th on the team in WAR. That doesn't make him A-rod, but he's no Johnny Lemaster either. As for raising holy hell, it's was clearly a kneecapping cheap shot by ownership. One should not be shocked by that, and surely he wasn't, but I'd be pissed too.

As for raising holy hell, it's was clearly a kneecapping cheap shot by ownership.

AKA "the Red Sox gambit"

The Mets have 21 players making more money than anyone on Oakland's current roster. 3 different Mets have a salary significantly greater than the combined salaries of the A's entire active roster. Scherzer by himself is being paid about 2x what the A's are.

As RR (#4) pointed out, Andrus would be great for the White Sox, who are down to two minor leaguers at short. And White Sox fan Twitter is clamoring for the move.

So there's probably no way it happens.

Better Headline: Elvis Has Left The Rebuilding A’s.

Should have tried to send him to Triple A, just for the "Viva Las Vegas!" headlines.

Andrus would be great for the White Sox, who are down to two minor leaguers at short. And White Sox fan Twitter is clamoring for the move.

Which is worse, in-game strategy from fans in the stands, or roster moves based on the Twitterverse?

The White Sox are in agreement on a contract with free-agent shortstop Elvis Andrus, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He’s expected to join their Major League squad in Cleveland tomorrow.

So I guess they play their new catcher now and dump or trade Sean Murphy.

It’s going to be interesting. Murphy will still be cheapish next year and won’t be a free agent until after the 2025 season.

Right or wrong, the As seem to be rebuilding for 2024, so if they’re right—and they’ve done all this before—he’d be part of their next real teams.

Absent Langeliers, it’s clear to me they’d hold him. They didn’t worry about arb1 or arb2 years in the past.

Langeliers presents a problem. He can move to first. And also be ready if Murphy gets hurt. That is valuable

So I assume they’re only trading Murphy for something more valuable to them. Some team on a win-now trajectory and an opening and catcher and a very strong prospect who is blocked on that team? The As need players at second and third. I’m not sure there is a fit like that or how many teams want to trade a seemingly strong prospect there for Murphy. His trade value would be pretty high. The fit though isn’t clear to me

I'll be shocked if Murphy isn't a Cardinal in 2023. He's the perfect fit in quality and number of years needed.

You’d feel like Jordan Walker plus a pitcher or two would be a viable deal.

Walker isn't going for Murphy, but Tyler O'Neill plus Liberatore seems like a plausible return.

A decent return for Seth brown maybe?

O'Neill and Brown is a super interesting question. How much do you value a 26 year old season that has a good chance of being a fluke?

Brown is 3 times better this year and costs about 1/5 the cost and is cost controlled for longer. O'Neill had a fluke year last year. How do you value that?

Throwing in some extras with O'Neill seems like it would balance out.

For a catcher who's heading toward about 4-5 WAR, depending on the system, and is currently the MLB's 2nd ranked catcher and is not a free agent until 2026...it's much harder to figure out what's the equivalent return.

did BBTF rip Andrus for taking such a foolishly meager longterm deal at the time?

I honestly don't know.....