TORONTO — Having lived through the full build-up-tear-down life cycle of an Oakland Athletics post-season club, Matt Chapman took in recent news of the team’s agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas for a new stadium with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"I'm not going to hold my breath because I feel like I've heard that before," the star Toronto Blue Jays third baseman said during an interview this week. "I've heard them do that dance for every year I was there, so, eight years. If they're leaving and going to Vegas, I'm happy for the players — they get a new stadium, they deserve it. I'm hoping that means they'll be able to start signing guys long-term and not have to do the same kind of business structure they do now, where they just kind of turn over (the roster as it gets expensive)."
"But that being said," he continued, "I feel bad for the loyal A’s fans in Oakland. They lost the Raiders. They lost the Warriors to San Francisco. There are a lot of good Oakland fans that have been loyal through the years, through all the stuff they have to deal with. I feel bad for them."
Commissioner Rob Manfred, during a discussion with sports editors and reporters in New York earlier this week, said there remained “wood to chop” before a deal to move the team was completed. But the Athletics' lease at dilapidated Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, discussions with the city about a new waterfront stadium at Howard Terminal have stalled and the entire messy process appears headed toward an end game.
The last relocation in Major League Baseball was when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington to become the Nationals for the 2005 season. Although many of the circumstances then are different than the situation for the Athletics now, parallels can be found in their drawn-out stadium sagas, how the organizations continually developed elite players they couldn’t afford to keep and the corrosive impact of big-sports business on passionate, dedicated fan bases.
Chapman, a first-round pick out of Cal State Fullerton in the 2014 draft, made his big-league debut in 2017, was part of three consecutive post-season clubs from 2018-20 and then traded after the lockout, once the Athletics had fallen short of the playoffs in 2021.
During that period, the most the A’s drew was 1,670,734 fans during a 97-65 season in 2019, with a low of 701,430 while going 86-76 in 2021, after the club refused to make Marcus Semien a qualifying offer, a move that led to the star shortstop’s one-year deal with the Blue Jays.
“We were bummed out when we didn't get a lot of fans, but the fans that did show, they were always there, loyal fans, playing the drums, really passionate about the A's. They loved us,” said Chapman. “And I understand why they didn't draw, because of the way the front office does their stuff. The ownership in Oakland turns a lot of fans off. So, I think that it was kind of unfortunate we didn't get the support we wanted, but the fans that were there were great.”
The Blue Jays have benefitted greatly from the Athletics’ regular resets.
Josh Donaldson won the AL MVP in 2015 after his off-season acquisition. Semien won a silver slugger and hit 45 home runs, setting a record for second basemen, in 2021 after signing an $18-million, one-year free agent deal. Chris Bassitt signed for $63 million over three years this winter to bolster the rotation.
Semien and star closer Liam Hendriks began the exodus from the A’s core of 2018-20, followed by Bassitt, Chapman, Matt Olson, Mark Canha, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino and, just this past winter, Sean Murphy, among others.
“We had so many good players, but that's just the way it goes,” lamented Chapman. “All of us knew we weren't going to be there long-term. Now, looking at where I'm at, my situation and everything, I think it all worked out for the best. But in the moment, all those guys that were my teammates, those are my friends still today, my buddies, and we thought we were building something special. So, it sucks when the front office doesn't do what they should and sign guys and keep guys around.”
The constant uncertainty is among the reasons Chapman had little interest in a $150-million, 10-year extension offered to him ahead of the 2020 season. While at first impression that’s an eye-popping total, he was on a trajectory to make the roughly $32 million he’s collected in the four years of club control covered by that time span, leaving six free agent years valued at $118 million.
Positioned to perhaps be the most impactful free agent available this fall not named Shohei Ohtani, he should do far better than that, underlining the issues for the Athletics alongside the team’s long-term future and cyclic roster churn.
“Definitely,” said Chapman. “First off, I wasn't going to take a discount to stay in Oakland, so I don't think they were going to pay me my full value. But also, even more importantly than that, I don't think they were going to sign Marcus Semien or Matt Olson or any of the players that we had there. So, that kind of made it tough knowing that, 'What if I sign this deal and nobody that I'm playing with and signed up to play with is here?' I don't know if they would have given me a no-trade clause, they could have traded me, so I felt like I was giving them more than I was going to get in return.”
All of which makes him appreciate his situation with the Blue Jays, who are projected to have the fifth-highest luxury-tax payroll in baseball at $252.25 million, according to Spotrac, while simultaneously investing in Rogers Centre and the Player Development Complex in Dunedin, Fla.
“From a player's standpoint, everything feels the same, everybody on this team works hard and is committed to winning baseball games,” Chapman said in comparing his Athletics and Blue Jays experiences. “But from an ownership standpoint, you just look at this stadium, look at the facilities we have, the weight rooms, the batting cages, the money they do spend on the field. It's just a good feeling knowing that you are supported by the organization and they have the same goals as you. And I feel like, in Oakland, the owners did not have the same goals as the players.”
Maybe once the Athletics’ future is finally, definitively settled, that will at long last change.
