Donaldson Traded Because of Twitter? Possible? Source

[Laika]

Everything I've read about Donaldson is that he's completely honest, to a point where a team/fans might think of him as outspoken. Very much like the Jays already have with Bautista. And believe me with Donaldson's backstory (Daddy in prison until 2013, every male role model on his Fathers side dead or in prison, discarded as not going to make it many times. Even the way he asked them to try him at third in training camp when Sizemore got hurt), it's a Sportsnet 30 minute special ready to happen. The guy is a work ethic machine and if things go badly on a PR side, all the focus will go on to how hard Donaldson pushes and is pushing everyone else. Much like Dickey at the start of 2013, the guy is your PR golden boy.

 

Donaldson

Stroman

Martin

Reyes

Pompey?

Norris w/ bible?

 

so many golden boys!

[Jimcanuck]

I'm willing to say that Nolin will out-perform Sanchez this season, and probably right up until they are both Arb eligible.

 

Nah, Nolin is going to get butt hurt in MLB

[TheHurl]

Nah, Nolin is going to get butt hurt in MLB

 

The guy is a lefty flyball pitcher with a great change and shows flashes of K's. Those guys thrive in Oakland. I'm going to guess his ERA splits will look similar to 2012 Tommy Milone's were in Oakland (before Milone's change up deserted him, keeping people off balance in Oakland is huge as a lot of foul off attempts end up as outs). My 2015 ERA projections for Nolin are 2.75 in Oakland, 4.35 on the road. For an overall 3.45 over 120 or so innings.

[Jimcanuck]

The guy is a lefty flyball pitcher with a great change and shows flashes of K's. Those guys thrive in Oakland. I'm going to guess his ERA splits will look similar to 2012 Tommy Milone's were in Oakland (before Milone's change up deserted him, keeping people off balance in Oakland is huge as a lot of foul off attempts end up as outs). My 2015 ERA projections for Nolin are 2.75 in Oakland, 4.35 on the road. For an overall 3.45 over 120 or so innings.

 

Can't see it. His stuff is no better than Redmond's. He's bullpen material.

[Laika]

Can't see it. His stuff is no better than Redmond's. He's bullpen material.

 

Redmond could probably be a decent SP5 in Oakland though, lol.

[Jimcanuck]

Redmond could probably be a decent SP5 in Oakland though, lol.

 

True, but not with a 3.45 overall ERA

 

WTF is Hurl using ERA for anyway

[ElNik2013]

So Donaldson has now been traded for 2 B.C. boys (Harden and Lawrie). Just add this to the useless information dept.

[fatcowxlive]

Easy there cowboy.

u must mean best 3B in baseball, cause hes definitely not the best player in baseball

 

YES lol sorry for the typo

 

I think best player in baseball was a typo on your part...

 

Personally I do believe this had some impact on the move, how much? who knows.

 

Time will tell and if it helps in the future Reddick has also voiced his opinion on the move...But Reddick doesn't have much value IMO

 

It probably gave Beane an extra reason to trade him but it can't be the main reason, or even up there in the reasons to trade him

 

I feel like this has to be at least a bit of a factor. How else does it make any sense? The A's were adamant that Donaldson wasn't moving, and then he makes a bunch of tweets, and shortly after he's traded? And if this wasn't a factor, and cutting payroll really was the object, then how oh how do you justify signing Country Breakfast for $30M? It's such a weird situation.

 

Alex calls you a few weeks ago, asks Donaldson, you say no. Now Donaldson does something dumb on twitter, ownership is feeling butthurt about it, Alex calls you again, this time you say "okay, well, what exactly did you have in mind?"

 

I dunno, seems plausible.

 

It could have had an effect, sure. As I said above, I think it gave Beane another reason to feel good about the trade. And you could be right, but if you are then Beane has a huge ego or a lack of ability to control/discipline his players. I think Beane has earned enough 'stripes' to prevent ownership from forcefully wanting a player with the calibre of Donaldson off the team. Either that or Beane thinks having Butler and Lawrie will bring more production than Donaldson which I personally find unlikely.

 

However if they do go out and trade for Headley and throw Lawrie at 2B it would be cool I guess, but then again those two are really fragile and probably won't bring to the table what Donaldson did. People forget Lawrie's numbers at the plate are subpar for the last two years at a hitter friendly park and now he's moving to Oakland and is playing a large number of games in places like Seattle too.

 

I don't really get the trade tbh but if ego played a part in it then it clarifies a lot

[fatcowxlive]

True, but not with a 3.45 overall ERA

 

WTF is Hurl using ERA for anyway

 

I think he's saying his FIP is going to be high, but playing in a ballpark like Oakland for half your starts will deflate his ERA and in real life will actually be productive (kinda like Tommy Milone maybe?) then again I could be really wrong lol

[jaysguy44]

I'm willing to say that Nolin will out-perform Sanchez this season, and probably right up until they are both Arb eligible.

 

I find this very hard to believe

[jaysblue]

Like the Hurl said, it wouldn't shock me to see Nolin go out there and put up similar statistics to Tommy Milone. The A's seem to squeeze out the most from average to below average pitchers.

[AdamGreenwood]

Some GM's trade players for some pretty stupid reasons. Look at us:

 

1) Gave Rios away for nothing after his 'altercation' with a fan.

2) Made Escobar a 'throw-in' after a juvenile prank.

3) Gave Lind away for nothing after criticising management.

[Dick_Pole]

Some GM's trade players for some pretty stupid reasons. Look at us:

 

1) Gave Rios away for nothing after his 'altercation' with a fan.

2) Made Escobar a 'throw-in' after a juvenile prank.

3) Gave Lind away for nothing after criticising management.

 

They didn't give Lind away. One could even make an argument that it was a fair trade out of context. The problem is within the context they traded away an area of need (lefty hitting DH who can mash righties) for an area of surplus (back-end start/overpaid RP). Stupid trade, but hopefully there's follow up where Estrada is flipped for a useful piece for this team and things fall into place.

 

I'd rather put Gomes and Aviles for a RP who could have been had off the waiver wire a few months prior as the #3 spot. But that might qualify as "stupid trade" rather than "stupid reason for trade"

[jaysblue]

Billy Beane traded Jeremy Giambi because he liked to party. Traded Carlos Pena because Art Howe was putting him in the lineup over Scott Hatteberg. He has a history of reaction moves!

 

[TheHurl]

True, but not with a 3.45 overall ERA

 

WTF is Hurl using ERA for anyway

 

Because I didn't say he'd pitch great. I do think he'll have a low ERA.

[TheHurl]

I find this very hard to believe

 

Willing to do a WAR or ERA wager on this one (small amount of cash or a fun board wager) on next year or future if anyone wishes.

[TheHurl]

Nolin is better than Tommy Milone. Just you watch.

 

Velocity is better, change up is better ... I see no reason to believe that. I was comparing it to Milone's 2012 season when his change was really effective.

[canadiansportsjunkie]

Topics here derail fast...

 

Oakland has proven to be a leader at developing prospects and getting the most out of their players, if Nolan etc are successful you can't just say " We gave too much " or " Too bad we still didn't have X player " The organization IMO are typically majority responsible for the success of the " depth / struggling " players

[John_Havok]

Topics here derail fast...

 

Oakland has proven to be a leader at developing prospects and getting the most out of their players, if Nolan etc are successful you can't just say " We gave too much " or " Too bad we still didn't have X player " The organization IMO are typically majority responsible for the success of the " depth / struggling " players

 

Beane is great at finding pitchers who succeed in his ballpark where balls don't carry. then he trades them for a premium to GM's who don't have a good analytics department.

[LongTimeReader]

Beane is great at finding pitchers who succeed in his ballpark where balls don't carry. then he trades them for a premium to GM's who don't have a good analytics department.

 

Moneyball at its finest

[canadiansportsjunkie]

Beane is great at finding pitchers who succeed in his ballpark where balls don't carry. then he trades them for a premium to GM's who don't have a good analytics department.

 

Which is my point. If they succeed there doesn't mean they would have here.

[burlingtonbandit]

Which is my point. If they succeed there doesn't mean they would have here.

 

Kinda like Henderson Alvarez.

[John_Havok]

Which is my point. If they succeed there doesn't mean they would have here.

 

Quite possible. Graveman was intriguing though with his amazing ground all rates

[FireAlexAnthopoulos]

I wonder if he demanded a trade behind the scenes. Would explain the mediocre return for the A's since they'd have had no leverage.

[jb22]

They didn't trade a 7WAR 3B because of a couple of really tame tweets. The difference between the two calls from AA is that he brought Lawrie to the table, which he likely hadn't before. You guys are reading wayyy too much into this.

[TheHurl]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24860325/report-billy-beane-and-josh-donaldson-were-at-war-by-end-of-2014

 

One industry source says he "knew" the Athletics would trade Josh Donaldson this winter, no matter how little baseball sense it made, because the All-Star and Beane were "at war" by season's end.

 

Multiple sources cite a verbal altercation between the two after Donaldson told manager Bob Melvin he needed a couple of days off after Oakland had played several days in a row. The story goes, Beane told Donaldson if he needed a couple of days off, the club should put him on the disabled list, and that made Donaldson unhappy.

 

...

 

"They got into it in the coach's office," the source says, describing a scene in which Beane lit into Donaldson, with the third baseman reiterating his need for a day off and petulantly calling Beane "Billy Boy."

"Nobody talks to Billy that way," the source said. "It did not surprise me in the least that he got rid of Donaldson."

[Ziggyy108]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24860325/report-billy-beane-and-josh-donaldson-were-at-war-by-end-of-2014

 

Nobody puts Billy in the corner

[canadiansportsjunkie]

Then call him out Twitter???

 

AA had the ball in his court and knew it

[Atothe]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24860325/report-billy-beane-and-josh-donaldson-were-at-war-by-end-of-2014

 

Billy Boy, thats beautiful lmao

[baubau]

Then call him out Twitter???

 

AA had the ball in his court and knew it

 

For once, they may have not been flying in the air.

 

Either way, love it. "Billy Boy". Donaldson is quickly becoming my favorite player.