Philly Front Office

The Phillies start a 3 game set in Sacramento for the first time EVER! It’s to face the A’s though who Philadelphians of yesteryear are pretty familiar with considering we used to be neighbors. Here they are, 3 (and soon to be 4) cities later in their last 70 years. Considering their nomadic nature, it should be no surprise that they are accustomed to sending their favorite sons to roam free on more fertile fields of fame around the league. They are currently the proud parents of so many other teams’ success stories that it’s worth a look at their flourishing family tree. Too bad it has left their own homestead barren, infested, and now abandoned. We’ll get to the series matchup at the end.

Let’s see if we can field an All Star team just with players traded away this century rather than simply let go in free agency. So, no Miguel Tejada, Johnny Damon, Barry Zito, or Jason Giambi in this exercise:

• Catcher: Sean Murphy – sent to the Atlanta Braves on December 12, 2022. Murphy has been hurt in his stay so far in Atlanta, but still managed a 4 WAR season in his debut year. Oakland received very little in return (this is a consistent theme)
  • Backup: Jonah Heim – sent to the Rangers Feb. 6, 2021. He also broke out in 2023, giving the A’s an all-star catcher in each league, but not for them. He had been traded for Joey Wendle, so very little.
• First Base: Matt Olson – sent to the Braves on March 12, 2022. Another all-star to the Braves (this one was first though). Thanks guys! Olson hasn’t missed a game yet in his 4 Atlanta seasons and slugged 54 homers in 2023. The A’s received Shea Langaliers in return who will likely be traded this season as well.
  • Coach: Mark McGwire and his absurd run in St Louis was thanks to the A’s trading him in 1997. Since he is beyond our scope, we will include him and others as coaches simply to be petty. He was very obviously cheating, but he did hit 220 HRs and became one of the most famous athletes in the country after leaving the A’s.
• Second Base: Mark Ellis – sent to Colorado on June 30, 2011. He was never an all-star but still managed to have 7.3 WAR in his 2.5 full seasons post trade. I thought about cheating and putting Chapman or Donaldson here, but they have literally never played 2nd base. Plus, I need to cheat with them elsewhere.
• Third Base: Josh Donaldson – sent out of the country to Toronto the day after Thanksgiving on November 28th, 2014 for a cornucopia of nothing. Donaldson went on to immediately win MVP and put up 19 WAR in 4 seasons with the Blue Jays
• Shortstop: Matt Chapman – On March 16, 2022, the A’s continued their drive to leave Oakland by calling up familiar 3rd base trading partner Toronto (Chapman played 3 games at short in his final year at Oakland so we are counting it!). As is their humble custom, the A’s would receive basically no payment for the transaction. Chapman put up 8 WAR in 2 Toronto seasons before moving to the Giants and receiving MVP votes for the 7.1 WAR he put up last year.
• Left Field: Yoenis Cespedes – after taking the league by storm upon arrival, the A’s quickly cashed in by trading him to Boston for 11 starts of Jon Lester. Cespedes would receiver MVP votes in 2 more seasons, not including his best one which was split between the two leagues.
  • Coach: Rickey Henderson – The A’s traded their homegrown hero and national legend to the Yankees basically for Jose Rijo who stunk in his 3 Oakland seasons. Rickey should have been MVP in his first season in NY with his league leading 9.9 WAR. He managed 31 WAR in his 5 seasons in the Bronx.
• Center Field: Andre Ethier – Ethier was drafted twice by the A’s but played his entire 12 year career in Dodger blue. The A’s gave him up for Milton Bradley AFTER he had had several meltdowns on the field and released him BEFORE he put up an MVP caliber season in Texas. Bradley is a certifiable shithead too considering the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death and his incarceration for domestic violence. Good job A’s!
  • Coach: Rickey Henderson AGAIN – The A’s traded Rickey for a second time July 1993, just in time for him to go to Toronto (the Blue Jays know how to go to the well huh?) and beat the Phillies in the World Series. Can’t thank you enough Oakland. You are going to help us out sometime right? (they will)
• Right Field: Matt Holiday – The A’s traded for Holiday in 2009 then flipped him to St. Louis for basically nothing. Holiday would go on to put up 23 WAR as a Cardinal and participate in the most debilitating series of my life as a Phillies fan en route to winning a World Series in 2011 for St. Louis. Seriously Oakland? WTF?
  • Coach: Reggie Jackson – Maybe the greatest and most famous A of all time was traded to Baltimore when they refused to pay him, in one of the first wars over free agency. He continued to produce at an MVP level for the Orioles and then the Yankees, winning two more World Series in dark blue pinstripes.
• DH: Nelson Cruz – Before his Major League debut, Cruz was traded to Milwaukee for nothing. He would go on to hit 464 HRs, put up 42 WAR, and receive MVP consideration 6 times.
• Starters – I didn’t include any relievers, so we are just going to keep going with starters to rub it in.
  • SP1: Tim Hudson – Traded for nothing, 24 WAR with the Braves
  • SP2: Dan Haren – Became one of the best pitchers in baseball with Arizona, at least they got Carlos Gonzalez who I forgot about earlier. CarGo had a near MVP season with the Rockies and was damn near impossible to get out against the Phillies in the 2009 playoffs (10 for 17)
  • SP3: Mark Mulder – He is a bigger name, but this is one of the few trades that worked out for the A’s considering they got Dan Haren from St. Louis in the move.
  • SP4: Gio Gonzalez – This is a person one for me. We stole Gio from the White Sox as the player to be named later from the Jim Thome deal, then let him go for Freddy Garcia (DAMNIT). He then blossomed with the A’s and flourished with the Nationals after they traded him away, nearly winning the Cy Young in 2012.
  • SP5: Jose Rijo – This one’s funny. He was terrible with the A’s then became one of the best pitchers in the world with the Reds before succumbing to injury at 30. He had 36 WAR in 8 years in Cincy and -.9 in 3 years in Oakland.
  • SP6: Sonny Gray – What a strange career. Gray was great in Oakland until he wasn’t, then bad in NY before turning things around in Minny and St. Louis. the A’s have missed out on 2 near Cy Young seasons though for basically nothing.
  • SP7: Jesus Luzardo – The A’s traded the 23 year old for 32 year old Starling Marte of the Marlins. He is now the front runner for the Cy Young in the NL.
  • SP8: Joe Blanton – FINALLY, the A’s did us a solid. In 2008 the Phillies were in need of a stabilizing innings eater in the rotation and Joe the Pitcher was traded for one time top prospect and future nothing Adrian Cardenas at the deadline. Blanton is the last pitcher to ever hit a home run in the World Series in our 10-2 blowout in Game 4.

All of baseball thanks you A’s, even the Phillies.

Matchup: Phillies at Sacramento

Friday May 23 at 10:05p: Zack Wheeler v. Jeffrey Springs (L)

Saturday, May 24 at 10:05: Cristopher Sanchez v. TBA

Sunday, May 25 at 4:05p: Jesus Luzardo v. Gunnar Hoglund (R)