The Toronto Blue Jays Acquire Matt Chapman And Crush A’s Fans Again

It feels like just yesterday that the Oakland A’s and Toronto Blue Jays made a deal that felt like yet another gut punch to a long suffering fanbase. On November 28th, 2014, the A’s sent their fan favorite and All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays for a package of prospects plus Brett Lawrie.

It was literally yesterday that A’s fans began to grieve the loss of yet another All-Star and fan favorite after the A’s traded Matt Olsen to the Braves for Christian Pache and a package of prospects.

This morning, the A’s once again dealt a fan favorite, All-Star third baseman Matt Chapman to the Toronto Blue Jays for a package of prospects. It’s as if Oakland A’s fans are living in some sort of sick once a decade Groundhog’s Day-esque teardown that they cannot escape.

At this point, A’s fans have probably gotten used to this constant churn of seeing their favorite players get dealt for players who in many cases do not develop into their favorite players. The Josh Donaldson deal did not net much of a return in the long run, but the A’s would play poorly enough for them to have top 10 draft picks over the next three seasons.

However, the A’s found themselves back in contention by 2018 and it was the trade of Josh Donaldson that made way for former first round pick Matt Champman to establish himself among the elite at third base.

With the addition of Christian Pache and prospects like Zack Gelof and Nick Allen waiting in the wings and Tyler Soderstrom a little further down the pipeline, A’s fans may not have to wait long for another competitive window to open.

While Matt Chapman is a great player and a great addition to the Toronto Blue Jays, his erratic offense has been overshadowed by his electric defensive play. As Ben Clemens of Fangraphs noted his K% has spiked over the past two seasons and his wRC+ has remained above average, but nowhere near the top tier for his position.

With two remaining years of team control, the A’s also avoided a potentially ugly arbitration process for a player who is great in many respects, but realistically has only been a tick above average overall the past two seasons. A far cry from his 2018 and 2019 campaigns where he posted a 5.5 WAA both seasons per Baseball Reference.

Realistically trading Chapman while he his still close to the peak of his value was the best move for the Athletics considering how they have operated over the past two decades. They may have found it would be easier to replace his all around production (3.4 fWAR in 2021) on the cheap, than continue to negotiate through his arbitration years. This move will save them about $20 million over the next two seasons give or take.

Obviously, that is a drop in the bucket and that is not going to pacify the passionate Oakland A’s fan base. Especially since the A’s are actively shopping Ramon Laureano, Sean Manaea, and Frankie Montas as well. Essentially the Oakland A’s were Matt Champman, Matt Olson, Ramon Laureano, Sean Manaea, and Frankie Montas, so to many it may feel like the whole team is gone. Not to mention, Mark Canha and Jed Lowrie both became free agents as well.

To be an Oakland Athletics fan is to endure a cruel and cyclical brand of torture. The constant greeting of new and exciting prospects before inevitably grieving their departures from the organization has to weigh on a fans’ soul. With new ballpark plans in the future, A’s fans might consider getting really, really into Gap brand clothing. That may help add some payroll and perhaps allow them to hang on to at least one star beyond their rookie contract.