A’s focused on baseball not who leaves

Oakland – There seems to be a revolving door of good players leaving the Oakland A’s while the young ones are called up from Triple-A. Whether they’re traded or released it’s been frustrating for the fans and the team. The only priority for the organization right now is a new ballpark. 

The development of the younger players is the focus now. After the release of Elvis Andrus on Wednesday, the veteran shortstop was picked up by the Chicago White Sox today. Andrus who was an everyday player had his playing time reduced and expressed his feelings about. He was released days later.

The A’s recalled infielder Sheldon Neuse from Triple-A Las Vegas after the release of Andrus. Neuse joined Oakland for the third time this year and is batting .227 with three home runs and 21 RBI in 70 games over his first two stint with the team. He was on the A’s Opening Day roster and hit .329 over his first 22 games but a 13-for-91 (.143) stretch preceded his first option to Las Vegas on June 7.

“We’ve given a lot of young players a chance this year and we’re gonna continue to do that,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “We attack every game with the same mentality. We prepare to win each day. 

We’ve talked about that with this group, the mindset has to be that we’re not here to develop or win baseball games. Developing happens at the minor league level. We’re here to teach and to learn.”

Well, that learning curve just got harder, Oakland will face three good teams (the Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins and New York Yankees) in a race for the Wild Card and playoff spot during their next homestead which kicked off today. They lost to the Mariners tonight 10-2 but have a lot of baseball left to play in developing their young guys for next season. 

Oakland didn’t bring their best game to start a 10-game homestand. Seattle had 11 batters that got a hit off Cole Irvin. Eugenio Suarez drove in 5 runs and homered twice in the fourth and sixth innings. He went deep for a two-run shot to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead then he hit a three-run homer to make it a 6-2 game. 

Seattle knocked in three more singles to open up their lead while Irvin struggled at the mound. Irvin lasted six frames, gave up 6 hits, 6 runs, two walks, two home runs and struck out two. There was no backup for Irvin as the A’s struggled to score with runners on base, with 42 games left on the schedule Oakland has their hands full.

The A’s have won four of their last 18 games and stand at 43-77 which is last place in their division. The Mariners have beaten Oakland 8-out-of-11 games and still remain atop the American League for a wildcard spot. 

“We’re going to have buckle down, play good fundamental baseball and continue to fight the way we have all season,” Kotsay said pregame. “We’ve beaten good teams. We’ve beaten good teams with winning records. That’s our mindset.”

Photo by A’s Twitter

Malaika Bobino

Malaika Bobino, an Oakland, California native, is a Bay Area sports journalism powerhouse and influencer. With nearly two decades of experience at both the Oakland Post and the Huffington Post, she is always on the front lines of the iconic Bay Area sports scene. Bobino covered the Oakland A’s postseason trips, all three of the San Francisco Giants World Series, was present for all three Golden State Warriors three NBA Championships and covered the 49ers last two Super Bowl appearances

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