Turmoil In Oakland Athletics’ Clubhouse

On Tuesday afternoon, a very cryptic tweet was sent out by Oakland Athletics’ outfielder Josh Reddick.

Even though it was thought that this tweet was in relation to the rumored, but ultimately fake, Sonny Gray trade gossip, Reddick himself responded to the tweet saying that was not the case. That tweet has since been deleted. The mystery of the tweet continued until Thursday when Reddick joined Ray Fosse for the Athletics’ pregame radio show on 95.7 The Game.

During this conversation, Reddick slammed the A’s front office and Billy Beane for limiting his playing time against left-handed pitchers. Supposedly, on Tuesday, Reddick was originally in the starting lineup. However, Bob Melvin text Reddick around 1:30pm – around the time when Reddick tweeted – letting the outfielder know that he had been “trumped” and that Reddick will not be starting against the Colorado Rockies’ lefty Jorge De La Rose.

However, Melvin told the press later that he gave Reddick false hope and ultimately just changed his mind as to who he would like to start in right field. Billy Beane has not commented on the situation. So, was Melvin covering for Beane or did  Melvin actually change his mind on his own accord?

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Reddick has been having a pretty good season after changing his approach at the plate. He is currently hitting .287 with 11 homers and 49 RBI. However, it must be noted that Reddick is batting extremely more successfully against righties than lefties. Reddick has a .330 batting average against right handed pitchers while only a .152 BA against left handers. But, Sam Fuld, who replaced Reddick is right field on Tuesday, is only batting .105 against lefties.

Reddick ended up entering the game on Tuesday as a pinch hitter and struck out. Fuld went 0-for-2 prior to Reddick hitting for him. Neither one of them is great against lefties, but the circumstances as to why Fuld started in place of Reddick is quite concerning.

When Josh Donaldson was traded during the offseason, it was noted that Donaldson and Beane did not get along. It has been rumored that their disagreement earlier in the 2014 season made it easier for Beane to trade Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays despite Donaldson being the A’s best player. Let’s hope that Reddick’s outspoken dislike for the Oakland Athletics’ front office this past week does not end in a similar way.

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