In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane explains that, “he cant develop personal relationship with players because I have to trade him.” Billy never gets attached to a player, which makes it rough for players on the team when they constantly have to look over their shoulder and worry that they are going to be traded. Whether the team is winning or losing, Beane will make a drastic move for better or worse. It is easy for Beane to add and dump players, but this greatly effects the team’s chemistry when this happens.
Even though players understand the business side of baseball, it is still tough to see a friend and teammate go from the players point of view. After the recent trades of Ben Zobrist, Tyler Clippard and Scott Kazmir, Stephen Vogt stated, “It’s a weird feeling when you see your teammates dropping like flies.” Vogt is one of the club house leaders, and, like many players on the team, feels discouraged when players are shipped away. Whether Beane did the right thing or not by trading away these players, it is still hard for the team to continue forward when teammates are moved.
For example, during the A’s recent series against the San Francisco Giants, they played with a different vibe after seeing teammate Kazmir traded away. Players during that series played like they had no urgency or emotion as they were going through the motions of the game. There was no chemistry since they were shell shocked as they realized that Beane is waving the white flag on the 2015 season.
Players sometimes spend years together as teammates. So, when traded, it is tough for those players to remain focused. Mentally, the A’s players not as focused and this makes it hard for the team to win. Even though none of the Athletics’ players cry because of a traded, there were some other transactions (real and imaginary) around the MLB that caused players to cry such as Shane Victorino and Wilmer Flores. Tom Hanks yells in A League of Their Own that, “There is no crying in baseball.” Nothing is more awkward and uncomfortable than seeing a grown man cry in baseball.
The A’s players have what is called a Bromance with each other. Every guy has a Bromance with one of his friends. Just imagine a best friend named Chuck who has just been attack by a great white shark while surfing. He instantly dies and was eaten by the shark, so authorities are unable to find his body floating in the water. When first receiving the call, a sick feeling and a rush of emotions takes over as you realize you lost a best friend in Chuck. Then all the memories of all the good times from your friendship suddenly come back like when you two went to Hooters together on the discounted price of 9 dollar beer night. This is when you start sobbing uncontrollably as you curl up in a fetal position and scream about how cruel this world is.
This is what it feels like for Oakland Athletics’ players when they lose a teammate and close friend during one of Beane’s trades. A’s fans, answer this question from Billy’s quote in Moneyball, “Would you rather get a bullet to the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?”