The Oakland Athletics are the Loneliest Team in Baseball

Over the last 22 years, the A’s have made a science out of maximizing modest resources to field competitive teams, a process memorialized in the book “Moneyball.” They have been playoff regulars, but the gut-wrenching process of trading away top players before they reach free agency appears to have hit a tipping point this spring after the two Matts — Chapman and Olson — were traded to Toronto and Atlanta, leaving fans with only souvenir jerseys to remember them by.

“They trade away all our players,” said Drew Hernandez, 18, a student at Las Positas College in nearby Livermore, who spoke in an empty, echoey tunnel under the stands during one of the recent games between the A’s and the Rays. “It needs to stop.”

A’s players, coaches and midlevel management are in a tricky position, caught in the middle, as Lowrie put it, between the dedicated but angry fans who support them and the wishes of the team’s owner, John J. Fisher.

It is not easy to watch beloved and talented teammates depart.

“Our model is one where we do cycle through players, and through that cycle there are times when fans don’t understand and may not appreciate what we do here,” said Mark Kotsay, the A’s new manager and a former Oakland player. “But we have a loyal fan base, and that’s really all that matters.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/sports/baseball/oakland-athletics-attendance.html