A’s have developed great players. They just play for other teams now

Sean Murphy and Matt Olson anchor perhaps baseball’s best lineup in Atlanta and will be teammates Tuesday in the All-Star Game as two of the National League’s elite players.

They are just two of the most glaring examples of players developed by the Oakland Athletics only to be shipped off in the name of cost-cutting just in time to help other organizations win.

The A’s are on track for one of the worst seasons in baseball history, one that comes as the team is pursuing relocation to Las Vegas.

The Legislature has approved providing up to $380 million in public financing for a retractable roof ballpark on the Tropicana hotel site. The A’s will look to play outside of Oakland for the 2025-2027 seasons before potentially moving into their proposed $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark on the Strip in 2028.

Olson had 39 home runs and 111 RBIs for an A’s team that won 86 games and showed a ton of promise in 2021, but due for a huge raise, the two-time Gold Glove winner was dealt to Atlanta before the 2022 season.

Murphy, perhaps the best catcher in baseball, followed Olson to Atlanta this offseason. The 2016 third-round pick of the A’s came up through the system and even hit the first home run in Las Vegas Ballpark history when he was a member of the Aviators in 2019.

Like Olson, Murphy signed a massive contract with the Braves shortly after being traded to Atlanta for prospects.

Olson and Murphy could have formed the foundation of a team that could compete for many years. In fact, they serve just that role in Atlanta.

But it would have cost money to make that happen long-term in Oakland. So instead, the A’s organization never truly got to enjoy the fruits of the work that went into developing the superstars.

Their cases aren’t unique.

The A’s made the postseason three consecutive years from 2018 to 2020 with a mixture of young, developing players, along with a few veterans to fill in the gaps.

Despite a strong record in 2021, the team fell just short of the playoffs, and the bills were about to come due with team control running out on several of the A’s best players.

So instead of writing checks, the organization started looking for trade partners, and the fire sale was on.

Another home-grown infielder, 2014 first-round pick Matt Chapman, was coming off a 27-home run campaign in which he won his third Gold Glove award in 2021.

He was dealt to Toronto, where he has been a fixture in the strong Blue Jays lineup the last two seasons.

Pitcher Chris Bassitt wasn’t young, but he was coming off two straight years of top-10 finishes in Cy Young voting when he was traded to the Mets before the 2022 season. He won 15 games for New York, then signed a three-year deal with Toronto, where he is 8-5 this season.

One of the other top starters on the 2021 team was Sean Manaea, who finished in the top 10 in several pitching categories. He agreed to a deal with the A’s to avoid arbitration just before the start of the 2022 season, but was traded from the team with which he had spent his first six seasons to San Diego less than two weeks later anyway.

He’s now working out of the Giants’ bullpen.

Infielder Mark Canha left as a free agent after the 2021 season. Dominant closer Liam Hendriks was allowed to walk in the same way a year earlier, the same year infielder Marcus Semien also left as a free agent. He is about to play in his second All-Star Game in three years since leaving Oakland.

In addition to all the player departures, the A’s allowed longtime successful manager Bob Melvin to interview for and accept the job as the new manager of the Padres at the end of 2021.

They weren’t done once the 2022 season started, either.

Starting pitchers Frankie Montas and Christian Bethancourt were also traded.

Murphy followed this offseason, along with another starter in Cole Irvin.

The Marlins acquired their current closer, A.J. Puk, from the A’s this offseason. One of Miami’s quality young starters, Jesus Luzardo, first came up with Oakland and was traded to the Marlins in 2021.

While some talent has been acquired and is starting to develop nicely — including outfielder Esteury Ruiz who is one of the most exciting young playuers in the league — the fear is those players will also be shipped out once they are due to get paid.

As the losses pile up, A’s fans can look forward to watching the postseason to see plenty of their favorite players compete for a ring. They’ll just be wearing different uniforms.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.