Oakland Athletics now enter 2002 season with throwback payroll
The Oakland Athletics always offload players when or before they get expensive, but after trading Sean Manea they enter the 2022 season with a throwback payroll.
Despite financial constraints and having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, rooted in having the worst stadium in American pro sports, the Oakland Athletics always seem to find a way to be competitive.
The A’s have again been clear sellers as Opening Day 2022 approaches, trading third baseman Matt Chapman to the Toronto Blue Jays and most recently sending starting pitcher Sean Manaea to the San Diego Padres.
Thirty years ago or more, when they had Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson and Mark McGwire, went to three straight World Series and were generally very good, Oakland had stars they were paying market-level contracts to.
But this anecdote from MLB insider Jon Heyman is…I don’t know if I have one right word.
Indeed, moving Manaea dropped the A’s payroll to $32.5 million according to Spotrac. But, as noted by someone who replied to Heyman’s tweet, that might not account for everything and the number might land a little higher.
But that Oakland’s payroll going into the 2022 season is even within sniffing distance of what it was in 1991 is eye-opening. They aren’t the only ones not spending much, and their days among the highest payroll teams in baseball are never coming back. But somewhere around double-digit individual players are lined up to make more than multiple entire teams this year, and the A’s are now among them.