Giants star 3B seemingly criticizes A's in his return to Bay Area
It's been nearly two years since third baseman Matt Chapman was traded from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Chapman returned to the Bay Area on Sunday, signing a one-year, $18M deal with the San Francisco Giants, and didn't take long to call out the A's for their previous personnel decisions.
“We had something really special building with the A's and unfortunately that got kind of ripped out of our hands and broken up," Chapman said. "So to come back here and have an opportunity with an organization like the Giants that’s not afraid to spend and do all the things you expect a winning franchise to do, we have the opportunity to do that here.”
The 30-year-old was selected by Oakland with the 25th overall pick in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft and made his big-league debut in 2017.
Chapman became the A's full-time starter at the hot corner in 2018 and posted career highs in hits (152), doubles (42), batting average (.278), on-base percentage (.356) and OPS (.864). Chapman earned his first Gold Glove that year as well and finished seventh in the junior circuit's MVP voting.
He was even better in 2019, recording career bests in home runs (36), RBI (91) and runs scored (102), while finishing sixth in the AL MVP voting and earning his second straight Gold Glove. Chapman also made his lone All-Star team of his career thus far.
The two-time Platinum Glove winner led the AL in defensive wins above replacement (WAR) in both 2018 and 2019 at 2.9 and 3.3, respectively, but his offensive numbers dropped in 2021 after the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.
Bob Melvin was at the helm in Oakland for over 1,600 games from 2011-21, winning the 2012 and 2018 AL Manager of the Year awards and leading the club to six postseason appearances. He managed the San Diego Padres in 2022 and 2023, helping them get to the NLCS in 2022 before falling to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games. He joined the Giants in October.
Chapman's departure from Oakland was one of the final moves in an offseason fire sale that winter, which also included the trade of first baseman Matt Olson to the Atlanta Braves for a package of four prospects.
Chapman signed a two-year extension with the Blue Jays shortly after his arrival. He registered 44 home runs, 130 RBI and a .234/.327/.429 slash line in 1,047 at-bats covering 295 games in his two seasons north of the border.
More must-reads: