Athletics’ Champman in Yankees link
With the MLB still in the postseason, fans have been kept busy with rumors circulating about players being traded between different clubs and new drafts onto their roster.
Two such sides that have been the subject of a number of rumors over the past couple of weeks are the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, with the latter needing to fill a couple of gaps in their team.
It has led to potential trade deal rumors between the two franchises, with either Matt Olsen or more prominently Matt Chapman linked to the Yankees from the A’s.
Chapman a curious option
Although the link to Olsen appears to make sense on the face of it, due to him being a free agent and also the Yankees needing a first base short-stop. Olsen recorded a .271 batting average, with 39 home runs in 156 games last season.
ESPN's Buster Olney thinks the Yankees will end up trading for either Matt Olson or Matt Chapman from the Athletics
He says the Yankees have talked internally about Chapman playing shortstop after winning Gold Glove at third base three of the last four seasons pic.twitter.com/h12AQEVYUx
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) December 30, 2021
Meanwhile, Chapman at short-stop represents an odd choice; he has only played four games in this position during a career that has spanned 575 games. While he is more of a natural third-baser, Chapman has shown enough over the last few years that he could well be an outside-of-the-box fix for the Yankees.
It is not uncommon for teams to go hunting for creative alternatives and this would certainly represent an interesting fix for the Yankees, however, Olsen certainly would be the wisest choice.
A’s need to cut wage bill
The west coast side are looking to significantly trim their wage expenditure and letting at least one of either Chapman or Olsen go would help in doing that – especially the former who commands a substantially high salary.
Having recently drafted the likes of Vince Fernandez in early December, while adding a number of others in November that avoids arbitration, including Chad Pinder and Tony Kemp, the A’s are well-stocked across the board.