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Report: Josh Donaldson and Billy Beane Had Major Issues Prior to Trade

When the Oakland Athletics sent franchise cornerstone Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays the day after Thanksgiving, it raised way more questions than answers.

Why trade someone that was considered your best player? Why do so with that player still under team control at a cheap price for the foreseeable future?

Now a few days after the smoke has cleared, it seems that we are acquiring an understanding of what was happening behind the scenes between Donaldson and Athletics general manager Billy Beane.

And according to Bleacher Report‘s Scott Miller, it’s not good. 

One industry source says he “knew” the Athletics would trade Josh Donaldson this winter, no matter how little baseball sense it made, because the All-Star and Beane were “at war” by season’s end.

Multiple sources cite a verbal altercation between the two after Donaldson told manager Bob Melvin he needed a couple of days off after Oakland had played several days in a row. The story goes, Beane told Donaldson if he needed a couple of days off, the club should put him on the disabled list, and that made Donaldson unhappy.

Miller goes on to indicate that both Beane and Donaldson downplayed the spat to a local newspaper in the Bay Area, but this story seems to have some legs to it. After Beane noticed that Donaldson wasn’t in the lineup one evening, the two had a meeting with A’s manager Bob Melvin.

A meeting that didn’t necessarily go well.

They got into it in the coach’s office,” the source says, describing a scene in which Beane lit into Donaldson, with the third baseman reiterating his need for a day off and petulantly calling Beane “Billy Boy.”

“Nobody talks to Billy that way,” the source said. “It did not surprise me in the least that he got rid of Donaldson.

The interesting dynamic here is that Beane’s hands-on approach is known around the baseball world. And no, I am not talking about Hollywood’s version of the situation in the movie Moneyball.

If Beane did indeed have words with Donaldson about the latter needing some time off, that’s not a good look. By now it’s well known that the All-Star was playing injured throughout the second half of the season. There were even times where it looked like Donaldson could barely walk. Despite this, he remained on the field. If that was due to Beane’s actions behind the scenes, it could speak to a larger issue in Oakland.

The A’s eventually dealt Donaldson to Toronto for third baseman Brett Lawrie and three prospects in a move that still has baseball people scratching their collective heads.

Photo: Fansided.com

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