A's Trade All-Star First Baseman Matt Olson To Atlanta; 'It's Bittersweet Leaving'
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The Oakland Athletics traded away fan-favorite and two-time All Star first baseman Matt Olson Monday to Atlanta for four players including the Braves 2019 first round draft pick catcher Shea Langeliers and 2021 first-round selection right-handed pitcher Ryan Cusick.
After 10 years on the West Coast with the A's, the trade will be a homecoming for Olson in Atlanta where he was born there.
"It's bittersweet leaving," Olson said at the team's Arizona spring training facility. "But I know Atlanta is an amazing place -- World Series champs, my hometown. If there is one place to go to leave here, that's the place to do it. I'm excited about it."
Olson appears to be the replacement for Freddie Freeman, who has become a free agent and an attractive target for several teams.
The 27-year-old has been a mainstay in the A's lineup for several seasons. He is a two-time Gold Glove winner with a .252 career average, 142 homers and an .859 OPS over six seasons. Olson slugged 39 homers and drove in 111 runs last season, finishing eighth in AL MVP voting.
What made him more attractive to the Brave he is under team control through 2024. But Oakland was able to get a prize package of four young players in return.
Langeliers, who was the the Braves No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, hit .256 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in 97 games with Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett last year. He won the Hank Aaron Award as the Braves minor league position player of the year in 2021 after ranking second in the Double-A South in slugging (.498), third in home runs (22) and fourth in OPS (.836). The 24-year-old right-handed hitter played in 54 games in 2019 and has a .255 career average with 24 home runs and 87 RBI in 151 games in two seasons.
Cusick, the No.9 prospect in Atlanta's minor league system, went 0-1 with a 2.76 ERA in six starts for Single-A Augusta last year. He struck out 34 in 16.1 innings and walked just four.
Outfielder Cristian Pache made his Major League debut with Atlanta in 2020 and is 8-for-67 (.119) with a home run and four RBI in 24 games in two seasons with the Braves. He spent most of the 2021 season at Triple-A Gwinnett where he hit .265 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 89 games. The 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic made his professional debut in 2016 and is a .280 hitter with 32 home runs, 215 RBI and 67 stolen bases in 517 games as a minor leaguer.
Right-handed pitcher Joey Este was 3-6 with a 2.91 ERA in 20 starts with Augusta in 2021. He held the opposition to a .184 batting average and struck out 127 batters in 99.0 innings while walking just 29. The 20-year-old right-hander led the Low-A East in ERA, opponents batting average and strikeouts and ranked second in innings pitched.
