At the time of the Matt Olson trade last season, Cristian Pache was one of two silver linings in an otherwise depressing move for A’s fans. Pache quickly endeared himself to A’s fans, both through his enthusiastic and dependable center-field defense and his emphasis on philanthropy toward young fans.
Unfortunately, the concerns that were attributed to Pache in Atlanta followed him to Oakland—he just could not find a way to consistently hit at the major league level. After just 72 games and a league-worst 24 wRC+ amongst hitters with similar plate appearance totals, Pache was optioned to Vegas.
There, in the hitter-friendly confines of the PCL, Pache’s numbers did increase, but not nearly to the extent that the A’s had hoped for.
Fast forward to Spring Training 2023, and Cristian Pache’s make-or-break Spring was at the forefront of camp battles for the Oakland A’s, who introduced Brent Rooker, JJ Bleday, a returning Conner Capel, and similarly-prized center fielder Esteury Ruiz into the outfield mix. With the deck stacked against Pache, he adequately performed, sporting a .302 average in 21 games, including three extra base hits and an uptick in drawing walks.
It seemed as though Pache, who is out of options, was a lock for at least the fourth outfield position.
But according to manager Mark Kotsay on Monday night, that will not be the case.
“It was really hard to run out of time with a player that you feel is young and still has a huge future in this game,” Kotsay explained to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Unfortunately, for us and the roster, we’ve kind of run out of time with the options that Pache is out of and we’re going to have to make a move.”
With such an emphasis on running out of options in recent weeks, “running out of time” is an interesting way of making sense to move on from the former top-rated prospect that also served as the arguable centerpiece of a blockbuster trade just a season ago. Clearly, options were not a consideration when the two additional backup outfielders, Conner Capel and Brent Rooker, have options remaining to be assigned to Las Vegas instead.
Capel, who played thirteen games with the A’s last season after a September waiver claim, quickly impressed with a 13-for-35 stretch with two HR and nine RBI to finish the season. He has continued to show flashes of power and speed, hit two more homers this Spring to go along with five swiped bags.
Rooker, meanwhile has clearly been ogled over by both the front office and player development since being claimed off waivers from Kansas City in November. This Spring, he went 12-for-39 with five double, ten runs, and an impressive 11 walks, good for a .471 on-base percentage.
No, the betting odds may have leaned heavily in the favor of stashing one of those two players listed above in Triple-A to see if Cristian Pache’s promising Spring was real or not, but the truth of the matter is that the A’s outfield battle was deceptively close by the numbers, and that might just be what tilted those odds.
As good a Spring as Cristian Pache was having, Esteury Ruiz proved to be just as, if not more, dynamic in the field. The 24-year-old with elite speed went 15-for-46 with two home runs, six stolen bases, and a team-leading seventeen RBI.
Perhaps Pache fell victim to a truly competitive Spring. Perhaps the Oakland A’s believe that Ruiz is all that they hoped of Pache last season. Perhaps the A’s were grappling with the determination of whether to stick with Pache or a struggling Ryan Noda, who would likely return back to the Los Angeles Dodgers due to his Rule 5 selection status.
Perhaps the A’s believe that they will have—or already have—a trade lined up to move Cristian Pache for position where they lack the kind of depth that they seem to have in the outfield right now.
Last Friday, Mark Kotsay floated the idea that Pache may currently be on the trading block: “There are some teams interested, and they should be. This kid still has a big future in this game...He’s a plus defender and, I think, on the offensive side, it always takes longer to develop.”
Kotsay’s positioning with these quotes is about as intentional as it gets; the A’s want to move Pache for something if they can because they do not expect that he will be able to clear waivers outright and be stashed in Triple-A Las Vegas. While players like Kevin Smith, Kyle McCann, and others who impressed this Spring will wait for their opportunity while playing in the desert, Pache will likely be playing with a different organization entirely.
But regardless of what Kotsay or anyone else in the A’s organization says about time, this was not a matter of time, but of patience. The A’s ran out of patience with Cristian Pache.
Pache’s fate with Oakland was decided in his second stint with the club last season, where he failed to gain much traction in his position as a backup outfielder. He will likely need a landing spot where he can get a consistent amount of playing time, and regardless of the pythagorean expectations for what the A’s are going to do this season, Oakland is not that spot.
Now, only time will tell if the A’s will regret that they did not muster just a little more patience.
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