Destruction, Hold the Creative

Economists and pundits of a certain stripe like to throw around a phrase coined by Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian economist of long ago. Schumpeter wrote about capitalism’s ability to evolve through “creative destruction,” sort of like the phone company turning into a bunch of cell-phone companies. With the Oakland A’s, it’s just about the destruction. In the past two days, the A’s have traded their two cornerstones, first baseman Matt Olson and third baseman Matt Chapman for a total of eight prospects in return. That’s in addition to trading Chris Bassitt, their best pitcher, for yet two more prospects. Go wild, A’s fans. Oakland has regularly gone this route since the days of Charlie Finley in the 1970s. By my count, four different ownership groups have held periodic fire sales, and never once have they been called out by the commissioner at the time, Bowie Kuhn excepted, and not really even then. Gosh, do you think what the A’s always do may be why players keep calling for competitive balance? The current owner is John J. Fisher, worth in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion. Fisher, like every A’s owner before him, wants out of the Coliseum, but he doesn’t want to build a replacement park all by himself, God forbid. Then he wouldn’t be worth $2.5 billion. Instead, he looks for a public patsy, excuse me, partner, while refusing to pay the talent that GM Billy Beane develops once they head towards free agency. This is the business the owners sought to protect with their lockout. Joseph Schumpeter wouldn’t be impressed. I imagine A’s fans aren’t any too happy, either.