The Halsey Situation

[Providence A's]

You may remember this article:

Furious Halsey rips A's / Pitcher says team worried only about money, not players

Brad Halsey figured when he was held out of his start at Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday that he was coming up to start for Rich Harden on Tuesday. He said he was told he was being held in readiness in case Harden couldn't go.

Harden can't go, but instead of Halsey, the A's are going with left-hander Dallas Braden, and Halsey is convinced that he was bypassed because the A's found out that the left-hander is scheduled for an MRI exam later this week.

That makes Halsey furious because he said he complained of arm trouble all spring and was repeatedly told he didn't need an MRI.

"I kept going in and saying, 'My arm is bothering me, it's not right,' and they said, 'Oh, it's just biceps tendinitis, you'll be fine,' '' Halsey said by phone from Sacramento. "Then they send you down and screw you. I'm grinding it out, trying to be a team guy, and I get f -- . It's all just a business decision, because if I came up and pitched Tuesday and then had an MRI and had to go on the DL, they'd have to pay me major-league DL money. It's such a mom-and-pop organization.

And now:

Piazza finally begins his rehab assignment

Little has been heard from lefty Brad Halsey since he slammed the A's for not properly diagnosing an arm problem he had this spring and for not calling him up for a potential start at Baltimore. On Tuesday, noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews performed surgery to repair a torn labrum in Halsey's left shoulder. Halsey said he can begin throwing again in four months and be ready for spring training.

Halsey said he has filed a grievance against the A's with the players association over the handling of his injury. He said he was told the problem was biceps tendinitis and he was not given an MRI exam when he requested one. Halsey contends the matter wasn't attended to properly until he was no longer on the big-league roster, which cost him both his big-league salary and major-league service time.

It's hard for me to say that the A's misdiagnosed him on purpose or whatever as he seems to be contending. Anyone with half a brain can see that the A's training staff has been doing this a lot the last few years (Crosby's back last year, Meyer's shoulder, etc.). They haven't exactly been the model of what a training staff should be.

I was wondering why he hadn't traded him. It's obvious he doesn't want to be here and has no future with the A's. Clearly, no one will want him if he's hurt. We'll probably just end up cutting him. He's not going to want to come back to the A's for spring training.

Thoughts?

[A'sDiehard]

I don't know but something just doesn't feel right with this team right now (other than the losing streak). As far as Halsey I didn't know about any of this but I also think situations like this happen with a lot of teams. And yes money is always an issue with the A's (which is getting a bit tiresome IMO) so he's not telling anybody anything new. I'm also of the opinion that Beane has too much power as the GM as well as an ownership stake in the team.