The B’s Transactions Philosophy
by Roberto Santiago
The B’s 2026 Opening Day Roster
Last year, the Ballers had the luxury of leading in the standings starting in early July, a position they never relinquished. With that came roster stability, as their lineup produced and their pitching led the league despite the short left field at Raimondi Park. This year has seen more flux from the start. Pitching has been behind since injuries in Spring Training, the league overall has seen a significant uptick in offense (one metric from the front office: across the league, games are 27 minutes longer this season than last!), and that left field wall has tormented the team. The B’s were 27-21 in the first half of 2024 and 37-11 in the first half last year. That 2024 team went from fourth to first in the second half going 31-17 to make the playoffs. This year’s squad is 22-30 and has yet to win a game in the second half. This has led to roster churn unlike the club has seen in the previous two years. As Oakland searches for answers, I’ve talked with Ballers' decision makers over the course of the first half to provide insight into the mindset and logic behind the moves.
Most of the team’s moves have been performance-based. Sometimes that has meant sending out under-performing players for new prospects. Other times it has meant relinquishing over-performers to higher leagues. The most notable example this year is Gabe Tanner’s contract being purchased by the White Sox organization. That was also the case when the team traded closer Braydon Nelson to Cleburne in the American Association for a player to be named later (PTBNL), and Dispatches caught up with starter CJ Blowers who said he was grateful to the B’s for the move to the Florence Y’alls of the Frontier League to help his career.
Pitching is where the club has seen the most turnover. Since May 18th, the day prior to Opening Day, the Ballers have brought in more than 15 new pitchers, and that number doesn’t include marketing contract cricket bowler Liam Plunkett. Some, like Connor Godwin (of the Dodgers, who was released this week) came from affiliated ball, which sounds great in terms of talent but can present a different challenge. “Getting guys from affiliated ball can be tough. Harder than getting guys from college or indy ball because of how they’re scheduled,” said B’s manager Aaron Miles. “Everything there is geared towards development rather than winning. Especially at the lower levels. They know they’re pitching this many innings or this many pitches on a set schedule.” How does that impact their transition to Oakland? According to Miles, the question is, “Do they have the grit to pitch three days a week? Can they handle that grind when the focus is on winning ball games?” Moreover, every decision made really matters: when a player is released instead of traded, it could be the end of their pro careers. “Sometimes you wish you could tell these guys to stick around just in case,” said Miles of the released players. “You don’t know for sure if you’re making the right decision.”
The team has also brought in more than eight position players since the start of the season. A few have been familiar faces who weren’t getting playing time with their new teams (Cam Bufford, Davis Drewek). Others were acquired via trade with other leagues (Myles Beale), signed off waivers from PBL teams (Paul Winland), or signed out of college (Conner Smith). Of course, any acquisition means someone has to be sent out. Even when that player is a beloved playoff hero like T.J. McKenzie. T-Mac scored the only run in a must-win game against Ogden in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. He got off to a torrid start in 2026 including a three homer game on May 20th before cooling off. McKenzie saw spot duty recently, returning to his 2025 role as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. Esai Santos’s shift from right field to center and the arrival of the switch-hitting Beale meant McKenzie’s role would be further diminished. “It would have been great to keep him on the bench like we had him last year,” offered Miles. “But he needs to play everyday and he can do that with Red Pocket.” As with Nelson, the McKenzie trade was made with the best interest of the player in mind. “The team might be mad at me,” Miles continued, “you hope he doesn’t come back to hurt you. Bautista’s beaten us a couple times.” There, Miles was referring to Nick Bautista, a starting pitcher the Ballers traded to Long Beach early in the year for a PTBNL. Bautista is pitching very well in Long Beach, and especially against Oakland, including a win and a no decision that the Coast won. (Yesterday, he pitched a complete game with no earned runs and ten strikeouts against Yuba-Sutter…)
Just beyond the midpoint of the season, it can still be transactions season. As the MLB draft has just concluded, two pools of players are now available: those who didn't get drafted and those who get cut in favor of drafted players. This is a project that Assistant General Manager Tyler Petersen said has been taking up almost all of his time right recently. And what about all those players to be named later? Those are “Almost always a handshake deal,” said Petersen. This means there isn’t always an actual player coming back, though the team sometimes does target a player later to complete the deal.
Stay tuned, Ballers fans, fall is coming and the Ballers may well be making moves in the hope of making the playoffs with a strong second half.
Roberto Santiago is a third generation Berkeley boy currently raising the fourth generation. Roberto’s writing has appeared in Latina, Parents, and various online outlets. A lifelong baseball fan, Roberto worked briefly with the Boston Red Sox and once hit an RBI single off Spaceman Lee on a 2-2 changeup. It was his only at bat ever in a real baseball game. Find him on Instagram.
