On Monday, veteran reliever Trevor May announced his retirement after nine MLB seasons. The 34-year-old retires with a career 4.24 ERA and 520 strikeouts in 450 1/3 innings, including a 3.33 ERA in 175 2/3 innings during his peak from 2018-21. May suited up for the Minnesota Twins (2014-20), New York Mets (2021-22), and Oakland Athletics (2023).
May announced his retirement during a Twitch stream, and after declaring he is hanging up his spikes, he ripped into A's owner John Fisher, who is of course preparing to move the franchise to Las Vegas. Here's what May said about Fisher:
"Now that (my retirement) is official: To the A's organization and every single person who's a part of it, I love all of you. Every single one of you except for one guy. And we all know who that guy is. Sell the team, dude ... Let someone who actually takes pride in the things they own own something. There's actually people who give a s--- about the game. Let them do it. Take Mommy and Daddy's money somewhere else, dork.
"And also, if you're gonna just be a greedy f---, own it. There's nothing weaker than being afraid of cameras. So that's one thing I really struggled with this year, was not just eviscerating that guy. Do what you're going to do, bro. Whatever, you're a billionaire, they exist, you guys have all this power -- you shouldn't have any because you haven't earned any of it, but anyway, whatever -- the reality is, you got handed everything you have, and now you're too soft to stand in front of (fans and the team) and take any responsibility for anything you're doing ... You're putting hundreds if not thousands of people out of work, that have worked somewhere for decades. And you haven't acknowledged that at all. Just be better. That's all we're asking. Just be a human being."
Video of May's rant about Fisher can be seen here (warning: NSFW language).
Fisher, whose parents founded The Gap, first bought a stake in the Athletics in 2005, then purchased controlling interest in the team in 2016. In recent years, Fisher has overseen the front office slashing payroll -- the A's had an MLB-low $56.9 million payroll in 2023 -- and turning the team into a laughingstock. Oakland lost 112 games this year, the most since 1916.
Earlier this year, Fisher secured $380 million in public funding to build a ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, though the true cost figures to be well north of that figure, as Field of Schemes explained. The other 29 owners will vote on the A's move to Las Vegas at the quarterly owners' meetings next month and the relocation is expected to be approved.
The A's lease at RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, though the new ballpark in Las Vegas is not expected to be ready until 2028. Where the team will play from 2025-27 is unclear. Fisher and the A's must provide plans for 2025-27 as part of their official relocation submission to MLB.
Needless to say, Fisher is deeply unpopular in Oakland because he's torn the Athletics down to the studs, and is now moving the franchise to Las Vegas. May only said what thousands of others are thinking.
