The lights were on late in the west coast last night. At least in the office of Billy Bean, General Manager of the Oakland A’s. The Oakland A’s did make a big bold move at a minimal cost. They signed former Kansas City Royal Billy Butler to a 3 year $30 million deal with a reported $5 million signing bonus.

Billy Butler is primarily a DH at this point in his career, with some time possibly at first base. Not only are his defensive skills eroding as his career goes on, but even his offensive skills are downgrading the last few years. Just as an example, Butler’s OPS (on base percentage) in 2012 it was .882 in 2013 it dropped to .787 and in 2014 it fell even more to .702.

But, Butler still hits lefties well and the Oakland organization will mix and match players with their strengths so it works out best for the overall club. The A’s believed they needed another right handed bat after the trade of Yoenis Cespedes last year at the trade deadline, and they got that in Butler. But in fairness to the A’s in the last 3 years Butler made $8 million per year each year for the last 3 years, so them signing him to a 3 year 30 million deal is not to much of a stretch as he turns 30 years old this season. But, on the flip side he has had a 8 year career, and in that career he has made a total of $29,790,000.

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