A's skipper Bob Melvin is the longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball. Since 2011, when he took over for Bob Geren, the Palo Alto native has always been widely praised among Oakland players for his figurative open-door policy.
But what about literally? How often do players actually take advantage of stopping by in-season?
We found out last week during exclusive interviews at team headquarters.
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Marcus Semien: “Twice a week. If you do the math, that’s a lot.”
Matt Olson: “I’d say a couple times per homestand.”
Matt Chapman: “Once or twice per homestand, maybe more. I float in there. Sometimes I just try to pop by and rile him up a little bit. Get him going, say something that will piss him off. Probably more than I should be.”
Liam Hendriks: “Maybe three times per season. I usually catch him in the hallway so I don’t have to go inside his office.”
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Sean Manaea: “Not much. Maybe five times total.”
All of that sounds understandable.
But we also went right to the source, to find out who visits Melvin the most.
“Does it include [Ramon] Laureano?” Melvin chuckled. “Because he’s in there every day. Every single day. In fact, he texts me every single day of the offseason, as well.”
Reached via text yesterday, the outfielder boldly confirmed it.
“Maybe talking to him regularly is a superstitious thing for me,” Laureano replied. “Or maybe both of us.”
And then it got… real.
“We talk about his wine collection and how he should pass out wine to the team for every win because he has a lot of Napa friends that send him wine," Laureano said.
And deeper.
“We also talk about how many times he’s been thrown out by the umpire that is working that specific night and I tell him, ‘Hey, you’ve got to calm down a little bit tonight because the guy behind the plate has thrown you out twice in the last four years,’ ” Laureano continued.
[RELATED: Q&A with Matt Chapman]
And even deeper.
“I also tell him, ‘Hey, I know you want to give me a day off today, but you need to play me today.’ ”
How can you not like Ramon Laureano after this? And Bob Melvin for that matter.