With Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson playing extremely well on extremely talented playoff teams, many of the talking heads in the media have said things like this:

Let's put aside the perfectly justifiable reasons to trade Cespedes and Donaldson. There are plenty of valid arguments for and against trading them. The media loves to push the narrative that they were the worst trades every and Billy Beane is the worst. Instead, they should try looking beyond the stupid narratives and try to consider the one reprehensible, unjustifiable decision that the A's have actually made in recent years.

In 2013, John Jaso got concussed, which took a lot of strength out of our lineup against right-handed pitchers. Detroit started nothing but right-handers against us. In Game 4, Brett Anderson came in to face Alex Avila instead of Jerry Blevins. We could've gone to the 9th only down 5-4, even after screwing up the chance in the top of the inning. Anderson let in three more runs. The two we scored in the top of the 9th ended up meaning nothing. If we pitch Blevins, we get out of that inning, score the two off Benoit, and Balfour finishes off the series in the bottom of the 9th, getting Austin Jackson to chase a slider down and away because that's what Austin Jackson does.

In 2014, we had a loaded lineup and a great pitching staff following the Trade Deadline. Our lineup would've taken a hit against lefties without Yoenis regardless. Jonny Gomes had a very poor August and September. I would've rather had Daniel Nava, who, even if he didn't hit, would've made a positive impact on defense, unlike Gomes.

But the worst decision made that year? John Jaso stayed at catcher. It's not like he offered elite defense, or even passable defense, at the position. We had two other catchers who were hitting the cover off the ball. A Vogt/Norris platoon was ridiculous, especially considering that Norris didn't need to be platooned with the way he was hitting at the time. Jaso could've been at DH, first base, or even left field. Gomes was there with the idea that he'd do enough with the bat to make up for his lousy defense. Why not use Jaso in left field then? He was proven to be a downright fantastic bat against right-handed pitching.

Our mishandling of John Jaso was arguably the worst decision made by the A's in the last decade. Shut up with the stupid Donaldson and Cespedes narratives. There were legitimate reasons to trade both of them. Pay attention to the one indefensible move, John Jaso being stuck at catcher. Don't regurgitate the same stupid half-baked narratives that everyone else does.