Athletics $60,000,000 star exchanges banter with Cleveland Guardians' Tanner Bibee

Oakland Athletics slugger Brent Rooker and Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee had a lighthearted interaction on Thursday over the social media platform X. The exchange started when Rooker, who signed a five-year, $60 million extension with the A's, responded to a fan's request to analyze his at-bats.

However, Rooker was reluctant to do so due to paranoia about pitchers exploiting his insights.

“I’ve considered doing this but I get unreasonably paranoid that some pitchers would see me explain something about my mid-at-bat thought process and use the information against me during the season,” Rooker wrote on X.

Bibee, seizing the opportunity for some banter, poked fun at Rooker's hesitancy.

“Yeah dude you should do it 📄,” Bibee said.

In response, Rooker humorously quipped:

“See?? Can’t ever trust pitchers.”

MLB, who posted the fun banter, called it "sharp" from Rooker as we are less than a month away before catchers and pitchers report for Spring Training camp.

Brent Rooker even planned for Japan with things not working out in majors

The 2023-24 Brent Rooker once struggled in the initial phase of his major league career, with him joining his fourth team, the Athletics, who claimed him off waivers from the Royals in November 2022. Previously he played for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres and the Kansas City Royals, but in none of these stops was he able to get going.

During his introductory press conference after signing the $60 million extension, Rooker revealed that he was planning to try out in Japan's baseball league since things weren't working out in the majors.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Rooker said. “Two years ago, the conversations I was having with Dustin were, ‘Hey, do we want to call David and ask for our release so we can try to go to Japan?’ That was a very real consideration."

Before the 2023 Spring Training, Rooker needed to show his best foot forward to warrant a position in the active roster of the Athletics. He pounced on the opportunity, earning an All-Star selection in 2023 and finishing the season, leading the club in home runs (30), RBIs (69), OPS (.817), games played (137), at-bats (463), total bases (226) and strikeouts (172).

He followed it up with another big season, hitting .293/.365/.562 with 39 home runs, 112 RBI and 11 stolen bases. This led him to extension talks with the Athletics GM.

"Now, the conversation we were having was, ‘Hey, David wants to give you $60 million. Do you want that or no?” I was like, ‘Yeah, we should do that one,’" Rooker added.

Coming off an extensor repair surgery in his right forearm, Rooker hopes to continue doing well for the club that placed their trust in him.