I couldn’t really come up with a title of this without sounding like we were traded which Matt HAS NOT been traded…yet at least. 
This is just a blog talking about what is like being on a team when trade rumors are swirling all around you and then when “blockbuster” trades happen. 

To be honest, when Matt was in the minor leagues, we didn’t really pay attention that closely to trades because we never thought Matt would really be a piece and we didn’t feel the effects of a trade very much in the lower levels of the minor leagues.
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But ever since Matt has been put on the 40-man, we watch trade stuff like hawks. OK, that might be dramatic. But every move has a direct hit on each player on the 40-man and then to the (now) 26-man roster for the season.
Also from my standpoint, my mind goes straight to the logistics of a trade. Learning a new team, navigating new cities, different organizations ways of doing things.

Just when I think I have this whole baseball life somewhat figured out a season like 2019 punches me in the throat. HA. But seriously. In all the best ways.

Welcome to my (Jesica’s) take on Matt’s rookie season from behind the scenes and all my emotions. 

Since I have been traveling with Matt, we’ve had it pretty easy as far as pretty much knowing what’s going on. My first year we were in AA all year then went to fall league then the next year were in AAA and even though Matt was hurt most of the season we pretty much knew we were going to be in OKC or AZ rehabbing. Then obviously started this season in OKC and then everything else that followed made up for all the certainty we’ve had thus far.

Since April 30 when Matt made his debut, I’m not even kidding you guys when I say everyday I was thinking after the game “ok, is Matt going to text me and say he’s being optioned.’ It happened a few times but most days it didn’t but still everyday was a thought. I say that because that’s why we lived out of hotels for the entire season and paid on our apartment in OKC every month. So we would have that apartment to go back to and it housed all of our stuff and it never made sense to get a place in LA because it wasn’t permanent.

I don’t think this was on Matt’s mind as much as it was mine just because I was the one who had to figure out all the logistics if he did get sent back. How to get Grainger, when to fly back, make sure we have all our stuff, contact job to tell them I’m back, just all these things started going through my mind if/when he got optioned. All Matt had to do was get on the plane and go play in OKC or go play in LA…and I don’t mean to make that sound easy because it’s not obviously and I wrote a blog on what it was like during the season but during the season I’m the one dealing with all the life stuff because he doesn’t have time or need to be focusing on that stuff.

Whew. What a year, you guys. I know it’s technically not over yet. But for us, we’re finally settled until spring training. 

We’ve been through spring training. Moving to OKC. Making a debut in April. And then went on the craziest ride of our lives for the rest of the season. We lived out of hotels since the end of April. Had a few options but never made it back to OKC. (Since made his debut on April 30 he did not spend a night in our OKC apartment and I spent about 10 days there and we paid for rent all season because there was always a chance everyday we would go back) I made it back to OKC after all-star break option then went back out to LA then went back to OKC to pack up most of our apartment not knowing if that was the right move or not. Went through September not knowing what October held. Made the playoff roster. Started game 5. Went on 37 flights since April 30. Moved to California for offseason. Matt started working out. Went to Georgia. Went to Tennessee. Put on our first Matt Beaty Scholarship Weekend. Made it back to Pasadena with Grainger (our pup). Went on vacation to Aruba (using hotel points we piled up this season with some left over). And now we’re here. I just got rehired with lululemon which is where I’ve been working for two years but had to be off boarded because I didn’t have a chance to work much this season. I’m training for my third half marathon. I feel refreshed but I’m out of breath are you?! HAHAHA

But seriously how freakin' fun, wild, crazy, hard, all the things. I sit here now trying to tackle where to start in writing and sharing aspects of this season and I struggle to know where to begin. I journaled A LOT. And I wrote during some of the best times on Dreams and Seams Facebook page but I didn’t do the best job posting here throughout the season. And I honestly I’m OK with that. I can look back knowing I was so in the moment and that’s exactly where I needed to be.

​I think I should start this post with saying I’ve been a Twitter troll. I’ve been that sports fan. Ya know the one that’s complaining about Butch Jones coaching or play calling or how Tennessee football is terrible…yeah, I’m the hot take queen. Or at least I used to be. 

I’ve always been a sports fan. I mean I have a degree in journalism and did seven internships in college all in sports. I covered Texas high school football for two seasons out of college. I’ll always be invested in sports, I’ll always tell sports stories and I’ll probably always have hot takes. 

But I will say watching Matt play at the highest level in his sport and seeing the criticism has changed my hot take heart a little bit. Now I have journalistic integrity and I know what to say and what not to say, but being at this level has made me second guess tweeting out a sports hot take. For the sole reason is all of these athletes have families. This is their job. They don’t want to go out and make mistakes or just flat out suck sometimes, but it happens. (I’m not meaning to sound soft. I’m just being honest in how my heart has changed on this a little.)

I thought about putting some tweets here that I’ve seen about Matt. But then I thought nah, I don’t want to give those people attention. And I already want to have a section at the end of my book one day dedicated to the haters. :) Now is not the time.

There’s a lot that I need to catch up on writing about. Honestly, I get a little overwhelmed when I think about all the stuff I want to say and talk about. It’s hard to figure out where to start especially since a lot of time has passed since some of the events have happened, etc. Also I think Matt deserves to be included in a lot of this dialogue, but that’s just not very likely during the season…especially with how this season is going.

With that being said, one of the most asked questions I’ve gotten is what it’s like going up and down and up and down. Again, Matt has a huge say in this, but I still think right now this is one of the questions I want to address the most. I have a pretty clear idea of how he feels so I think I can articulate it well.

Matt has been recalled and optioned (aka sent back down) three times now, seven moves total. 

April 30 - first recall aka debut
May 5 - optioned to OKC 
May 17 - recalled to LA
June 21 - optioned to OKC
June 22 - recalled to LA
July 10 - optioned to OKC
July 15 - recalled to LA

Matt also spent 10-day on the injured list when wasn’t sure if they were going to put him on the IL or not.