Athletics' Reddick apologizes to Melvin for remarks over lineup decisions

Less than 24 hours after Oakland Athletics outfielder Josh Reddick insinuated his team's front office was meddling with manager Bob Melvin's lineup, keeping him on the bench against left-handed hitters, the 28-year-old attempted to diffuse the controversy.

“Bottom line, I want to be out there every day, no matter who’s on the mound,” Reddick said Friday. “That was the message. How it came out may not have been how I wanted it to come out. Some miscommunication between me and Bob, I probably just assumed too much. Who knows at this point how things are worked out? But I talked to Bob and we got a handle on it between the two of us.

“I just didn’t want to make it sound like I was throwing my manager under the bus,” Reddick said. “I don’t want to do that to Bob because he’s such a great guy, not only as a manager but as a person, for the four years I’ve been here and I don’t want to make anything come down on him.”

On Thursday, Reddick was tabbed to start his club's series finale against the Colorado Rockies, but received a text message from Melvin hours before the game informing him he'd been removed from the lineup set to face left-hander Jorge De La Rosa.

When broached by broadcaster Ray Fosse prior to Thursday's game about what determines whether he faces left-handers or not, Reddick suggested general manager Billy Beane may influence the manager's lineup decisions.

“I have no idea. It doesn’t come from anywhere in this clubhouse," Reddick said. "Everybody knows what situations our general manager puts up there. I couldn’t tell you what the difference is between me starting against one guy and not starting against another guy. … There’s probably so many numbers they could dig into their computers with and try to find one just to keep me out of the lineup.”

Despite managing a career-best .817 OPS through 74 games this season, Reddick is hitting just .152/.222/.227 in 72 plate appearances against left-handers.