Dallas Braden saw it coming before anyone else did. A throwaway comment on a podcast. A friendly jab about who deserves the crown in Oakland. And now Nick Kurtz and Jared Carrabis are locked in what both sides are calling a full-blown “beef.”
It started when Carrabis, the baseball media personality, said Kurtz was the best player on the Athletics. Kurtz didn’t agree. He pointed at his teammate, catcher Shea Langeliers, and said no, that guy is.
The whole thing spilled out into the open during a recent episode of Baseball Is Dead. Braden flagged the tension, and Carrabis decided to clear the air by going straight to Kurtz.
“Alright, so Dallas Braden said that you and I have beef because I said you were the best player on the A’s, but you said that Shea Bangeliers is the best player on the A’s,” Carrabis said, deliberately mangling the name Langeliers. “Are we in an agreement now that you’re the best player on the A’s? Where are we at now with our relationship?”
Kurtz didn’t budge. Not even a little.
“We are going to disagree still, so we got beef,” Kurtz said.
Carrabis pushed again, asking if Kurtz really believed Langeliers was the best player on the team. Kurtz doubled down. Hard.
“He is the best catcher in baseball,” Kurtz said.
That kind of loyalty doesn’t happen by accident. Kurtz has been one of the most electric young hitters in Oakland’s system since the A’s drafted him. He could have taken the easy out and said something vague. Instead, he threw his weight behind a teammate.
Langeliers has earned it. He’s quietly become one of the premier defensive catchers in the game. His arm is elite. His game-calling is trusted. He’s exactly the kind of backstop a rebuilding team builds around.
What’s interesting here isn’t the debate itself. It’s what it says about the A’s clubhouse. These guys are young. They’re still figuring out who they are as a team. And here’s a rookie-level bat refusing to take credit away from a veteran catcher. That’s the kind of culture that actually sticks.
Carrabis might never get Kurtz to admit he’s the guy. But both of them seem fine with that. The beef is real enough to be entertaining and fake enough to be harmless.
As for Langeliers, he probably doesn’t care who gets the title. He’s too busy throwing out baserunners.
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