Billy Butler Reportedly Injured in Brawl with A's Teammate [UPDATE]

The Oakland Athletics don't play well together and, it has been alleged, at least two of them don't play nice, either.

Slugger Billy Butler missed the past two games for the A's after being hurt by teammate Danny Valencia in a fight, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Nobody on the A's will comment on the matter, with Valencia cleverishly saying, "What happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse."

Ah, so it happened in the clubhouse! Gotcha, Valencia. Your Las Vegas tourism office alibi won't save you. We don't know much else, or even what caused the altercation since no one will go on the record, but Slusser has a couple of sources who claim we might have a tattle-tale situation on our hands:

"According to two sources, the dispute in the clubhouse began when Butler informed an equipment representative that Valencia had not, in fact, been wearing the spikes that Valencia had told the representative that he was using."

Manager Bob Melvin said only that Butler was unavailable due to nausea and vomiting, though specifically denied that it was the flu, leading Slusser to wonder aloud about Butler being injured to the point of concussion, typical symptoms of which include nausea and vomiting. Along these lines, Slusser adds, "Butler and Valencia … are known to engage in a great deal of loud banter in the clubhouse and on the field."

Large men, boisterous personalities, a history of giving each other the business. One thing leads to another. It's all fun and games until you're puking your guts out.

Speaking of nausea: The A's in 2016. They are 53-71, one of the worst records in the major leagues of baseball. Butler has four home runs and a .757 OPS, kind of lousy for a designated hitter. Under team control through 2017, Valencia has hit (the baseball) well, posting a .829 OPS with 15 homers in 387 plate appearances. Valencia, for a time, had lost some playing time to young Ryon Healy, which led to speculation that Valencia was going to be traded before the non-waiver deadline. Obviously it didn't happen, but perhaps it should have. Valencia already has played with six different major-league franchises over parts of seven seasons. Hmm.

Update: After speaking to two unnamed players, Susan Slusser has more information on what happened between Butler and Valencia. the altercation was the result of Butler speaking to an equipment representative, which angered Valencia. It seems the rep was asking Valencia about a pair of cleats that were not the brand he had an endorsement deal. Valencia told the rep he only used them during pre-game workouts. Butler, however, came over and informed the rep that Valencia was lying and said he should take away his deal.

More:

After the rep departed, the players said, Valencia confronted Butler and told him, "Don't you ever loud talk me in front of a rep. That was wrong," and walked aggressively toward Butler. Butler turned around, took a couple steps toward Valencia, and according to both witnesses, said, "I can say whatever I want and your b—ass isn't going to do anything about it."

One player said that the men leaned in, bumped heads and then started pushing each other, Valencia started swinging and hit Butler in the temple. After the players broke things up, Butler told the players he was OK.

One of the players Slusser spoke to said that most of the incident was not out of character for these two, since they routinely shit-talk with each other, though he did seem to imply that Butler escalated things and "verbally provoked" Valencia.

[SF Chronicle]