Billy Butler is apologizing for getting into a fight with teammate Danny Valencia.
Butler spoke to reporters on Wednesday and said the organization didn’t deserve the negative attention it was getting because of a recent fight between the Athletics teammates.
“First off, I want to say to my teammates, I want to apologize for putting them through this because they didn’t deserve this,” Butler told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. “This was an issue between me and Danny. They didn’t deserve this, the coaching staff didn’t deserve this, the organization didn’t deserve this. This something that could have been prevented on both sides.”
#Athletics Billy Butler: he and Danny Valencia "are not enemies."
— John Hickey (@JHickey3) August 24, 2016
The teammates fought on Sunday after Butler reportedly told an endorsement representative visiting Valencia to drop him as a client. The bizarre comments rightfully ticked off Valencia, who told Butler he was in the wrong. Butler didn’t take kindly to that and called Valencia a “B—- ass” which caused the fight. Butler hit the DL after suffering a concussion and both players were fined for the altercation.
Butler admitted he shouldn’t have said stepped into Valencia’s business. He told reporters he knows Valencia didn’t mean to concuss him.
“I know I regret what I did, I think he regrets what he did,” Butler said. “By no means do I think his intentions were to give me a concussion, I think that’s fair to say.”
The teammates might not necessarily be best friends, but at least it appears issues have been hashed out and everyone can move on. Now, back to baseball.
