Butler apologizes, says he and Valencia can move forward

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OAKLAND — Billy Butler broke his silence Wednesday on his clubhouse fight with Danny Valencia, expressing regret for his part in the conflict and the unwanted attention it brought the A’s.

He also said he spent time Tuesday going around and apologizing to teammates individually, and though he had yet to talk privately with Valencia, he said the two had a plan to do so eventually to further clear the air after an altercation that landed Butler on the seven-day concussion list.

“There’s a lot of qualities about Danny that I like,” Butler said. “I know it looks like we fought — we do it every day, (just) not to that extent. To say that we’re enemies is not right, and to blame this all on one side is not right either.”

Tensions flared Friday in Chicago when Valencia grew agitated by comments Butler made regarding shoe apparel that Valencia may or may not have been wearing, which could have impacted an endorsement contract for Valencia.

Butler did not comment directly on that, but he did say he and Valencia verbally spar on a regular basis, and that things escalated too far this time.

“Some of that’s me on some days, some of that’s on him some days,” Butler said. “Most of the time it’s in good fun, but sometimes whenever you're doing that thing on a consistent basis, things happen to where sometimes you get offended … even though you're having fun. I think it was a reaction and it was one of those things, I regret what I did. I know he regrets what he did. … By no means do I think his intentions were to give me a concussion.”

Valencia addressed the topic briefly with reporters Monday.

“In retrospect, yeah, you’d like to handle things differently. But we’re handling it here. That’s pretty much it,” Valencia said then. “We’re just gonna move on from here and finish the season strong. … He’s my teammate. I have respect for him, hopefully he has respect for me and that’s it.”

Addressing reporters just outside the A’s dugout, Butler came across genuinely apologetic in his remarks. He also said he apologized to manager Bob Melvin, general manager David Forst and executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane.

The issue now is where Butler stands with his teammates moving forward regarding the whole incident. On that topic, he said: “I don’t think they really had an issue with me at all to begin with on this. But obviously the fact of the matter is, I brought a distraction that brought away from the attention that we’re trying to get better on the field. I think that’s not good from a veteran’s standpoint, and we’ve got a lot of young guys up here that are part of future plans here. We’re supposed to show the leadership and guidance of how you’re supposed to act up here.”

Butler will travel with the A’s on their upcoming six-game road trip but there’s no timetable for him to return to the active roster. He said he’s doing better from a physical standpoint regarding his concussion issues, feeling he began to turn the corner Tuesday.

“Before that, I was having trouble even thinking about what I was doing next, let alone planning things I was going to say.” For that reason, he waited until Wednesday to publicly address the issue. He also wanted to make sure he didn’t say anything he regretted.

“The way I would have addressed you guys three days ago is different than the way it is now,” Butler said. “And that wouldn’t have been good for me, it wouldn’t have been good for my family, for my daughters that we’re raising. And I definitely did not want that. That’s why I waited.”

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