A’s, Nevada legislators close to finalizing Las Vegas ballpark deal

The Oakland Athletics and state lawmakers are inching closer to a deal that would see up to $380 million in public money go toward the team’s planned $1.5 billion Las Vegas MLB ballpark, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Review-Journal.

The public contribution would include $180 million from the state in transferable tax credits, of which $90 million would be repaid over time from stadium revenues.

Clark County would contribute $150 million. Of that total, $125 million would come from bonds taken out by the county and repaid from a tax district set up around the proposed Tropicana Las Vegas stadium site. The county also would agree to pay for $25 million in infrastructure improvements to the stadium site.

The total public funding commitment would fall between $350 million and $380 million, depending on when the bonds are purchased and the interest rate tied to them.

The A’s would be responsible for any amount that surpasses $380 million, the source indicated.

Can the Oakland A’s Catch the ’62 Mets?

Oakland lost at least 120 games in 5.2% of simulations and more than 120 games 3.6% of the time. The Mets only played in 161 games and had a tie; if we call that a .250 winning percentage (rather than counting the tie as a half-win and half-loss), the A’s are overall more incompetent in 2.5% of the simulated seasons, or about one-in-40. Those are slim chances, but not shocking — about the likelihood of a 15-homer hitter knocking out one in any given at-bat. Nobody had their minds blown by Xander Bogaerts or Jurickson Profar homering last year.

But the A’s have a secret weapon: the trade deadline. ZiPS can only evaluate the roster as currently constructed, but there’s at least some chance that Oakland sheds a few of its desirable players in the next couple of months, making the roster even worse. The A’s are unlikely to move performing players who are cost-controlled for a long time, but even if Ramón Laureano or Jace Peterson or Tony Kemp aren’t playing particularly well, they’re players who project to have value over the last two-thirds of the season. If the A’s can shed two wins worth of talent, which is something they’ve definitely shown they’re capable of doing, then all of the sudden, they’re looking at about a one-in-10 shot at 120 losses.

A’s reach agreement to develop Las Vegas site for stadium

The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a potential stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip.

Bally’s Corp. made the announcement Monday for a 30,000-seat stadium on the 35-acre site. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 billion, and the A’s are asking for nearly $400 million in public support from the Nevada Legislature, which could vote on a proposal this week.

The A’s previously previously signed an agreement to build a stadium also on Tropicana Avenue but on the other side of Interstate 15 that runs alongside the Strip. They were expected to ask the Legislature for $500 million in public funds for the 49-acre site that would have included much more than a stadium.

The new agreement is a scaled-down proposal, but the location is in closer walking distance for fans who are staying in hotels on the south end of the Strip. “We are excited about the potential to bring Major League Baseball to this iconic location,” A’s president Dave Kaval said in a statement. “We are thrilled to work alongside Bally’s and GLPI, and look forward to finalizing plans to bring the Athletics to Southern Nevada.”

A’s revisit other Vegas stadium sites as legislative process lags

Three weeks after confirming they had a “binding agreement” on a 49-acre site west of the Strip for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium, the Oakland A’s have reached out to owners of Southern Nevada sites the team previously considered as a potential backup plan should the team fail to secure legislative support for a $500 million tax package, property representatives told The Nevada Independent.

Sources connected to the A’s and close to the negotiations said Monday that the A’s are still focused on acquiring the former Wild West Casino site bordered by Tropicana Avenue and Dean Martin Drive from Red Rock Resorts for an undisclosed price for the 35,000-seat retractable roof stadium and a surrounding entertainment district.

However, they also confirmed the A’s reached back out to ownership of the Rio Hotel & Casino, which offered the team 22 acres of the resort’s 90-acre site, for just $1. The A’s had rejected the deal that could have greatly reduced some of the costs associated with the land acquisition because the team was concerned about traffic access.

With no concrete proposal and touch-and-go negotiations ongoing, sources spoke to The Nevada Independent on the condition of anonymity. An A’s spokeswoman declined to comment on the record.

The Athletic: Meet the 56-year-old rookie: His big break in The Show took 30 years

Feel like A’s fans could use a feel-good story.

There are 90 miles between the Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento and the major-league stadium in Oakland. Traffic can be brutal, especially on Fridays.

Still, there’s no way the trip should take 30 years.

But when Johnny Doskow pressed his foot on the gas pedal on a mid-April morning, having turned the keys of his gray Infiniti a little before 10 a.m., he was embarking on the final leg of an epic baseball journey.

He started his broadcasting career in 1993 as the radio voice for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. That Low-A team was so cash-strapped it had to make a hard decision about whether to splurge on a fax machine or a mascot costume. (Behold, Mr. Shucks was born.)

Doskow was good in that first job and listeners gravitated to him. He figured he’d spend two years in the Midwest League, get a solid year of seasoning at Triple A and settle behind a major-league mic by 1996. His estimate was only off by three decades.

“Put in there that I was on the fast track,” Doskow said with a laugh.

A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper apologizes for appearing to use racial slur on-air

Oakland Athletics play-by-play broadcaster Glen Kuiper apologized after appearing to say a racial slur in a slip up on-air during Friday night’s game against the Royals.

During the pregame coverage, Kuiper along with broadcast partner Dallas Braden told the audience what the pair did in Kansas City prior to the game.

That included a visit to the city’s Negro League Museum, which Kuiper appeared to trip over and used a racial-slur instead.

“A little bit earlier in the show, I said something, didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to and I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. I just wanted to apologize for that,” Kuiper said in the top of the sixth inning.

For those asking why Glen Kuiper just made an on-air apology, here's why. pic.twitter.com/k1we7gf3GT

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 6, 2023

Assembly leader: A’s stadium deal running out of time in Nevada Legislature

The leader of the Nevada Assembly says the Legislature could “run out of time” on a potential deal to send hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to help construct a baseball stadium in Las Vegas for the Oakland A’s if a proposed bill doesn’t materialize within the next “week or so.”

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) told The Nevada Independent in an interview Wednesday that not only had the A’s not presented “concrete” language to lawmakers on the proposed structure of public money for a new stadium, but that terms of the deal should have already been submitted in order to meet tight deadlines on a shrinking legislative calendar. There are 34 days remaining in the state’s 120-day session, which happens every other year.

“If something was going to happen, it really should have been in place last week,” Yeager said.

The comments come as the team has identified a location for a $1.5 billion stadium complex in Las Vegas but is looking to state lawmakers to approve a $500 million tax package involving tax credits and creation of a special taxation district to help with stadium construction.

A’s rookie Mason Miller throws seven no-hit innings before being pulled after 100 pitches

Oakland Athletics starter Mason Miller and Seattle Mariners starter Bryce Miller put forth a special effort Tuesday night in Oakland in a game that would end up a 2-1 Mariners victory.

The pitchers, both rookies with Bryce making his MLB debut, didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning. Mason Miller of the A’s had a no-hitter through seven innings, but was pulled after 100 pitches in favor of reliever Richard Lovelady. Lovelady would record an out before giving up a game-tying home run to A.J. Pollock.

Oakland A’s enter binding agreement to buy Las Vegas ballpark site | Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Oakland Athletics have zeroed in on Southern Nevada, signing a binding purchase agreement for land just west of the Strip where a major-league ballpark could be constructed.

The agreement is for 49 acres at Dean Martin Drive and Tropicana Avenue, owned by Red Rock Resorts, parent company of Station Casinos.

“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” A’s President Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal on Wednesday. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”

With the announcement of the purchase agreement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred concurs with Kaval and hopes the A’s shifting their efforts solely to Southern Nevada will lead to the end of the team’s yearslong quest to leave crumbling Oakland Coliseum.

The A’s Pitching Staff Has Had a Terrible Start to the Season

With 125 runs surrendered in 16 games, Oakland has pitched far worse than any other team in the league. The 29th-place White Sox are closer in runs allowed to the 12th-place Astros than they are to the last place A’s. The A’s 188 ERA- and 156 FIP- paint a similar picture. In fact, with a 7.60 ERA thus far, this Oakland squad has the third-worst staff ERA through 16 games of any team in the integration era, only outdone by the 1951 St. Louis Browns and the 1955 Kansas City A’s; those teams each went on to allow at least 5.7 runs per game across the entire season. A simple glance at each team’s 2023 strikeout and walk rates shows a clear gulf between Oakland and the field:

Many of these struggles have occurred in a handful of huge blowups, as the A’s have surrendered double digit runs in six games. On the second day of the season, fans excitedly watched the major league debut of Shintaro Fujinami, who showed flashes of both elite stuff and extreme wildness in NPB. After sitting down his first six batters and notching four strikeouts, Fujinami allowed eight baserunners, three via walk, while recording just one out before being lifted from the game. His second start also featured a blowup inning after cruising the first time through the order; he exited after 4.1 innings, with four walks and a hit batsman. On Saturday, in the A’s 15th game of the season, Fujinami recorded the team’s first quality start with six innings of one-run ball, but he still took the loss after coming out for a seventh inning and adding two more runs to his line.

Oakland A’s fans planning ‘reverse boycott’ vs. Rays in June: ‘The fans are not the problem’

The Oakland A’s have gotten off to a 3-13 start in 2023 and currently own the worst record in all of Major League Baseball. Getting fed up with the direction of the franchise, some A’s fans have gotten so frustrated that they’ve stopped going to games all together as team ownership eyes a potential relocation to Las Vegas.

However, some Oakland fans are planning to conduct a “reverse boycott” and fill the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for the team’s home game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, June 13. In doing so, A’s fans are hoping to show the team and the league that the fans are not the issue.

A’s fans are hoping that showing up to a game on a random weeknight will put that fact on full display.

“So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while and I mentioned it in reply to a tweet from the “Rooted in Oakland” Twitter page. Things kinda took off,” former A’s season ticket holder Stu Clary told Sports Illustrated. “Then I mentioned it to Jefferey August who put together a group of people to discuss it and the ball was rolling. We picked June 13 because we wanted to come up with a random weeknight game vs someone other than Giants, Yankees or Red Sox - in other words a game that would be poorly attended ordinarily. Also we wanted it to be on a non school night so during summer vacation. The goal is to simply show Major League Baseball, local media and the nation that we can and will support the team. That the fans are not the problem. It occurs to me that staying away just drives the narrative that Oakland doesn’t support or deserve the A’s.”

Mets broadcasters hilariously explain possum still at large in Athletics’ television booth

Apparently, the possum’s presence has been known since the Athletics’ Opening Day game against the Los Angeles Angels, and the animal has remained at large despite traps set by the team’s employees. It apparently hasn’t hurt anyone, but the stench left by its, um, business was noticeable enough that SNY opted for a different office for the day.

Here’s the story:

COHEN: We are not in the regular visitors television booth tonight.

DARLING: I came here and went to the booth, and people grabbed me, almost tackled me and pushed me into this booth.

COHEN: So when we came here last September, we were told the tale of the RingCentral Coliseum possum, who apparently makes a home in the visitors TV booth ... so the Angels played here at the beginning of the season. They were the first team in. Wayne Randazzo, our friend, is now the television voice of the Angels, and he told us in the opening game of the season, the possum who apparently lives somewhere in the wall behind that visitors TV booth made an appearance during the game in their booth.

DARLING: Was it, like, nibbling at them?

COHEN: It was just crawling around, minding its own possum business, walking across the counter. He wasn’t trying to horn in on the broadcast. He was just doing his possum things. Anyway, so they set traps for this possum, but he’s proved elusive ... [The Mets television tech crew] walk in the booth and were immediately met by the stench of the possum having, you know, done his business in the booth. Apparently, the booth reeked so badly of possum leavings that an executive decision was made to move us to this booth, which is somewhat smaller and has a few impediments, like there’s a pole right in front of me.

DARLING: So we had to choose between possum and pole.

COHEN: And I chose pole.

Phillies trade for Cristian Pache, put Rhys Hoskins on 60-day IL

The Philadelphia Phillies acquired center fielder Cristian Pache from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday in exchange for minor league pitcher Billy Sullivan.

To make room for Pache on the 40-man roster, the Phillies placed first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the 60-day injured list. Hoskins will undergo surgery Thursday for a torn ACL and is out for the season.

Pache, 24, hit .166 with three home runs and 18 RBIs in 91 games for the A’s in 2022. But it’s his defense the Phillies want.

Reggie Jackson: Former commissioner Bud Selig blocked me from buying A’s

Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson wanted to purchase the Oakland Athletics nearly 20 years ago, but he says then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig got in the way.

Appearing on the “Howard Stern Show” on Wednesday, Jackson revealed his plans to buy the A’s alongside a group of investors, including the founders of Microsoft, Bill Gates and Paul Allen. However, despite having more than enough funding and offering $25 million more than the highest bid for the A’s, Jackson says he “absolutely believes” Selig blocked his attempt.

“He said, ‘Reggie, stay with me, I’ll guide you through, I’ll get this done for you, don’t worry about,’” Jackson said. “Then all of a sudden, it came out that the A’s were sold to a guy by the name of Lew Wolff — Bud Selig’s college buddy.”

A heartbroken Jackson admitted to falling into a six-month depression following the sale of the A’s. Jackson was so put off by how things shook out that he threatened to sue baseball, confirming he still has the 100-page lawsuit filled with evidence, including texts between himself and Selig. However, Jackson never went through with the suit, which he regrets.

“I never filed it,” Jackson said. “I got scared away by some people in baseball. They said, ‘Reggie, the first thing you’ll have to do is resign from baseball, from the Yankees, and you probably won’t get hired again.”

Manfred: Athletics owner focusing on move to Las Vegas

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has focused on Las Vegas of late as a new home for the franchise.

Manfred, speaking Wednesday at baseball’s Cactus League media day, isn’t closing the door on the team remaining in Oakland.

“I think Mr. Fisher wants to make the best deal to secure the future of the A’s, whether it’s in Oakland or in Las Vegas,” Manfred said. “They need a new stadium. I think that’s kind of beyond debate.”

The A’s have played at the Coliseum since 1968, and their lease expires after the 2024 season. After withdrawing plans for ballparks in Fremont and San Jose, the team announced in November 2018 it had found a waterfront location for a new ballpark at Howard Terminal, close to the Jack London Square neighborhood.

But the Howard Terminal proposal has been stalled by money and concerns about affordable housing in the area.

“I don’t think they are in agreement on the affordable housing issue,” Manfred said. “The threshold issue right now I think in Oakland is how to handle the funding for the infrastructure.”

Athletics acquire OF JJ Bleday from Marlins for LHP A.J. Puk

The Oakland Athletics acquired veteran outfielder JJ Bleday from the Miami Marlins for left-handed pitcher A.J. Puk on Saturday, both teams announced.

Bleday, 25, was used sparingly in Miami last season, appearing in 65 games with 204 at-bats. He finished with a .167 batting average but showed some power in limited duty. For a team struggling on offense, Bleday contributed five home runs and 16 RBIs.

Bleday, who played college baseball for the Vanderbilt Commodores, was a 2019 draft choice of the Marlins.

Puk, 27, is a towering presence on the mound, a 6-foot-7 left-hander who posted a 3.12 ERA with 76 strikeouts to go along with four saves last season. He also finished with a 1.15 WHIP across his 62 appearances.

The A’s Teardown Is Not Going Well

In total, since their teardown began, the A’s have traded eight veterans, worth $190.4M in surplus value according to our model, and received $113.1M in value, for a net loss of $77.3M. On a percentage basis, that’s a 46.1% hit.

Making matters worse, they came out on the losing end of all eight trades. The Olson package was the closest in value, and, interestingly, the Murphy trade would have been very close in value ($51.3M to $47.7M) if they had kept William Contreras, an all-star catcher, instead of flipping him for Esteury Ruiz, a mid-tier (at best) prospect. That portion of the three-way trade accounts for a big chunk of the losses here.

For a low-revenue, rebuilding team, that’s inexcusable. This is exactly the opposite of what the A’s should be doing. One could argue that, because all the other teams knew they were selling off their players, they got lowballed – and there’s likely some truth to that. When your sign says “must sell,” the bids you get are going to be low, and you take the best one. Granted, their timing didn’t help – it’s possible that the lockout worked against the A’s being able to play teams against each other in a bidding war, given the compressed timetable.

The Luckiest Pitching Staff in History

Mathewson’s inclusion on this staff shows that “great” and “lucky” aren’t mutually exclusive.

Orioles acquire Cole Irvin in trade with Athletics

The Baltimore Orioles acquired left-hander Cole Irvin from the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, bolstering their rotation as they look to take a step forward in the ultracompetitive American League East.

Irvin, who turns 29 this week, emerged as a reliable innings-eater over the last two seasons, throwing 359.1 innings at a 4.11 ERA after the A’s acquired him from Philadelphia for $100,000.

Baltimore used its significant middle-infield depth in the deal, sending 21-year-old Darell Hernaiz to Oakland. The Orioles also received 24-year-old minor league right-hander Kyle Virbitsky as part of the trade.

A’s reportedly reach one-year deal with Jesus Aguilar

The Oakland Athletics and first baseman Jesus Aguilar agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

The deal is pending a physical.

Aguilar, 32, will join his sixth MLB team if the deal is finalized. The one-time All-Star spent most of last season with the Miami Marlins.

Athletics, Shintaro Fujinami Agree To One-Year Deal

The Athletics have agreed to a one-year contract with right-hander Shintaro Fujinami, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The hard-throwing 28-year-old was posted by the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball back on Dec. 1. His agreement is pending a physical, and the A’s expect to use him out of the rotation, Passan adds. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported not long prior to Passan that the A’s were in ongoing talks with Fujinami’s camp and considered a finalist to sign the righty.

Fujinami was a high school phenom from the same draft class as Shohei Ohtani, incredibly stepping right from high school ball into the Tigers’ rotation and as a 19-year-old rookie and pitching to a 2.75 ERA in 137 2/3 innings as a starter. For several years, he delivered standout results, pitching to a sub-3.00 ERA through his first four seasons as a professional and making the Central League All-Star team in each of those first four campaigns.

A’s appear to be down to 1 potential Las Vegas ballpark site

Bally’s President George Papanier, who oversees the company’s land-based casino operations, confirmed to the Review-Journal in an email that talks with the A’s regarding the Tropicana site remain ongoing.

All of this, of course, is contingent on the A’s deciding not to remain in Oakland. In the Bay Area, the A’s have a waterfront development at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal in play. The $12 billion mixed-use development would include residential, commercial, hotel and public space centered around a $1 billion waterfront ballpark.

The process has a new twist now with newly sworn-in Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao replacing former mayor Libby Schaaf. Thao’s comments to Bay Area media seem to mimic Schaaf’s, with the desire to keep the team in Oakland, but not while putting taxpayers at risk.

Thao and her team haven’t responded to multiple requests by the Review-Journal to discuss her stance on Howard Terminal.

In Las Vegas, Ruffin’s executive assistant Alicia Crockett told the Review-Journal in an e-mail that there has been no recent contact between Ruffin’s group and the A’s. Crockett did not go into further detail or note when the last time talks with the A’s occurred.

Ruffin owns the Las Vegas Festival Grounds site located on the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. The 40-acre site was looked at early on by the A’s, but their focus shifted elsewhere. That was until last summer when the two sides began to talk again.

Last year, a source told the Review-Journal that that the A’s had narrowed their stadium search in Las Vegas to the Tropicana and the festival grounds sites.

The A’s didn’t immediately respond when asked to comment regarding the negotiations in Las Vegas, but team President Dave Kaval has spoken many times over the last year about the team’s desire for a ballpark built in the Resort Corridor.

A’s To Sign Drew Rucinski

The A’s are in agreement with starter Drew Rucinski, pending a physical. It’s reportedly a one-year, $3MM guarantee for the Paragon Sports International client. The deal also contains a $5MM club option for the 2024 season.

Rucinski returns to the U.S. after four seasons in South Korea. The 6’2″ righty kicked around the majors in the middle of the last decade as a swing option. While Rucinski worked as a starter in the minors, he came out of the bullpen for six of seven appearances with the Angels in 2014-15. Rucisnki spent the next year in Triple-A with the Cubs organization before spending two years as a depth reliever. He pitched twice for the Twins in 2017 and logged 35 1/3 innings over 32 relief appearances for the Marlins the next season.

Trevor May heads to A’s on 1-year deal

The A’s added some much-needed experience to their bullpen on Friday by signing right-handed reliever Trevor May to a one-year deal.

The contract is worth $7 million and includes a $1 million signing bonus and performance bonuses that could earn May another $500,000, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

May had somewhat of a down year for the Mets in 2022 as he battled injuries. The 33-year-old posted a 5.04 ERA with 30 strikeouts and nine walks in 25 innings across 26 relief appearances. Most of those struggles, however, came in his first eight outings of the season while he posted a 8.64 ERA before going on the injured list with a stress reaction in his right arm. Over his final 18 appearances, May notched a 3.24 ERA with 25 strikeouts and six walks in 16 2/3 innings.

Sean Murphy heading to Braves

The A’s are sending catcher Sean Murphy to the Braves, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. After multiple teams showed interest in the 2021 Gold Glove-winning backstop, Atlanta came out on top to add another catcher to its roster.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report the move, and a source told MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos that it will be a three-team deal also involving the Brewers. Milwaukee is reportedly landing catcher William Contreras, per Passan.