Rob Manfred: MLB ‘not sure we see a path to success’ for new A’s ballpark in Oakland

Manfred began by saying it’s “kind of beyond debate at this point” that new stadiums are necessary in both cities, adding: “Oakland, probably critical just in terms of the condition of the ballpark.”

“Particularly in the case of Oakland, we’ve had to open up the opportunity to explore other locations, just because it’s dragged on so long,” Manfred said. “And frankly, in some ways, we’re not sure we see a path to success in terms of getting something built in Oakland.”

Asked again if relocation is a possibility, Manfred said: “Yeah, (it) is a possibility. Yeah. I mean, they’ve been talking to Las Vegas. It’s gotten a lot of publicity, but there are options in terms of relocation in addition to Las Vegas.”

The A’s have proposed a $12 billion development project in Oakland that includes a $1 billion privately financed waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal. A’s officials also have made about a half-dozen visits to the Las Vegas area to explore relocation possibilities since MLB permitted that in May.

The Oakland Athletics are expected to announce a handful of finalists for a potential $1 billion stadium in Las Vegas after the World Series. Athletics president Dave Kaval has made at least six trips to Las Vegas looking at potential sites for the team's future home. https://t.co/86balFNDAR

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) October 13, 2021

The A’s Rebuild Is Coming

So there’s no new stadium, and no revenue streams on the horizon to help pay players. Time to change course.

Major players expected to be shopped on the trade market:

Matt Olson [51.6]
Matt Chapman [24.5]
Frankie Montas [38.8]
Sean Manaea [19.7]

These are the big four — Olson and Montas have the most trade value, helped by strong 2021 performances. Chapman is coming off a bit of a down year offensively, but his defense is still elite, and his bat did wake up a bit in the second half. All three of those players come with two years of control. Manaea, who has been mostly effective this year, has one more.

Two more who might be dealt:

Chris Bassitt [12.8]
Ramon Laureano [62.8]

Bassitt was having an all-star year before he got hit in the face with a line drive, and though his recovery is reportedly going well, teams will want to make sure he’s healthy, both physically and mentally, before making any offers. That might require the A’s to hold on to him into next year (his walk year), with a plan to trade him at the deadline.

Athletics Hall of Fame inducts 10 members of Philadelphia A’s

As for the 2021 class, all 10 inductees are also members of baseball’s overall Hall of Fame. Click each name to read their full biographies from SABR, or click here for concise capsules from the A’s official site.

Owner/Manager Connie Mack
RHP Chief Bender
LHP Lefty Grove
LHP Eddie Plank
LHP Rube Waddell
C Mickey Cochrane
1B Jimmie Foxx
2B Eddie Collins
3B Frank Baker
OF Al Simmons
Mack spent a half-century as the A’s manager, from their first season in 1901 through 1950, which is the longest stint for any coach with the same team in North American pro sports history. He was also a part-owner of the club for their entire tenure in Philadelphia.

Athletics continue ballpark plans in Oakland and Las Vegas

The Athletics are proceeding with “parallel paths,” planning new ballparks in Oakland and Las Vegas. Club officials are determined to find the best fit and relocate if the organization can’t secure what it wants along the downtown waterfront Howard Terminal site.

Team president Dave Kaval is planning another trip to Las Vegas soon—traveling there every couple of weeks, he said—to evaluate the options with that potential spot. He spoke on the field Friday ahead of the A’s hosting the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series at the Coliseum, a site he still insists is not right for baseball going forward.

“I think we’ve been really clear, I think the league’s been really clear that this site does not fit the 21st century vision for baseball in North America,” Kaval said. “You need a downtown urban location to be successful, especially in a two-team market where you have the Giants in a similar stadium on the waterfront, and we’re going to do everything we can to have a stadium that can be at the level or eclipse what they have at Oracle Park in San Francisco. And we have that vision down at Howard Terminal.”

Chris Bassitt hospitalized after getting hit in head by line drive; pitcher reportedly has facial fractures

A scary moment took place in Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night. In the bottom of the second inning, White Sox batter Brian Goodwin sent a rocket toward the mound and Oakland Athletics starter Chris Bassitt got hit with it in the side of the head.

The line drive was 100.1 miles per hour off the bat and it didn’t appear Bassitt got a glove on it. It wasn’t a glancing blow, either. It just struck Bassitt squarely on the right side of the face, possibly in the upper cheek area, hopefully not too close to his eye. 

In the smallest of small reliefs, it doesn’t appear that Bassitt lost consciousness. He was moving around, though not much and he never removed the towel from his head and/or face.

She astonishes me’: How an astrophysicist is helping the Oakland A’s fine-tune their pitches

A’s relief pitcher Lou Trivino has a pitch — a cut fastball — that was widely considered to be one of the best in baseball a few years ago. Somewhere along the way, he lost it. Schultz is helping him find it. That’s her job.

“She really understands numbers and is able to communicate it well,” Trivino said. “I usually don’t like talking to people that only look at numbers because it’s data-driven, and I’m like, ‘OK, cool, my cutter sucks. I obviously know it sucks. How can you help me figure it out?’”

To get his cutter back to its elite form without inundating him with numbers, Schultz gave Trivino a simple course of action: throw it negative-2 or negative-3 inches more toward his glove side.

During bullpen sessions, Trivino will tinker with grip tweaks or throw it at a slightly different angle while Schultz, monitoring the movement on an iPad, replies with a simple “good” or “bad” grade.

“One of my biggest strengths is to take this complicated stuff and put it into baseball language,” Schultz said. “It’s not like I’m on the mound doing equations with the pitchers.”

Schultz understands a breaking ball can be more effective when its gyro spin — or bullet spin — is high. Or a two-seam fastball can be more effective when it creates turbulent pockets of air. She’ll suggest a pitcher adjust his grip or throw harder at a different angle to create the wanted movement.

“If I say, ‘OK, we need to get more gyro spin on this ball,’ what I might say to a pitcher is to roll it off your middle finger,” Schultz said.

Oakland Athletics finalizing trade for Miami Marlins’ Starling Marte

The Oakland Athletics are finalizing a deal to acquire center fielder Starling Marte from the Miami Marlins in exchange for left-hander Jesus Luzardo, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The Marlins will cover the remainder of Marte’s contract, sending more than $4 million to Oakland, sources said.

Marte, 32, is hitting .306 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs for the Marlins this season. He missed time earlier this season with a fractured rib.

Luzardo, 23, is 2-4 with a 6.87 ERA in 38 innings pitched. He has made 13 appearances, including six starts.

A’s near deal for Cubs lefty Chafin

With a clear need for relief help, the A’s are set to add a strong bullpen reinforcement with left-hander Andrew Chafin in a deal with the Cubs, a source told MLB.com on Monday. Neither club has confirmed the deal.

The return from Oakland is unclear at this point, though MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal reported that outfielder Greg Deichmann, ranked by MLB Pipeline as Oakland’s No. 9 prospect, is one of two players going to Chicago in exchange for Chafin, whose contract includes a $5.25 million mutual option for 2022 with a $500,000 buyout.

Chafin, 31, has emerged as one of the top left-handed relievers in baseball this season. In 43 appearances with the Cubs, he’s posted a 2.06 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 12 walks across 39 1/3 innings pitched. Chafin has been tough on hitters on both sides of the plate, though he’s actually fared slightly better against righties, holding them to a .147 batting average as opposed to a .164 average against lefties.

Oakland City Council approves terms for Howard Terminal ballpark against A’s wishes, but team undecided on next steps

The Oakland City Council approved a proposed term sheet Tuesday for the A’s $12 billion plan to build a waterfront ballpark and development against the team’s wishes, but the A’s remained undecided on whether to continue negotiating or walk away from the project.

Six council members voted in favor of the proposed term sheet for the Howard Terminal project that included amendments requiring affordable housing, tenant and anti-displacement protections and environmental protection measures. Councilwoman Carroll Fife abstained and Councilman Noel Gallo voted against the project.

Dave Kaval, the president of the A’s, said he was disappointed the council didn’t vote on the term sheet the team released in April. But team officials are analyzing the council’s amendments and what it means for the future of the waterfront development.

“We are taking time to really digest what was presented to us for the first time in the meeting and become more knowledgeable about what it means for the project, its future and the A’s,” Kaval said. “We are talking to the league on that.”

A’s promise changes for minor leaguers after sandwich snafu

Reacting to their latest public relations stumble, the A’s said they fired a third-party food vendor that provided “completely unacceptable” meals to players in its minor-league system, photos of which went viral over social media Tuesday.

Advocates for Minor Leaguers, a group that pushes for better conditions for minor-league baseball players, posted photos of the food - a barely filled sandwich and tortilla - writing:

“Players in the Oakland A’s organization shared these photos of their recent post-game meals. No employer would serve these meals to employees they care about. Why are the A’s serving them to their future Major Leaguers?”

The tweet had nearly 4,000 retweets as of Wednesday afternoon. The A’s provide a statement acknowledging problems with food being served to their minor-league players.

“Several weeks ago, we were made aware of the postgame meals being served to players in our Minor League system,” the A’s statement said. “Those options were completely unacceptable and by no means meet our quality standards. We immediately ended our relationship with that third party vendor.”

Players in the Oakland A’s organization shared these photos of their recent post-game meals.

No employer would serve these meals to employees they care about. Why are the A’s serving them to their future Major Leaguers? pic.twitter.com/cIFqiPg6iX

— Advocates for Minor Leaguers (@MiLBAdvocates) June 1, 2021

Second only to Connie Mack, A’s Bob Melvin notches historic win and inspires comeback in Seattle

Bob Melvin is a low-key guy, or at least that’s how some A’s players have described him. So a celebration for his record-breaking 799th managerial win, one that pushed him beyond Tony La Russa for most managerial wins in Oakland history and second-most wins as an Athletics manager behind Connie Mack, wasn’t too wild.

At the same ballpark where Melvin’s managerial career began in 2003, the team popped some champagne in the visiting clubhouse following a comeback 12-6 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

“It just means I’ve been around a long time,” Melvin said of the accomplishment. “I told these guys that it’s just about the players. I’ve just been lucky enough to be around for a long time.”

Even if the A’s skipper of 10 seasons hoped to stay humble about the accomplishment, the team couldn’t suppress their excitement for him.

“The clubhouse is pretty danged jacked up right now,” Chris Bassitt said.

Oakland A’s set to come to Portland on a baseball fact-finding mission

The A’s contingent will also make an official visit Portland next month. An MLB source confirmed that Fisher along with team president Dave Kaval, vice president Billy Beane and executive Sandy Dean are planning to come to Oregon to do some fact finding.

The Portland Diamond Project confirmed it all on Monday. Founder Craig Cheek and managing partner Mike Barrett issued a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive that said, “PDP can confirm that we have engaged in talks with the Athletics, and plans for a visit by team officials are underway.

“PDP will have no further comment at this time.”

Oakland A’s officials plan to tour Las Vegas next week

Oakland Athletics officials will visit Southern Nevada next week to explore moving the Major League Baseball club to Las Vegas.

A group headed by A’s president and co-owner Dave Kaval will meet with area government officials over several days, sources confirmed.

The A’s also are said to be lining up a prominent government relations firm to assist in the fact-finding mission.

Las Vegas is one of six cities that have been mentioned as possible suitors for the A’s, who have failed to make satisfactory progress in getting a new ballpark built in Oakland or its surrounding area.

That was the same scenario that resulted in the NFL’s Raiders relocating from Oakland to Las Vegas.

Mayor says MLB has discussed A’s relocation to Las Vegas since 2019

One day after the A’s announced they had received permission from Major League Baseball to explore possible relocation options, the mayor of Las Vegas used social media to reveal that her city has been in talks to bring the team there since 2019.

“Las Vegas has always been open to conversations with major league sport franchises seeking new locations. For over 20 years these talks have included dialogue with league commissioners, and for the Oakland A’s these have been occurring since 2019,” Goodman said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday. “Las Vegas is excited.”...

Wednesday morning, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf said she intends to keep the A’s in Oakland, acknowledging that the only way forward is to proceed with the waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal, a project that’s been in the works since 2018.

“Hell no, we won’t let them go,” Schaaf said.

Goodman’s timeline almost certainly can be traced back to at least Oct. 2019, when MLB commissioner Rob Manfred threatened city officials that if Oakland didn’t drop its lawsuit over the proposed sale of Coliseum land to the A’s, it would risk losing the team to Las Vegas or some other city.

“In a recent meeting with the mayor of Oakland, I did mention Las Vegas in the context of pointing out that the A’s might have to relocate if a new stadium can’t be built in Oakland,” Manfred told the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time. “There is, however, no plan to move to Las Vegas.”

Oakland Athletics to start looking at relocating elsewhere, sources say

The Oakland Athletics will start exploring the possibility of relocating with the blessing of Major League Baseball, a move that could put pressure on local government officials to greenlight a new stadium project that has spent years in limbo, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

The A’s, who have played in Oakland since 1968, have prioritized building a waterfront stadium in downtown Oakland at the Howard Terminal site. But after years of failed stadium plans—and weeks after the organization asked for the city council to vote on the $12 billion mixed-use development before its late-July summer recess—the long-anticipated specter of the A’s looking into relocation on Tuesday became a reality.

“The future success of the A’s depends on a new ballpark,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “Oakland is a great baseball town, and we will continue to pursue our waterfront ballpark project. We will also follow MLB’s direction to explore other markets.”

The A’s are the lone remaining major professional sports team in Oakland after the NBA’s Golden State Warriors moved across the bay to San Francisco and the Raiders left for Las Vegas. Their pursuit of a new stadium to replace the now-55-year-old RingCentral Coliseum has included multiple sites in Oakland, dalliances with Fremont and San Jose, and two decades without a groundbreaking.

The Howard Terminal project—in which the A’s have proposed privately funding a $1 billion stadium and spending more on a development that would include 3,000 units of affordable housing, office and retail space, and a hotel—is the latest and has been seen as the likeliest to succeed.

A’s to Oakland City Council: Time to vote on our ballpark

On Friday, three years after proposing a waterfront ballpark in Oakland, the A’s put their financial cards on the table: a billion-dollar ballpark, privately financed, with an additional $450 million in community benefits, including affordable housing. The project would include development of a neighborhood surrounding the 35,000-seat ballpark, similar to what the Angels have pledged to develop around Angel Stadium.

The A’s ask the city to pay $855 million in infrastructure improvements, using taxes generated by the project. The A’s estimated total development costs for the project, in which they likely would partner with private developers, are $12 billion.

In a letter released Friday, Oakland Athletics President Dave Kaval asked the City Council to vote on the project before the council recesses for the summer.

The A’s also would like the right to develop the Oakland Coliseum site, where they currently play and where the Golden State Warriors and Las Vegas Raiders used to play. The Coliseum site is not mentioned in the term sheet submitted by the A’s Friday. Kaval previously told The Times that the A’s could pay for the waterfront ballpark even if the city did not grant the team development rights to the Coliseum, although revenue from that development could help with private financing of the ballpark.

Source: A’s interested in Manny Ramirez

Just BillybeingBilly.

The Oakland Athletics are “very interested” in making Manny Ramirez their designated hitter next season, a source told ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com.

Ramirez, 39, has been working out in Miami since December and has plans to have open workout sessions for clubs interested in his services at the end of January.

Last week, ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com reported that the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays had a look at Ramirez batting in an indoor cage.

“The Orioles and Blue Jays saw Manny work and Baltimore liked what it saw, but Oakland has been the team that has expressed the most interest, even before having him work out,” the source said.

Ramirez, a .312 lifetime hitter with 555 home runs and 1,831 career RBIs over 19 seasons, was reinstated by Major League Baseball from the “voluntarily retired” list after the Dominican player opted to leave the game instead of serving a second suspension for violating the league’s banned substances policy in 2011 while playing for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Camden Depot: Rick Peterson Breaks Fewer Pitchers?

Jon Shepherd takes a first look at Rick Peterson’s record in keeping pitchers off the disabled list.

Rick Peterson and his pitching lab will apparently be in full effect for the Orioles in 2012.  His analytical technique has been hailed as a major prevention tool against injuries.  I have disabled list numbers of starting pitchers from part of his tenure with the A’s and all of his tenure with the Mets, giving us a time line from 2001 to 2007.  I also have disabled numbers of Orioles’ starting pitchers in 2009 and 2010.

Jonny Gomes to Sign with A’s

The Oakland Athletics are poised to sign Jonny Gomes, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Slusser points out that he’s a local favorite set to join the club after Billy Beane indicated after the Seth Smith trade that he could be looking for more depth in the outfield.

Gomes, 31, has spent most of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays but was with the Cincinnati Reds for a couple seasons and then spent part of 2011 in DC. He’s never been an especially good hitter (being kind to the guy with the mohawk, ok?) but does have a little pop, with a career line of .242 / .329 / .451. If you’re playing at home, think Adam Dunn without the walks.

Thanks to Ferg.

Orlando Cabrera To Retire From Baseball

OH NO, EXPO!

Last season, Orlando Cabrera batted .238 with the Indians and Giants, posting a 61 OPS+. The season before that, he posted a 76 OPS+. The season before that, he posted an 85 OPS+. Orlando Cabrera has been declining, and just turned 37 years old. As a free agent, Cabrera didn’t drum up much interest, which I’m guessing is why he’s intending to hang ‘em up. Enrique Rojas:

  “Orlando Cabrera to retire from baseball, he said in Colombia radio station. Thanks for memories!”

Cabrera had a long career that’ll be difficult to forget. He debuted with the Expos in 1997, and remained there until the giant Nomar Garciaparra three-way trade in 2004. That year, with the Red Sox, Cabrera won a World Series. He wound up with the Angels, earning the unfortunate nickname “The Wizard of O.C.”, and then he wound up with the White Sox, and the A’s, and the Twins, and the Reds, and the Indians, and the Giants ... He remained a shortstop to the end, and collected 2,055 hits. He will always be remembered as a pest. An absolute pest.

A’s trade Moscoso, Outman for Seth Smith

#### THE GOLDEN GLOBES!

Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s continued their extreme offseason makeover Monday with yet another trade. This time Beane shipped pitchers Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso to the Rockies for outfielder Seth Smith—who has been involved in trade rumors throughout the offseason.

Smith, 29, has served mostly as a fourth outfielder type for the Rockies since 2008, but he got a career high 533 plate appearances last season. He hit .284/.347/.483 with 15 homers, 32 doubles and 10 stolen bases. He hasn’t played center field since 2008, so he’s best used as a corner outfielder. He’ll likely be the starter in left field with Coco Crisp in center and Josh Reddick in right. Of course, prospect Michael Taylor is going to figure in the mix at some point.

One item of note: Smith’s career splits indicate he was hugely helped by Coors Field. He’s hit .296/.366/.559 at home and .257/.332/.418 on the road. And Oakland plays in one of the worst hitters’ parks in the majors.

Moscoso, 28, was 8-10 with a 3.38 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 74 strikeouts in 128 innings last season. Outman, 27, was 3-5 with a 3.70 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 35 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings. And, again, we’ll note that these two pitchers are going from having a very pitcher-friendly home park to one of the most hitter-friendly yards in the bigs.

Oakland manager Melvin excited about Japan series

The Athletics and Seattle Mariners open the regular season with a two-game series at Tokyo Dome on March 28-29. Many hoped the series would feature a showdown between Matsui and countryman Ichiro Suzuki, but Melvin said the A’s likely wont be re-signing the 37-year-old free agent Matsui.

“Matsui was a great fit for us last year and we all loved having him on our team,’’ Melvin said at a press conference on Monday to promote the series. “But this year it doesn’t look like a fit for us based on the personnel we have going forward.’‘

...Suzuki also had a down season in 2011. For the first time in his career, He failed to reach 200 hits - finishing with 184 - and hit a career-worst .272. Other numbers were lower too, including on-base percentage, infield hits and home runs, while he struck out a career-high 69 times.

Former Seattle star Ken Griffey Jr., who now serves as a special consultant to the Mariners, said he expects Suzuki to bounce back this season.

“Ichiro is going to be fine, you can ask these two guys (Melvin, Wedge) if a guy had 184 hits they wouldn’t be complaining,’’ Griffey said. “But you are looking at a guy who is a special athlete. He had one hiccup in his career and come this time next year we won’t even be talking about this. He is going to come into this season determined and with a little fire.’‘

Hiccup?...That was a freakin’ Dave McNally tally if ever!

Phil Rogers: Bean-counting GM Beane deserves a better place to work

And furthermore

(bullet) MLB should have a minimum payroll. It would require all teams to at least attempt to be somewhat competitive, and fairness is an issue. For instance, how much of an advantage will the Angels and Rangers have in the wild-card race because they have 19 games each against Oakland?

(bullet) According to Bill James’ projections, the Athletics’ most productive hitter next season will be DH Brandon Allen, with a slash line of .243/.327/.449, 22 home runs and 71 RBIs.

(bullet) Melvin is a major upgrade in the dugout, probably the best manager they’ve had since Tony La Russa (although Art Howe was much better than the movie’s portrayal by Philip Seymour Hoffman suggests).

(bullet) MLB scoffs at Forbes’ projections, but they’re the best available.

(bullet) Wolff is very close to Selig, but so far that does not appear to have gained him any advantages.

(bullitt) There are bad writers and there are good writers - and then there’s Rogers.

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

On DVD: Moneyball’s deleted scenes reveal the numbers game

The deleted scene in question features Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) discussing the team’s relief pitchers with field manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The two butt heads several times in the film, as Beane recommends fielding undervalued, unorthodox players over the objections of the more conservative Howe.

This time he’s singing the praises of Chad Bradford over Mike Magnante. He concludes his own pitch by telling Howe to bring Bradford out of the bullpen no matter what. “If we’re in, let’s say to make it easier on you, any situation. OK? Righty, lefty, two outs, one out, the umpires want to finish the game throwing darts … Bradford!”

It’s no surprise, however, when Howe does the opposite. Magnante promptly gives up a home run, and the crowd boos lustily. Beane then makes a rare (and illegal) trip to the dugout during the game to tell Howe what a costly f-you that was, and adds: “Those boos; they’re for you. Drink up.”

It’s a clever scene, probably cut only because we see so much sniping between Beane and Howe that their animosity is already clear.

Thanks to Nroll.