Will The A’s Ever Move?

Yes,  once again we are visiting the on going drama of when and if the Oakland A’s are going to get a new stadium and whether or not MLB commissioner,  Bud Selig will ever make a decision to intervene on behalf of owner Lew Wolff as to where the A’s will end up.   Especially, because back in January allegations surfaced that back in the early 2000’s the team had a chance to be bought and moved to Modesto by a shopping store mogul, but was basically blocked by both the MLB and of all entities The San Francisco Giants.  Really?  The Giants?   I am not big fan of this team across the bay but it seems a little shady to me.

According to bleacherreport.com, “Selig announced two years ago a new task force, he stated that this would be the way to bring the A’s into the 21st century with a state-of-the-art ballpark to replace the old and depressing Overstock.com Coliseum.”  Well, this still has not come to fruition and to know that this could have been a done deal way before this task force was put together is mind boggling to me, especially because of these reports that are now surfacing about the team being bought almost ten years ago.

Yes!  According to the Bee,  “Supermarket mogul Bob Piccinini attempted to purchase the A’s in the early 2000’s; however, he argues his attempts were blocked by the San Francisco Giants, who he claims, urged Selig and MLB not to allow his purchase of the club.  Piccinini hinted at collusion between the Giants and MLB to essentially run the A’s out of the Bay Area.”  It is important to note that these claims have no evidence to back them up, so we have to give both MLB and The Giants the benefit of the doubt.

With that, two years is too long and it is not fair to the team or it’s loyal fans.   It’s bad enough that there was a recent shakeup in management and that once again there seems to be an up tick in injuries.  Not to mention the continued downward spiral of games that have been lost within the last couple of weeks.

Perhaps it would have been a good thing if this guy Piccinini could have acquired the team. According to The Bee, “Piccinini is a baseball man. He’s owned minor league franchises in Modesto, Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento. In 1999, he rounded up William Dean Singleton, chairman of Media News Group; George Zimmer, owner of Men’s Wearhouse; Andy Dolich, a former A’s executive; and Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Joe Morgan (who later backed out).   He now says he probably would not buy the team if it were to go up for sale again.  Then again his next statement was, “never say never.”

At this point, they should just stay in Oakland or perhaps somewhere else beyond the greater Bay Area.  I am tired of the alleged cronyism that our great Owner Lew Wolff has with MLB commissioner Selig or that he is in good with the big wigs in San Jose’s Silicon Valley.  Just get on with it!  You know,  I was for sure that they were not going to get rid of manager Bob Geren and had stated in my last posting that they would get rid of a player before they did that.  Boy, was I wrong.  Why can’t we do that with some of  these higher ups?  Let’s start with Mr. Wolff.