Let Them Eat Cake
By Joseph Lopez
The A’s are waiting, Bud. Might I add that they’re sick and tired of waiting, Bud. The A’s were supposedly, as rumored by USAToday’s Bob Nightengale, going to get a decision regarding their proposed move to San Jose in February. As many of you may know, though, February has come and gone and the A’s are still without an answer.
For the A’s, San Jose is the only destination on their minds for the moment. General manager Billy Beane has been operating his team this offseason as if he’s preparing for an announcement regarding the team’s stadium bid to arrive soon. Owner Lew Wolff seemingly has shared the same sense of optimism. He’s already taken a few steps in securing his franchise’s future; he’s offered extensions to Beane and team President Michael Crowley through the 2019 season.
Then there’s the current rebuilding process that has been happening in Oakland this winter. The Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey trades should, in my mind, at least, signal to all fans (and MLB/Bud Selig) that the A’s are serious about planning for a future in San Jose. Beane is assembling, or so it would seem, a team that would be ready to coincide with the opening of a new ballpark (in San Jose).
Bud Selig and MLB, though, seem to be playing an entirely different tune. They said, back in January, that the A’s stadium issue was on the “front burner,” but it’s anyone’s guess when a decision will actually be made. The A’s have waited patiently for three years now and their patience would have to be wearing thin by now. It must be.
The A’s also have had to deal with those pesky San Francisco Giants, too. The Giants contend that San Jose falls within their “territorial rights,” and that they have absolutely no intention of surrendering those rights to their bay area rivals. Selig, though, could help override those territorial rights in favor of the A’s.
Selig’s appointed a three-member committee to oversee Oakland’s potential stadium options back in 2009, but the group has yet to make a public recommendation. A’s owner Lew Wolff maintains that the A’s future isn’t in Oakland and that the only viable option remaining is in San Jose.
Right now, however, the A’s are not in San Jose, they’re left rotting away by the wayside.
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