Selig on A's to San Jose: 'You're Not Going To Get A F%^&*#@ Answer'

Can you blame the media for wanting to know if the Oakland Athletics will be moving from Oakland to San Jose, or even anywhere for that matter?

MLB commissioner Bud Selig is, although he understands the urgent nature of the topic. On Thursday, Selig did not seem in the mood to mess around with the topic or even give a blanket answer, as has been his custom since the issue became national news.


Here is what he had to say at Thursday's press conference, as relayed by the Sports Business Journal's Eric Fisher:

I asked Selig re A's/San Jose, as usual. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't ask," he said. "You're not going to get a f#%**%} answer."
— Eric Fisher (@EricFisherSBJ) November 15, 2012

If the answer was not enough, the topic that was once on the"front burner" of Major League Baseball is nowhere near being resolved. The San Francisco Giants do not want them in San Jose, the city of Oakland does not want them in San Jose and there does not seem to be any urgency from Selig to get the matter resolved in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics and Oakland Raiders continue to play in the hell hole called O.co Coliseum.

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Bob Melvin Sees Similarities in 2012 Oakland A’s and 2007 NL West Champion D-Backs

It is no secret the Oakland A’s have gone far above all expectations this season.  They have been arguably the biggest surprise in the MLB this season, and their walk-off win against the New York Yankees on Friday night only proved that on more of a national level.

It was the team’s 10^th walk-off win of the season, which leads the MLB.

“A lot of times you rely on you’re middle of the order guys.  Those are the guys you expect to come up big for you late in games.  But it’s been everybody,” Melvin said.  “Everybody and anybody, and sometimes guys that aren’t even in the game to start.”

The A’s are now just .5 games out of an AL wildcard spot, as well as 6.5 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

With the team well in the hunt for an appearance in the 2012 playoffs and expectations rather low to start the season, it brought up the topic of comparisons.

Read the rest of this article at Valley Bay News

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Report: Oakland A's Granted Permission by MLB to Move to San Jose

Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted this morning that the MLB is very much leaning towards allowing the Oakland A's to move to San Jose, overriding the San Francisco Giants' territorial rights to Santa Clara County that the team has had since the 1990's.

This is the potential first step of a two-step program in getting the A's to San Jose, as the team reportedly prefers.

Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, is adamant in her stance to keep the A's - and the Warriors for that matter - in Oakland, and even went as far as to propose a location for a future A's ballpark near Jack London Square along the water.

The City of San Jose has made great strides in securing a professional sports team in their city over the past few years. They bought land in downtown San Jose for over $25 million, and have offered it to the A's for just under $7 million - obviously settling for a loss now in return for a substantial gain in the future. This has caused an uproar among some groups in San Jose, which created several Anti-A's Ballpark movements in the city.

With the MLB reportedly allowing the A's to move to San Jose, the last step is a city vote of whether or not the area would like a professional baseball team.

The MLB's announcement of approval is set for February 2012, which should set up the San Jose vote for early Summer 2012.

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Golden State Warriors' New Arena in San Francisco: News, Update and Predictions

If there is one thing we should know about relatively new Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob, it is that he means business.

Since taking over the team from the cold, dead clutch of former owner Chris Cohan in 2010, he has fired Don Nelson, replaced him with Keith Smart, replaced him with Mark Jackson, acquired David Lee, added a couple good draft picks and rid this franchise of the bad mojo it had carried for decades.

Now, Lacob is onto something else.

He and several others from the Warriors organization met with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and reps from the San Francisco Giants organization last week and talked about a possible move from Oakland to San Francisco for the Warriors before the 2017-18 season. Mayor Lee organized the meeting.

To be more specific, the City of San Francisco wants the Warriors to build near AT&T Park, not the other way around.

Genius.

The Warriors, who call the 40-year-old Oracle Arena their home, have been rumored to be in the market for a new arena for some time now. Oracle Arena is currently the oldest venue still in use by the NBA, although the arena did undergo a renovation that lasted about a year in 1997.

This is the second occurrence of a Bay Area professional team looking to leave the City of Oakland for greener pastures in the last few years. The Oakland A's have seemed determined to leave the Oakland Coliseum for San Jose for the past year now.

Of course, there are people against this move for the Warriors, and it happens to be the same person attempting to stop the A's from leaving Oakland. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has been adamant in her stance to now allow both the A's and Warriors to leave Oakland. Quan, who is in the middle of a potential recall for her job by the City of Oakland, has claimed there are plans to build a new stadium for the A's near Oakland's Jack London Square by 2016.

However, it is tough to stop a train in its tracks, and the Giants and Warriors are two trains heading fast in the right direction as of late. A partnership between the two only fuels the fire.

Even worse for the City of Oakland, Larry Baer and Joe Lacob & Co. are two owners making moves with their respective teams. They are two determined men willing to spend the money to make their franchise better. Having them work together is almost a guarantee this move will happen.

The move of the Warriors to San Francisco will happen. The timespan of their potential move is not evident yet, but the move seems too perfect with the right decision-makers at the helm for it not to happen.

Golden State President Rick Welts mentioned that the potential spot for the Warriors' new arena in San Francisco would be very close to the Giants' AT&T Park.

In 2010, the Giants organization was looking into a possibility to join the Warriors organization in a partnership between the two Bay Area teams, so there has been a good amount of discussion.

Even more, the SFGate.com reported in 2010 that the Giants "won a competitive process that gives them the right to negotiate with the Port of San Francisco to develop 27 acres of port-owned land in the Mission Bay project south of the baseball stadium."

No word on how those talks are going these days.

With the amount of firepower behind this move of the Warriors to San Francisco, it is hard not seeing a move like this getting done. Lacob has said he wants change in Golden State, and what better way than to move it out of Oakland?

Of course, the fan base in Oakland is what would hold this deal back. The Warriors draw a large audience nearly every night with a die-hard fan base simmering on the potential of this team making the playoffs. Now that the new ownership is willing to make moves for big players, interest in this team may be higher than ever.

For that reason, this move will be postponed for awhile.

The renovation of Oracle Arena in 1997 bought this team some time in terms of having to build another arena. But make no mistake, if they build a new arena, it will be in San Francisco, given all the big players and influences in on this potential project from both teams.

I cannot see this move happening before 2015, but a relocation of the Warriors to San Francisco before 2020 is not impossible to imagine.

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Oakland A's New Stadium in San Jose: News, Update and Predictions

What a roller coaster this new Oakland A's ballpark saga has become.

The latest news from the baseball world is that MLB commissioner Bud Selig will not be granting the A's permission to build in San Jose.  However, that report has been reported false by Selig, who said that no decision has been made.

For the A's to build a stadium in San Jose, Selig would have to overturn the San Francisco Giants' territorial rights to the South Bay.

Prior to that, Oakland mayor Jean Quan, whose recall petition is making the rounds as we speak, will be sending MLB Commissioner Bud Selig a formal letter stating that the City of Oakland would like to keep the
A's. She also mentioned that the plan of a new ballpark and basketball arena are in the works, as well. The location has several possibilities in Oakland, but Quan's mentioned plan consisted of a spot near Jack London Square bordered by water, much like AT&T Park.

Up until now, San Jose has been the overwhelming front-runner for the wounded team in Oakland playing at a much more wounded venue at O.Co Coliseum.

The City of San Jose has taken large measures to woo the A's to their location. They purchased the land needed to build a state-of-the-art baseball stadium near the current HP Pavilion for more than $25 million and have cleared most of the space needed, waiting for the OK from the MLB, A's owner Lew Wolff and the residents of San Jose.

The big fuss is that San Jose has offered the land to the A's for nearly $7 million, much less than half of what the city bought it for. This has caused an outrage among San Jose residents and organizations alike.

The City of San Jose's thought pattern?

Take the loss now for a gigantic gain in the future.

However, many steps have needed to be passed over the years in order for the A's to get this close to a stadium in San Jose. The latest step cleared was the San Jose City Council's decision in early November 2011 to extend a two-year land purchase option to the Oakland A's.

But there are two major steps that need even further clearing before actual physical process can be made on the potential Cisco Field in downtown San Jose.

#1 - The San Francisco Giants currently own territorial rights to the entire Santa Clara County that includes San Jose. This is because the team had the potential of moving there over a decade ago. Also, they have a minor league team playing just up the road from where the A's would be located.

Either the Giants can turn over the rights to Santa Clara County to the A's (not likely at all), or the decision lands in the hands of Selig, who will have a vote of all MLB teams as to whether or not the A's can start building in San Jose. There must be the approval of 23 of the MLB's 30 teams in order for the Giants to give up their territorial rights.

The MLB's decision is expected by the end of March.

#2 - Expecting Selig accepts the A's bid at a stadium in San Jose, the stadium project still must go through a vote of the residents of San Jose.

The hard part.

There are several organizations that are vehemently against the A's ballpark, and especially against the City of San Jose's offer of $7 million to the team after the land purchase of over $25 million. It will be those kinds of groups that will play into whether or not the vote goes through.

Predictions

Judging by the community of San Jose's response to a professional team in the area (San Jose Sharks), we can expect the majority of residents to be on-board with the stadium project, as the Sharks have received incredible support from the area. The team sells out the HP Pavilion on a nightly basis.

Because of the endless supply of technology and financial support from the South Bay, we can also expect Selig to not pass up the opportunity to move one of his teams into such a potential hotbed.

By the end of March 2012, we should see Selig make a decision on the A's move to San Jose, which is up in the air since the differing recent reports.  If he approves the move, a city vote in San Jose can be expected in early Summer 2012. What happens between those two dates is a mystery, as many groups will be clashing during that time, fighting to sway the voters either way on this major issue in the City of San Jose.

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Giants/A's All-Star Game Hopefuls

Despite the San Francisco Giants' first-half success and the Oakland A's early success, the two teams' sexiness is at a minimum, which is why this year's All-star game could see each team being represented by the minimum of one player.

A's

The Oakland A's (34-37) got off to a great start by recent season standards, but they have slowly but surely tapered off and the AL West has become what everyone thought it would be, a 2-horse race between the Rangers and Angels.

Because of that, do not expect to hear a lot of A's All-star game talk going around, as if you predicted you would in the first place. The A's are 28th in HR's and 26th in RBI's, and the best they have to offer the All-star roster offensively is Kevin Kouzmanoff with 36 RBI's. So scratch the A's offensive prospects from the All-star roster competition, or whatever you want to call it.

Pitching-wise, the A's don't have much to offer either. It really comes down to a who's who of "not much done lately." Closer Andrew Bailey seems to be the favorite with a so-so total of 13 saves. You can also throw in Dallas Braden if you want to. He did have a perfect game, not that it matters, but he hasn't done much since then so rule him and his 4-6 record out. Trevor Cahill has statistically been the A's best starter, but his 6-2 record with a 3.21 ERA isn't going to get him an honorable mention onto the All-star team.

My pick is Andrew Bailey, mostly because he made it on the All-star team last season and the fact that he seems to be the best the A's have to offer.

Giants

The Giants ( have players worthy of the All-star game, but they don't have names that are attractive outside of the Bay Area. Juan Uribe, without a doubt, is the Giants' MVP so far this season. Down this mean he will get on the All-star team? Definitely not. In fact, we may be able to kick him out of the conversation because there is no way the MLB will let Uribe's .279 and 43 RBI's even touch the field. His name isn't of All-star caliber. Should he be on the team? Of course. Will he? No.

Tim Lincecum is a gimme if we're talking golf. Back-to-back Cy Young's and long flowing hair is enough to get any guy voted into the All-star game. So he's in.

But it really comes down to 3 players for the Giants. Brian Wilson, Barry Zito, and Matt Cain. These three could possible be battling for one All-star spot because, honestly, I do not think the MLB would take kindly to accepting 3 or 4 Giants pitchers onto the National League roster. So let's try to get it down to 1 even though all 3 deserve an All-star game bid this season.

Brian Wilson's 19 saves is good for 2nd in the National League behind Matt Capps who would seem to represent the Nationals in the All-star game. Wilson also boasts the lowest ERA of any closer with more than 15 saves.

Matt Cain is 4th in the NL with a 2.16 ERA, but a 6-5 record could cost him a trip to Anaheim.

Barry Zito has been the Giants' best pitcher in the first-half. He is 7-3 with a 3.13 ERA and is one of the top pitchers in the MLB for the first-half. What might get Zito is the long list of other NL pitchers who have much better ERA's than 3.13. In fact, there are 30 other pitchers with better ERA's.

My prediction is Lincecum and Wilson get nods to Anaheim, with Zito and Cain feeling robbed without an invite.

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"Stick It, A-Rod"

Here you go A's fans. Despite the injuries that have plagued this team over the last several weeks after a strong start to the season, the A's still managed to hit the headlines yesterday in the form of A's pitcher Dallas Braden's perfect game.

There are several stories wrapped up in this one, which is why it is so intriguing. First, he threw the gem against arguably the best team going right now, the Tampa Bay Rays. Second, he threw it on Mother's Day in honor of his mother who had died when he was in high school. How about the fact that he was drafted in the 24th round, or that he has never pitched longer than the 7th inning in any big league start? How about that he is a native of nearby Stockton? How about that his grandmother told A-Rod to "stick it."

All these stories pail in comparison to the one that the national media has seemed to hook onto. The Braden/A-Rod Saga.

The dispute between the two was still hot going into Braden's start yesterday. His perfecto just fueled the fire a little more. Now it's out of control.

Was Braden right in calling out A-Rod? Eh, it's an unwritten rule that every ballplayer knows, and don't let them tell you differently, as Alex Rodriguez did. A-Rod knew exactly what he was doing. Don't forget, this is the same player who yelled at the 3rd baseman while trying to catch a pop-up, ans also the same guy who tried to swat the ball out of the 1st baseman's glove so he wouldn't be called out, thinking no one could see him. Ya know, the things kids who know him as the best player in the game should look up to.

The only problem I have with the whole Braden/A-Rod feud is who is Dallas Braden? Sure, the Bay Area knows him and now the nation is familiar with him. But before this, he was just some no name who wanted seemed to want some recognition for calling out A-Rod. Finally somebody did it, but it probably shouldn't have been Braden, or at least not made so public by Braden. It just made him out to look cocky by going after one of the best players on the planet, while Braden boasts 17 (make that 18) wins in his career.

Now, he is recognized, but for a much better reason, which is why this A-Rod feud carries so much punch now. And it will continue to carry punch until someone gets knocked out, or at least until the two players meet again. In which Braden will go head hunting for A-Rod's dome.

I honestly doubt the two will square off in the distant future. A-Rod will probably come down with the flu that day or something along those lines. He just seems like the kind of guy who would do that. And I wouldn't blame him. Hell, if a guy heaving 90 MPH wanted to decapitate me for breaking an unwritten rule that I clearly had knowledge of, I wouldn't want to be in that batter's box either.

But Braden will have to wait until the July 5th series in New York for that to happen, given it is his turn in the rotation. Maybe Braden will still be fuming on this matter, or maybe he won't, but he doesn't seem like a guy who lets things go easily.

All we know is this story suddenly has legs. Before the perfecto, Braden was just some looney trying to make a name, now he is the guy with the 19th perfect game in MLB history trying to right a wrong. It's crazy how a perfect game can instantly do that to someone.

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The $10 Million Debacle

Yikes!!! Those were the voices of Oakland A's fans all over the Bay Area after reading the box score of yesterdays 13-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The starting pitcher for the A's yesterday---The Opening Night starter, Ben Sheets.

Sheets, who signed a 1 yr./ $10 Million deal this offseason, was having a rough spring training as it was, but his was the icing on the cake. Sheets faced 10 batters, gave up 8 hits, and let up 9 earned runs in yesterday's spring training game.

Those jeers you hear? Those are from the people who reasoned that giving Sheets $10 Million for one year after a season in which he pitched in 0 games for the Milwaukee Brewers was ridiculous.

One of those jeers was definitely coming from me. Billy Beane is a fantastic GM for the Oaklnd A's, but he sure missed one right here. Signing a guy who did not pitch a game in 2009 for $10 Million is a bold signing. At the time, it was a good pick-up, but as we analyzed it more and more it simply did not make sense.

Finally, it came to fruition on Monday when Sheets bombed in what can only be described as a debacle. Sheets did not get one player out. An A's fan's reasoning would be that it is taking Sheets time to get back into pitching shape and get the kinks out after taking off 2009. But this isn't some low-profile pitcher we have here who is allowed to get kinks out his system, this is a guy who was payed $10 Million this offseason to pitch, and pitch well. And in return, you get 0 outs, and concerned looks over in Oakland.

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