Oakland A's Stadium and San Jose

Coliseum Woes Continue to Overshadow A's Great Season

A sewage backup in the O.co Coliseum has cause a huge stir in the Oakland Athletics clubhouse in the last few days. Despite the A's winning ways, currently sitting thirteen games above .500 at 43-30 with a 3 game lead over the nearest Texas Rangers, the focus has once again been on their aging stadium. The issue has yet to be resolved in the quest to move the team to the nearby Silicon Valley, and San Jose. MLB and Bud Selig are now faced with an antitrust lawsuit, spurred on by the latest incident that saw both the visiting Mariners and the Athletics having to shower in the Oakland Raiders locker room together. 

Given Selig's snail pace to get the issue resolved, I am not surprised by the lawsuit. However, being a longtime fan of the Athletics, I also don't think the solution is up and moving the team. Here are some potential things to look at for A's/MLB fans. 

• There are options in Oakland
• Massive renovations to the Coliseum (not likely)
• New stadium in Oakland (Clorox and other local companies have pledged assistance to keep the team in Oakland) Likely to happen if Lew Wolff changes his stance on "needing" to move the team.
• Raiders get new stadium, Coliseum becomes baseball only, renovations to follow. I see this as most likely, since NFL seems to drag their feet less than MLB.
• Move to San Jose
• More money for everyone involved except city of Oakland. Potentially higher payroll to help keep home-grown talent. Also very likely that Wolff becomes the next Jeffrey Loria (get taxpayers to foot the bill for the new stadium, then cut payroll to pocket more money.)
• Gets rid of MLB's antitrust exclusion, cities would then be able to lobby for teams to come to them. Larger markets would soon be taking small market teams. (No more Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals, etc...) Extremely unlikely, MLB will likely avoid this at all costs. 

What I eventually see happening is the A's ownership and MLB will come up with a joint agreement with the San Francisco Giants (who own San Jose territorial rights.) This agreement will probably include several hundred million dollars changing hands from the A's to the Giants. Keep in mind that these rights had basically been given to the Giants from the A's to save their franchise back in the 90's (?) Now that the A's are basically trying to do the same thing, the Giants owners are refusing to work in the best interest of baseball and only working in the best interest of their own pocketbooks. Not that I want the A's to move, in fact I don't, but Wolff won't sell the team, and he wants to be elsewhere. The A's franchise deserves a better, or improved stadium, and I'm hoping either take place in Oakland rather than San Jose. 

So once again A's fans, if you're looking for your daily reason to hate the Giants, here it is. Let's all hope that a resolution is found that can keep the Green and Gold Oakland for many years to come. #SaveOaklandBaseball

Hideki Matsui Retires

Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui Calls It A Career

Hediki Matsui, a star in two lands has finally rode off into the sunset. After clubbing his way into the majors from his homeland Japan, and stints with four different teams, including a one year stop with my Oakland A's, he has decided to retire. He was a constant professional, and adjusted quickly to the constant media and fan pressure to perform under the bright lights of New York. Hideki was the first true power hitter to come from Japan, and he did not disappoint. He hit 332 home runs in his 10 year Japanese career, and tacked on another 175 at the MLB level. He also hit for a respectable .282/.360/.462 line in his 10 year MLB career. The peak of his career came in 2009 when he led the Yankees to a World Series victory in which he took home World Series MVP honors. The Yankees rewarded him by letting him walk in free agency in which he found a new home for the LA Angels. 

The rest of his career in the majors was statistically uninspiring as he saw all of his major batting categories fall in value. I would like to think that he did have an impact on all the teams that were lucky enough to have him on board. He was grateful for every opportunity given to him, and was a great clubhouse presence according to many of his previous teammates. He did provide a few exciting at-bats for Oakland back in 2011 that I can remember, for a team that was less than exciting to watch. 

Whatever he may do in the future, I'm sure he will succeed at. There is a good chance that he will return home to Japan and manage for a baseball team there. We may have not seen the last of Matsui in a major league uniform, although his return will be in a coaching role. For the right team, I believe he could be a great hitting coach. Here's to Godzilla and all the great memories he provided, even though most of them were in a Yankees uniform. 

A's Lose Out On Drew, Sign Nakajima

Drew Signs with Boston, A's Sign Nakajima

Update: A's sign Hiroyuki Nakajima to a two-year deal at $6.5 million with a third year option for $5.5 million. Incentives and escalators are included in the deal. This fills the void left by Drew less than twelve hours after he signed with Boston. This was a great signing, it was at one third the price that Drew commanded. Nakajima is a player in the prime of his career, with a lot more upside than Drew.

Original Story:  After losing out on Jonny Gomes and Brandon McCarthy earlier in free agency, the A's pursuit of free agent shortstop Stephen Drew came to an end today. Drew has reportedly signed with the Red Sox on the basis of a one year $9.5 million contract. Earlier in the offseason, the A's and Drew both declined his mutual option for one year at $10 million, forcing the A's to pay him a $1.35 million buyout. Do the math and Drew still comes out ahead after singing for the smaller amount with Boston, at a whopping $10.85 million for the season. Although I agree that Drew would be overpaid at the $10 million option, the need for a shortstop called for overpaying a little for him. In the end it was really up to Drew, declining that option assured he was not going to be here next year at the $10 million price tag. After trading away Cliff Pennington to Arizona in the Chris Young deal, the A's left themselves little other options. 

Yunel Escobar was an option that came seemingly cheap because the Marlins didn't want him, but Beane let him slip to the Rays. Asdrubal Cabrera is also an option with the Indians looking to clean house with the addition of new manager Terry Francona, but the asking price will likely be too high. I would like to see Cabrera in an Athletics uniform, but not at the expense of giving up one of our stockpiled pitching arms. 

So what options do the A's have now at shortstop? They could look at an in-house option in Grant Green, but he figures to be more of a utility man option. He did surprisingly well in AAA last year, and got some extra action in the Arizona Fall League, he held his own. This may be the reason Billy Beane is sitting back and watching the market unfold, but I think a more experienced player should be signed. Green looks like he may be able to have an impact, but it's very difficult to lean on a player with no major league experience at a middle infield position. Look at Donaldson last year. He did awful when leaned upon early in the year to the tune of a .069 batting average before being sent down. He came back with a vengeance late in the year and looks to be the A's third baseman of the present and future. But you can't put that pressure on a young player to be "the man" especially with no MLB experience. Hiroyuki Nakajima is also available from Japan, but there are rumored to be many teams interested and he may be difficult to sign if the A's get into a bidding war. My feeling is that most teams view him as a utility infielder, so if they A's see him as a starting SS then they may be able to steal him away for a relatively decent price. 

I trust in Billy Beane, as he's been doing this for many years. He could have a trade up his sleeve that he is in discussions with right now, I don't know. What I do know is that the shortstop position needs to be filled, and losing out on Drew was a major blow to the A's chances next year, especially if they cannot find someone that can fill in at that role until the promising Green or Addison Russell are ready. Don't let us down Billy!

Melvin MOY

Bob Melvin Wins AL Manager of the Year

Receiving 16 of the 28 first place votes, the Oakland A's skipper took home the trophy for AL Manager of the Year. This was the only possible outcome in my opinion. Not to take away from the job that Buck Showalter did, but Melvin won the toughest division in baseball this year with a very miniscule payroll and a roster loaded with rookies.

Not only did Melvin deal with the no name roster into a AL West powerhouse, he dealt with some major blows along the road. Spring training started with the loss of Scott Sizemore for the season, and sent the team scrambling for an option at third. They went with Donaldson and Sogard, some relative unknowns that figured to be minor leaguers coming into spring training. Barton and Kia'ahue were to split the duties at first base and Kurt Suzuki was coming off his worst year as a pro offensively. The team started out with a very rough record, and a less than potent lineup, but Melvin kept the players going and they eventually turned it around in the late part of June after being nine games below .500.

With the addition of Brandon Inge, Brandon Moss, Stephen Drew, and the emergence of Reddick, Cespedes, Cook, Parker, and Milone, the A's and Melvin took off. They turned around the season in a hurry during the last four months of the season. Melvin managed two platoon situations and kept both players happy in both situations. Gomes and Smith worked well as the DH platoon, and Carter and Moss worked out as well. Also, he dealt with the Colon suspension right after Bartolo had started pitching his best all year. Another blow towards the end of the year was dealt to Brandon McCarthy with a line drive to the head that knocked him out for the rest of the season. The A's also did without Dallas Braden who was figured to be back in play before the All-Star break at the least, but ended up having another season ending surgery.

With 5 rookie pitchers at the end of the year, in Straily, Parker, Milone, Blackley, and Griffin they managed to sweep the Texas Rangers in a three game set for the division. For me, that all but locked up the award for Melvin. I look for him to do more of the same next year, and hopefully he's a repeat recipient.

Bartolo Colon Rejoins A's for 2013 Season

Colon Awarded with $3 Million Contract

In a confusing move, Billy Beane decided to bring back Bartolo Colon for the 2013 season. He cited the "added depth" as the major reason for doing so. My only concern is the dollar amount. Not only did Bartolo only make $2 million last year, he was also suspended for doping. So, on top of an increased salary with added  incentive based progressions, the A's are risking a lot in my opinion.

For me, this seems like a big risk. He gets paid more than he did last year, and he doesn't have the benefit of the testosterone he was taking. I mean, he posted a 10-9 line with a 3.43 ERA on PED's what are the chances he performs even up to that level sans the juice? Not likely. Seems like a doomed deal from the start. Another negative to this deal is that it decreases the possibility of bringing back a Brandon McCarthy or getting an equivalent player on the open market.

In a statement made to the press, the A's assured the fans that this move will not jeopardize the re-signing of McCarthy, but I have my doubts. Especially with teams such as the Cubs reportedly interested. McCarthy says all the right things; like he wants to be back and that he appreciates the Oakland fans and family, but at the end of the day if the money is better elsewhere that's usually where athletes end up.

by Bill Montoya

Oakland A's Season Recap

Oakland A's Dream Season Comes to an Early End

The Oakland A's had great expectations for themselves at the beginning of the season. They were the only ones with a positive outlook on the team that traded 3 of it's better pitchers in the offseason in Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, and Andrew Bailey. From those trades they brought in Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker, Josh Reddick, Ryan Cook, and Derrick Norris. An impressive haul of prospects by the magical Billy Beane, but surely those players weren't ready to perform well at the big league level. Oakland had also made a few value signings in Brandon McCarthy, Bartolo Colon, Jonny Gomes, traded for Seth Smith, and to top it off a Cuban phenom at the age of 26 in Yoenis Cespedes. Many of these players seen as has beens, and really just looked to fill roster spots for a year. 

Many expert analysts had this team as a 100 game loser before the season started and picked even the lowly Mariners to pass them up, leaving them as the 4th place team in the AL West that looked to be a pretty stacked division. The Texas Rangers coming off their second consecutive World Series loss, figured to be primed for a repeat after losing only a few key players, but replacing them in house with great alternatives. The Angels had stolen away CJ Wilson from their division rivals in the Rangers, and added one Albert Pujols to anchor their already stacked lineup. 

Adding to the negative vibes before the season had started was the impending San Jose move. Although Oakland businesses and the city have been willing to discuss building a new stadium in Oakland, Lew Wolff is insistent on moving to San Jose. This has angered many of the fans in Oakland for a couple years now, and is the main reason fans are not willing to show up to the games. With all this negativity leading into the season, it's no surprise that expectations were so low. But that is why we play the game...

The season started in Tokyo, Japan in late March. A match-up between the A's and Mariners most likely to promote one of Japan's premier players in Ichiro Suzuki. This was one of a few scheduling blunders by MLB that really got under my skin. The A's were counted as the home team for these two games, some 5000 miles from Oakland. So not only did they have to travel to another country, they also would only play 79 games at home this season. After a split in Japan, they returned home to play more SPRING TRAINING games... again, a questionable move by MLB.

March and April were months to forget, with the A's sitting at 11-13 on May 1st. Once May hit the A's started to show promise, getting on a roll and winning 3 of their first 4 series. Josh Reddick became the first A's player since Jack Cust in 2009 to hit 10+ HR's in a month. He had ignited the struggling offense and the Oakland boys looked like a team that might play well. That's when Cespedes got hurt, and the A's went into a tailspin losing 9 straight between May 22 and June 1st.

At this point, I was waiting for the massive sell off that happens yearly when we drop out of contention. But Billy Beane stuck to his guns and decided to wait till closer to the July 31st trade deadline before making any rash decisions. The players would reward him for that patience.

The season looked the most bleak on June 10th. Sitting at 9 games below .500 and 13 games behind the Rangers the A's had reached a new worst for the season. Luckily they were pulling into Colorado, a hitters paradise and just what the A's needed in order to get their bats going. Colorado had been a struggling team all year, and they were flirting with a 6 man rotation at the time. Meanwhile for Oakland, Brandon Moss had just been called up a few days previous from AAA Sacramento where he wasn't doing too well. But he did have a clause in his contract that if the A's hadn't called him up by the middle of June, they had to release him. Kila Ka'aiHue had just been placed on paternity leave, and Moss was about to make an impact in a big way.

The A's went on to sweep the Rockies in convincing fashion and things were beginning to look up, a series win against the Padres, and another sweep over the LA Dodgers who owned the best record in baseball at the time, was giving the young team some confidence. As June came to an end, Oakland sat 5 games below .500 at 37-42 but had just completed their first winning month all season.

July was a magical month, the A's went 19-5. This was their 2nd best record in franchise history. Many heroes emerged in Cespedes, Crisp, Reddick, Moss, and Carter. Also, their pitching ranked 2nd in the AL, closely behind a Joe Madden led Rays club. This was the month of the walk-off for the A's in which many of their contests ended in last inning runs. This for me was the most exciting month of baseball I had ever witnessed, besides the 20 game winning streak in the 2002 season.

August was another great month. The A's posted an 18-7 record. They got a major boost in Brett Anderson coming back from a season ending injury last year. He hit the ground running and pitched very well for them. Also this was the month that the bullpen really separated themselves from the rest of the league. Balfour took back the closer role and never looked back after Cook struggled to shut out games, in many opportunities. The last game of August was a 20-2 drubbing of the lowly Red Sox. The A's were really hitting their stride and making major improvement on what was a 13 game deficit for the division lead. Although, they did lose a major contributor in Bartolo Colon who was caught using PED's.

September was more of the same for the boys in Green and Gold. 17 wins and 11 losses. They made the best of their opportunities and beat the bad teams and took one or two from the good teams. They played the Yankees, Tigers, Angels and Rangers and had a losing record against all of them in the month. But still had a winning month and made up even more ground in the chase for a pennant. With 3 games left at home against a very tough Texas team, the A's were trailing by 2 games. It seemed improbably that they would win all 3 to win the division, but this A's group had defied the odds all year.

The last 3 games were magical, like they were from a story you only see in Hollywood. The Coliseum was rocking and it was sold out for all 3 games. The ruckus crowd helped the boys win all 3 in convincing fashion, leading some to believe this was the best team in baseball surging at the right time. I can honestly say, this was the best 3 games of my life. I made up an excuse to leave work so I could witness the games, and I will never regret it.

With all the momentum in the world with the A's, they headed into Detroit. This was another thing that irked me about the season. The A's had "home field advantage" yet they were forced to travel and start on the road across the country. The first two games didn't go well. In fact they dropped them both, and Coco Crisp made the worst play of his life in allowing a ball to drop right in front of him off his glove and allowing Detroit to take the lead in game 2.

The A's dragged back to Oakland licking their wounds from the brutal road games in Detroit, but they were back in front of the greatest fans in baseball. And they would not disappoint. Anderson pitched the game of his career in my opinion, stifling the big Detroit bats over 6 innings. On came the trio of Cook, Doolittle, and Balfour to close out the game and all of the sudden the A's were back in it down 2-1 in the series.

Game 4 was a typical A's walkoff winner. They got down early and never really clawed their way back. In the 9th inning they hung 3 runs on Valverde. Coco was the hero for the second night in a row, after robbing a big homer from Prince Fielder the night before.

But in game 5, their magic had run out. Verlander came to the mound and pitched one of the best games of his career and shut out the A's that looked utterly lost at the plate. A 4 run inning for Detroit undid any hope of a comeback, and for once in the season, the A's had been stuck wishing for more.

For me, this was the year of the A's. Granted they came up short of their goals, but in terms of what everyone else expected (including myself) they destroyed everyone's predictions and made them eat their predictions.

Next year the core of this team returns and they seem primed to improve in every facet with the young pitchers having even more seasoning under their belt, and the young star players in Reddick and Cespedes have more experience. They do have some pending free agents in McCarthy, Gomes, Inge, and Colon. They picked up Balfour's option, and declined Stephen Drew's. Beane does hope to bring back McCarthy, Gomes and Drew if the price is right. With the departure of Cliff Pennington via trade and a weak shortstop market, I believe they have to get the Drew contract situated. But he is represented by Scott Boras, so that may complicate things.

The addition of Chris Young from Arizona also seems to muddle the picture for me. Coco is locked into one more year here in Oakland and is making $7.5 million so he will be tough to trade. Plus, I think he is a major addition to this team because of his defensive play, his bat, his speed on the bases, and his character. So I'm not really sure where Young fits on this team. I see the A's dealing Seth Smith and potentially Coco during the offseason, but the bulk of this team should be back and better than ever.

Here's to another great year in 2013, hopefully this time the trophy comes to the other side of the bay!

By Bill Montoya