On and Off

Barton-about to be sent down
Weeks-new 2nd baseman
Kouzmanoff-should start looking to rent long-term in Sacramento
Geren-Hawaii
Matsui-playing every day
We are getting excited about Ross, McCarthy and yes, even Harden, coming back soon.

Billy firing Geren was a huge move. Though we all wanted it, few called it that I know of. So happy to see Kouz gone and really liking what Sizemore and Weeks bring to the table. I like that Melvin is rotating Powell in more often and that he is playing our biggest homerun bat in Matsui every day. Lots of change and I would venture to say were this team in place at the start of the season we would be at least .500 right now.

Our bullpen is as good as ever, Ross coming back makes me happy, even Brandon McCarthy is a plus. Harden for a few games should be exciting. I like our chances much better now than I did 2 weeks ago.

It seems the cards are stacked against us. The population immediately around the current stadium cannot/will not support a competitive salary. It is not reasonable for us to expect management to take the Oakland A’s on as charity.

On the Field…

Ellis should never play for the A’s again. Barton should be in AAA.

We are one more losing streak away from selling off our tradables, and one winning streak away from being in it. Dallas Braden’s loss is the biggest we’ve had as he’s the guding voice on the pitching staff, and that shouldn’t be underrated.

Weeks playing well is a godsend. Sizemore does clutch things we do not believe in…. like being clutch. I pray he never learns we don’t believe in clutchitude. Our other guys are playing as they always have. Matsui hits a bomb now and then when allowed to play. Suzuki seems more likely to DP than 1B, and Pennington loves the two hole. (Who doesn’t?)

Even in our two counties, they’re both pretty split. Alameda is almost 50/50 between A’s and Giants fans.

Selig needs to step up and take stand.

Please email him at this address EVERY DAY…

allan.selig@mlb.com

Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-7800

We covered the Olympics together and he really is the nicest guy. Happy to see him raise some national attention on this issue.

That was not the case when I lived there in the early nineties. As Dylan says, things have changed.

The North Bay is the Giants, the South Bay and most of the East Bay is as well.

Oakland, Hayward, San Leandro, Alameda…boys, in the Risk game of fandom, we’re about to become extinct.

Between the Phone Booth and KNBR, they’ve managed to really out-maneuver our team. If it didn’t mean the death of us, I’d be impressed.

…that my intensely Zionist grandmother used to have on her wall: a tiny blue sliver surrounded by scarily colored Arab countries.

Can’t Bud see that the A’s are the Only Democracy in the Region? And that the Only Thing Those People in Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Monterrey Counties Understand is Violence?

(Please note: these views, representing a rough translation of the views of my grandmother z’’l do not necessarily have anything to do with my views or the facts on the ground in Israel/Palestine. They’re pretty true about the Gnats and their fans, however.)

…you should be able to see A’s first round pick Sonny Gray pitch for Vanderbilt in the CWS today in about three hours (11 AM Pacific).

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/06/athletics-sign-doug-mathis.html

Help me talk this out…

We know the bay area is the only split two-team market. All the others (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles) are shared. Of those shared markets, Los Angeles is the only one like the bay area where geography plays a significant role in terms of distance between stadiums, stadiums in different cities, and so on. The teams in New York and Chicago essentially share, literally, the cities they represent, so I think the comparison is less relevant. They have more equal opportunity to market, and the onus is more on each team to just deal with it and market effectively.

One of the Giants’ claims is that they would lose out on corporate and fan bases if the A’s moved to San Jose. How do corporate and fan bases shake out in LA? Do the Angels draw corporate interest from downtown LA, or more only from Orange County? What about the Dodgers? Same with fans.

If the LA area is more divided in where each team draws from, then maybe the Giants might have a point… though I do think their 500K attendance loss number is exaggerated hyperbole. And I still don’t believe this justifies the splitting of the geographic area, just considering the argument from different angles.

Many here would counter that a Giants fans would go to a Giants game regardless, and same for the A’s and their fans. I believe that’s true… to a point. First, that would fade over time, and a team should be concerned with 10 and 20 years from now just as they are concerned with today.

Second, and this is the biggie… is loyalties and convenience. A true Giants fans will go to watch a Giants game regardless, yes. Same with a true A’s fan. But, the true fans are the minority. Teams depend for more of their attendance an average non-fans. The fan who is either casual, fair-weather, or tagging along with friends or family wanting to be entertained. All other things being equal, those people will choose convenience over team. (This bodes well for the A’s if they do get San Jose, btw)

Back in the day when it was the Coliseum and Candlestick, all other things were roughly equal, and more people chose the A’s and the Coliseum. Convenience, atmosphere, families felt it was safer for their kids, reasons like that. Once PacBell was built, it wasn’t equal anymore, and the attendance numbers showed this. As much as I detest the Giants and everything they stand for, they have the far superior facility and are a far more attractive entertainment option for the money-spending non-fan. To claim otherwise is simple denial, IMO. An A’s stadium in San Jose would bring a great deal of the equality in attractiveness and value back for the non-fan to consider, and also from a base that is a bit more affluent than the Oakland area.

Back to LA and how they handle it. When the Angels were bought by Disney they changed from “California” to “Anaheim”. Didn’t really do anything to help. Now, they’re promoting themselves as Los Angeles, much to the chagrin of the Dodgers, and it does have a broader appeal. I’m sure they also wanted to appeal to fans in the LA city area as well, rather then limit themselves to Anaheim and Orange County. Does anyone know if that has helped gain any new corporate sponsors from LA?

Talking this out makes me think that the Giants do have some legitimate concerns, but it does not change my mind. They are minor concerns, not fiscal life-or-death as the Giants portray them, and they can be addressed and dealt with. The very notion that the area needs to be split to begin with is absurd, especially when knowing the history.

but is it just me or does Graham Godfrey look EXACTLY like Matthew Glave (the actor who played Glenn Guglia in The Wedding Singer)?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0322182/

(If it happens, of course)

Will it be enough to make a substantial difference?

The styling is more modern than PacBell, which can be either good or bad. Not everybody likes the retro look, but I do. I went to Target Field a couple months ago, and it was nice… just nice. It didn’t “Wow!” me. From what I see of the Cisco design, it’ll be nice… just nice. That being said, it does fit well with the Silicon Valley region, I think. They can really take advantage of technology and appeal to fans that way.

I am more concerned with the size. Small doesn’t bother me, but 34K small does. Only 3K more doesn’t sound like a lot, but I think it would help a great deal to take advantage of big games and series.

Try telling that to the people who live here. Ugh.

Can we, Billy? Please? A lefty with a sinker AND a 65 mph screwball?

“The Bay Area has had two teams for 44 years, and it’s always been controversial,” Selig said. “I know the issues, and there are many. I’ve spoken extensively with both clubs and that’s all I’m willing to say about it.”

It’s easy to forget, but the simplest answer really is the best answer in most cases. Selig said a long time ago that the Bay area isn’t a two-team market, and the more I think about it, the more obvious it is that nothing that’s occurred since has changed his opinion.

Rovingralph mentioned earlier in this thread that Selig hates conflict, and he’s absolutely right about that. I think his whole strategy with the A’s is very simple:

1) Let my buddy who’s good at figuring out this development-type stuff figure out a way to get the A’s a new stadium locally
2) If that doesn’t work, hey, I was right about this two-team market stuff in the first place, and I can prove it to anybody that asks

I think for the first time since this whole thing started, I’m convinced that the A’s leaving the Bay area entirely is actually the most likely outcome, with a new ballpark in Oakland second, and a new ballpark in San Jose third. I just don’t think Selig has the stones to resolve the t-rights issue in an executive way, which is what will be needed given that the Giants will never negotiate.

For 13 years, the A’s have wanted to move to Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, the city of San Jose and some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.

You know, that plays baseball and stuff, not one that serves solely to bring in development money, corporate sponsorships, and revenue sharing….

I doubt it will though, sigh.

so we can start talking crap about the gnats now? you know, like a online tailgate!