Items out of the AL and NL West..
- The Athletics released a statement this afternoon regarding recent reports that MLB might not allow the club to move to San Jose due to the Giants' territorial rights. The A's point out that out of "the four two-team markets in MLB, only the Giants and A's do not share the exact same geographic boundaries." The statement also emphasizes that a move to San Jose would benefit other owners when it comes to revenue sharing.
- For the first time, Ubaldo Jimenez openly admitted that he wanted to be traded from the Rockies, writes Tracy Ringolsby of FOXSportsArizona.com. The pitcher watched Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez sign long-term contracts with the club and felt as though he had been put on hold. Jimenez was looking for a trade this time last year but wasn't dealt until July 30th.
- There was some buzz about Felix Hernandez's favorable comments regarding his future in Seattle beyond 2014, but Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times cautions not to read too far into them. Hernandez signed a five-year, $78MM deal prior to the 2010 season and Baker writes that there are no immediate plans to put another deal in front of the ace.
I say they make the Giants and A’s play for it this season if this nonsense prevents them from moving. First team to win 4 of the series they play twice a year, gets leverage in settling on a location. The A’s aren’t favored to contend this year, might as well spice up the rivalry between the Bay Area teams…
Freaking Ubaldo…woulda rather have him come out and say he didn’t want to be here rather then pretend the whole year….maybe thats an O’Dowd thing though
What a big baby. I wonder what his excuse was for stinking it up in Cleveland.
Yeah I wouldn’t read into Felix’s comments. Its pretty standard to say you want to stay with the team your on. If the team isn’t contending by the time that contracts up he is gone no doubt. As for the A’s situation its regrettable but you can’t expect Cali to have too many big payroll teams with the Dodgers and Angels present. Not to mention the Giants always have a solid payroll/attendance. I mean 3 out of 5 teams in the NL West are Cali teams, and half the AL West teams are from Cali. How much more of an advantage can a state ask for than five teams in the running every season. If they get the move that’s great it would be cool for baseball to have Billy Beane get some payroll flexibility. If they don’t I could really care less the states got plenty of potential for winning baseball teams.
The Bay Area market can easily support 2 mid-market teams.
Not two teams on the level of Yankees/Red Sox/Phillies/Angels, but two economically healthy teams with payrolls in the 80-100MM range.
California consists of multiple separate MLB markets.
Except that Felix is always saying this and he really does love Seattle Geoff Baker is just a joke most Mariner fans don’t read his junk. Felix signed for 80M to stay with the Mariners when he could of hit FA i believe him.
Calif has the most people. LA is the 2nd biggest market. SF Oak is the 5th biggest market. There have been seasons where the A’s and Giants have drawn a combined 5 million fans. More A’s fans would show up if they weren’t constantly being told by the owners and Selig that their park stinks and that their team does not want to play in front of them anymore. Great marketing Wolfie.
That’s too bad about Felix. If they really wanted to keep him post-2014 they would sign him to a contract similar to C.C.’s most recent extension (5 years/$122 million) in 2012 before he sets his sights on free agency.
What are the odds the A’s eventually do end up out of CA and in NC, SC, Utah, Alabama etc.. Someplace that has no team near it’s market anyway?
That would solve the entire problem and not saying that to alienate fans here, but it really does make sense.
I’m thinking the odds are at 30% right now. I honestly think they will not get San Jose and will stake out a new territory in the near future.
There just are not too many markets left for an MLB team to move to. They’d be right back in the small market position.
Just move the As already, I get depressed just watching them on TV
Sacramento, portland, Vegas, indi, Charlotte, Austin, San antonio. All markets that
Could support a baseball team better than Oakland.
The economies in many of those cities aren’t doing very well. The research has shown that there aren’t many markets left that are not already saturated. Portland might be one…and even Montreal. If anything…MLB has TOO many teams. Why move a team into a market with almost zero TV rating potential and a serious shot that they won’t be able to sustain attendance.
The economies in many of those cities aren’t doing very well. The research has shown that there aren’t many markets left that are not already saturated. Portland might be one…and even Montreal. If anything…MLB has TOO many teams. Why move a team into a market with almost zero TV rating potential and a serious shot that they won’t be able to sustain attendance.
“the four two-team markets in MLB, only the Giants and A’s do not share the exact same geographic boundaries.”
For all the talk about precedents, this is some pretty significant precedent.
AND, all the other two-team markets (NY, Chicago, LA) regularly support two of the top ten payrolls in MLB apiece (Except when there’s Wilpon/McCourt scandal, but that has nothing to do with market size).
The Bay Area (not Oakland, which is economically depressed, but the Bay as a whole) can easily support a top payroll team (the Giants) and a mid payroll team (the A’s), if not more.
I’m just gonna say it: Ubaldo is angry at himself and his representatives for agreeing to such a ludicrously team friendly deal with so many ludicrously team friendly options.
If he had just gone year-to-year, he’d be making so much more money or would have had so much more leveraging power when extension talks inevitably took place after his 2009 campaign, to say nothing of the work he did in 2010.
The guy settled for a below market 4 years/$10MM when he could have probably gotten $10MM for his first year of arbitration alone after everything he’s accomplished. That’s all it is.
He regrets signing away 6 years of his career for a possible grand total of $23.75MM when he would have easily made that amount over his first two years of arbitration (or a contract extension).
Yep sounds like it. Well he played the “Nice Guy” card but apparently he was all about the dough as well (not that I can blame him)
I think he played the “holy crap they’re offering me MILLIONS!? whatever, I’ll take it” naivete card before he realized what someone with his skill set could command. Basically I think he had no clue the kind of power players wield and suffered for his ignorance of how the business-side of the game works.
He’s lucky to have gotten that deal, because the Rockies took a real chance given his pitching mechanics and potential for injury. The Rockies got out at a good time.
Agreed, What i want to know is why the Indians made that trade because Ubaldo wasn’t doing very good before he got traded.
He was a young controllable arm with upside on a killer contract.
He’s lucky to have gotten that deal, because the Rockies took a real chance given his pitching mechanics and potential for injury. The Rockies got out at a good time.
Keep the A’s in Oakland.
Coliseum City!
Selig and his “committee” are ridiculous. C’mon already! How long does it take to figure the A’s situation. I’d betting Selig will keel over before he figures it out.
The A’s flunk geography. The Angels market is Orange County. The Dodgers is LA county.
Does Bud Selig give a crap about anything other than money.The guy should be in a retirement home not running baseball.