With the NFL’s Oakland Raiders probably unlikely to end up in Los Angeles, CSNBayArea.com’s Joe Stiglich looks at how this could impact the Athletics’ bid for a new ballpark. It seems like the Raiders will share the O.co Coliseum with the A’s for at least one more year and big picture-wise, not much has changed, as per a press release from A’s co-owner Lew Wolff earlier this week: “The Oakland A’s will continue to explore our options with the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda on a new venue. This announcement by the NFL regarding the Raiders does not change our immediate plans or our goal of securing a new baseball-only facility.” The Raiders would like to build a new stadium on the Coliseum’s current site, which would allow the A’s to opt out of their lease and perhaps explore a new ballpark site in downtown Oakland or even a move to a new city. Pro Football Rumors (MLBTR’s sister site) has all the latest on the Oakland stadium situation in their Raiders news section. Here’s some more from the California teams…
- “The Dodgers want the draft pick they would get if (Howie) Kendrick signs elsewhere much more than they want to bring back Kendrick,” Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. Since Kendrick rejected the qualifying offer, the Dodgers will receive a compensation pick if he signs elsewhere, but only if Kendrick signs before the June draft. It’s not really clear who might make a play for Kendrick at this point in the offseason — teams like the Mets, Angels, Nationals and Diamondbacks have been linked to him, though some have since addressed second base needs in trades and others (such as the D’Backs) are balking at giving up another draft pick for a QO free agent. With Chase Utley, Enrique Hernandez and Micah Johnson all lined up to handle second base, Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi said last month that the team “feel[s] pretty set” at the position.
- Also from Shaikin, he believes David Freese should’ve signed with the Angels when the two sides were in talks in December. When negotiations didn’t lead to a deal, the Halos traded for Yunel Escobar to play third base, and Freese hasn’t been since connected to any other teams. Though Freese was the best of a rather limited class of free agent third basemen, his market has likely been hurt by the fact that several of the teams in need of third base help this offseason (i.e. the Angels and White Sox) filled their holes on the trade market.
- The Pads bullpen is still wide-open heading into Spring Training, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Sanders lists some of the many internal options available to the Friars, and also notes that the team has been quite good at developing unheralded arms into quality relievers in recent years.
City of San Jose should boycott the Giants for the ridiculous territorial righs that prevent the relocation to the Silicon Valley
It’s pretty ridiculous that the A’s can’t move further away from San Francisco to San Jose. But Oakland’s already losing the Warriors and probably the Raiders at some point too, so I can’t be too upset if the A’s stay there.
Yeah, i even agree with you, But the posture of Giants and City of San Francisco were pretty ridiculous…
*really pretty
So you’re saying a Giants fan living in San Jose, should boycott their own team, so that a team they don’t have any affinity for can move into their city?
Excluding them, of course…
Why would any Giants fan do that? Maybe the A’s management should stop trading away all their good players so the fans actually have a reason to go to the games.
I agree completely. Why should the loyal fans of San Jose (which are predominantly orange and black due to the San Jose Giants being based in the city) just blatantly boycott there team for the sake of the A’s just cause they can’t get shit done? Sounds like some petty shit to me.
A’s aren’t even bottom 5 in AL attendance anymore, the Indians are way worse than them over the last 5 years.
For 2015 A’s attendance was 26th in baseball. Indians were 29th and Rays were a distant last.
1.) A’s management has built one of the most consistently successful teams in the sport over the past 20 years despite their financial limitations (a result of stingy ownership, SF territorial greed, and a horrible stadium that the Raiders ruined when they moved back from LA)
2.) The Oakland A’s have made the playoffs 3 of the past 4 seasons, most teams would KILL for that, with 2 division titles in that stretch and the MOST WINS in the AL from 2012-2014….how quick you ‘fans’ forget
3.) 2015 was the first time in over 18 years the Oakland A’s failed to win 74 games or more (only STL and NYY can still say the same). Again, always putting a competitive team on the field
4.) The A’s 8 playoff appearances since the year 2000 is easily the MOST in the BAY (the A’s market) AREA’s all major sports teams over that stretch. More than the Giants, more than the Warriors, more than the Raiders and more than the 49ers.
5.) Even during SF’s first 3 years of success since 2010, (they now have 3 Rings in 58 years in SF to the Oakland A’s 4 rings in 48 years) the A’s were also very good during SF’s recent run. But of course, SF has the beautiful stadium and nice amenities, etc.
In conclusion, even when the A’s have been very good (and again, they’ve been one of the most consistently good teams in MLB since 2000) the crowds have been small, and it is due to a myriad of reasons. So don’t point to 1 bad season as some kind of excuse. The A’s deserve a real baseball stadium, and one day they’ll get one.
Qualifying offers should have a minimum 5-year contract attached to them with an AAV structure similar to what it is now. The idea of QOs is to compensate teams for losing star players like David Price and Zack Greinke. It is not there to kill the market for average players like Howie Kendrick, guys who aren’t even considered as valuable to their former team as the draft pick attached to them.
Definitely something worthy of discussion.
They should just make them work similar to the franchise tag in the NFL. Up the price on them to the top 1% of AAV and make them 100% binding one-year contracts.
That would give teams too much control. They already have at minimum 4-5 minor league control and then 6 major league control. So if you think of it they have at least a minimum of 10 years control. The union would never agree to that nor should they.
Okay, then make them refuseable, but up the price to the top 1% to keep them from being offered to crappy players.
NFL does it by position and it’s 5-10%
In the NFL, there are exclusive franchise tags that are the average of the top 5 salaries at the position for the current year and non-exclusive franchise tags that are for the average of the top 5 salaries at the position over the past 5 years. The player does not have the right to refuse the franchise tag. In my opinion, that would be a great option in MLB if the player had the right to refuse the franchise tag and become a free agent.
Players like Kendrick should acknowledge their value and accept them. Until that happens, teams will continue to hand them out to fringe talents because there is minimum risk.
Then the mediocre player should accept the offer. Code Rasmus would not have gotten more than 12 million on the open market so he wisely accepted the QO. By not accepting the offer you take the gamble. Sometimes you lose.
I felt that HK should have accepted the QO and taken the $5.5m raise….I thought he might be one of those players that having a pick attached would hinder his ability to find a new team….
I really don’t get why, he’s a great hitter and a solid defender with decent age. I’m really confused by this hitting market this offseason
I agree w/ you and it just seems that teams value the comp pick very highly these days….
I’m hoping he goes unsigned until June, Wilson does a solid job in April, trading Wilson for an OF and Angels bring back Howie.
I think there should be two different designations in terms of qualifying offers. Make 1. where if a team signs that player they must give up a first round pick. Make the other a 1(a) designation, where the signing team gives up a 3rd rounder.
Hammer out the finer details, and the problem is solved. lol
Nah man. The solution is simple. the bottom 20 teams, so the teams who don’t make the playoffs have a protected round 1 and 2 pick, and the rest of the teams, the teams that made the playoffs don’t have a protected pick. The point is to balance the league, is it not? This gives the league some much needed balance. Angels would easily sign Howie like that.
I like that.
First, the qualifying offer system is terrible. It’s a game within a game. Second, the guys that turn down these offers are walking away from a lot of money on just a 1 year contract so I can’t feel sorry for them if they sit out until June.
If the Chargers are able to make a deal with both Stan Kroenke and the Stockbridge Capital Group and join the Rams in LA, then there is a good chance the city of San Diego works to bring the Raiders here.
remove the compensation of draft picks and qualifying offers. if you change jobs, is your former employer compensated? no.
LoL. Bad comparison. Thr compensation pick is for the team not the players. Its their to balance the league, which has worked but it needs to be tweaked so it can be better.
perfect comparison. maybe try reading again.
The SD Padres they can sing David Freese he can play 3rd and put solarte and Spangenberg at 2nd base. they need a solid defender at 3rd base and power.. and they need another Outfielder with Power… AJ Preller we need more offense .