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Last week, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed a bill authorizing $380 million in public funding intended to help build a new ballpark near the Las Vegas Strip for the athletics. While the other MLB franchise owners have yet to sign off on their move, that development was the latest in a streak that will see the Athletics poised to become the first team to move outside of their state since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C. , in 2004.
It is expected that several past members of the Athletic have since expressed their views on the matter, including former managers Art Howe and Bob Melvin, as well as New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson. Howe and Melvin served together as Oakland’s skipper for parts of 18 seasons. Donaldson, meanwhile, played in parts of four seasons with the A’s.
While Howe and Melvin mostly focused their comments on the fanbase (“I really feel for the fans [because] they deserve a team,” Howe said; for his part, Melvin told NBC Sports Bay Area that a move would be “sad”), Donaldson focused on the way the A’s have done business — specifically the way ownership has financial obligations has imposed restrictions that have kept them trading star after star over the years.
“As an organization over the years, I don’t know how much they’ve tried to build a fan base,” Donaldson also told NBC Sports Bay Area. He added, “You’re talking about one of the biggest markets in baseball in the Bay Area. It’s seen as a small market team, but it’s only a small market because of what the team is willing to offer. of the richest owners in all of baseball own the A’s.”
Our own Dayn Perry recently explained how the A’s got to this point, writing the following about owner John Fisher:
This is an owner who, since buying out managing partner Lew Wolff after the 2016 season, has never had a payroll higher than 23rd out of 30 MLB franchises. On average, they rank 27th below Fisher. The largest free agent contract handed out by Fisher remains Joakim Soria’s two-year, $15 million pact signed in 2019. (The largest contract in Oakland A history is Eric Chavez’s $66 million extension he signed in 2004, or a year before Fisher joined the ownership group.) Fisher was the only owner to choose not to pay his minor leaguers during the losing 2020 season, and he relented only after a vigorous public outcry. The A’s under Fisher reportedly missed out on a stadium rental payment in 2020, despite almost certain they turned a very healthy profit in 2019. You could continue if the point needed reinforcement.
Unfortunately, as justified as Fisher’s criticisms, it seems he’s about to get what he wants.
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