Why don't the A's win any more?

It seems like, for practical purposes, Type A compensation will still exist. All a team has to do is make a one-year, $12 million offer, which will be summarily rejected, and you get the pick.

That said, that's a pretty damned big mistake for Rogers to make.

 

He was safe anyway. The umpire blew the call.

 

LTL has it right. Lew Wolff doesn't care about winning.

 

Oakland now with the second-best record in the American League.

 

Insane.

Their best pitcher of 2011 is in Washington, their best hitter of 2011 is in Minnesota, they had one All-Star this year and it was a "gotta squeeze in someone from that team" closer, and they might not have any All-Stars if the team was picked right now on merit without a one-per-team rule. They were eight games under .500 on June 12.

When Billy got famous on Moneyball, he had three of the top 10 starting pitchers in the league, and that factor never got quite the credit it deserved. But this ... this is pretty inexplicable. And on the heels of an off-season that left him and the team basically waving the white flag before a pitch was thrown.

 

I think that the turning point was when he finally just said, "Screw it," and started penciling actual MacBooks into the starting rotation. And a Blackberry batting clean-up. That takes brass.

 

It is amazing what the A's are doing.

 

I believe this more than anything shows the unique nature of baseball.

Though my allegiances are across the Bay (as a kid I saw the Swinging A's win 3 titles while my Giants were forever getting beat by the Reds then Dodgers), I enjoy seeing them do well because its good for the Bay Area.

Is this Billy Beane's greatest job? Probably so. Even 2006 had Milton Bradley. 2012's version has Josh Donaldson hitting key home runs. Its the starting staff of Parker/Griffin/Milone and Brett Anderson dominating.

The stud though is Cespedes. He's not why they're winning but he'll be the shining star for the future.

 

Seriously, this historic.

The franchise was settling into a steady decline -- absent from the pennant race since 2006, a massive erosion of attendance that was embarrassing even during the early 2000's -- coming into this season. Beane became a minority owner of the club a few years ago, which seemed like a total conflict of interest (owners worry about the bottom line, a GM shouldn't). Lew Wolff, the majority owner who actively wants to move to San Jose, even cancelled the yearly Fan Fest. In terms of net-worth, he's actually one of the top five richest owners in MLB while his team's payroll remains the lowest.

With the Marlins moving to their fishbowl, Oakland became the only MLB to play home games in a football stadium. In light of the offseason trades and roster full of no-names, there were few reasons to argue against this team being the least-promising franchise in all the Majors.

When I think of losing teams who come out of nowhere to win a pennant/World Series, I think 1969 Mets, 1991 Braves and 2003 Marlins. Anyone have any firsthand insight on those teams?

 

Funny part is I don't know if ownership is all that happy because it is undercutting their claim that they can't win or survive in Oakland. They have gone out of their way to turn fans away -- canceling the annual FanFest (they did bring it back this year after a three-year absence), closing many of the concession stands, signing a radio deal that has major reception issues throughout the Bay Area -- in the hopes of getting approval to move to San Jose. But Selig continues to play the four corners, Oakland continues to come up with stadium alternatives that force Lew Wolff to look like the ogre when he says "NO!!!", and now the A's are back to being the little engine that could.

I think Wolff is hating this.

EDIT: Didn't see RubberSoul's post before I posted, but yeah, Billy is working against even more now than he was in the early 2000s.

 

Agreed with LTL re: Wolff.

Should the A's make the playoffs, even if its just the wild card, he may just head for the bridge (metaphorically speaking, of course). It shoots to hell his claim that the A's are in a "small" market and can't compete. Hello? You're in a Top 10 TV market. Yeah, the Giants dominate the scene, but ask the White Sox about competing in a similar situaiton vs. the Cubs. And you've got some of the most affluent bedroom communities in the region just over the hills in Contra Costa county.

Wolff's a South Bay area guy. He's got plenty of real estate interests there and also own the MLS's Earthquakes, who will soon be playing in a soccer-specific stadium near the San Jose airport after years at Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara (having left Spartan Stadium after being unable to make a deal on a stadium rehab with San Jose State). The theory seems to be a move to San Jose will bring in more revenue, but I'm not sold. I'll grant the Coliseum is a dump, and the ballclub got no favors when they rebuilt it to lure the Raiders back. And some of their radio deals have been epic fails (including six week's on Cal's 10-watt student station, with current Giants CEO Larry Baer behind the mic). And there's no way in h-e-double-hockeysticks the Oakland area can afford to build a new yard, plus, they're on the verge of losing the Warriors to San Francisco.

About as clear as the NL wild card, eh?

 

What?? Tell me more. That sounds hysterical.

I thought the Rays had a bad radio situation when I was there. This blow is away.