Kuzul

If 2010 taught us anything it is that the old saying “pitching wins championships” is no lie.

The 2010 Texas Rangers were able to ride the fourth best pitching staff in the American League, backed by the fourth best offense, all the way to the World Series. Fortunately for A’s fans, the Rangers lost their top pitcher when Cliff Lee spurned their offseason overtures and instead signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Rangers have more problems entering this season with the loss of Vladimir Guerrero’s bat in their lineup, and the impending departure of Michael Young when the Rangers find a trade partner. They did add Adrian Beltre, who boosts both their offense and defensive standing, however their losses definitely outweigh their additions.

The Los Angeles Angels added Dan Haren last season, adding to their already strong rotation of Ervin Santana, Scott Kazmir, Joel Piniero and Jeff Weaver. Their major offseason additions came in the form of bullpen help as they signed Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahashi.

The Angels also traded for Vernon Wells to improve their offense. However, they traded away Mike Napoli and his 26 home runs from 2010, and Juan Rivera to acquire Wells. Their season will depend on whether Dan Haren and Scott Kazmir can return to their once dominant selves, and if Kendry Morales returns healthy and able to contribute to their ninth best American League offense from 2010.

The Mariners, added Jack Cust and they have Ichiro and Chone Figgins. They have a hot pitching prospect, Michael Pineda, and the reigning AL Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez. That’s about the most worth mentioning here. The Mariners had a very respectable pitching staff in 2010, good enough for the third best ERA in the American League. However, they did not make any significant upgrades to their league worst offense.

The 2010 Oakland Athletics outperformed the entire American League in most pitching categories.

The A’s had the best ERA among American League teams (3.56), the least amount of hits (1315), the least number of runs allowed (626), the least earned runs (566), ranked fifth in base on balls (512) and finished first in VORP (229.1). They were backed up by the league’s most efficient defense. Unfortunately they were also backed up by the leagues eleventh best offense.

The 2011 Oakland Athletics have added depth to their starting rotation as well as their bullpen, looking to further improve on their league best pitching staff. Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden return to the A’s rotation with the winner of Rich Harden, Brandon McCarthy or Josh Outman joining as the fifth starter.

They will be supported by a solid bullpen consisting of All-Star closer Andrew Bailey, newcomers Brian Fuentes and Grant Balfour, Craig Breslow, Michael Wuertz, Brad Ziegler and either Joey Devine or Jerry Blevins competing for the final bullpen spot.

Defense remains a strength of the A’s in 2011, as they should maintain their standing as the top defense in the American League. David DeJesus brings with him his 241-consecutive game errorless streak, and the A’s infield returns in tact from 2010. Coco Crisp will strive to remain healthy and in center field for the duration of the season, and Josh Willingham is also a plus defender in left field having made only one error in 2010.

Offensive additions Hideki Matsui, David DeJesus and Josh Willingham will improve the A’s overall production from their 11th best (third worst) offense in 2010. Expect to see returning A’s players Daric Barton, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Kurt Suzuki and Mark Ellis to improve on their 2010 statistics in 2011 as well thanks to a stronger lineup around them providing better protection.

The A’s 2011 pitching staff looks primed to punish their American League opponents and solidify their standing as the league’s most dominant staff. While their impressive 2010 season went unrewarded, the A’s stand as the most improved team over the offseason. With only positive additions to the pitching staff and defense, plus an upgrade to the offense, the AL West is there for the taking for the A’s.

While general manager Billy Beane has always maintained the goal is simply to reach the playoffs, insisting there are too many variables once you get to the playoffs, this team is designed to go the distance once there. I like this pitching staff matched up against the pitching of any other team they face in the playoffs. Yankees? Red Sox? Twins? The A’s rotation and bullpen is superior to each of these teams.

If the A’s offense can provide them with average production, the A’s pitching staff should lead the A’s to at least one champagne shower celebration this season, and when the playoffs come around, I wouldn’t count them out against anyone.

AL West Pitching Statistics in 2010 (with rankings against the entire American League):

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All eyes will be on Albert Pujols for the next few days until he reports to Spring Training.

If his self-imposed deadline for a new contract comes and goes without an extension being reached with the St. Louis Cardinals, he will rule the headlines for the duration of the season.

Everywhere the Cardinals go, the top questions asked will be, “Where do you see yourself playing next season?” and “is your contract status a distraction?”

Arguably baseball’s best player, Pujols will wind up the top story of the year regardless of what happens on the field with his historic payday fast approaching.

In the meantime, there are three other historic milestones that will be reached at some point during the 2011 season that bear mentioning.

Three players will wind up breaking into some of baseball’s most exclusive clubs this season and so far on the eve of Spring Training, no mention has been given to their impressive feats.

3,000 Hit Club

At just 74 hits shy of achieving his 3,000th career hit, Derek Jeter is assured of reaching this milestone during the 2011 season.

Jeter currently averages 1.27 hits per game over his storied career. The captain of the Yankees will be remembered in history for leading the Yankees to five World Championships and three consecutive World Series Championships in 1998-1999-2000.

Jeter passed Hall of Famer and fellow Yankee Lou Gehrig to become the all-time Yankee hits leader in 2009. He also ranks as the all-time hits leader as a short stop and his career .314 batting average ranks seventh among all active players (76th overall).

Based on his career averages, Jeter should reach the 3,000 hit club around early June.

600 Home Run Club

The second most exclusive club in baseball is set to accept a new member this season when Jim Thome hits his 11th home run of the season.

Thome will be only the eighth player in Major League Baseball history to reach this milestone, behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey Jr (630), Alex Rodriguez (613) and Sammy Sosa (609).

If Thome is able to reach 20 home runs for the season, he will match Sosa for seventh all time. Thome averages a home run approximately every 4.06 games, meaning he should reach the 600 club around mid-May.

400 Stolen Base Club

Ichiro Suzuki is sitting on 383 career stolen bases, leaving him just 17 short of reaching 400 career stolen bases.

While it is a far step away from the career record set by Rickey Henderson (1,406), it is still an impressive accomplishment.

Ichiro has played his entire Major League career in an era that does not value the stolen base compared with other statistics and on-field contributions. Although his career statistics from Japan are not combined with his Major League totals, he also has 220 career stolen bases in Japan’s professional league.

While he currently ranks tied for 80th on the all-time list in MLB steals, his combined total of 603 stolen bases would rank him 18th all time.

Ichiro averages a stolen base approximately every 4.14 games. If he maintains this average, he should reach his 400th stolen base in the middle of June.

Johnny Damon is actually two stolen bases closer than Ichiro to reaching 400 career steals. Entering the season, Damon has 385 career stolen bases.

His speed has decreased the past two seasons, however. After stealing 29 bases in 2008, Damon only managed 12 stolen bases in 2009 and only 11 last season with Detroit.

Damon will come close, but may need to wait until 2012 to celebrate his milestone.

With the three major milestones all presumably reached before the All-Star break, we will have plenty of time to focus our attention back to the Pujols saga.

For three games, however, these future Hall of Fame players deserve baseball’s full attention and ovations.

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In early February I wrote about the A’s stadium frustration and that the time for MLB to make its recommendation is now.

Unfortunately, I do not have an update on any progress Lew Wolfe and company may or may not have made in persuading Bud Selig to release the findings of the blue-ribbon committee that he commissioned to make a recommendation on the Oakland Athletics stadium issue.

I do, however, have some updates on the impact that Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to end redevelopment funding will have on both stadium proposals in Oakland and San Jose.

Meant as one of many steps to attack the $25 billion deficit facing the state of California, Governor Brown has eliminated redevelopment funds and the agencies that control them throughout the state of California. All existing projects, bonds and deals will be honored.

The elimination of redevelopment only effects future projects. This means a sprint to the finish for both Oakland and San Jose to complete all steps necessary to secure the redevelopment bond before the programs are eliminated.

In neither case does this obstacle mean the end of a quest for a new baseball only stadium; however, it does put a deadline on completing key tasks in the preliminary process of building the A’s new home.

The city of Oakland is dependent on the redevelopment fund to complete studies, land purchases and infrastructure improvements. It is unlikely that all of these steps can be completed before the new budget goes into effect on July 1, leaving Oakland without the time necessary to get the bond issue on the ballot for voter approval.

Oakland needs approximately $100 million in redevelopment money to finish these tasks before the $450 million stadium could even begin to be built.

Meanwhile, San Jose is now in a rush to complete the land sales necessary to fund the purchase of the land where they have proposed the A’s build their stadium near downtown. Wolfe has offered to loan the San Jose redevelopment agency the money that it needs to complete the process in an attempt to keep things moving.

San Jose has an advantage over Oakland however in that their practice of land banking allows them to utilize money that has been raised over the past few years or even decades to help fund new projects or keep them going. This is exactly what San Jose is doing now by selling city assets to complete the land acquisition they need for the A’s stadium project.

Oakland is not quite willing to admit that Brown’s plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies and funding would kill their hope of building a new stadium in Oakland.

“I’m not saying we couldn’t overcome it, but it makes those projects a little more difficult and challenging,” City Council President Larry Reid said recently.

When combined with Wolfe’s repeated insistence that the A’s have exhausted all options of building a stadium in Oakland, it seems unlikely that Oakland would be able to overcome this obstacle. It would require Wolfe extending the same favor he offered to San Jose in loaning the city the money it needs to complete the project.

Wolfe recently had this to say about the Victory Court Location:

“With the same kind of detail the committee is going into, we don’t think we have any options available there. It has nothing to do with the fanbase or the City of Oakland. It’s just that our exploration is perhaps deeper than soundbites in the newspaper.”

It would seem unlikely that Wolfe would extend a loan to the city of Oakland to build a ballpark on a site he does not wish to occupy.

San Jose is now just $19.5 million short of completing the land acquisition of the two remaining parcels of land it needs to build the stadium. This is a much smaller amount than the reported $100 million that Oakland would need.

San Jose Redevelopment Executive Director Harry Mavrogenes says he expects Major League Baseball to approve the A’s request to move San Jose in time for the matter to be approved by San Jose voters before the July 1 budget goes into effect.

The Athletics plan to build a privately funded stadium which will not be affected by the redevelopment elimination once the land acquisition, all studies and voter approval are secured by the eventual winning city.

In the event that both current proposed locations, Victory Court in Oakland and the downtown San Jose site, fall through due to the elimination of the redevelopment agencies, where would the A’s wind up? Would they be forced to look for a new home outside of the Bay Area? Outside the state of California?

A’s fans can take solace in Wolfe’s words on this matter. In a recent interview with Rick Tittle, Wolfe had this to say regarding the possibility of an out of state move:

“I think what we’ve tried to do is to be one of the few teams in the history of baseball not to leverage by ‘you know we’re gonna move if you don’t do this for us’…So we have not sat around and thought about what our options are. We want to stay in the Bay Area. Our ownership doesn’t want to own a team in Omaha or someplace. We’re gonna make every effort to stay in the Bay Area and truthfully do not measure these other options.“

One thing is for certain though: the A’s can not continue for the next decade or two to share and play in the rundown Oakland Coliseum.

To repeat the theme from my first article on the matter, the time for MLB to decide the fate of the A’s future home is now. There simply is no more time to procrastinate.

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It seems like a ridiculous statement to make, but at $100 million ($116 million since St. Louis exercised their 2011 option) over the term of his last contract, Albert Pujols was an absolute steal for the Cardinals. It is safe to assume that his next contract will not be quite the bargain for the team that winds up signing him this coming off season.

Speculation will follow Pujols throughout the season about his next team and contract if he is unable to reach a deal with the Cardinals before the start of Spring Training. There is little doubt he will have multiple options in the off season. The Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Mets and Cardinals all would have the ability to sign Pujols (the Giants and Mets are my own speculation, while the other teams have been publicly speculated to have interest). Just to throw in my two cents, I believe Pujols will eventually resign with the St. Louis Cardinals, although I do expect him to fully explore free agency if no deal is reached this spring.

Early rumors have Pujols seeking a ten year contract worth as much as $30 million per season, or $300 million in total value. If Pujols finds an employer willing to spend this amount of money to include him in their lineup for the next decade he will push Alex Rodriguez out of the record book for largest contract in baseball history. Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols will likely wind up at the top of several all time lists by the time their two playing careers have finished, so it is fitting that they would wind up the number one and two highest paid players in the game. Is Pujols deserving of the higher salary? Or should “A-Rod” remain baseball’s richest annual player?

A quick glance at the back of his baseball card, or Internet site of your choice, will give you all the information you need about Albert Pujol’s importance to the Cardinal organization since his debut in 2001. Pujols has been the most dominant player in the National League over the past decade. He has won three MVP awards and would have won more if not for Barry Bonds. Pujols has also finished second in MVP voting four times in his career. He is an annual staple at the All-Star game, making the roster in all but one of his professional seasons, and he ranks second all time in Cardinals history for RBI behind only Stan Musial.

Rodriguez has also had his fair share of success in the league, playing for the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees. A-Rod is also a three time MVP, thirteen time All-Star, and is sixth on the career home run list with 613 round trippers.

Both players have helped their team to one World Series Championship.

Alex Rodriguez has been in the league seven years longer than Pujols, giving him considerably higher career totals. For the sake of comparing their production, we will focus on the years they were both in the league, and then just for fun, we’ll take into consideration each players’ career statistics through age 30. Alex Rodriguez actually has a 188 game advantage over Pujols before he turned 30, so again the numbers understandably come out in favor of Alex Rodriguez in most categories.

Before the age of 30 Rodriguez had amassed more hits (2067 to 1900), more runs (1358 to 1186), more RBI (1347 to 1230) and more home runs (468 to 408). Pujols, however, has the better career batting average (.331 to .305), better on base percentage (.426 to .371), slugging percentage (.624 to 0.537). While Rodriguez has the edge here in the numbers that traditionally show up on the all-time lists, Pujols has had more success in his opportunities, although the two players are fairly close.

Albert has managed to keep his name clear through all the steroid controversy dating back to the BALCO investigation and beyond, a claim A-Rod can not make. Rodriguez publicly admitted to steroid use after the media published a list of players, with A-Rod on the top, who tested positive for steroids during the 2003 season. Rodriguez was also implicated in the steroid scandal in the second book written by Jose Canseco. In the minds of many fans, Rodriguez’s career statistics are tainted by his inclusion in the steroid scandal, and there will always remain doubt about just how much the steroids aided his statistics.

Alex Rodriguez likely will wind up at the top of home run list, breaking the record set by Barry Bonds, before his playing career is complete. He will also finish with over 3000 career hits, a number he should reach within the next three seasons, if not sooner. Steroid controversy aside, Alex Rodriguez has earned his contract in comparison to baseball’s other $20 million annual players.

Unfortunately for Rodriguez, his controversial personality has likely cost him several endorsement deals, and marketing opportunities within Major League Baseball (don’t get me wrong, he still does very well). A series of on and off field incidents have given critics plenty of opportunities to bash Rodriguez throughout his career.

Albert Pujols will likely wind up the player most capable of challenging the numbers and records set by Alex Rodriguez. He will restore credibility to the record books as he is widely considered to be a clean player. He is more marketable to both his eventual employer and Major League Baseball as he approaches each milestone. And for the fans, he is much easier to stand behind and openly root for.

If we are to assume that Alex Rodriguez is worth the $275 Million, ten year deal he signed with the New York Yankees, then Albert Pujols is worth every penny of the $300 Million, ten year deal he is seeking this off season.

Here’s to hoping Albert starts knocking Rodriguez down the all-time lists starting this off season by dropping A-Rod to number two on the highest paid list. Albert, you deserve it!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Ever wonder how you could spend close to a quarter billion dollars on a baseball team (assuming of course that you are not the New York Yankees)?

Try filling your roster with these players and you would have an excellent start.

Here’s a quick run down of the highest paid player at each position entering the 2011 season.

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The A’s first round pick of the 1996 draft, Eric Chavez made his professional debut with the Oakland Athletics on September 8, 1998 in a pinch-hit role against the Baltimore Orioles. Over the course of the next 13 seasons “Chavvy” would become the second longest continuous tenured player to wear an Oakland Athletic uniform.

Chavez reached free agency for the first time this offseason when his club option was not picked up by Oakland. After four consecutive seasons in which Chavez spent the majority of the season on the disabled list, there was no doubt that the A’s would not exercise his high priced option.

Earlier this week Chavez agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training with the New York Yankees. If he is able to make the team he will spend his time as a backup to Alex Rodriguez at third base as well as backing up first baseman Mark Teixeira and occasionally seeing some at-bats as the designated hitter to spell Jorge Posada.

Oakland A’s fans will have their first opportunity to see Chavez in a Yankee uniform up close May 30 to June 1 when the Yankees visit the Oakland Coliseum for their only trip to the Bay Area in 2011. As a lifelong A’s fan, I know all too well the temptation that exists to boo anyone wearing the Yankee uniform while playing against the A’s. Eric Chavez, however, is not deserving of any negative response from A’s fans.

Over his 13-year tenure with Oakland, Chavez gave A’s fans everything he was capable of producing. He batted .267 for his A’s career with 1276 hits and 230 home runs while setting the standard for defensive third basemen throughout the American League.

Chavez won six consecutive Gold Glove Awards between 2001 to 2006. Chavez also won a Silver Slugger award as an Oakland Athletic in 2002 when he posted a slash line of .275/.348/.513 with 34 home runs and 109 RBI. Chavez finished 14th in MVP voting as a result of this campaign.

Chavez was a key member of the A’s playoff runs in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006.

Before injuries derailed his career he was a consistent presence in the A’s lineup hitting in the .270 to .280 range while remaining steady with 29 home runs in 2003 and 2004, and 27 home runs in 2005.

The stretch from 2006 to 2010 proved frustrating for Chavez as well as A’s fans as he was unable to stay on the field due to several trips to the disabled list. Chavez was finally replaced as the A’s No. 1 option at third base last season with the trade for Kevin Kouzmanoff from San Diego. Chavez did his best to stay on the field and help the A’s win, and in the end it proved costly for his offensive statistics.

While he never lived up to the contract he was awarded by the Oakland A’s following the 2004 season, it certainly was never for lack of effort. Eric Chavez gave his best and everything he could offer to the only professional organization he had ever known.

Yankee stadium is very friendly to left-handed hitters and should provide Chavez with an opportunity to resurrect his once promising career if he is able to remain healthy.

The New York Yankees will likely be only a one-year stop for Chavez if he is able to prove his health over the course of a complete season. The Yankees have Alex Rodriguez entrenched at third base, and Mark Texeira at first base. Chavez will be granted his free agency again next offseason and hopefully compete for a starting position with another team, one in which it will be easier for A’s fans to show him support.

For the three-game visit the Yankees make to Oakland this year, A’s fans owe Chavez their appreciation. A long standing ovation is owed to Chavez in his first at bat back in the Coliseum, and anything less is completely unacceptable. There are plenty of other Yankees that we can boo.

Eric Chavez’s Oakland A’s career statistics:

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Beginning with Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro we have seen that the Hall of Fame voters are not looking fondly on nominees that have their pasts tied to performance enhancing drugs.

Looking back to the stars that emerged in the late 1980’s and through into the early 2000’s, an alarming number of our favorite players were implicated in the steroids scandal.

Baseball saw some of the most hallowed and revered records in our national past time broken by the games modern athletes. Home run records fell, pitchers seemed ageless, and mediocre players became great.

Of course the scandal spread well beyond the game’s elite. Minor League players were implicated in taking steroids, their motivation to make it to The Show. Fringe players took steroids in hopes of holding onto their roster positions or improving their numbers in hopes of a bigger payday down the road.

Now that we are seeing these players reach Hall of Fame eligibility for the first times, the baseball voters will decide how these once immortals of the game will be remembered for all time.

Active players who have ties to the steroid era will have the chance to prove they are able to produce Hall worthy statistics under the assumption that they are now performing clean of any chemical-aid. Will it be enough though? Or will they too find their list of accomplishments not quite good enough when compared to the true immortals of the game.

After all, in most fans’ minds, 73 is not important as 61, nor is 762 as important as 755. 300 Wins does not have the same magical aura to it, nor do the 3000 hit or 500 home run plateaus. 

At one point these players were all considered locks for induction in Cooperstown, now only history will tell if their accomplishments reside with the best that have ever worn a uniform, the accomplishments we can safely assume were accomplished without any artificial aid.

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It has been 689 days since Major League Baseball began their review of the A’s stadium situation and options. There has been no report made public, and no clear indication of whether the A’s will make their new home near Jack London Square, or 40 miles South of the Coliseum in San Jose. Since their wait began, the only thing that has become clear is that the A’s can not wait any longer for an answer.

The Oakland A’s have long maintained that they need a new stadium in order to remain successful as a franchise both on the field and financially. The increased revenue that a new stadium would bring to the A’s could be used to retain some of their homegrown talent rather than losing them to free agency when they become stars.

The A’s argue that with a new stadium they no longer will lose players as they did when Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Johnny Damon, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito all left town as either free agents or via trade because the A’s would not have been able to meet their contractual demands. Constant turn over of players has hurt the A’s ability to draw and retain fans.

Increased revenue from a new stadium could also help the A’s attract top free agent talent to help supplement their own homegrown stars of the future. Lately the A’s have repeatedly found their overtures to top free agents declined.

The A’s missed out on their top two free agent targets this season in large part because he did not want to play in the rundown Oakland Coliseum. Adrian Beltre turned down a six-year, $76 million contract to sign with the Texas Rangers, and Lance Berkman turned down the A’s two-year offer to sign a one-year deal with St. Louis.

Beltre’s agent, Scott Boras, was recently quoted in an interview that the stadium is the main deterrent in signing free agents. Boras said “You talk to players. It’s not the city. It’s not the team. It’s the ballpark.”

“When teams recruit against the Oakland A’s, they say, ‘Why do you want to play in an empty park?’ It’s not about the organization. It’s not about ownership. It’s about locale.”

Those last three words of Boras’ quote are the key to this argument however. Oakland or San Jose?

Oakland has recently stepped up their pursuit of keeping the A’s in Oakland. Oakland has identified a stadium location near Jack London Square, and ordered an environmental impact report to speed up the process of getting shovels in the ground if the MLB Blue-Ribbon Panel determines the A’s are to stay in Oakland.

Athletics owner Lew Wolfe has been less than receptive to this proposal from the city of Oakland. Wolfe maintains that the A’s have exhausted all options within the city of Oakland and determined that there is not a suitable site to serve the A’s long term interests.

The city of San Jose has been purchasing the parcels of land necessary to build a stadium for the A’s, and also attempted to place a measure on last year’s ballot to secure voter approval. The measure was removed at the request of Major League Baseball.

Both Oakland and San Jose could lose out in their bids for a new baseball stadium if no decision is made before Governor Jerry Brown freezes all local redevelopment however.

It is the role of MLB to determine if there will be a vote by the owners to remove the territorial rights to Santa Clara County from the San Francisco Giants to allow the A’s to move South. The Giants were granted territorial rights in the early 1990’s when the Giants were considering a move to San Jose, ironically enough because the A’s surrendered the rights to the Giants. The Giants of course now have their new stadium in San Francisco’s China Basin.

The Giants franchise would be effected by the A’s relocating to San Jose, there is little doubt that this is true. The Giants Single-A minor league affiliate currently calls San Jose home, and as a result of this there is already a Giants fan base in San Jose. An A’s move would challenge this fan base and also force the Giants to relocate their minor league team. (The A’s would front the bill for relocation however.)

Baseball’s owners would need to approve the move, and the Giants will undoubtedly fight the move until the end, but the Giants would find themselves well compensated in the event the move is approved. The precedent has been set by the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington DC and into the territorial rights of the Baltimore Orioles. Major League Baseball guaranteed the Orioles $130 million per year in revenue and a minimum sales price of $360 million.

Major League Baseball has taken too long to weight the benefits and downfalls of both Oakland and San Jose. The time is now to make a decision.

While East Bay fans of the A’s will argue that the team belongs in Oakland, a deeper look tells the story of why the A’s covet San Jose.

San Jose boasts the largest population in the Bay Area, and as a whole is more prosperous than Oakland. The benefit in season-ticket sales and walk up sales being drawn from within the city would be an instant boost to a franchise that struggles to draw fans to their current home, even during winning seasons in the early 2000’s.

San Jose businesses are another major advantage over Oakland. A downtown ballpark in San Jose would be hot real estate for corporate advertising and sponsorships. The A’s can not secure this level of advertising revenue in the struggling Oakland business environment.

A move to San Jose could arguably make the A’s a “Big Market” team that would be able to compete financially with New York, Boston, Anaheim, San Francisco and Los Angeles for top free agents. The A’s, annual recipients of revenue-sharing, would much rather contribute to the revenue sharing fund, and be independently successful as a franchise than to continue receiving an annual revenue sharing check from the big market teams.

This would be a positive development for Major League Baseball as a whole, increasing the values instantly of the teams that would no longer need to pay a portion of their revenue to the A’s, and increasing the revenue share that the other teams still on the receiving end would receive.

Oakland has argued that the A’s need to stay in Oakland to prevent the negative impact that their departure would have on the city’s unemployment rate and in essence, their overall financial well-being. Oakland believes that a stadium near Jack London Square at Victory Court would revitalize the area and bring new businesses into Oakland. They may very well be correct in their rationale.

It is not, however, the A’s responsibility to look out for the best economic interests of the city of Oakland. The A’s primary responsibility is to operate in the best interest of the A’s, to build a winning team to compete for World Series Titles that also operates as a successful business. This is a goal that can only be accomplished in San Jose.

In the midst of their often frustrating quest for a new stadium, the A’s have managed to build a team that stands an excellent chance at competing in the AL West this season. They made acquisitions of Hideki Matsui, Brian Fuentes, Grant Balfour, Rich Harden and Brandon McCarthy through free agency, and traded for Josh Willingham and David DeJesus.

These additions, along with their strong core farm system will keep the A’s competitive in 2011 and beyond. It sure would be nice if the A’s had a new stadium in an area with a fan base and revenue sources to retain this talent and give the fans familiar faces to cheer and form attachments with.

The right decision, for the Athletics franchise, and for baseball as a whole, is to allow the A’s to make the move South to San Jose.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Despite being home to the World Series runner-up Texas Rangers, the AL West was one of the worst divisions in baseball in 2010 featuring only one team with a better than .500 record.

The Rangers have upgraded their already stellar offense—a noteworthy attempt to reduce the impact of having lost starting pitcher Cliff Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Meanwhile, the Oakland A’s have also upgraded their offense and added depth to their roster: in particular, their bullpen.

The Los Angeles Angels hope their trade for Vernon Wells will improve their offense—and last year’s mid-season trade for ace Dan Haren has strengthened their pitching rotation. The return of a healthy Kendry Morales will also help the Angels’ chances of competing in 2011.

And then there’s the Mariners…

Well, while they will likely improve on their 61-win last season, it won’t be enough. As the saying goes, there is always next year…

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After a very busy off season, the Oakland A’s are poised to make some noise in the American League this year, and for once they won’t go unnoticed. At least this is what the A’s are counting on.

The A’s busy off season has landed them star players through trades such as David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, to go along with free agent signings: Hideki Matsui, Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes, Brandon McCarthy, and the return of Rich Harden.

The return of Joey Devine and Josh Outman from injuries add further depth to the roster. This newly acquired depth will help the A’s compete in 2011 against the injury bug that has plagued them in recent years and should keep them in contention deep into the season. Increased depth also gives them the ability to acquire an impact player at the trade deadline if the A’s find themselves in need of help to make a deep run into the playoffs.

If you think it is premature to start thinking playoffs, I’d like to give you a few points to consider:

The A’s are in a position where winning has an increased importance this season. This year, more than ever, a winning season has the potential to drastically increase the fan base. While this is always important, it means more to the A’s in 2011 than ever before: The A’s are in a position this season to drastically increase their visibility and promote their brand world-wide. The signing of Hideki Matsui brings with it the 24/7 media coverage of the Japanese fan base locally as well as foreign. Matsui will definitely be responsible for selling several more tickets to A’s games during the season, but his impact will have a greater effect on TV-coverage world wide as well A’s merchandise sales. Having a winning team will further impact their ability to capitalize on this opportunity. Matsui being signed to only a one year contract necessitates the A’s taking advantage of his presence this season by building a winning team around him.

Speaking of increased visibility, Hollywood is releasing “Moneyball” the movie starring Brad Pitt on September 23. At the risk of repeating myself, I will once again emphasize the A’s taking advantage of exposure and merchandising opportunities by building a winning team to take them deep into the playoffs in a year when Hollywood will help put the A’s in the spotlight. It is not only better for the team to be competitive at the time of the movie release, but it is also important for the public image of GM Billy Beane, who is the main character of the movie. A losing season at the time of the movies release would arm his critics and allow them to argue that he has lost his touch and is not the genius portrayed in the movie.

The Giants World Series victory last season further pushed the A’s out of the Bay Area media spotlight. The A’s need a winning season to compete with the Giants for ticket sales, advertising revenue and merchandise revenue around the Bay Area. The A’s have long been playing in front of an empty stadium and the Giants deep run last season unfortunately converted some previous A’s fans into panda hat and fake beard wearing regular attendants of AT&T Park. The aforementioned Hollywood and International exposure, along with a winning season would help bring back some of those fans along with create new fans. (Plus if it bothered the A’s front office as much as it bothered die-hard A’s fans, then the A’s need to answer back with their own World Series run).

Sadly, this year’s team features eight potential free agents at season’s end: Mark Ellis, David DeJesus, Coco Crisp, Josh Willingham, Hideki Matsui, Conor Jackson, Rich Harden and Brandon McCarthy. Surely the A’s will be able to retain some of these players, but they will inevitably lose some of these players to free agency. The A’s have long argued that their stadium is a major deterrent in signing major free agents to come and play for the Oakland A’s. If the A’s are able to increase their attendance and put together a winning season, and still fail to retain their free agents and sign additional free agents as they had trouble doing this off season (Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman both turned down offers to play elsewhere), their claim they need a new stadium to remain competitive will be proven accurate.

Financial benefits, increased fan base, and potential stadium benefits? When you look at it,  it sure does look like the A’s had a master plan going into this off season. Maybe Billy Beane really is the mad-genius he was portrayed as in Moneyball.

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