Kuzul

Jonny Gomes was hitless in his last 34 pinch-hit appearances. He got over that in a big way, crushing a go ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning as the A’s rallied to win their fifth straight, 6-4 over the San Diego Padres.

Gomes’ home run capped a three-run rally as the A’s recaptured a lead they lost in the top of the inning. Sean Doolittle got his first major league victory in spite of allowing two runs in the seventh inning, and Ryan Cook converted his third save with a perfect ninth inning.

Tyson Ross was brilliant in a spot start for Oakland. With a breaking ball looking as sharp as it has been in 2012, Ross did not allow a hit for 5.2 innings. His only hit of the game was a two-run home run to San Diego’s Carlos Quentin in the sixth inning. Other than that, he was fantastic throughout. 

The A’s offense continued its recent success, notching two runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Seth Smith opened the scoring with a solo home run off Padres starter Ross Ohlendorf. Then, Collin Cowgill singled in Brandon Moss after he doubled to make it 3-0. The Padres took the lead in the seventh on a two-run double by Will Venable off Doolittle.

But the A’s were able to respond with the three-run at the bottom of the seventh. The tying run was scored on a wild pitch by Luke Gregerson, plating Cliff Pennington. 

Good: Jonny Gomes

Gotta be happy for a guy who, by all accounts, is an awesome teammate and great clubhouse guy. His chances have diminished simply because the A’s don’t face many lefties. But he came up in a big spot and delivered—big time.

His home run looked like it was headed to his hometown of Petaluma. That’s the kind of clutch hitting the A’s will continue to need if they want to push for .500 before the All-Star break.

Bad: Sean Doolittle

Yes, he got the win, but he put himself in a bad situation with bad pitch location and a crucial walk. His stuff is electric, but the consistency is clearly not there yet. Thankfully, it did not cost the A’s today. I have a feeling there will be plenty of good things to say about him before it’s all said and done.

Ugly: N/A

Nothing ugly about a five-game winning streak. Tomorrow’s game is big with the Giants and Dodgers coming to town. You want to be riding a big wave instead of coming down when quality opponents venture in. 

Now 31-35, the A’s look for their second straight sweep as Bartolo Colon takes the bump against San Diego’s Clayton Richard. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. 

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The A’s came back from a four-run first inning and played long ball en route to an 8-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

The longest and largest of the four home runs the A’s hit was by Brandon Moss, who hit a third-deck shot estimated at 461 feet in the third inning to give the A’s the lead for good. Moss would hit two home runs, and both Brandon Inge and Cliff Pennington also went deep. Seth Smith hit a pair of doubles and drove in two RBI on the night, as well.

While Bartolo Colon was not his best, he did settle down after the first inning to keep the Rockies off the board until Todd Helton’s solo homer in the fifth inning. By that time, the A’s were up 7-4. Colon’s line on the night was five runs allowed on nine hits, three walks and four strikeouts in five innings pitched. But it was enough to notch his sixth win of the year.

The key—along with the offensive outburst—was Oakland’s bullpen. Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour struck out four and allowed only a single hit and one walk combined in three innings. Then the A’s turned to Ryan Cook to close the game. After a leadoff walk and a single to former A’s utility man Marco Scutaro, Cook responded by striking out Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer, and inducing a game-ending force out from Todd Helton for his first save.

Good: Brandon Moss and Brandon Inge (tie)

Both were big during the six-run rally to take the lead in the third. Moss’ first home run was a tape-measure shot with the kind of power the A’s have been looking to add at first base. Inge provided insurance with a long home run of his own and also had an RBI double and a huge defensive play to save two runs in the sixth inning.

Neither will hit .300 in a season, but they are both legitimate power threats when their swings are on. Inge also provides above-average defense at a spot that had been a wasteland before his arrival

Bad: Coco Crisp

Another 0-for-4 at the plate. Collin Cowgill should be playing right now. The A’s need every capable hitter they can get, and it seems clearer with each passing day that Crisp is just not going to turn it around with some burst. It is better to just cut losses now.

With the win, the A’s move to 27-35 and look to build on this performance, sending Tom Milone on the bump against former A’s starter Josh Outman. First pitch is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. ET.

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Tonight, the A’s scored plenty of runs. They just did not get the last out in time. Using a six-run second inning off Arizona starter Daniel Hudson, the A’s were able to take a 6-0 lead and lead the Diamondbacks 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth.

It was not enough as the Diamondbacks scored three times off Brian Fuentes in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-8. Tom Milone was not particularly sharp, but he was in line for the victory going five innings and allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks.

The offense came in a productive second inning when the A’s batted around. After a leadoff Brandon Inge single, Kurt Suzuki hit an infield single to third base. Cliff Pennington then slapped a double to right, scoring Inge and moving Suzuki to third. Milone then helped his own cause with a two-run single to make the score 3-0.

After Jemile Weeks flied out, Coco Crisp doubled to left center to score Milone. Josh Reddick followed with a single to make the score 5-0. Seth Smith’s single pulled Hudson and reliever Josh Collmenter promptly allowed Inge’s single to plate Reddick and make it 6-0. 

After Arizona responded with three in the bottom of the second, the A’s saw the lead cut by another run as white-hot D-Backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt slammed a long home run off Milone to make it 6-4. But Smith hit a two-run home run off of former A’s reliever Craig Breslow to make it 8-4. The A’s would need those runs as Arizona scored twice in the bottom of the sixth. 

In the ninth, Brian Fuentes recorded the first two outs before allowing a walk and a single. With the winning run at the plate, Fuentes allowed a walk-off home run to left center field by Ryan Roberts. 

Good

The A’s offense. Eight runs and 16 hits should have been enough to win the game. Plenty of contributions and lots of clutch hits. That’s a positive sign.

Bad

Brandon Moss. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and three of those AB’s were with runners in scoring position. Definitely needed something from him because it turned out the A’s did not have enough runs.

Ugly

Brian Fuentes. First Balfour, now Fuentes. The closer role is a black hole right now. Nothing but white-knuckle jobs in the ninth inning and this may have been the tipping point.

To get the first two outs, then walk someone allowing the tying run to come to the plate, that’s inexcusable. A very deflating loss and the upgrades the A’s were supposed to have from 2011 have simply not been such for their bullpen. Expect Ryan Cook to get the nod at closer sooner than later.

With the loss, the A’s drop to 26-33. They will try to bounce back from this loss tomorrow night as Jarrod Parker, who was acquired from Arizona, will face the man he was traded for—A’s starter Trevor Cahill.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

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Manny will soon be Manny again.

Any day now. Maybe. Possibly.

OK fine, nobody except Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane has any real clue when Manny Ramirez might be ready to join the big club, thus ending a lengthy absence from Major League Baseball made up of a sudden retirement in 2011 and a 50-game PED suspension this season. Beane will know when Manny is ready when his scouts say Manny is ready.

Nobody should hold their breath. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported this on Monday:

The A’s do have one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time at Triple-A Sacramento, but scouts and baseball executives who have seen Ramirez recently agree with Oakland’s assessment that he is not ready for the majors. In addition, Ramirez has been bothered by left hamstring tightness that limited him to one at-bat in the past four games, but Ramirez is hanging in there, he said Sunday.

Technically, Manny is ready. He’s not actually ready, though, because he’s old, out of shape, out of form and, well, washed up.

So, as a lot of people expected it would, Manny Ramirez’s triumphant return to baseball in 2012 is turning into a not-so-triumphant joke. I’ll tip my hat to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News for summing it up best by writing that Manny is “a pipe dream of a powerless team.”

This was meant to be. Though it’s turned into a sort of dark comedy, the Manny Ramirez story has been absurd ever since he washed his hands of baseball in 2011. The saga itself is a mockery of Major League Baseball’s longstanding problem with performance-enhancing drugs.

Manny’s first 50-game suspension in 2009 was a bittersweet storyline for MLB. It was bitter because one of the game’s biggest stars had been nailed for PED usage, and it was a sweet storyline for that exact same reason.

For years, the league had been forced to endure criticism for how it thrived on the exploits of cheaters for so many years. With Manny’s suspension in 2009, MLB got to show (a) that its testing system works and (b) that even the game’s biggest stars can’t escape punishment. The fact that the league got to punish Manny for testing positive for a female fertility drug (see Los Angeles Times report) made him look like a particularly twisted villain.

Major League Baseball was a winner when Manny was suspended, and the league continued to be a winner after he came back. He hit just .269 with a .492 slugging percentage in 77 games after returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009. Before his suspension, he was hitting .348 with a .641 slugging percentage in 27 games.

That huge drop-off in production was, in essence, proof that juicers won’t be the same if you take their juice away. Score one for MLB.

Manny failed to prove otherwise in 2010, as he hit just .298 with a .468 slugging percentage and nine home runs in 90 games with the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. He was even worse in 2011, collecting one hit in 17 at-bats with the Tampa Bay Rays before abruptly retiring.

And Manny retired, of course, because MLB caught him again. Since it was his second violation, he was facing a 100-game suspension (see New York Times report). Instead of serving it, he washed his hands of a sport that he could no longer play without, ahem, help.

MLB’s victory should have been complete. Bud Selig should have said, “Good riddance,” and walked away. That should be have that.

This didn’t happen. When Manny came crawling back, MLB was welcoming. Worse, the league allowed the union to talk it into giving Manny a break.

As reported by Fox Sports, the MLB Players Associated believed that Ramirez had effectively served his 100-game suspension when he retired and forfeited his 2011 salary. The league and the union ultimately came to a decision to reduce Manny’s suspension to 50 games.

A punishment of this magnitude is still significant, to be sure, but by giving Manny a second chance and slicing his penalty in half, Major League Baseball removed itself from the winner’s circle. In the eternal battle between MLB and Manny Ramirez, Manny now had the edge.

The league had one of the sport’s most notorious cheaters broken and beaten, and it let him off the hook.

In doing so, the league showed that its PED penalties are not set in stone, but flexible. There are ways around them, even if players have to do drastic things (i.e. retire) in order to exploit these loopholes. That’s not the kind of message MLB wanted to send to the rest of the sports world, and things only got worse when Ryan Braun beat the system a few months later (which, admittedly, is an entirely different headache).

The message, in so many words, was this: “Yeah, we’re cool with known cheaters. What of it?”

Manny is going to get called up eventually. The A’s are desperate for offense, and Manny is a guy who at least has the potential to help them score runs. They’ll also call him up because, frankly, they need somebody who can help fill seats.

When Manny does get called up to the big club, the resulting circus will further embarrass MLB. Just as he did when he first joined the Rays, he’ll crack some jokes, make reporters laugh, and generally do everything in his power to make everyone fall in love with the lovable version of Manny Ramirez.

It’s been a while since the old lovable Manny has been glimpsed, and A’s fans should eat him up just as much as the press. A’s fans like a good personality just as much as fans of other clubs, perhaps even more so.

Will the two positive PED tests be forgotten? That’s doubtful, but few are going to care enough about them to make a scene. For many, Manny’s troubled past will be water under the bridge.

If so, that will be another victory for Ramirez, and another defeat for Major League Baseball.

The league should not be in any kind of hurry to forgive known PED users, and it did that with Manny. The league also shouldn’t want fans and the media to forgive Manny, and that’s going to happen too.

This is not to say that baseball clearly needs Manny more than Manny needs baseball, but baseball clearly doesn’t mind Manny’s continued presence. There are no hard feelings where there should be a lot of hard feelings.

After what happened last year, Manny should be done with baseball right now. He should be out of the news. His tragic saga should be over.

But he’s still around. Still swinging it. Still being Manny.

Alas, Major League Baseball is still a refuge for cheaters.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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Sell, sell, sell!  The Oakland A’s are  24-31 and have lost ten of their last 12 games and the club is tied for last place in the American League West.  The A’s have no chance to make a season out of things, right?

In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Selling off big contracts at the trade deadline shouldn’t be the answer, even as the A’s are mired in a terrible slump.

Yes, they are in last place, but are only eight games out of first place—and the division leading Texas Rangers are showing signs that they are human after all.

No Monday Blues for A’s

The A’s put a 12-1 whooping on the Rangers on Monday night via an eight-run offensive explosion in the bottom of the second inning.

Rookie Jarrod Parker (2-2) was able to silence the noisy bats of the Rangers by taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning.  Michael Young broke up the no-hit bid with a single up the middle, making the decision to bring Parker out for the ninth an easy one.

Parker’s pitch count was at 111 as he gave way to Jim Miller in the ninth.  Miller closed out the game, but did allow a 400-foot home run from Mike Napoli.

There is still a ways to go before the July 31 trade deadline, and things could get worse. 

But let’s take a look at how things are now, and and take a peek back at how the A’s have landed in the spot they are in.

Expectations

Heading into the 2012 campaign, the A’s were not expected to make much noise.

The A’s ended the month of April with a 11-13 record, and then went 5-1 in the first eight days of May. At the 30-game mark, the club was 16-14 and expectations had been exceeded.

Two games over .500 is the best the A’s have been able to muster in 20112.  At the quarter turn, the team was 20-20 and again, expectations were probably exceeded.

Splitting their next four games left them at 22-22 and that’s when the bottom started to fall out.

Loss No. 22 was the start of a nine-game losing streak, and the A’s were able to muster only two wins since that point.

Injury Bug

Injuries to Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Inge and Brandon McCarthy in May did not help the team’s cause.

McCarthy (4-3, 295 ERA) is the team’s ace and having him back will go a long way towards turning things around.

Before his injury, Cespedes was starting to show signs of being the productive bat the club thought he would be when they coughed up big dollars to bring the Cuban defector to Oakland.

Brandon Inge caught fire when he was signed by Oakland after the Detroit Tigers released the long-time Veteran.  His injured groin started acting up and the A’s lost him to the DL.  Since his return, Inge has struggled.

Inge was batting .167 for the season entering Monday’s game against Texas. 

With a 2-for-4 night against the Rangers, including a three-run homer, his average now stands at .190 with six home runs.  Hopefully for A’s fans, the veteran is showing signs that he can regain some of that magic he had when he first came to Oakland in late April.

Top of The Order

The one-two punch at the top of the A’s order consisting of Jemile Weeks and Coco Crisp has simply not been good.  Crisp is batting .165 with an OBP of .222.

With Crisp expressing his displeasure about being moved to left field in favor of Cespedes, it seems if the A’s did make a move at the trade deadline, Crisp might be a player that could be moved.

With the way Crisp is playing, this could be easier said than done.

Weeks is starting to come around,though. 

The player many fans thought could be the future of the A’s got off to an awful start. 

Weeks hit .186 in April with a .263 OBP.  May was better.  He hit .250 and his OBP was .337.  The progression has carried over into June, as well.  In four games in the first few days of June, he is 5-for-12, and hitting .417 with a .500 OBP.

After his horrid start, the speedy second baseman has raised his total average to .227 and his on-base percentage is now .311.

Manager Bob Melvin has been experimenting with the two-hole lately, in hopes of finding someone to help with the part of the order that is supposed to set the table for the A’s.

All-Star Possibilities

Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Rookies Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook didn’t seem like it would benefit the A’s right away. 

At least on paper.

On grass, Ryan Cook has been sensational.  The rookie from Clovis, California has pitched 25 innings of middle relief, and has given up two runs, while sporting a measly ERA of 0.72.  It wasn’t until his 24th inning that Cook gave up his first runs.

Parker has stepped in and pitched very well (see above).

The trade of Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney to the Boston Red Sox for Josh Reddick and prospects didn’t seem to be a trade that made anyone real excited.

Well, after further review, the trade has worked out alright. 

Bailey went from the A’s directly to the disabled list and Reddick for Sweeney has worked out just fine for the A’s. 

Sweeney is batting .313 in 41 games for the Red Sox, but he has no home runs.  This was always the knock on the big outfielder while he was with the A’s—he simply couldn’t provide the long ball.

In Reddick, the A’s have landed a right fielder that is hitting .271 with 14 home runs (both stats lead team).  The latter stat is the main reason that Oakland got the better results from the swap.

The chances of the A’s getting a player voted into the All-Star game are probably slim, but either of the aforementioned transplants are definitely deserving.

Weather the Storm

There is no need for the A’s to panic and sell off everything they own.   Melvin is a solid skipper and he will do everything in his power to make things work in Oakland.  The A’s were 13 games below .500 at the trade deadline in 2001 and basically stood still as July 31 came and went.

Injuries have played a big part in the recent slump.  The team now has some key guys back from the DL.  Ace Brandon McCarthy (4-2) returned to make his first start on Saturday,  and he pitched well. “The Mac” scattered eight hits over six innings allowing two earned runs, earning his fourth win of the season.

Cespedes returned to the lineup on Friday and went 0-for-4, then on Saturday he came alive going 3-5 with an RBI.  The A’s center fielder is 4-for-17 since his return from the DL.   Cespedes is a key piece to the A’s puzzle if they plan on getting their solid pitching staff some run support in order to come out of their current funk.

The 12-1 beat-down of the Rangers is a nice step towards coming out of said “funk.”

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Talk about a good walk spoiled. Brian Fuentes gave up a two out, three-run home run to former Oakland slugger Josh Willingham and the A’s lost their seventh straight game, 3-2 in Minnesota. Fuentes took the loss, giving up all three runs on two hits and a walk. 

The blown save negated a solid start by Jarrod Parker, who went six shutout innings and was staked to a 1-0 lead when Colin Cowgill singled in the first run of the game in the seventh inning. Coco Crisp, who has been mired in an awful hitting slump, went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice and his eighth inning RBI single appeared to be insurance as the A’s lead 2-0. But the win and ultimately the game both slipped away.

Fuentes began the ninth by allowing a single to Jamey Carroll and walking Denard Span. After Ben Revere’s attempted sacrifice was bunted back to Fuentes, Joe Mauer hit into a fielder’s choice putting the runners on first and third. Willingham then hit a 1-0 pitch to left center to end the game.

Good: Coco Crisp. He reached or produced in all four plate appearances. Considering he was hitting .156 entering the game, that is remarkable. In all seriousness, it is a great start to hopefully turning his season around at the plate.

Bad: Twelve men left on base. Too many chances to score runs and too many left on base. It came back to bite the A’s again.

Ugly: Brian Fuentes. The merry-go-round at closer continues as Fuentes can not get the job done. The A’s can only hope this is a blip and not what appears to be a real issue finishing games.

Now 22-28, the A’s look to salvage the final game of this series as Tyson Ross faces Francisco Liriano. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. Manny Ramirez was expected to make his season debut for the A’s, but it appears as though that will be pushed back a couple of games.

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Josh Willingham hit 29 home runs for the Oakland A’s in 2011. Tuesday night he hit a walk-off home run for the Minnesota Twins that defeated the A’s.

It was a pitchers duel for most of the night but in the seventh inning, the Oakland A’s looked like they might pull off the victory after they broke through for a run and followed it up in the eighth inning with another run.

The Twins were shut out for eight innings and broke out in the ninth to defeat the A’s 3-2.

Brian Fuentes came in to close the game for Oakland and allowed a single to the first batter he faced. He walked the next batter, Denard Span, but was then able to get two outs before he had to face Willingham.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and trailing 2-0, Willingham smashed a three-run walk-off home run to hand the A’s their seventh straight loss.

The A’s are reeling and are now 7-14 since losing Yoenis Cespedes on May 7 to a strained hand muscle.

The A’s are hoping that their slugger can return soon and if all goes well he will be penciled in the lineup on Friday.

Oakland will finish their series up in Minnesota on Wednesday before having an off day on Thursday. Their road trip continues to Kansas City on Friday, hopefully with Cespedes’ present, it will provide a boost this team desperately needs.

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Everybody has been waiting four months for this day to arrive: The date that Manny Ramirez is eligible to rejoin a major league ballclub.

Last December, Ramirez hinted that he was interested in un-retiring from baseball, following a seven-month absence in light of his positive drug test result during May of 2011, while he was playing for the Tampa Bay Rays.

This past February, Ramirez agreed to a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics, allowing the beleaguered slugger to attempt to add to his 555 career home runs, pending his service of a 50-game suspension to start the 2012 season.

Fifty games later, and here we are, about to embark on Manny Being Manny: The Summer in Oakland.

Ramirez becomes eligible to play in the big leagues on Wednesday, May 30th—which happens to be his 40th birthday. But as CSNBayArea.com reports, Ramirez will not be activated for the Athletics’ game that day versus the Minnesota Twins.

There are several reasons why he will remain with the A’s Triple-A team, not the least of which is essentially to get his timing down. After all, he has only appeared in eight minor league games, after several weeks working out with the Athletics’ extended spring training squad.

From an individual standpoint, Ramirez simply wants to get himself into perfect major league conditioning—health-wise and hitting-wise. “The more I play, the better I get,” he said to CSN Bay Area.

From the team’s standpoint, however, there are several other factors for keeping Ramirez back for a little while. Specifically, Oakland has quite a few roster and lineup decisions to make as a result of Ramirez’s impending call-up. Who will be moved down for Ramirez? How will the 25-man roster be altered?

Let’s take a look at some questions the A’s will have to answer when Ramirez joins the team—whenever that may be.

Begin Slideshow

What a slow and boring past three years it has been for the Oakland Athletics organization regarding its interest in moving to the Silicon Valley.

Three bogus years of contrived interest in solving the issue of the Athletics’ owner Lew Wolff’s desire to move the team down to San Jose. Three years later, and there’s still no resolution. Not even close.

It’s almost as if nothing has happened.

In March of 2009, MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed a committee to explore options for providing the A’s with a new ballpark—be it in Oakland or in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The hope was that a consensus would be found for what would be the most feasible solution given Wolff’s desire to move to San Jose. Or at least one would assume that some movement would be made in one particular direction—either I-880 North or I-880 South.

But, sorrowfully, seemingly nothing has been decided.

Fast-forward to May 2012, and this relocation issue remains a cold case. Selig’s detectives have come no closer to solving this problem. Though Selig did his first direct comments about the Athletics’ future in quite some time last Thursday, at MLB’s quarterly owners meeting, according to the commissioner, “there’s no timetable” for a judgment on this matter.

Which is the complete opposite of what he should be saying. The A’s need desperately to find a resolution to this problem. This dilly-dallying has completely taken its toll on the franchise as a whole, the team itself and, most importantly, the rabid fans—both the dedicated Oakland fanbase as well as the excited prospect South Bay fans.

Everyone knows about the territorial rights over the city of San Jose that belong to the San Francisco Giants. That has been a poignant factor from the get-go. The Giants have repeatedly affirmed they will not relinquish San Jose to the Athletics. At least, likely, not without some compensation.

But this is where Selig needs to step in and lay down the gauntlet and take a stand one way or the other about this humongous territorial roadblock. That’s what commissioners do—they make the hard decisions, swiftly, with conviction and confidence.

Could you imagine NBA commissioner David Stern dragging his feet in the sand regarding a franchise relocation possibility? No way.

The Seattle SuperSonics disappeared from the Pacific Northwest in the time it takes to finish an NBA postseason schedule—which as we all know is excruciatingly long. Just like that, they were relocated. No waffling. No debate.

And just last season, the Sacramento Kings petitioned to keep their franchise in California’s state capital, a move that Stern approved with uninhibited celerity. Closer to home, on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors announced plans to relocate to San Francisco, a decision that went from desired rumor to stark reality in seemingly no time.

Yes, the NBA seems to have a firm grasp on how to properly handle relocation issues. No politicking. No preservation of feelings. Just going about the business as if the NBA is—a business.

Go figure.

Meanwhile, business as usual for Selig and MLB is blatant procrastination of a firm decision. On Thursday, Selig basically shrugged his shoulders, contending that Wolff could in essence consider alternative site options anywhere else outside of the Bay Area.

In fact, Selig suggested that Wolff had the authority to move the A’s anywhere, saying, “They could be all over the world, for that matter.”

That ambiguity is often ascribed to Selig’s longtime relationship with his college bud, Wolff. Selig certainly doesn’t want to deny his friend’s ambitions. Which is why the commissioner hasn’t completely shut the door despite the Giants’ territorial rights.

But he also knows not to offend an Oakland fanbase that has loyally stood by the A’s for more than 40 years, creating a support system for six American League pennants, four World Series titles and numerous superstar accolades.

How can Selig unconsciously exile the Athletics, a team with such a storied history? In an area—the East Bay—that has produced such rich talent (local baseball products include Hall-of-Famers Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan and Rickey Henderson).

Selig knows he can’t unemotionally move the A’s to San Jose. He has chosen to be diplomatic about the entire idea, keeping one foot in Oakland with one of baseball’s more successful franchises (the Athletics rank third all-time with nine World Series titles) and one foot with his homeboy Lew Wolff.

But it’s that game of footsie that has turned out to be a big tease for the city of San Jose and its fans who await a ruling. Wolff, himself, is ultimately losing this battle of attrition with MLB. Will he patiently wait longer? Will he grow tired of reiterated parroting from Selig?

Absolutely not. But Selig’s decision not to decide makes things murkier than they already are—if that’s possible. He needs to put his foot down, be firm and take a stance—either denying the Athletics’ move due to the Giants’ ownership of San Jose or overturning those rights and allowing the A’s to relocate.

Selig and MLB need to take a page out of the NBA’s relocation playbook, taking a gander at the Athletics’ roommates, the Warriors. If the Dubs can be so decisive with their move to San Francisco, why can’t the A’s as well?

A settlement to this drawn-out ordeal has to be made. But that will happen only if Selig steps up to the plate.

Until then, this story will just become an incredibly beaten dead horse.

Follow me on Twitter: @nathanieljue

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Though his major league career is still extremely young, it’s hard not to notice why the Oakland A’s were willing to part with a player like Trevor Cahill to acquire Jarrod Parker.  

After a few late shaky starts during the spring, Parker was demoted to AAA Sacramento.  He was able to rebound, however, going 1-0 with a 2.18 ERA, and more importantly, surrendering only six walks in 22 innings.

He was then able to continue that success once promoted to Oakland in late April.  Allowing only two earned runs or less in each of his four starts, he has surpassed expectations thus far this season, but his control is still a concern.  In his last two starts, he has given up a combined nine walks in only 12.2 innings pitched.

If he is to continue this level of success, then control is one aspect of his game that needs to drastically improve.  Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time until opposing teams take advantage of all the free passes that Parker gives up over the course of a game.  Should he straighten out his control issues though and live up to his potential, then expect him to join the long line of young talented pitchers that have recently graced the mound in Oakland.

Beginning with Trevor Cahill, the young righty has been mightily inconsistent thus far in his career.  Coming off a 2010 campaign in which he went 18-8 and garnered Cy Young consideration at the ripe old age of 22, Cahill followed that up with an extremely disappointing season last year.  Finishing with an ERA over 4.00, Cahill was repeatedly roughed up late in the season, giving up as many as 10 earned runs in his starts.  This prompted Oakland to move Cahill this past offseason, trading him to Arizona for Parker, among others. 

With Cahill, the ability is clearly there.  Possessing one of the game’s best sinkers when it’s on, he has put up top of the rotation numbers in years past.  Like Parker, he just needs to remain more consistent.

He needs to focus on repeating the same arm slot with each pitch, throwing more over the top when he throws his sinker, thereby allowing him to get more on top of the ball, resulting in much more sinking movement.  As of now, Cahill has a slight edge over Parker because he has shown that he does possess the stuff to be one of the game’s best pitchers.  Parker is still very inexperienced at this point, so his longevity over the course of a season is still unknown.

One player who like Cahill was traded far too soon this offseason was Gio Gonzalez.  Traded to Washington, Gonzalez established himself as one of the game’s top lefties last year, finishing with an ERA of 3.12.  He has managed to top that number thus far this year, dominating with an ERA under 2.00.

Like Parker, Gonzalez had control issues early in his career.  Once he was able to manage that aspect of his game, his overpowering stuff was able to shine.  With these two pitchers, it’s not a matter of talent, it’s merely harnessing it.  

Gonzalez was known to be a bit temperamental while on the mound, occasionally letting his emotions get the better of him.  So far, Parker hasn’t shown anything that would leave one to believe that he could lose his cool while pitching, but at this point Parker is still a liability every time he takes the mound. 

Both possess tremendous breaking balls; for Gonzalez it’s his curveball, for Parker it’s his slider.  If Parker can get an overall better feel for his pitches, then reaching Gonzalez’s level is only a matter of time.

The other member of the big three that came up in Oakland a few years ago, and the only one still with the club, is Brett Anderson.  Potentially the most talented of the three, and I say potentially because we’ve hardly seen him play, Anderson coming up had every look of an ace.

Anderson and Parker do actually share a similarity, but it’s an unfortunate one because the similarity I refer to is that they have both undergone Tommy John surgery despite neither being over 24.  It’s a pity because in the short amount of time Anderson has pitched for Oakland, the potential for greatness is there.

Like Parker, Anderson has overpowering stuff, possessing a fastball that can reach the mid-90s consistently.  What separates Anderson from Parker, though, is his feel for pitching.  Anderson has much better command with all pitches, being able to throw any pitch in any count.  Hopefully for Anderson, he’s able to regain his form just as Parker did when he came back from the injury and be that top of the rotation starter the A’s still see him as.

There is no question Parker has the ability to be a dominant pitcher.  With more experience and guidance, there is no reason why Parker can’t equal or even surpass the other young pitchers that have come through Oakland in recent years. 

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