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San Francisco third baseman and 2011 All-Star selection Pablo Sandoval is being investigated by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department over possible sexual assault charges, according to Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area.

Sources told Baggarly’s employer that the alleged incident took place early in the morning this past Friday at the Seascape Beach Resort. However, those same sources explained that Sandoval was not a registered guest at the resort during that time.

Sources who talked with CSN Bay Area claim that the woman in question reported to the authorities that she was too intoxicated to give consent.

The investigation is still on going, and it’s important to note that Sandoval has not been charged by the police according to sources cited by CSN Bay Area.

Sandoval’s attorney, Eric Geffon agreed to an interview with CSN Bay Area, explaining:

On Friday, June 1, Pablo Sandoval voluntarily met with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department related to a consensual, personal relationship of a sexual nature that took place on that day.

Geffon added that his client was fully cooperative with the authorities during the process.

Baggarly attempted to get the Giants‘ opinion regarding the alleged incident but was declined. Vice President Staci Slaughter simply told the reporter:

Given the off-the-field nature of the issue, we refer all comment to his attorney.

Slaughter did comment that Sandoval will play in his Single-A rehab assignment game with the San Jose Giants Saturday night.

The career-long Giant hasn’t played in a major league game since May 2 due to fracturing his hamate bone in his right wrist.

Sandoval had surgery to remove the bone and is starting the final step in his rehab process by working through the San Francisco farm system before making his return to the big leagues.

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I know Boston Red Sox fans are not entirely thrilled with relief pitcher Alfredo Aceves right now.  This is understandable. Red Sox nation is a proud, passionate bunch that wants winners, not individuals who blow saves against the likes (or dislikes) of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers.

Looking at Aceves’ overall statistics this season, I could see how Red Sox fans would unleash nearly every expletive known to mankind. An 0-2 record and 4.91 ERA will do that to even the most casual Red Sox fan. This is especially true when both losses this season came before the faithful at Fenway Park.

But looking at the bigger picture, Aceves has been a pretty rock solid pitcher during his five year career in the big leagues.

During his time with both the Yankees and Red Sox, Aceves is 24-5 (82 percent winning percentage) with a 3.12 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.  Aceves has also struck out 195 batters in 265.2 innings. Batters are hitting just .215 against him.

Since joining the Red Sox in 2011, Aceves is 10-4 with a 2.96 ERA, while pitching in varying and at times pressure-packed situations.

While it is true Aceves is no Mariano Rivera by any stretch of the imagination, he has nonetheless been a pivotal part of Boston’s success since joining the team. And while Aceves has a ways to go to perfect his craft, many big league clubs would love to have him.

Even if he does make baseball fans throw things at television sets at times.

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The Chicago White Sox have two opening day starters who are looking ready to come off the disabled list this weekend. My advice to the club: don’t be so quick to get them back in the lineup.

While Brent Morel and John Danks both appear to be nearing a return date with the White Sox, it isn’t exactly urgent to rush either player back on the field. The way Chicago has performed over the last two weeks, management can afford to exercise some patience.

In the absence of the two players, Chicago has reeled off a nine-game winning streak. Leapfrogging over Detroit and Cleveland, the White Sox now sit in first place in the AL Central by a game-and-a-half after besting Seattle 7-4 Friday night.

As Crash Davis said in Bull Durham, don’t, er, mess with a winning streak.

I’m not saying that Morel and Danks aren’t going to be important pieces in the remainder of the 2012 season. I’m not suggesting that the players avoid cracks in the clubhouse floor from now until October (though it couldn’t hurt the .177 hitting Morel).

What Chicago’s run of great baseball has done is given them the luxury of giving two injured players some additional recovery time. It won’t kill the White Sox to use it.

Morel had been hampered with back issues before hitting the 15-day DL retroactive to May 18. In his absence, Orlando Hudson hasn’t set the American League on fire with his bat, but he’s contributed since being signed by he White Sox and started all nine of Chicago’s wins during the current streak.

Morel has been in Charlotte this week, where he has made three rehab starts. He is eligible to come off the DL Saturday. Despite going 5-for-12 with the Knights, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to finish the series with the Mariners with Hudson at third.

With a day off Monday before Toronto comes to town, Morel could return to the lineup Tuesday with some extra healing time. I firmly believe that Morel should get most of this month to prove he’s the starter. However, if it could help prevent a nagging injury, it can’t hurt to bring Morel back cautiously.

According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, Danks threw 20 pitches Friday with no recurrence of the shoulder pain that has kept him out of the rotation following his May 19 win over Minnesota. On Sunday, Danks plans on another side session in which he will throw his full compliment of pitches.

Danks is set to come off the DL on Monday and there is an excellent reason to not use him immediately. Monday is that off day I mentioned earlier. Besides, Danks’ turn in the rotation isn’t until Wednesday.

Jose Quintana has thrown well in two starts with the White Sox. Giving him one last start in place of Danks wouldn’t hurt if there is any doubt after Sunday’s test.

In the case of both Morel and Danks, a little extra rest is a much better option than return visits to the DL throughout the season. With the White Sox riding the wave of a winning streak, sitting out this weekend’s action wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

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The city of Los Angeles can go back to spinning. After spending a couple weeks on the disabled list with a bad hamstring, Los Angeles Dodgers star centerfielder Matt Kemp will be making his return on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Dodgers did pretty well in Kemp’s absence, but he’ll be a sight for sore eyes anyway. At the time he went on the DL, Kemp was hitting .359 with 12 home runs. He was batting over .400 as late as May 8.

If Kemp picks up right where he left off, the good people of Southern California are going to get to see something that they haven’t gotten to see yet: Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols both playing well at the same time.

I won’t go so far as to say that the two of them are joined at the hip, but they’re without a doubt the two biggest baseball stars in Southern California. Kemp is arguably the best all-around player in baseball, and Pujols is one of baseball’s all-time great hitters.

We can debate which one of them is the biggest star for hours on end, but instead, let’s ask a different question: Which of them is the more important star in the greater Los Angeles area?

This is a complicated question, and the answer is equally complicated. Before we can get to it, we have to sift through the different circumstances surrounding both players.

Matt Kemp’s Place in Los Angeles

You know what the key difference between Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols is?

It’s simple: Kemp actually plays in Los Angeles.

This is both a blessing and a curse.

It’s a curse because, despite the fact the Dodgers have been there for decades, LA is a basketball town at heart. Everything revolves around the Los Angeles Lakers and, to a lesser extent, the Los Angeles Clippers. Guys like Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are the biggest sports stars Los Angeles has.

I wouldn’t say Kemp’s quest in life is to take the LA spotlight away from the basketball stars, but he can do wonders for the Dodgers organization by achieving the same level of fame as Kobe, Griffin, CP3, et al.

The good news for Kemp is that the stars are aligned for him to do just that, if he hasn’t already. He is now under the employ of Magic Johnson, one of the most beloved basketball players ever and a huge fan favorite in Los Angeles. Johnson wants to make Dodgers baseball great again. If he succeeds, he’ll force the people of Los Angeles into loving baseball just as much as they love basketball.

So far, so good. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Dodgers attendance is up from 36,052 people per game in 2011 to 38,663 people per game this season. Fans are coming out to the park to watch the Dodgers in greater numbers, and the attendance numbers could only get better and better now that the Lakers and Clippers are both done playing basketball this season.

Kemp is a classic example of an attendance-driver. He’s a superstar player who can do it all on the field, and he also happens to have an endearing personality (his high-profile dating history is very much a plus). He’d bring fans to the park in any city, but he just so happens to be playing in a city that loves its stars (no matter what they do for a living). It helps that Kemp has a kind of swagger perfectly suited for the city of Los Angeles.

And of course, it’s not all about bringing fans to the park. Kemp must put eyes on TV sets as well. It was, after all, television money that paid for his big contract (see Forbes), and people can see the face of the Dodgers franchise better on TV than they can at Dodger Stadium.

All Kemp has to do is what he’s been doing over the last year or so. He’ll keep hogging the spotlight as long as he keeps dazzling out on the diamond, and his legend is only going to grow bigger as the Dodgers win more and more ballgames.

In the meantime, business will keep booming for the under-new-management Dodgers, and baseball’s influence in the city of Los Angeles will get stronger and stronger.

Kemp is the right player in the right place at the right time.

Albert Pujols’ Place in Los Angeles

When the Angels signed Albert Pujols to a massive 10-year contract this offseason, the pay-off was immediate. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angels sold over 5,000 season tickets immediately after the Pujols signing.

But here’s the rub: Despite those sales, attendance at Angels games is way down this season.

The Angels drew an average of just under 39,000 people last season. So far in 2012, they’re drawing an average of just over 34,000 fans. That’s roughly 5,000 fans a night that aren’t showing up this season, and that’s a discouraging sign for a team that committed over $300 million to free agents this offseason.

To put this in perspective, the Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a huge contract this offseason, and they’ve benefited from a very impressive attendance spike so far this season.

Pujols’ struggles early in the season didn’t help matters for the Angels. He didn’t hit a home run until May 6, and his bat didn’t really come alive until the Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. Up until then, he wasn’t worth the price of admission.

Things are different now, but it may take some time for fans in Anaheim and Los Angeles to start trickling back to Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Perhaps the article Ellen Bell of The Orange County Register wrote urging Angels fans to come back will help.

It’s not entirely up to Pujols to draw fans to the park, but he can definitely help. He just needs to show people that he’s still one of the greatest players of his generation, and he needs to keep showing them that day after day.

And yes, just like with Kemp, Pujols needs to put eyes on TV sets. According to the Los Angeles Times, Pujols’ contract came largely thanks to a new $3 billion TV deal with Fox Sports. The Angels paid for a new franchise face, one that they could show off via their shiny new TV deal.

This is a somewhat of a new challenge for Pujols. He’s an excellent player and a great human being, but he’s never really had to worry about selling a ballclub. For lack of a better word, he was spoiled in St. Louis, as he got to play in front of baseball-crazy fans on a consistent basis. More often than not, he also had the luxury of playing on great Cardinals teams. He was the face of those teams, but he didn’t have to worry about converting anyone.

So if we can take it for granted (or at least imagine) that there is some kind of friendly competition between Pujols and Kemp, Pujols is at a significant disadvantage.

Before he can worry about conquering Los Angeles, Pujols must first conquer Anaheim. And right now, indications are that the locals aren’t impressed.

The Grand Conclusion

Between Kemp and Pujols, there should be little doubt that Kemp is the bigger star in the LA area, but this isn’t a very fair comparison to make. Kemp has had a following in Los Angeles for several years, whereas Pujols is the new guy in town who who doesn’t even play in town. He plays for that other team that likes to act like it’s an LA team.

Kemp’s star status obviously makes him a pretty important figure in the LA sports landscape, but there’s far more at stake when it comes to Pujols and his current situation. It’s on him to sell Angels baseball to a fanbase that has been surprisingly indifferent towards the team so far this season.

If he manages to do that, then he can worry about selling Angels baseball in Dodgers territory, where basketball and Matt Kemp are king. 

The only way he’s going to do that is by letting his bat do the talking. He needs to convince everyone that he is the star baseball attraction in Southern California.

He can do it, but I, for one, wish him luck. He faces a long, uphill climb, and he’s already off to a slow start.

If you want to talk baseball and/or basketball, hit me up on Twitter.

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The New York Mets have done surprisingly well so far this season, and as June nears, there are whispers of a playoff run.

They have the tools at the plate. David Wright has an all-multiverse batting average of .373, and the Mets have been pleasantly surprised by the output of Mike Baxter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Daniel Murphy and others once considered little more than fill-ins.

Props also go to the starting pitchers. Any lingering concerns about Johan Santana’s surgically repaired shoulder were erased in his complete game shutout of the San Diego Padres last week. R.A. Dickey is having an All-Star season.

Props are also due to closer Frank Francisco—for his last few outings, anyway. A change in his bullpen sessions has improved his pitching tremendously after a very shaky start to the season. At one point, his ERA was above 8.00 and he was consistently throwing more than 20 pitches an inning. That is not a winning formula for a closer.

Still, Francisco has 13 saves this season—one off the National League lead. Concerns that he was tipping his pitches seem to have abated.

Here’s the rub: Francisco’s recent success has come against underperforming teams. The Mets are into their toughest stretch of the season so far, with series against the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and the surging Washington Nationals. Then comes their interleague series against the Yankees, always a tough slog for the Amazins no matter how the Bombers are performing.

With the recent adjustments to his mechanics, it’s possible that Francisco will be up to the task, assuming that the Mets can hold at least a few leads into the late innings. But Francisco has a troubling characteristic: It doesn’t take much to get him off his game.

Take his blown save against the Miami Marlins earlier this month: Francisco was angered by a few close calls on pitches and was eventually tossed from the game by the home plate umpire after blowing the lead.

Solid hits by opposing players have also rattled Francisco. On those occasions, he’s acted like he’s been possessed by Armando Benitez. When his cool evaporates, so does his control.

That leads to another concern: high pitch counts. Francisco has kept his pitch count down the last few games, which is an encouraging sign. But if he resumes throwing upwards of 25 pitches an inning, it won’t be long before his stamina is played out.

The Mets would do well to seek out a quality reliever who could step into the closer role in the event Francisco falters. That won’t be easy this year. Injuries have bedeviled bullpens everywhere, and a number of closers are having disappointing seasons. The competition for healthy closers is bound to be fierce as the trade deadline gets closer.

Brett Myers, anyone?

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By now we should all know the name Billy Hamilton.  You know him, the Cincinnati Reds prospect that already has 46 steals through 44 games played—that guy.  Well, this article is not about him.  Rather, about five Reds prospect names that every Reds fan needs to know not named “that other guy.”

Do not let the trade of Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, and Brandon Boxberger to San Diego this offseason fool you into thinking that the Reds traded the farm away.  They definitely gave up a tremendous amount of talent in the trade for Mat Latos, but the Redlegs have been bringing in a consistent flow of solid prospects through the draft each year.

They may have gotten rid of some high level minor league talent, but they have many more youngsters developing in the lower and mid-levels.  Billy Hamilton sure gets us excited, but it is the other young stars that surround him that should really be getting us excited.  This proves that the Reds are set up for the long haul and not just the immediate future.

So, without further adieu, let’s look at some prospects making news down on the farm.  Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of each page to their player profiles on MiLB.com.

Begin Slideshow

As a devoted Detroit Tigers fan and follower, I probably should not be discussing the Cleveland Indians. But sometimes my love for the greater game of baseball takes precedence over my own biases.

I sure am going to miss watching Cleveland Indians slugger Travis Hafner play once he decides to retire, because Hafner has been one of my favorite ballplayers to watch over the past decade.

This 34-year-old North Dakota native did not attend a major college baseball pipeline, he attended Cowley County Community College in Arkansas City, Kansas.  

But do not tell that to opposing big-league pitchers who swallow hard fear whenever Hafner swaggers to the plate amidst heavy rock music.

At 6’3”, 240 pounds, Hafner is built as if he is the spiritual being sparking fear in bulls darting through the streets of Pamplona.

Sometimes when I watch Hafner, it seems more like a WWE wrestler just entered the ballpark.

Like John Cena meets Hack Wilson.  

When Hafner makes contact, you almost feel sorry for the baseball, as if he just knocked the wind out of the poor mass with stitches. I wonder how different major league record books would look if Hafner could have stayed healthy.  

Hafner achieved a stretch from 2004-2007 where no big-league pitcher wanted anything to do with him. This was because he averaged 32 home runs and 109 RBI during this time.

In Hafner’s best season (2006), his stats were beyond ridiculous. Hafner had 42 homers, 117 RBI to go with a .308 average, .659 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.098. It is no wonder pitchers walked him 100 times that season.

As Hafner made his way from ballpark to ballpark, many fans grew convinced this behemoth figure was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career.  

But darn Mother Nature—since 2007 Hafner just could not remain healthy. The most on-field appearances Hafner has been able to muster in a single season the past four years are 118 games. Looking at Hafner’s complete body of work, he has averaged just 97 games a season in his 10-year career.

Career-wise, Hafner has hit 194 home runs and 875 RBI. His slugging percentage is .508. This is good for 70th all-time, right behind Ty Cobb.

Eerily, give Hafner a few more of years of baseball and his career numbers will look strikingly similar to Hack Wilson’s.

For the record, Wilson is a Hall of Famer.

Not to say Hafner will muster enough healthy seasons to achieve the same, but it would be nice to see.

But as a Tigers fan, I would humbly ask Hafner be traded out of the AL Central before he does.

I am sure Cleveland Indians fans would have something to say about this.

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Tuesday night’s victory over the Atlanta Braves proved to be an encouraging sign for the Cincinnati Reds.

Two of Cincinnati’s struggling players, starter Mat Latos and second baseman Brandon Phillips, performed well in the 4-3 win. Latos pitched seven solid innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts, while Phillips chipped in with two home runs and three RBI.

Latos had especially come under fire after the past offseason trade in which Latos was acquired from the San Diego Padres in return for Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger.

Prior to the game, Latos had a 2-2 record and a mediocre 4.63 ERA—nothing close to what Cincinnati expected when GM Walt Jocketty pulled the trigger on the offseason trade. Latos’ ERA has been steadily dropping after a very poor start to the season, which saw his ERA balloon to an enormous 8.22 in April.

Entering the season, Phillips received a contract extension after lengthy extension talks reaching back to last season. His new six-year, $72 million extension came under fire after the soon-to-be 31-year-old Phillips’ production took a dip with only two home runs, one steal and a sub-.300 on-base percentage through a quarter of the season.

Clearly struggling at the plate at times, Phillips’ batting average hit a low at .215 in early May, but since then he has started to turn it around with a .275 average in 20 games this month. Phillips still has a long way to go, with a very poor 8-to-21 walk-to-strikeout ratio and only 10 extra-base hits on the season.

Rookie shortstop Zack Cozart also chipped in with a solo home run, and recently named closer Aroldis Chapman closed out the win with a hitless ninth. Center fielder Drew Stubbs went 1-for-3 with a walk and a steal while making a few plays in the field in another solid performance following Monday night’s two-home run game.

Cincinnati’s next game features rejuvenated Reds starter Bronson Arroyo taking on Tommy Hanson and the Braves once again at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday night.

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Last year, Ike Davis played in 36 games before he suffered a freak ankle injury from a collision with David Wright.

That cost him the rest of the season.

Coming into this season, Davis was expected to put up high numbers. Thus far in 2012, he has done anything but that. 

Hitting just .161 in 137 at-bats, Davis is looking discouraged. A slow start is understandable, but it’s late May already and Davis has shown very little, if any, signs of improvement.

The Mets have looked impressive through the first eight weeks of the season. Only three and a half games behind the first place Atlanta Braves, the Mets seem to be a threat heading into the summer months.

With the severe struggles of Davis, however, the question seems to be whether or not a trip to the minors would be beneficial. Personally, I believe a trip down would be smart move for both Davis and the team as a whole. 

At this point, Davis needs fresh  offensive input from a new voice. Down on the Buffalo Bisons, he can go back to basics and really focus on tweaking his swing as well as clearing his head of what has been an exhausting first few months to the season. 

Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson and Manager Terry Collins are not opposed to the idea, and as Davis’ woes continue, a trip to the minor leagues seems more and more realistic.

Collins spoke in the recent days about the team considering this possibility. However, Collins also went on to say that “nothing is etched in stone,” and that the team will weigh its options.

If the team does decide to move Davis down, the pieces the Mets have in place to fill his spot should be adequate. Daniel Murphy would most likely shift over to first, and Justin Turner would assume second base duties.

A big part of the Mets is Ike Davis.

With his struggles, the Mets have have had a shortened lineup, and Terry Collins has been forced to juggle the order.

The bottom line is that the Mets need Davis to produce out of the middle of the lineup. They simply cannot afford to keep him as a regular with the way he has played thus far.

It will not be long until a decision is made by the organization on the status of Davis. 

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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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