Cleveland Guardians broadcast has some thoughts on A's relocation
The Oakland A's visited Goodyear, Arizona to face off against the Cleveland Guardians in spring action on Tuesday, a game that the A's would end up winning by the score of 11-2. JP Sears made his first start, going two scoreless, and Nick Allen collected two triples, one down each line, as part of a 2-for-3, three rbi day.
But the headline coming out of the game has to be that on the Cleveland Guardians' game feed, their broadcasters Matt Underwood and Rick Manning discussed the A's announced move to Las Vegas, giving Mark Kotsay praise for how he has handled everything, and ended by saying the problem with the A's is ownership.
The conversation lasted about five minutes with Hogan Harris on the mound for the A's. Funnily enough, it was Harris that got the start against the Tampa Bay Rays on the night of the reverse boycott game last June.
The conversation begins with an explanation of what has been going on with the relocation, and some quotes from A's manager Mark Kotsay saying that the "Rooted in Oakland" slogan meant something to him, and to the fans. They then spoke of the fans in Oakland."They love their baseball out there and their fans are rabid."
"As far as Kotsay, look he's not only dealing with managing a very tight budgeted, small market club, but then he's got this on top of that. The middle of last year that's announced. I think they were 3-16 at the time. And then they announce they're moving? Good luck keeping that ship afloat, right? But it was Stephen Vogt who came out, and talk about somebody who's got you back, Vogt said the things he's dealt with in his first couple of years as a manager, he's crushing it."
After a little action on the field, another broadcaster chimed in and said "Matt, you were talking about that "Rooted in Oakland" sign that they had up there by the stadium. You mentioned that, and I was looking up another story. Do you know, yesterday, about this time they started taking that sign down."
After praising Kotsay again for how he handled the announcement and how he has been relaying updates to the players so they don't get blindsided, the A's relocation talk wrapped up with, "You've got to blame ownership. You really do, because that guy there is just...unbelievable."
The Guardians will be in Oakland, sans "Rooted in Oakland" signage for Opening Day in just under a month. The fans in the East Bay are planning a boycott of the opener and have a number of "SELL" flags ready to hand out. The plan is to still show up to the Coliseum, but not to pay for parking or a game ticket, or give any money to Fisher. Outside of the reverse boycott games last season, Opening Day was the highest-attended game last year, so this could hit the owner in the pocketbook quite a bit. We're probably talking about around a $1 million gate if they succeed.
With flags in hand, the fans are hoping to grab some national headlines as the new season begins.