Rob Manfred Provides Laughable Update on A's Ballpark Search
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is in charge of baseball as a whole, as his title would suggest. One of his most storied franchises, the Oakland A's, is in the midst of potentially relocating to Las Vegas, and from his brief statements on Thursday, it's evident he has no clue what is actually happening with one of his thirty teams.
When asked about the A's situation, he said "They're pretty settled on a site--the MGM site."
Only the A's haven't been linked to the MGM site at all. Their first site in Las Vegas was the Wild Wild West. Now it's apparently the Tropicana. They could also end up at a third, undisclosed location in Las Vegas, but the MGM has not been one of those that has been in discussion.
So did he just spill the beans, or is he completely incompetent?
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle later tweeted that he meant to say the Tropicana site. Incompetence it is!
Manfred was also asked if there is any chance the A's could end up staying in Oakland. "I think you'd have to ask the Mayor of Oakland that."
Funnily enough, someone did ask her that exactly one week ago. She said they're very close to a deal if the A's wanted to re-engage in negotiations. There have also been reports that the A's and the City of Oakland were only $88 million apart on that deal before the A's shifted their focus solely to Las Vegas, causing the Mayor to cease negotiations.
Rob Manfred is supposed to be trying to help grow the game of baseball, and instead he can't even pay the slightest bit of attention to what's actually happening with the A's.
If you were the Commissioner of MLB, and you were going to talk to the media and one of your franchises was in the process of potentially relocating, you might think that could be a topic you'd be asked about. Maybe you'd even know which location in Las Vegas they were looking to relocate and know the latest on the situation.
Not Rob Manfred.
More gems from Rob Manfred: "It's possible that a relocation vote could happen as early as June."
Fun fact: It's nearly June and there has been no bill introduced by the A's to the Nevada Legislature, which closes on June 5. Bills are due by May 26 in order to meet that deadline without needing a special session to get it passed.
Another fun fact: Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo and Senate Democrats are in a standoff over the budget. Lombardo wants his priorities passed, and the Dems want to solidify a budget to see how much money is available beforehand. The democratic legislative leaders have said they would not move forward with major policy bills until the budget is approved. Can you guess what kind of a bill the A's relocation falls under?
Manfred: "It's very difficult to have a timeline for Oakland [on a relocation vote] until there's actually a deal to be considered. There is a relocation process internally that they need to go through, and we haven't even started that process."
Two quick takeaways from that statement. First, the A's don't have a deal, they haven't started the relocation process, and we could still have a vote on this in a month's time?
Secondly, if John Fisher is serious about relocation, and time is of the essence as we have heard many, many times, then why hasn't he started that relocation process?
Every day there are more details to this never-ending saga, and the more details that come out, the more head-scratching everything really becomes.