Nav Finally Responds to Split Hat

I’m back to writing articles guys. This week I am going to discuss baseball a little bit. We are six days away from opening day and the A’s pitching staff is a complete wreck. The line up is going to be really good but every game is going to be a 10-9 final. However, the main premise of this article is to respond to something split hat wrote in December 2017.

In December, 5 Bowls wrote an article about the Oakland Athletics. He wrote about the on-going stadium situation. He wrote it just after the A’s announced the Peralta Board had put a halt to their desire of building a stadium next to the Laney College site. It was a difficult article to read because I had high hopes that this was finally going to be the solution. It turns out it was all a sham.

Let me first start off by saying I became an A’s fan in about 2000. I attended Barry Zito’s first career MLB start. He struck out Garret Anderson, and Mo Vaughn with the bases loaded. I rooted for the 2000-2003 teams that miserably failed in October. Whether it was Tim Hudson getting into bar fights, Tejada, and Brynes not tagging home, Dye shattering his leg, or well the Jeter flip something always went wrong. At the same time the A’s were not my favorite baseball team at the time the St. Louis Cardinals were. I’m been paying attention to the A’s since 2000 some years more than others, but the Cardinals were my favorite team until about 2007. At that time, I only started casually following baseball until about 2011. Now I’m a die-hard A’s fan and spend way too much time following baseball.

When I was in High School the Oakland Athletics were having discussions about building a stadium in Fremont. My teachers would hand out extra credit for students that attended city council meetings. I never attended one, and well Cisco field was never built. I drive by the site where the stadium was supposed to be built at least three times a week. When I attended SJSU the A’s were in the midst of their 2012-2014 run, when they won more regular season games than any other team in the MLB. The playoffs turned out terribly but they always do with Billy Beane built teams. It’s not really Billy’s fault his job is to build the best teams he can. Those teams were really fuckin good but low payroll teams are going to have flaws. Those flaws get exposed in October. Which brings me back to point. When I was commuting to SJSU during baseball season I had one thought. I thought to myself I wonder if that Fremont stadium would have given the A’s enough payroll to actually win in October. Alas, it was not meant to be.

After the Fremont stadium pursuit failed the A’s moved on to San Jose. I may have my timeline off but the A’s did pursue San Jose. The Giants had territory rights, and the A’s went out of there way to alienate the Oakland fan base. Point is that San Jose was not going to work. You can file as many lawsuits as you want but it’s not happening. There are many reasons I started casually following baseball instead of the obsession the San Jose thing was one. I also spent my summers playing a sport. I was at practice when the A’s were playing games. Lastly, I lost some interest in baseball.

So back to the stadium. I can be angry at the Giants but there is no point. They have the rights and there is no reason for them to give them up. I can be angry at Oakland politicians but they have bigger issues to worry about than sports stadiums. Just don’t tell me about the Prince of Dubai and the Coliseum complex. Don’t tell me about self-induced one-year timelines to find a site. I can give the A’s credit for trying to improve the Coli experience while the dump is still up. Dave Kaval has added food trucks and a tree house. Offered some nice ticket perks and embraced the A’s past. He also completely failed at his first attempt to secure a home in Oakland. I guess he is one his second attempt, and I’ve heard that they just might tear down the Coli and build a new stadium there. I prefer the Jack London Square site but beggars can’t be choosers.

The whole point of this article can be summarized to this I’m tired of the trade cycle. I’m tired of watching former A’s stars win world series with other teams. I still don’t understand why Billy traded Donaldson and never will. December 6, 2017 hurt because it’s the first time I legit thought the A’s may be leaving the Bay Area. I don’t know if there is a solution in Oakland, but I’ll be the happiest guy in the world if a shovel hits the dirt within the next 18 months.

In the meantime, I’ll be watching a team that I’m really excited about position player wise. The pitching needs help but there are prospects within in the system that can be top of the rotation arms. Jesus Luzardo is 20 years old, and tremendously composed. A.J Puk has insane talent and those two guys can be the next Mulder and Zito. Sean Manaea is already on the MLB team and he has a ton of talent that I hope he turns into actual results in 2018. Pitchers break easily though and well the A’s need to add about three legitimate MLB pitchers before opening day 2019. The lineup is going to be good with young guys like Chapman, and Olson leading the way. Even Semien and Piscotty both 27 years old. The farm has guys like Mateo, Neuse and Barreto waiting in the wings. Billy Beane says this is the best farm system he has since the Big three, Tejada, Chavez, and Giambi era and he is right. Some of these guys are going to bust (cough Barreto and Holmes) but there is a lot of talent here. It won’t matter if the A’s don’t find a stadium solution. These guys will be traded for prospects in three years like the generation before them. I just want a couple of extensions.

Next time I’ll write about a topic that is not about the A’s. Like my thoughts on the rest of the AL West and SF Giants or ranting at some SKA member. This article was meant for Split Hat, if you don’t like it FUCK YOU.

Go A’s.