Sports Nut: Moneyball Takes Manhattan

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Sports Nut Moneyball Takes Manhattan Why moving to New York would be good for the Oakland A's, and good for baseball. By Neil deMause Posted Wednesday, Apr 04, 2012, at 11:30 AM ET When the Oakland A's hold their home opener on Friday night, fans will see a very different team than the one that took the field last fall. General manager Billy Beane disposed of half his pitching staff this offseason in a "youth movement" that was startling for the not-so-advanced ages of those sent packing: Gio Gonzalez, 26; Andrew Bailey, 27; Josh Outman, 27; Guillermo Moscoso, 28; Trevor Cahill, 23. This year's ritual strip-mining of the Oakland roster—which followed prior seasons in which soon-to-be-expensive young stars like Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Dan Haren were sent packing—was accompanied by a new excuse. "For us to compete, we're going to have to have a new stadium," Beane explained, telling reporters that he's designing the team's roster to peak when the A's get a new ballpark in tech-dollar-rich San Jose. Considering the A's move to the South Bay has been stalled for three years now, this is wishful thinking on Beane's part. Way back in 2009, MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed a "blue ribbon committee" on the A's future. As of yet, that committee hasn't issued a final report. ("You could've written a Ph.D. dissertation by now," grumbled A's owner Lew Wolff last year.) The holdup, as Susan Slusser reported in the San Francisco Chronicle last September, is that Major League Baseball granted the San Francisco Giants territorial rights to San Jose back in the early 1990s. And ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Why Workers Should Have a Constitutional Right To Organize Is Science Really Moving Faster Than Ever? Maybe Not! The United States Should Follow Canada's Lead and Ditch the Penny	Advertisement
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