A’s biggest questions: a new home and pitching
MESA, Ariz. — The A’s top baseball executive and the team’s top business executive met with reporters from several media outlets Saturday and provided answers to some of the most pressing issues facing the club.
1 What’s happening with the A’s stadium hunt? Team President Dave Kaval spoke in more positive terms about the Coliseum on Saturday than he has previously, and he said Howard Terminal is still getting a strong look. The team hasn’t totally given up on the Peralta/Laney College site, but with the talks over that location called off in December, the other two possibilities are clearly at the forefront.
“We have the three sites in
Oakland we deem as viable,” Kaval said. “Peralta was obviously our preferred site . ... We’ve kind of taken stock and we’re really spending a lot of time on the other two sites to determine their feasibility. And that includes: technically, can you build it there, especially on the waterfront?”
Kaval mentioned twice that the Howard Terminal site would have to take into account sea-level rise and transportation concerns — and he said there have been conversations with the city and county and the Joint Powers Authority about developing the Coliseum site.
“We’re parallel-pathing those two things,” he said of studying Howard Terminal and the Coliseum. “Folks will see more progress on that in the next couple of months.”
The Chronicle’s recent report about the city of Oakland’s proposal to own the Coliseum area outright, rather than jointly with the county, could factor into the decision, too, Kaval said. “We’re trying to understand what that means,” he said. “Right now, when we look at the locations, the only viable location for an A’s ballpark is the Oakland Coliseum, where we currently play. We need to make sure we retain the option to build there, a privately financed stadium. We’ve been very clear with the city, county and JPA that that’s an important part of this.”
Would the A’s have any interest in buying the Coliseum land? “All those things are on the table,” Kaval said.
1 A.J. Puk, the A’s top pick in the 2016 draft, has been the team’s best starter much of the spring. Would service-time issues (waiting an extra 16-17 days to bring him up would add a year of club control) keep him off the Opening Day roster?
“That’s not an issue,” vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane said. “That’s never been an issue with us. Go look at our history, we take guys out of A ball. … What I want to do is if a kid’s ready is make sure he stays up here.
“If he is (on the Opening Day roster), it’s only because we’re out of other options. Do I think it’s ideal to call upon a kid who has half a year at Double-A? No. That would not be the preferred route.”
1 What will Oakland do in the wake of Jharel Cotton’s season-ending Tommy John surgery, announced earlier in the day? Asked whether the team is pursuing options outside the organization, Beane said, “I think we have to, because No. 1 from a body standpoint, we didn’t have much depth coming, and we have less now. We have no choice but to go out there and look. It’s not exactly fertile ground for a starting pitcher, and certainly there
will be limitations as it relates to cost.”
Beane said that the team ideally hoped to add multiple starters. The Chronicle reported Saturday afternoon that the A’s had targeted former Oakland starter Trevor Cahill, and in the evening, confirmed that Cahill has reached terms with the team.
1 Kaval, asked about 200,000 tickets distributed for the team’s free 50th anniversary game April 17, said there are plans to whittle the list of attendees to the maximum capacity, which could run as high as 65,000 with standingroom only, according to Kaval.
“The key headline there is how excited people are about our 50 years in Oakland,”
Kaval said. “We want to make sure we have a process in place so that everyone who wants to go to the game can go, and that it’s done in an acceptable fashion.”
1 The A’s amnesty program for Giants hats — they’ll exchange them for a new A’s cap — remains in place. Kaval said the team has collected about 2,800 Giants caps to date and will donate them to charities in developing nations. “We don't want them to be destroyed, but we don't want them in the Bay Area,” Kaval cracked.