3 things to watch for during Winter Meetings for Oakland A’s

Addressing the Oakland A’s revenue share

The Oakland A’s are back as a revenue share recipient. And it did not take long to anger other owners around the league with their actions.

Instead of spending that money on payroll, A’s ownership pocketed that cash and slashed the bottom line as much as possible. For all of the whining about how they need to cut costs and cannot afford their roster, the A’s have never spent $100 million on payroll in any season. As Fisher is worth over $2 billion, such penny pinching ways are ridiculous.

It is also ridiculous that the A’s cut payroll to below $50 million in a year where they were reinstated as a revenue sharing recipient. While that status is not going to change until the next Collective Bargaining Agreement comes into play, it is attracting that the league does not want. And it is possible that the MLBPA files another grievance against the A’s for their refusal to spend on payroll.

Nothing will publically come of this. The league will seemingly ignore Fisher’s insistence on padding his bottom line to the detriment of the roster. But it is possible that Major League Baseball quietly has a meeting with ownership and tells them that they need to actually use that money on the roster or else they will lose that status in the next CBA.

Will that change much for the Oakland A’s? Probably not. But it is worth wondering if a conversation takes place under the radar to address that situation.