The Oakland Athletics are getting ready to move on from their days in the East Bay and California, with a relocation to Las Vegas and Nevada in the short-term future.
Dave Kaval, the president of the ballclub, seems determined to bring a brand-new era and operating business model to the franchise once the move away from Oakland is completed.
That's what Kaval told Lindsay Adler of The Wall Street Journal, as he said that the A's need to move on from the Moneyball approach installed by Billy Bean nearly two decades ago.
"The entire Moneyball system that Billy Beane devised was based on the fact that we had limited resources," Dave Kaval said.
The A's currently boast the lowest payroll in the MLB, and it's not even close. Oakland is paying a little over $58 million to their players this season, which is a sizable $10 million less than what the Pirates (second-lowest) are paying to their major-league performers ($68 million).
Let me re-quote the line above adding a little emphasis: "We had limited resources." Keyword: had. Yessir!
Kaval kept going, saying that the moves to Las Vegas will help the franchise have higher revenue flows that would then be turned and invested into free-agent acquisitions.
Now, for a little context, the A's have topped at a six-year, $66 million contract (Eric Chavez) in free agency, and that happened nearly 20 years ago when the A's weren't even owned by John Fisher, who took over the franchise a year after that.
The largest deal signed by Fisher and fully fulfilled and paid out was agreed with Billy Butler at $30 million over three seasons (h/t Jason Burke), which is not even half of the Chavez deal in terms of length and total money. Just saying.
In four words: do not expect changes.
In a few more: the A's are determined to move the franchise away from Oakland, have secured themselves a ballpark in the Las Vegas strip, are planning to go ahead with the move no matter what, and are backed up by the MLB commissioner (and most probably all or nearly-all other 29 franchises), and Kaval keeps hammering down the potential move embellishing him with very fake expectations and promises.
There is nothing nobody can do to prevent this from happening, but at least don't fall for the lies. That way you'd be sad when the moves get done but not disappointed when nothing materializes once the team sets camp in Las Vegas.