Elephant Rumblings: Rosenthal goes in on Fisher, MLB

MLB news roundup

Welcome to Tuesday, everyone!

One of the most respected voices among baseball reporters (and this writer’s favorite/most trusted), The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has a show called Fair Territory where he delves into the happenings around the game. It’s a must-watch if you love the game of baseball. He touches on the easy subjects, as well as the awkward, hard to talk about happenings in the game.

Yesterday he went in on John Fisher and MLB as a whole for the situation this franchise finds itself in:

His talk on the A’s is what is here at AN makes our ears perk up more. The segment on Oakland begins at 25:25 on YouTube, but it begins with a very simple question: can the Athletics sign any free agents if they are playing at a minor league ballpark while awaiting their stadium? To which Rosenthal accurately responds: would they even be interested in signing free agents?

In another part of it he summarizes the whole debacle of the Las Vegas relocation very well: while Fisher and MLB believe that Oakland is no longer viable for an MLB franchise, there are still major questions about if Las Vegas can support an MLB team. Rosenthal also notes that among all relocations in MLB history, there is nothing even close to similar to what is happening to the Athletics.

The club seems to be in purgatory for the next four years (1 in Oakland, 3 in ?). Those three years where the team isn’t playing in a major league stadium was aptly called by Rosenthal Fisher’s traveling no-stars team. It’s nice to know that some national names are making noise about the total lack of planning on this nonsensical move. If you got time, give Rosenthal’a piece a listen. He hits the nail on the head on every point.

A’s coverage:

• Joe Boyle has tremendous potential
• The A’s should be doing something with this slow free-agent market
• Reno Aces say A’s haven’t asked about playing in their ballpark

MLB News & Interest:

• Pirates sign Aroldis Chapman
• Marlins “less likely” to trade Jesus Luzardo versus Edward Cabrera
• Cardinals, Tommy Edman agree to 2-year deal to avoid arbitration
• Colin McHugh announces retirement
• Legislators ensure potential Kansas City new stadium funding
• Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg being treated for cancer
• Infielder Alex Blandino attempting to become knuckleballer
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

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