![]() Over the years, Wolff and Fisher proposed moving the team to various other locations inside and outside of California, including San Jose.Ĭonsidering how obviously Fisher and Wolff wanted to get the team out of Oakland, it's fair to wonder how much of what they've done since 2005 was merely an act. Wolff proposed a local stadium site five months after the purchase was finalized, and in 2006, they discussed moving the team to Fremont. On April 15, 2023, the Mets broadcast crew had to call the game from an alternate location in the ballpark because the visitor's TV booth was occupied by a possum who had taken up residence and soiled the premises.įisher and Wolff have wanted to move the team out of the Coliseum essentially since the moment they bought the A's on March 30, 2005. Raw sewage backed up into the visitor's clubhouse in 2013 and in 2016. The Coliseum has been literally crumbling for years. What happened to all the money that could've been spent on payroll? Fisher and Wolff certainly didn't spend it on stadium repairs and upgrades. They've traded away pretty much every star player they've ever had, and in 2021, they even traded their manager to the San Diego Padres, which is pretty much the biggest white flag move a franchise can make. They're also one of just three MLB teams that have never given out a contract over $100 million. In 2023, when the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Padres and Phillies are running payrolls north of $200 million, the A's payroll is just under $57 million. The Athletics have never had a payroll over $100 million. As payrolls rose across baseball, the A's barely budged, not even keeping up with inflation.Ĭommissioner Rob Manfred has said Fisher wants to win, but there is zero evidence of that. (Fisher bought Wolff's share of the franchise and became sole owner in 2016.) Only they didn't change anything. In 2005, three years after the A's Moneyball season, Fisher and Wolff bought the team. But do you remember why the A's needed to do that? Because the A's owners at the time gave former general manager Billy Beane very little money with which to build a team. The A's are synonymous with Moneyball, which began the "trend" of incorporating advanced statistics and metrics in player evaluation to find hidden gems and players with upside in the castoff bin. ![]() There's no doubt that he shoulders a considerable part of the blame for this situation.Īnd not just because he signs the checks - he and former co-owner Lewis Wolff waged a years-long campaign to move the A's out of Oakland, strangling the team with artificial financial ceilings and failing to make upgrades on the crumbling (and sewage-filled) Oakland Coliseum while pocketing decades of TV fees, revenue sharing and MLB payouts. He controls the purse strings and, therefore, the overall direction of the team. When someone blames the A's for this regrettable mess, they're really talking about team owner John Fisher. Athletics owner John Fisher and former co-owner Lewis Wolff
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