Quick Hits: Athletics, Mariners, Beltran

Even as the Athletics square off against the Tigers at the O.co Coliseum, the organization is working on stadium issues on multiple fronts. Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs has a blow-by-blow of yesterday's federal court hearing on MLB's efforts to dismiss the suit filed against it by the City of San Jose. Somewhat ironically, neither the A's themselves nor the city of Oakland are parties to that suit. Those two entities, meanwhile, are still negotiating a renewal of the club's expiring lease on the much-maligned ballpark; Will Kane of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest on that score. Here are a few more notes on a quiet Saturday morning …

• Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is in no particular rush to fill the club's surprise manager vacancy, the Associate Press reports (via the Boston Herald). Set to begin his third search since taking the helm in 2008, the general manager says he has yet to start in earnest and will take his time doing so. "Until we get to a point where I feel comfortable with all of the names that we have and maybe some of the clubs are out of the playoffs we might have interest in," said Zduriencik, "I won't even begin the process."
• One-time Mets star outfielder Carlos Beltran is not ruling out a return to New York, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter), and that possibility may have improved with an All Star game meet-up between Beltran and team COO Jeff Wilpon. From the Mets' perspective, Puma further tweets, the team is interested but wary of Beltran's apparent defensive decline. We owe a tip of the hat to MetsBlog, whose Michael Baron comments that he isn't sure Beltran is an everyday outfielder at this point. MLBTR's Charlie Wilmoth recently compared Beltran to Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz, with MLBTR readers indicating a strong (69.3%) preference for the former.