Athletics Manager Bob Melvin discussed his plans for the team’s second base position, as reported by Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News. The longtime Oakland skipper expects to deploy the tandem of Franklin Barreto and Tony Kemp in a platoon, with Barreto getting at-bats against lefties and Kemp playing versus right-handers. That’s promising news regarding the 24-year-old Barreto, who has long been regarded as a talented prospect but has gotten limited exposure since the A’s acquired him from the Blue Jays. But after a strong showing in summer camp, he may finally get consistent at-bats. Thus far, he’s appeared in parts of three seasons but has played just 80 games in total, making 209 plate appearances. As talented as Barreto may be, one has to think that it’d be hard to find a rhythm at the plate when opportunities against MLB pitching come so sparingly. We’ll keep our eyes on Barreto this season, hoping he can tap into the power that made him a key prospect in the Josh Donaldson trade.
- Music City Baseball, an organization working to bring a Major League Baseball team to Nashville, is expected to pitch a proposal to MLB at the 2021 Winter Meetings, writes the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham as part of a piece that also details former Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski’s involvement with the group. Dombrowski hopped on board as an advisor to the group, along with the likes of Tony La Russa, Dave Stewart, and Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. Of course, if such a proposal is to come to fruition, they’ll need the approval of MLB, which is not actively planning for expansion in the near future. Certainly, there are plenty of obstacles to the venture, making a 2024 or 2025 arrival seem like the best-case scenario for the Nashville Stars.
- After a possible exposure to COVID-19 led the Astros to shut down workouts yesterday, pitching coach Brent Strom and the Major League pitching staff were all absent from camp today, as reported by Mark Berman of Fox Houston. Manager Dusty Baker said that Strom was “part of” the exposure that caused yesterday’s cancellation. That group is undergoing COVID-19 testing and is currently awaiting results. Of course, Baker said that the hope is that is Strom and the Astros’ pitchers will be able to rejoin the team in short order, though for the time being the team will wait with bated breath for the results of those tests.
- Red Sox prospect Bobby Dalbec has been cleared to play after a positive test for COVID-19 prevented him from participating until now, reports Christopher Smith of MassLive. He rejoined the Sox at Fenway Park today after spending Saturday working out at Boston College. The 25-year-old infielder is regarded as one of Boston’s best prospects, and could contribute to the big league team this year. Rising through the minors as a third baseman, Dalbec may be best suited for first base in the Majors, but there’s little doubt about his raw power and on-base skills. Dalbec is one of four Red Sox who tested positive for the virus, with pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez, Josh Taylor, and Darwinzon Hernandez still recovering.
put expansion teams in Nashville and Portland!
Agreed
Portland had its chance and failed miserably. Best part of Portland’s stadium was Tony’s bar across the road, who was open early and served Rainer.
Nashville and Montreal get my vote. Las Vegas seems like a no brainer financially though.
Vegas not big enough for football, hockey and baseball. Nashville and Montreal.
Lol u realize Oakland’s AAA team just moved from Nashville to Las Vegas, with an outside stadium in the desert heat, and their first year they had the highest attendance in AAA that per-game was higher than both South Florida MLB teams. Vegas deserves 4 teams
Rooted – For clarification, the Nashville Sounds didn’t physically move. The Nashville Sounds have changed affiliation 3 times in the 10 years since I lived here, which I guess is common for minor league teams. When I moved here they were in the Brewers system, then the A’s, and now they are the Rangers AAA team.
Vegas is not big enough on its own, but the millions who visit Las Vegas make it ideal. There would definitely need to be a dome as the temperature was 115 degrees today! I have lived in Vegas for 11 years and there is no way I would go to an out door stadium at 115, but definitely to a dome.
Can Vegas justify a new stadium after opening a brand new stadium in 2019?
They can if they can sell out the Raiders. We’ll see!
If the stadium will be built from tax payer funding I do not see that as an option. Most workers in Vegas barely get by. With 130,000 hotel rooms there are a lot of maids, waiters, valet, cooks, and other service people. There already an over dependence on taxing hotel rooms for revenue.
A new stadium would need to be privately funded to a large degree, but the stadium would get filled (during non-recession periods). During recessions trips to Vegas seem the first thing to go…..
The D-Backs might move to the Vegas area in the near future.
Bad idea. The whole point is to have a Diamondbacks/Vipers rivalry. Stop ruining the dream of snakes battling to the death in the desert sun.
No expansion. Not enough talent. Also, forget Montreal. It was a flop before and players don’t want Canadian $$$
The Shire should get a team before the Expos return.
Honestly I think Charlotte would be better than Nashville but that’s just my opinion.
Could be. Not a bad idea.
Nashville is an ideal spot for an MLB franchise.
1.) Nashville is a tourist destination. It’s one of the most visited and in demand destinations in the U.S.
2.) There is 2 million people living in the Metro Nashville area and the surrounding counties not considered Metro continue to grow.
3.) Several MLB stars make Nashville their home.
4.) Nashville has killed it with big events and their pro sports teams, Predators, Titans, NFL Draft, FanFest, NCAA tournaments, Nashville is always highly praised.
5.) Location, Nashville is centrally located, short drives or flights to other major cities.
6.) Nashville Sounds minor league team, the Sounds stadium is the toast of the minor leagues. Not only is the Sounds stadium and atmosphere amazing, it’s also built within walking distance to “Germantown”, one of Nashville’s trendiest areas.
7.) Amateur talent, I mentioned that several MLB players make Nashville their home but also, Nashville is shelling out ML talent from their area. Andy constantly turns out top 10 draft picks, Mookie Betts is a Nashville native, David Price, Sonny Gray, Robbie Ray, Dakota Hudson, David Price, Mike Minor,
8.) Of course, “Star Power”. Obviously Country Music stars make Nashville their home but also several other celebrities.
Drasco036
You left out #9. You live there. That’s really your #1 reason.Also where players live has nothing to do with where to place a team. They might live there for a variety of reasons.
10) I live in Nashville.
@drascoo
When your third best reason is that several MLB stars live there, you have a weak argument. You do realize that a Nashville team would not automatically get the rights to those players?
Touché kind sir!! Well played my good man.
Fair assumption but I live in Elgin Illinois. I know Nashville because I invest in real estate in Nashville and the surrounding areas.
Where players live actually does make an impact on free agent signings which means the amount of players who live in Nashville and it’s close proximity to other MLB cities would give them an edge for a small market team in signing free agents. Where people WANT to play and where they LIVE plays a part in where they choose to sign. There for, number three on my list is a valid argument.
You do realize where a player wants to play and live plays a role in where the player signs right? Nashville being a highly desirable location in general would give them an edge for a smaller market team to sign free agents thus allowing them to be competitive. Where players live and want to live is valid.
And an expansion team in Las Vegas too
Not sure Portland can hold the crowds. Nashville has been a surging baseball minor league city… Vegas attracts high rollers, none of which want to sit at a baseball stadium for 3 hours… unless they have craps and blackjack.
@phillys A’s…. now your on to something my guy! I like it! A casino in the stadium. What a racket. Smh.
On a different note, this idea almost had me as excited as the time I found out there was a new card shop opening a half hour away from my house. It’s a baseball card store with a bar, and an arcade in the back! So bring your kids so you can take longer to spend more money, all while taking the children’s money at the arcade. What an idea! Sometimes the greatest ideas are the most simple ones.
Like taking money from children. Everyone does it. The ice cream man, GameStop, school lunch ladies, etc…..
Expansion? I say contract and do like Premier league. Relegation for worst. Then owners can’t hoard money.
Is there really enough major league talent to support another expansion team? Or is the talent n skills being diluted?
This is what they need to do cut minor league down to where every team has 3-4 levels of minor league ball instead of 5-7 teams.. soo a Rookie Ball league, Single A, AA, AAA would be the idea.. Now teams have 2 Dominican leagues 2 rookie level teams a short season A ball regular A ball
High A+ ball AA ball then AAA ball…
Than cut down to 4 levels than expand to 32 teams.. Baseball has alot of talent lots of college ball and independant ball
Talent is irrelevant in this scenario. It all $$$
Yeah their not here to put the best talent out for the public to view, whatever’s gonna make them the most $$$, and kinda gotta respect the hussle. Absolutely hate it like everyone else, but gotta respect their position and logic in their position.
Talent is relative. There is definitely enough fan interest to support more expansion teams. Las Vegas, North Carolina, and Brooklyn (NYC) are just a few others. It’s all about politics and territorial rights current owners won’t give up.
Your right they won’t want to give up their territorial rights….. especially after the nationals debacle.
The mlb will Allow Vegas to eat the diamond backs lunch in a few short years. Like when the nationals came in. “Look Peter we want to put a team in your backyard and you are going to make at least 70/30 from the tv deal”…… but that’s not how it worked out. The nationals reneged on the deal, took them to court, and won on something they shouldn’t have because they agreed to that deal in the first place. The mlb sure didn’t come to help Peter angelos. They lied to him and sold him out, now he owes the Nats a ton of money.
That’s like if a liquor store opened up down the street and I threaten to sue. So they say hey fella we really want a store on your street. Take a stake in our business, we will make you a 20 percent owner. Then they turn around after becoming successful and tell you to shove it and renege.
I know ppl are not going to agree here or they are going to try to argue. But that’s what happened. Selig hood winked ol Petey boy. Selig came in with a deal and Peter had all this money in his hands for over a decade and All we were left holding was a bill in the end saying we owed.
Is there any news on the plans to have free agent games in Nashville this year?
Seems like Montreal would be near the top of the list. Maybe Mexico City. And those pesky Oakland and TB issues remain.
Mexico City be great option but the way the US customs are made doubt it happens.. As for Montreal when the Expos were there it was a mess the way it ended i doubt they would be back… As Manfred said expansion will not happen till the Tampa Bay Oakland crap is figured out.. Tampa is a mess thinking they can split 50/50 with Montreal that will never work.. They had an area set up to move too near St. Petersburg but it fell thru.. As for Oakland they just officialy purchased the Colliseum From the city i personally think they stay and do what New York did build the new ball park in the parking lot and tear the old stadium turn into a parking lot.. Just been the trend..
Mexico City is too dangerous and too polluted for MLB to have a team based there. NFL players complain endlessly about having to play in Mexico City.
Mexico City is 2000 feet higher above sea level than Denver, Colorado. You want to talk about an absolute nightmare for pitchers. That’s impossible to do for a full season. It’d literally be like playing baseball in a different country for opposing squads.
It wouldn’t be like playing in a different country…. it would be playing in a different country.
Gotta be an expensive retractable roof stadium.
Mexico City’s homicide rate is about half that of St Louis or Detroit
@deadspy3 Reported deaths……
Certainly reason to be sceptical there, but there is too for (under)reported gun crime in the US
Agreed dead spy…. I live in Baltimore and either them guys are a real poor shot, or they skew the numbers. I’d say a bit of both.
Truthfully MLB dont need an Expansion.. Honestly what they should doo is just Relocate Tampa and Oakland.. Move the A’s to Portland be the Portland A’s Than relocate The Rays to Nashville.. They would become the Nashville Stars but i doubt The Rays even seriously consider leaving the Tampa Area same with the A’s.. Iff Anything what would happen is an expansion in 5-10 years… Tampa rays will build a new Stadium something similar to the Marlins near St. Petersburg unless they move to Orlando or Daytona.. The A’s would have 2 options… 1 option is negotiate a deal with San Fransico Giants bout moving into San Jose bc The giants own that Market area.. orr Option 2 they have some areas new Oakland.. I think there best option is moving the franchise to Portland.. As for Expansions my ideas are
Portland
Nashville
Las Vegas
Charlotte
Montreal
Im shocked they dont look into Louisville Kentucky as an idea..
Truthfully i think Tampa should relocate FL can barely hold 1 team no need for 2 and Oakland is falling apart on the Tourist department. Raiders now moved to Vegas that will help the A’s..
Think the A’s are pretty committed to building on their property at Jack London Square and won’t be leaving anytime soon.
A’s ownerhip might seem to be commited right now to staying in Oakland, but I doubt fans will fill seats, which they hardly ever have since they moved to Oakland in the 60’s.
Blame it on the stadium, or whatever.. Lousy support and need to move. Tampaq’s reason is flat out poor location of the stadium. Chance there, but St. Pete would rather lose the team than let it move to Tampa proper, so think Oakland and Tampa better off in places like Charlotte, Montreal, vegas, Nashville.
Add Miami to list of teams better off going bye bye with that 400m taxpayer financed stadium sitting empty.
the a’s had the top attendance in the AL during the championship team in 89. From 2002-2017 the message from ownership to the fans has been that they are trying to move and never really gave the city a realistic chance of trying to stay. Now that they are trying to stay they’ve made pretty good progress on a new stadium so I think they’re pretty committed to Oakland.
You are 100% correct
I agree they did when had the bash brothers, why mentioned “hardly ever”. When the swingin A’s were winning early 70’s, they were NOT drawing at all, just like now and won how many WS? 2? Plus the AL west crown several years in a row with another horrid owner in Charlie O and his donkey mascot..
Agreed.
I’m from SoCal, big Angels fan, but have lived in NorCal for 23 years now. A’s fans will support a team committed to Oakland and a stadium. I when that happens watch out AL West as they do the most with the least.
Plus their fans know the game and truly support their team more the New Giants’ fan, who now are made up mostly corporate front runners. Last two years Giants have had to sell tickets for as little as $5.
Winning fills the seats.
When the as were in the playoffs a few years back when cespedes was still in town I believe, that place was ROCKING. I can definitely believe committing to staying, and hopefully expanding that payroll, would definitely result in a much higher attendance.
The 1970s A’s won five consecutive division titles (1971-1975) and three consecutive World Series titles (1972-1974).
Like most teams Oakland only had a problem with attendance during bad years. They had to compete against a championship team across the bay for 6 years. Now that the Giants are not as good the fans have come back to Oakland. All 2 team cities have the same problem when yu go through a bad stretch fans leave for the winner.
Dude that was like a half a century ago
Thats what I originally read tooo. I think the Raiders just rushed out of there got too high off of the Vegas idea… They couldve easily built 2 inner down town stadiums btw the A’s and Raiders design it like Inglewood LA area are doing.. In Inglewood Where the Chargers and Rams are going to play kitty corner of Sofi Stadium is The Forumn in Which the LA Clippers just purchased. They plan on Building and relocating The Clippers to an arena near there.. Lots of land plenty for 3 stadiums/ Arenas. The Forumn is where they have tons of concerts built in 1967. I dont know why not build a new Forumn make it as huge as the Staple Centre then have Clippers play there a d tear down the Forumn bc as buildings age the more it costs to opperate…
Sportsfantactic
It’s the Forum not Forumn. as you misspelled it 3 times.A record executive proposed to Laker owner Jeannie Buss to buy back the Forum, raze and build a new one. But she didn’t like the idea. Eventually The Clippers owner bought it as part of a deal so he could build his new basketball arena near SoFi Stadium.
@halohonk but it’s the forumn …. lol
Louisville is near Cincinnati and is already Reds territory so that wouldn’t work.
I came here to say the same thing. Louisville would be at the top of my list for an NBA team (bringing back the Kentucky Colonels would be cool), but an MLB team there would probably be a mistake.
I live in Louisville and would love for that to happen but our market is just not big enough plus we are in Reds country and a Nashville team would further dilute the waters.
Couldn’t agree more that Baseball does NOT need to expand. I’d love to see the Rays or Marlins move to Nashville, It’s embarrassing how poorly those teams draw
I would love Louisville to get a team as a resident, but Cincy is very close and baseball isn’t as embraced as you would think considering it being home of the Louisville Slugger. This is basketball country. For the record, I’d be all in on the baseball team. I love going to Louisville Bats games.
Nashville needs to be an American League city so I can see the Angels when they come to town. There’s a great stadium rendering by Music City Baseball There’s plenty of space near the Titan’s stadium to build it.
It would fit in better with the NL…either with Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago or with Atlanta, Miami and Washington.
Dalbec is a great last name for an athlete.
Just move the two Florida teams to Nashville and Charlotte. They seem to already have their name for the Nashville team. So, what sounds better for a Charlotte team…Knights or Dragons?
Tampa needs a new stadium in Tampa. Being in St Petes is killing them. They move to Tampa they will draw.
Miami not drawing is a big problem. New stadium and they still can’t fill. They, not the Rays, should be the first team to move if you move a Florida team.
Nashville, Indianapolis, Charlotte – that should be the Top 3 places for an MLB franchise. They routinely draw well in AAA attendance. They have a baseball tradition. They can graduate to the major leagues.
First Canadian team to be considered is Vancouver. Montreal should be banned like Pete Rose.
I agree Vancouver should be the first Canadian city on the list. What would you put as number two?
First question first….the answer is none.
Calgary had the Cannons (Seattle) and drew well in the 80’s and early 90’s. Then around 1992 they saw a drop. I’m not sure why. Calgary’s province has a good economy and the province has the lowest taxes in the country. They’d need a domed stadium.
@wild bill they lost attendance in 92 because Tino Martinez left by then.
Tino Martinez brings the boys to the yard. Cool.
I was joking My guy but you never know. He doesn’t strike me as that kinda guy. As for the other guys coming to the games, I don’t know them guys. I liked your response though guy.
All good. I appreciated the reference. Thinking about the Calgary situation it could have been a number of things, ranging from cold temperatures in spring, season ticket holders having kids old enough to play baseball so they attend their games rather than the Cannons, general disinterest in baseball especially come 1994, whatever the economic climate was back then in the city or if the park was in a bad neighborhood. I’m not from Calgary so I’m not sure.
Anywhere but Montreal. People truly forget how bad it was. More Expos fans outside of Montreal than in Montreal.
I wish there was more interest so we could actually get up around 40 teams. Even without Montreal they could still put three more teams in Canada if the country as a whole had some interest…Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. I know it won’t happen though. Vancouver is the only possibility besides Montreal, which they seem to be obsessed with for some strange reason.
Winterpeg? Nah. Edmonton would be ahead of Winnipeg.
Probably but Edmonton and Calgary are both in Alberta so I would see them only picking one of them if they ever even considered that area.
Also, I like the idea of all three of those cities getting a team but I feel like they’ll want to put one team in the East and one team in the West.
Yes. Although I wonder since the DH will be universal if they do away with the AL/NL and go with a four division format where they have southeast, northeast, central and west division. Just spitballing an idea here.
The West division would already be set with eight-team divisions. Arizona, Colorado, Seattle and the five California teams. Put the two Texas teams with the two Chicago teams, the two Missouri teams, Minnesota and Milwaukee.
Tampa, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Miami, Washington, Baltimore
Pittsburgh, Cincy, NY, NY, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland
Something like that.
That’s pretty much what I would do…and you could use Indianapolis instead of one of Nashville/Charlotte if you wanted or you could move one of the Florida teams.
Actually, you missed Philadelphia so put Cincinnati with Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, etc…
Mexico City should have a team. Every talks about a new Canadian team but Mexico has no teams, they are right next door, and Mexico City itself has a 9 million people. That’s more than the metro areas of Portland (2.5 million), Las Vegas (2.2 million), and Nashville (1.9 million).
I would like to see Mexico get a team one day but I don’t think it’s happening anytime soon.
The Caribbean should also be considered at some point.
Now the Caribbean is a good idea and much safer. Totally agree
There are probably three legitimate options in the Caribbean…San Juan, Santo Domingo or Havana.
Realistically with how many guys come from those places, they should have teams down there. My only concern is the flights from California would take a while. We get so caught up on Eastcoast tv times, we forget those guys actually play out west. We are all sleeping by the time they come on. It would be cool though
San Antonio is a city that will stand behind a sports franchise. 2.3 million people in the city limits and growth of 2.5-3% yearly makes this city a popular thought.
It’s definitely a good option but I don’t think they’ll do it during the next round of expansion/relocation.
This is what the A’s do. They have a good prospect. Keep him in the minors to long then platoon him with a sucky guy until he loses all confidence and they release him or trade him for nothing. I know there have been rare cases where this doesn’t happen but if you look over the past 20 years you’ll see this far more often than not
Lol, you really ain’t cutting them guys no breaks are you my guy? You did throw one “guy” in there though so you do get some credit there guy.