Under The Knife 4/24/23
Re-Oakland
We now have to get used to saying “Las Vegas Athletics.” News that the franchise, owned by Gap heir John Fisher, purchased land just west of the Vegas Strip and hope to be fully moved by 2027. That’s not quick and really makes me wonder how possum-filled the next three and a half years will be if the A’s play in the Coliseum.
But with Vegas on the horizon and Salt Lake entering the picture for expansion, let me suggest one more place for expansion: Oakland.
At the same time the city is losing the A’s, there’s no reason they couldn’t quickly enter the picture for an expansion franchise. Think Washington Senators/Nationals. Think Baltimore Ravens. Think Cleveland Browns. Even the Kansas City Royals happened just a year after the A’s moved from Missouri. Franchises move and sometimes, leagues go right back, understanding that the city wasn’t really the whole problem. Add in a new owner, a couple years without a franchise, and things go right back to where the leagues like them.
There’s long been a rumor that Joe Lacob, the owner of the Golden State Warriors, has had a “standing offer” for the A’s, and there were some rumblings that Lacob took a hard look at the Angels when they were for sale last year. The venture capitalist has plenty of money, good connections, and got the Chase Center done, which has largely been a success, though I’m not sure how much good cheer his name brings in Oakland’s city hall. There’s plenty of other rich people in the area if Oakland needs to look beyond Lacob.
As for the A’s, they should move soon. The Aviators, their Triple-A franchise south of Las Vegas, outdrew them last week. If the Chargers can play in a half-sized stadium for two years, the A’s could do the same. I imagine they could move across the bay and share Oracle for a couple seasons, the way that the Yankees shifted to Shea back when they re-did the original Yankee Stadium, but that seems almost cruel, to move away before moving away completely.
We’ll see if Fisher’s A’s can get a stadium deal done in Las Vegas, what they build there in the new stadium district, not too far north of the Raiders or west of the Knights. The added costs of a retractable dome doesn’t make sense with what we showed here about the weather and adding secondary events is tougher in Vegas than maybe anywhere else, with all the venue choices. Beyond that, will they pick up some local ownership or change colors? Will we watch “Moneyball” back in twenty years and think that the uniforms look weird?
Now the question is, when does expansion talk get real, and when do the Las Vegas A’s play the Oakland Oaks? (Fun fact, Oaks Park is now the location of Pixar Animation’s headquarters.)
For now, on to the injuries:
SANDY ALCANTARA, SP MIA (inflamed shoulder)
TREVOR ROGERS, SP MIA (strained biceps)
So Sandy Alcantara is human, subject to the same kind of weardown and inflammation as the rest of us? Maybe, at least in his shoulder. He’s dealing with some bicipital tendinitis and that can be very complex. The biceps tendon connects with the labrum so closely that some believe it’s one structure, so maintaining the area is key. Inflammation there is a sign of overuse or irritation, and often both.
Doing some simple workload calculations based on Ben Hansen’s work at Motus and some assumptions about Alcantara’s between start work, it’s easy to see that Alcantara has kept up a high chronic workload over the past two seasons. That’s maintainable, but does risk these kind of inflammation and wear-down issues. The workload has to be maintained properly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Alcantara’s work was actually reduced at some point towards the end of spring training.
If Alcantara’s injury is as minor as they say and he makes his start mid-week, the biceps strain to Trevor Rogers has to be considered coincidental but problematic as well. They’re certainly not the same type of pitcher and it’s doubtful they’re doing something that created a pair of similar injuries at nearly the same time. Imaging did show the strain is high, nearer the tendon, but in the muscle. Rogers is going to miss at least a few weeks and need to build back up as well. That leaves Devin Smeltzer shifting out of the pen and Braxton Garrett, who started the year on the IL with (drumroll please) biceps tendinitis. After that, there be dragons, or Jumbo Shrimp.
Changes to the Marlins medical staff and philosophy over the past couple seasons haven’t shown significant results yet. They have very little in the way of non-carryover or “new” injuries so far this season is a nice start, but we’ll have to see if they can keep the days and stints down the rest of the year. Losing a pair of starters is not a good sign.
DYLAN MOORE, 2B SEA (strained groin/strained oblique)