Rob Manfred 'sorry' for A's fans over team move, says owner John Fisher isn't to blame
The news that the Oakland Athletics are likely moving to Las Vegas is still new, and many A's fans are still (and will remain) deeply hurt by what looks like a naked money grab from the team's notoriously cheap owner, John Fisher. But don't worry! Commissioner Rob Manfred is here to rub salt into all those fresh, bleeding wounds.
While speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors on Monday, Manfred took an entire millisecond to express his regret about the A's moving before immediately defending Fisher and saying he shouldn't be blamed for anything.
“I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I really do,” Manfred said via the AP. “But for the city of Oakland to point fingers at John Fisher, it’s not fair.
“We have shown an unbelievable commitment to the fans in Oakland by exhausting every possible opportunity to try to get something done in Oakland,” he added. “Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to have the will to get it done.”
Instead of blaming Fisher for choosing to stop negotiating with the city of Oakland, Manfred thinks the Oakland city government is to blame for not giving Fisher, the billionaire owner of a sports team, everything he wanted. Compare that to Vegas, where the A's are being promised half a billion dollars from the state of Nevada for their new ballpark.
Manfred says moving will make A's more 'competitive'
Apparently a new ballpark and a willing government investor are all it takes to fix a franchise that has had deep competition issues for decades.
“To me, it ought to be all positive on the competitive front,” Manfred added. “You got really smart baseball operations people. You got owners that want to win, and I think Las Vegas will present a real revenue enhancing opportunity. So I think you’re going to have a good product.”
Unless the A's are getting new owners when they move to Las Vegas, it's never really been proven that Fisher is an owner who wants to win. He's an owner who likes money (like every team owner), which is why he's buying a giant plot of land in Vegas. There will be a stadium there, but theoretically, there will also be restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, stores and other things that make money for landowners.
But as far as the A's being competitive, who knows what Manfred is talking about. The A's have never in their history had a payroll over $100 million. Fisher has never put enough money into the team to make it sustainably competitive. Instead, GM Dave Kaval occasionally stumbles onto a good team after yet another year of having to scrape the bottom of the free-agent bargain bin. The Athletics have traded nearly every star they've had for minor-league lottery tickets that occasionally net them a great player ... whom they trade as soon as they have to pay him what he's worth. They even traded their manager to the San Diego Padres after the 2021 season!
But according to Manfred, a permanent, costly, needless change in city will cure the A's of the competitive woes they've endured under Fisher. Unless the Vegas stadium deal requires Fisher to undergo a "Young Frankenstein"-style brain transplant before breaking ground, no one will believe it until they see it.
