MLB analyst Ken Rosenthal blasts Oakland Athletics ownership as they prepare for move to Las Vegas: "Owner John Fisher has wrecked the club"
In a move that many had been waiting on for some time, Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval confirmed that the team is intending to pull up stakes and move to Las Vegas.
The news broke Wednesday night as the organization announced it has signed a binding purchase agreement for land just west of the Las Vegas Strip, near where the city's NHL and NFL teams play, on which an MLB ballpark could be built.
"Yeah, they draw 5,000. And you know why, because the owner John Fisher has wrecked the club."
@Ken_Rosenthal feels for Oakland's fans and players. #FTLive https://t.co/Cis8zoQG77
The move was not unexpected, but still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many baseball followers. Count MLB analyst Ken Rosenthal among them. On the "FoulTerritory" show on Thursday, Rosenthal pulled no punches in his regards for Athletics fans now that they will apparently be losing the team that has called Oakland home since 1968.
"Yeah, they draw 5,000," Rosenthal said. "And you know why? Because the owner, John Fisher, has wrecked the club."
Fisher, who has owned the club since 2005, has been accused of stripping the ballclub to the studs as his attempts to secure a new ballpark in the Oakland area have been thwarted. The team has has the lowest payroll in MLB – $60.1 million, according to Spotrac – by several million dollars, and the current Oakland Athletics home, RingCentral Coliseum, is beset by flooding and vermin problems.
The brinksmanship between Fisher and Oakland Athletics fans resulted in a team at the bottom of the league in both record and attendance.
Kaval, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, appeared ready and willing to leave the team's former home in the dust at the soonest possible moment. He told the newspaper:
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home. Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that."
Oakland Athletics have support of MLB commissioner in quest to move to Las Vegas
Any prospective move of the Oakland Athletics would need to be approved by MLB. However, that proposition will likely be rubber-stamped based on what commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement to the Review-Journal:
"We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year."