Frustrated A's Fans Start Petition Demanding Ownership Starts Spending Or Sells Team
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - Many A's fans saw last week's trade of Scott Kazmir as a sign that ownership had waived a white flag on the 2015 season. Now some Oakland faithful are asking Lew Wolff to do the same on his tenure as owner of the team.
A's fan Greg Alterton has posted a Change.org campaign saying many A's fans have lost hope in the direction of the team.
"It's clear that the current owners, Lew Wolff and John Fisher, aren't willing to compete with other clubs to go after foundational players headed to free agency, or to lock them into new contracts before their contract year. This approach will never build a team that will contend for a championship," Alterton wrote in an open letter to the two named owners. "General Manager Billy Beane does a decent job putting together a team from the scrap of other teams, and untested prospects. But to reach the playoffs and ultimately win the World Series, owners and managers need to build a winner, not try to piece together a winner in one off-season."
Alterton goes on to suggest that ownership has not been proactive enough in pursuing a new stadium for the team. The A's are the last remaining franchise in Major League Baseball which regularly shares a facility with an NFL team.
"Wolff's plan to build in San Jose was always a non-starter. He wasted years holding to that plan, and dismisses serious proposals for a new ballpark in Oakland. In short, the current A's ownership has no vision, and no interest in investing in the future of this club," Alterton wrote. "Ownership, committed to the future, is needed in Oakland."
As of Monday morning, 575 people had signed the petition, with a number of A's fans leaving comments in support of Alterton's demands.
"I'm tired of ownership that doesn't care," said Antonio Allen of Fremont.
"I've watched this ownership group and front office ruin this franchise," said Garth Kimball of Oakland.
After the A's advanced to the Wild Card round of the playoffs last season - where they lost to the eventual American League Champion Royals - Beane orchestrated the exodus of many of the biggest names on the team. Some see the trade of Kazmir as the first of a new round of selling that will put the team back into a rebuilding mode.
Bill Disbrow is Managing Editor for cbsSF.com. - Email Bill
