MLB Franchise Notes: San Jose Mayor Says Giants Should Let A's Move To City

In San Jose, Scott Herhold notes San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery Tuesday on KGO-AM "went public with a plea" to MLB Giants Managing General Partner Bill Neukom for him not to "block the A's path to San Jose." McEnery's argument "turns on the notion that there is something 'unseemly' ... about the Giants' opposition to an A's stadium in San Jose," which is within the Giants' supposed territorial rights. McEnery, who "grew up as a Giants fan," said, "What strikes me is the selfish attitude of the Giants toward their fans in San Jose. We've been loyal to them, and it's not like we're going to desert them" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/27).

SEE HOW IT PLAYS OUT: In California, Bill Plunkett reports Angels Owner Arte Moreno "doesn't want to hear that his team mishandled this offseason -- at least not yet." Moreno said yesterday, "If we win -- if we get to the playoffs and get a shot at it (a championship) -- then we managed (the off-season) right. If we're sitting home in October again, then we didn't get it done." Plunkett notes Moreno "joked about being called 'cheap' for not signing" LF Carl Crawford or 3B Adrian Beltre, but then being "criticized as being foolhardy with the team's finances for acquiring" CF Vernon Wells. Moreno "called the acquisition of Wells 'an investment' he was more comfortable with making because of the length of the commitment, Wells' age when the contract expires and the Angels' ability to mitigate the cost by trading approximately" $11M in salary from this year's payroll. Meanwhile, Moreno admitted that season-ticket renewals are "down 'a few thousand' and revenue projections for 2011 are lagging 'five or six percent' behind last year" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/27).

PUBLIC RELATIONS 101: In Baltimore, Kevin Cowherd notes the Orioles' "announcement that they're raising ticket prices this season ... isn't a big hit with fans." The team has had 13 straight losing seasons, and Cowherd writes, "It's amazing how tone-deaf the Orioles are when it comes to fan relations. ... If you're a marketing person for the O's, you probably wanted to hide your face." Another thing that "didn't help generate buzz" was that the Orioles "didn't hold a [single news] conference to introduce their new players," including P Kevin Gregg, 1B Derrek Lee and 3B Mark Reynolds (Baltimore SUN, 1/27).

MEET THE NEW MET: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Brian Costa notes the Mets yesterday introduced SS Chin-lung Hu, whom they acquired in a Dec. 27 trade with the Dodgers, at a news conference at Citi Field. Hu is the "first Taiwanese player in team history," and at the press conference Chinese journalists "outnumbered reporters from mainstream American news outlets." N.Y. City Council member Peter Koo, "a Chinese immigrant," and New York Assembly member Grace Meng, who represents Flushing, also attended the press conference. Costa notes "all the attention prompted" Mets GM Sandy Alderson to "stress repeatedly while standing at the podium that the trade was made for baseball reasons" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/27).