THE ATHLETIC’s Tim Kawakami noted most Giants fans assume that Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler are “on extremely thin ice right now,” but it’s “still likelier than not that Zaidi and Kapler will make it into 2024.” Zaidi and Kapler have accomplished “many things in Zaidi’s five-year tenure and Kapler’s four seasons,” including the record 107-win campaign in 2021. However, what they “haven’t proven is that they can build the Giants into a perpetual World Series contender, a regular playoff team or even a consistently interesting TV or ticket-selling product” (THE ATHLETIC, 9/13).
PROVIDING STABILITY: In D.C., Matthew Paras noted the contract extension agreed to yesterday by Nationals GM & President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo “should provide some stability” for a franchise that is “still seemingly for sale and has lately been swept up in a myriad of controversies.” The fact Rizzo and the team got a deal done increases the odds that he “will be able to see the team’s latest rebuild through.” He said that he was “always confident that his extension would get done” despite the Nats announcing manager Dave Martinez’s extension first, an “unusual step for MLB teams” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/13).
NOT YET OFFICIAL: In S.F., Scott Ostler noted the A’s still owe $45M of the original $85M purchase price for their half of the Oakland Coliseum site, and that is “due in three payments of $15 million each -- in January 2024, ’25 and ’26.” Additionally, the total amount “comes due within 180 days of the A’s ‘announcement of their relocation’ out of Oakland.” However, the team has not technically announced their relocation, and “nobody seems to know … what constitutes an official announcement.” The A’s asked MLB to give a “definition of that clause,” but the league did not provide an answer (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/13).
