MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's office has provided the A’s with “tentative guidelines for a potential move to San Jose,” according to sources cited by Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. The existence of the guidelines “does not necessarily mean the A's will move to San Jose soon, or at all." However, if the A's can "satisfy the concerns" of the league office, Selig "could let club owners decide whether to approve the move." Sources said that Selig's office has “expressed concerns about the viability of the proposed San Jose ballpark site and the financial projections offered by the A's in support of a move.” The MLB Giants “hold territorial rights to San Jose and oppose the proposed move there by the A's.” Compensation to the Giants for the loss of their territorial rights "is not believed to be among the current list of matters for the A's to resolve.” The Giants "could stop the move by lining up seven clubs to vote with them.” It is "unlikely" the A's could move to San Jose before '18 (L.A. TIMES, 2/21). In Oakland, Matthew Artz reports A’s Owner Lew Wolff was “furious to learn that City Administrator Deanna Santana mistakenly accused him of releasing a letter stating his desire for a short-term lease extension at the Coliseum complex to ‘the newspaper’ but not to the city, county or coliseum authority officials.” Wolff reportedly wrote in an all-caps e-mail, "(It) is very sad when someone is devoted to harm someone else's reputation." Santana in a letter to Wolff released late yesterday “apologized for the mistake, calling it ‘a human error.’" Artz writes Wolff is “reviled among Oakland sports fans" for seeking to move the team. The A's are “expected to pay $800,000 in rent this season, the last of their lease, and negotiations are expected to be grueling” (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 2/21).
