MLB is "planning a season-opening series at the Tokyo Dome" in '19 following Japanese P/DH Shohei Ohtani's decision to join the Angels and baseball being included in the '20 Tokyo Games, with the A's "on the short list of teams under consideration for the trip," according to Susan Slusser of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The other team "assuredly would be the Angels." The A's "typically request to be considered for international trips because the front office and coaching staff believe the experience to be a good one for young players." The A's are also "one of the few teams that doesn't mind losing two home dates; the international trips typically are more lucrative than the first two games" at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/15).
TAKING ANOTHER HACK: A's manager Bob Melvin said that he is "not certain the A's have given up on the Laney College site for a ballpark, despite an end to the talks with the Peralta Community College district after a decision" by the Peralta BOT. Melvin said, "It obviously stunned everybody. I can't speak for the dialogue with Peralta, but (A's executives) definitely felt like they'd done enough, had enough conversations to feel like they were confident in the site." He added, "My guess is (the team is now) kind of sitting back and looking and see what the options are, and I'm not 100 percent sure that they're done with this site. Maybe you come back and take a look at it from another angle" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/14). In S.F., Ron Leuty wrote the A's will "move forward after a critical strikeout last week" by the Peralta board. A's VP/External Affairs Taj Tashombe said that the team is "committed to building a ballpark development in Oakland." Tashombe said, "We aren't giving up. We're going to be here in Oakland and we're going to make this happen" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/14).
