who's the black sheep?

It ain't over til it's over, but now it's over... and I'm over it. Furcal signed a 3 year deal with the Atlanta Braves this morning, sending clear signals that he did not find viability in the A's prospects for 2009 and beyond. Despite the higher offer, for more years, the injury prone shortstop would rather play 2nd base for an aging, middle of the road NL team than play his native position for Oakland.

Stigmas are hard to shake, but hard to earn as well... and I find myself wondering how we got stuck with such a bad rap. The 2006 A's made the AL championship series (albeit against ALL analyst predictions) only to be swept by a big market, big swinging Detroit Tigers team. It was crushing to Oakland fans, but business as usual for the rest of the baseball world, who all but expected the A's to fall into a familiar stasis of mediocrity... and yeah, we did.

But are we really that bad? Have the 19 years since our last World Series really been so flat that we should be systematically overlooked? I don't think so. We are not Kansas City. We are not the Pittsburgh Pirates. We are a small money ballclub who has redefined how small market ballclubs are run. We made the playoffs for 6 straight seasons (2000-2006) and we did this by working smarter and more unconventionally than anyone else. We've sent young pitchers to the All Star game almost every year since 2000, all of which were brought up through our own farm system. Our fans are plucky and quirky and historically our team has have competed against the best in the AL. In short: our successes have been modest, but unique... and we have certainly earned ourselves some credibility as a franchise.

Why then, would the prospect of playing for Oakland be so unappealing for a guy like Furcal? I think it's a multidimensional stigma that starts with money. We have the 7th smallest payroll in the Majors and a 30 year old stadium that we share with arguably the worst team in the NFL.

Only 3 MLB clubs still share a park with the NFL, and we are stuck with some very ugly neighbors. Al Davis runs a bottom of the barrel team known for its lack of discipline and rowdy fanbase. He mismanages contracts, alienates his players and refuses to relinquish an ounce of control, even as he approaches 90 years old. The Raiders are universally seen as losers, and the A's are devalued by association. Stigma.

As a card-carrying Raider Hater, I see the team's departure for LA more than I see any kinship with the A's. I see the sabotage Al Davis wrought upon the A's hopes for a new park in Oakland. I see the 3 story monstrosity he installed in the Coliseum to sell more Raider tickets (at our expense). The fact that the two teams share a stadium has always been more of a liability and burden than anything else to me. Call me a negative pragmatist.

The money stigma goes deeper though. The A's are also known for losing players once their notoriety outgrows our payroll. The modern era has seen the likes of Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye and Barry Zito leave for (far) greener pastures/contracts. The A's been repeatedly incapable of retaining our big name talent, despite the fact that we built it. It stings, but we're used to it. It's not personal, its business. Big fish eats small fish, and that's just the way it goes.

So, Furcal sees a small fish offering him a heap of fish food to swim in our little tank for 4 years, and it doesn't exactly scream promise. Despite a revamped NL East, he feels the Braves can offer him a greater chance at success, or at least a smaller chance of stigma. Fine. He's not the only one. For every arrogant, entitled redsox or yankee fan that moved west, there is a loyal and faithful member of the athletics nation that scours the blogs and trade rumors. We hope for the best because that's what true fans do. Haters buy A-rod jerseys (or sign with Atlanta).

I remember saying I'm over it... allow me to clarify: I'm not over the emotional buildup that big name free agents can dangle in front of us (that's the good stuff). I'm over succumbing to the notion that losing Furcal dooms our season. He's one guy. I'm over feeling shunned or rejected by him (he's just telling us what everyone else thinks). But mostly I'm over shying away from our stigma. We are who we are: small market craftsmen who do what we can against the bigs. Moneyballers. Bring on the haters... their dismissal will make our inconsequential victories feel that much more fulfilling.

Now to the task at hand: let's get ourselves a shortstop. Go Billy. Go A's.

-j