The As have been frequently compared to the Rays in recent years, as both clubs typically run payrolls at or near the bottom of the league, struggle with attendance i sues, and have been the focus of relocation rumors in recent years due in part to dilapidated stadiums. One area where the two teams couldnt be further apart, according to , is their respective analytics departments. While the Rays run a low player payroll relative to the leagues norms, theyre among the highest spenders when it comes to investing in their analytics department. As noted by Shea, the club had 44 full-time employees in the department during 2023, the most in all of baseball. Meanwhile, Oakland has largely neglected to invest in their analytics department, with their eight-person staff being the smallest in the majors last year. Shea notes that the club plans to add to the department this offseason with four new full-time hires increasing the total staff to 11 after accounting for the impending departure of advanced scouting analyst Leo Pollack, who Shea relays will not return to the club in 2024. The 11-person staff would still leave them tied with the Rockies and Marlins for the smallest analytics department in the majors. Its also unclear if the As will have any members of the analytics department travel with the team next year, as Shea notes Pollack was the only member of the department who did so in 2023. Oakland is coming off a brutal 50-112 season that saw it post the second-most lo ses in franchise history, outpaced only by the 117-lo s Philadelphia Athletics back in 1916. The clubs second consecutive 100-lo s campaign comes on the heels of a protracted tear-down that saw the club trade away a core of , , , , Riley O'brien Jersey and that led the club to four consecutive winning seasons from 2018-2021 and playoff appearances in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Those trades have largely yet to bear fruit, though players like catcher and outfielder have shown some level of promise at the big league level. Shea notes that GM David Forst would love to have a more robust analytics staff, though payroll constraints have limited the departments ability to expand much as they left Forst unable to retain Oaklands core of succe sful players as the team cut payroll from $92MM in 2019 to just $47MM come 2022 and $56MM this year. Its certainly fair for As fans to wonder if the club could have fared better in 2022 and 2023 if a larger analytics staff had been employed as the club searched for potential trade targets over the past two offseasons. More rumors from around Oakland and the As Per a recent report from , the Las Vegas Stadium Authoritys board of directors will meet with Athletics bra s this week to discu s the teams planned ballpark. Akers adds that the meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, will see presentations on community engagement, benefits, and the lease agreement from both the As and the projects construction manager. Though relocation has yet to be put to an official vote among MLB owners, the scheduled vote next month is expected to be little more than a formality, leaving completing agreements with the stadium authority as a primary focus for the club as they continue to pursue relocation. A 30-year non-relocation agreement, financial commitments to the community, terms of the lease, and stadium naming rights are among the topics that Akers notes are expected to be discu sed during Wednesdays meeting. As the As continue moving ahead with their relocation effort, a earlier this month indicates that Joe Lacob, owner of the NBAs Golden State Warriors, remains interested in pursuing ownership of an MLB club in the bay area even as the As prepare to move out. Lacob spoke about the matter at a recent news conference, telling reporters (including Shea) that hes been very interested in acquiring the As in the past, and that if, for whatever reason, (As owner John Fisher) decided it wasnt going to work, sure, we might be interested in acquiring the As and keeping them in Oakland. Lacob also left the door open to a potential bid for ownership of a different MLB team, adding that he might be interested if an ownership opportunity presented itself, whether or the As or another team. Keynan Middleton Jersey