If MLB is serious about contraction, Oakland could lose its team
By A.J. Hayes
Several seasons ago, before performance-enhancing drugs started dominating baseball’s off-the-field news, an equally troubling situation was starting to take hold in the perpetually hand-wringing sport – contraction.
In 2001, back when team owners claim they had no clue about baseball’s growing steroids problem, Commissioner Bud Selig floated his scheme to eliminate two major league clubs – his choices at the time were Montreal and Minnesota – to help stave off baseball revenue problems.
For any number of reasons, the contraction plan fizzled and has rarely been heard from since.
But now in 2008 don’t be surprised if talk returns to putting one or more of the game’s 30 clubs on the chopping block – if for no other reason than to divert talk from exactly what pharmaceutical products were injected into Roger Clemens’ buttocks.