Good news for A’s on San Jose move

The A’s received a Christmas present not too many people noticed.

On Saturday morning, USA Today MLB writer Bob Nightengale proclaimed into the Twitterverse that an MLB source had told him the A’s would be “granted permission” in February to relocate to San Jose.

Whoa.

All this time, we’ve been told it wouldn’t happen. The Giants would never let the A’s encroach upon their “territorial rights.”

But now we have a report that the MLB owners will allow the A’s to make the 45 minute drive down 880.

Nightengale tweeted that the A’s have been given “private assurances” but that they’re essentially under a gag order from talking about any possible decision.

If this report is true, and the A’s already know that they will be allowed to move, then the comments from general manager Billy Beane regarding recent trades start to make some sense. Don’t get me wrong, the trades themselves make no sense — but the comments do.

Susan Slusser wrote that Beane said “the team is trying to parlay established stars into a core of good young players for a potential new stadium.”

I can’t imagine Beane would trade two All-Star starters and make a comment like that if he didn’t have knowledge that MLB was going to give the A’s permission to move ahead with plans to relocate. You don’t trade two key pieces to your team on the hopes of a “potential new stadium.”

If true, this is huge news. It will be interesting to see what MLB will do to compensate the Giants, who wont be happy with the decision.