The Oakland A’s have found a new (temporary) home.

The Athletics will now call Sutter Health Park in Sacramento California, their new home, as Sutter Health Park and the A’s came to a three-year deal on tenancy at the ballpark. It will see the A’s stay in NorCal until the 2027 season before the Athletics officially move to Las Vegas in 2028. 

Sutter Health Park is currently the home to the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. The ballpark can host 10,624 fans with fixed seats but can expand to just over 14,000 if they allow outfield grass seating, similar to Spring Training ballparks. And, for A’s owner, John Fisher, he is excited to watch… *checks notes* ….Aaron Judge hit home runs in the stadium. 

“Being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others, watching home runs out of the most intimate ballpark in all of MLB for the next three years,” he said.

For a team that has punished their top players in what seems like a weird anti-management conspiracy theory, there may not be too many A’s players to cheer for when the team gets to Sacramento. 

The A’s are hesitant to commit to keeping or absolutely ditching the Oakland name. For now, they will ditch it, but they will not immediately take the same of Sacramento either. A spokesperson for the team says they will be referred to as the Athletics or the A’s. 

This will be the 57th season in the Oakland Coliseum and it will be the last. Almost six decades in the Bay Area will leave a monumental gap in pro sports in Oakland. After losing the Golden State Warriors in 2019 when they moved to San Francisco, and then losing the Raiders to Las Vegas in 2020, the A’s are the last big-four professional team in the city. Minor League baseball team the Oakland Ballers and second-tier professional soccer club Oakland Roots SC still reside in the city, but both play out of Laney College Athletic facilities. 

Either way, this will be the last year of professional baseball in Oakland with years of history, championships, stars, and fanfare, but come the start of the 2025 season, only the past will be left of the Oakland Athletics. 

Marlins lose top prospect Perez

The Miami Marlins have lost another arm from their already depleted pitching staff and a young one as well. Marlins 2023 No. 1 prospect, Eury Perez, will miss the rest of the 2024 season as he will undergo Tommy John surgery on Monday. The 20-year-old will also have an operation that will also set an internal brace in the elbow.

Perez joins a Miami injured list that includes Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, JT Chargois, Josh Simpson, and 2022 Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara. With the injuries, the Marlins have been forced to be creative with their starters; career relief pitcher, A.J. Puk started game two of the season for the Fish, and he struggled. Puk threw 2.0 innings, allowing four runs on three hits and walking six in the first start of his career. His second start wasn’t much better, getting through 4.0 innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits and only walking three.

The injuries have heavily affected the Marlins this year. Miami has started the 2024 season 0-8 this season with a run differential of -30. Their bats haven’t exactly fronted their load either. Marlins batters have the sixth-worst average in baseball with a combined .204 and the seventh-most strikeouts with 71. 

Miami’s start to the season, paired with their depreciated rotation, has potentially forced the hand of the Marlins front office. Rumours swirled around Luis Arraez and Jesús Luzardo most of the winter; now they have resurfaced again. Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin from The Athletic report the Marlins could become sellers sooner than they expected. 

San Diego reportedly showed interest in acquiring both Arraez and Luzardo leading up to Opening Day. The Padres’ focus was seemingly on Luzardo before eventually acquiring Dylan Cease. However, the Pad’s did have a lucrative offer on the table for Arraez as recently as Spring Training. A trade for either Arraez or Luzardo now seems unlikely for San Diego since the addition of Cease and the fact that they have now committed to Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts as their middle infielders and Jake Cronenworth cemented at first base. 

There could be suitors for the players this early in the year as they try and get ahead of any longer-term issues that may arise, but the market would certainly open up the closer to the trade deadline we get. But if the Marlins continue to flounder in the first month of the season, Miami may have to pull the trigger sooner rather than later. 

Quick Notes:

• Yankees place Jonathan Loáisiga on the 60-day injured list. Loáisiga will hit the IL with a right flexor strain after an MRI identified a “significant forearm strain” in his throwing arm.
• Phillies release City Connect Uniforms. Philadelphia’s uniform includes a hombre blue uniform that starts with yellow trim on the cuffs and pant stripes. The word ‘Philly’ lines the chest of the jersey and a colour-specific change to the Phillies Liberty Bell logo dons the caps. Philadelphia will debut the uniforms on April 12th against the Pirates. 
• Justin Verlander to begin rehab stint on Sunday. Verlander will start for the Astros Triple-A affiliate, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys as he looks to bounce back from a shoulder injury that has limited his workload to start the year. 
• Giants trade Joey Bart to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After designating Bart for assignment, the Giants will send the catcher to Pittsburgh in exchange for RHP Austin Strickland.