Dodgers Pitcher Blasts His Former Team For Ownership Missteps

Jeremy Hanna | 7 Hours Ago

Jun 1, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen (49) looks on during the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

This past week, Major League Baseball sadly watched as the Oakland Athletics played in the Oakland Coliseum for the last time.

As the current members of the Oakland roster bid an emotional farewell to a stadium full of fans, countless people online called out owner John Fisher for moving the Athletics to Las Vegas alongside the former Oakland Raiders.

This included former A's closer and current Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen.

During an appearance on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast, Treinen was quick to pay tribute to his former team and blame Fisher for the unpopular move, specifically saying this had been his plan all along.

“You can say ‘we tried this and we tried that.’ To me it seemed like they were pipe-dream ideas to give the fans something to be excited about," Treinen said. "‘Hey, we’re going to go to Jack London Square and let’s build a gondola.' That’s going to double the budget because the gondola itself is going to be just as expensive as the stadium.

“The other thing is, ‘oh, we found this Junior College site, so let’s tell the fans that this is where we’re going to build. Then if the Junior College says 'well, we can’t do it because we bought this property however long ago when it was way cheaper, there’s no way they can move out of that site, find somewhere else for the price that the A’s are going to pay them.' It’s not feasible.

“So they picked sites where all of a sudden the blame is pushed on something else, and not the A’s. Then after about five or six years, ‘oh look, we tried, there’s nothing we can do. Well, let’s pack up and move.' And that was there end goal anyways.”

Treinen then elaborated that every member of the Athletics saw this coming a mile away.

“Yes. One hundred percent. All of us knew it," Treinen said. It just seemed to me it’s like, ‘let’s push a marketing campaign because at the end of the day that’s cheaper than trying to rebrand and stay here and we’ll make more money in Vegas.' All of us knew it.”

The Athletics are hoping to move to their new Las Vegas location in time for the 2028 season. Until then, they will play at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.

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