Athletics express sadness, some relief at moving out of Oakland at the end of the season

DETROIT (AP) — The Oakland Athletics no longer have to wonder where they'll play the next few seasons. That won't make the long goodbye any easier.

The A's reacted to the announcement that this will be their last year in Oakland with a mixture of sadness and relief.

“At least as a player, you know where you’re headed,” outfielder Seth Brown said Friday before a game against the Tigers in Detroit. “There’s obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff we’re not privy to, so it’s just been kind of a waiting game on our end. Where are we going to go? Where are we going to be? So I think just having that knowledge -- at least we know where we’re going to be playing next year.”

Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher announced Thursday that the A’s will temporarily relocate to West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for at least three seasons. The A's are moving to Las Vegas after a new ballpark is constructed.

The River Cats, who are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, will continue to play at the same facility.

Fisher was unable to reach an agreement with Oakland city officials on extending the lease at Oakland Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season. The A's have played in the city since 1968.

“There's direction now, which we've talked a lot about,” Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “We've got time to kind of reflect on what this really means from an organizational standpoint, the history that we've had in Oakland, with this being now the final season. There's a lot of emotion that goes behind this.”

It will not only cause some upheaval for the players and staff but also members of the organization that work behind the scenes.

“At the end of the day, we know where we're going to be for the next three seasons after the finish this year and that in itself gives a little bit of stability,” Kotsay said. “At the same time, in the present, it's challenging in certain ways to think about the finality of this organization in Oakland.”

Sacramento will be a much smaller environment to house a major league team. Ranadivé said the River Cats venue currently seats 16,000 when counting the stands, the lawn behind center field and standing room only.

First baseman Ryan Noda is concerned with the facilities. He's hopeful that significant upgrades will be made, much like the Toronto Blue Jays did at Buffalo's Triple-A facility. The Blue Jays played at Buffalo's Sahlen Field in 2020 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“New walls, new dugouts, new locker rooms — everything they needed to become a big league stadium,” said Noda, who played some games in Sacramento as a minor leaguer. “As long as we can do something like that, then it'll be all right. But it's definitely going to be different than playing in stadiums that hold 40,000 people.”

Kotsay is confident the upgrades will occur.

“I know it will be of major league baseball quality,” he said. “It's has to be of major league baseball quality. I know the Players Association will make sure that takes place, as they did in Buffalo.”

For the rest of this season, the A's will have to deal with small home crowds and disappointed fans.

“We’re sad for the fans, the diehard fans, who always come to our games, always support us, always support the boys wearing the jersey,” Noda said.

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Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, center, shakes hands John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, before the start of a news conference where Fisher announced his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4 2024.The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, announces that his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Sutter Health Park, home of the Triple A team Sacramento River Cats, is shown in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The Oakland Athletics announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay walks to the dugout after making a pitching change during the eighth inning of the team's baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

PHOENIX (AP) — Mexico's top official in the Arizona border town of Nogales said Tuesday his country is displeased that prosecutors in the U.S. won't retry an American rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property.

Prosecutors had the option to retry George Alan Kelly, 75, or drop the case after the jury deadlocked on a verdict last week and the judge declared a mistrial.

“This seems to us to be a very regrettable decision,” Mexican Consul General Marcos Moreno Baez said of the announcement a day earlier by the Santa Cruz County Attorney Office.

“We will explore other options with the family, including a civil process,” Moreno said, referring to the possibility of a lawsuit.

Kelly had been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.

Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-style rifle toward a group of men about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his cattle ranch near the U.S. southern border. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

Judge Thomas Fink said a hearing would be scheduled later to determine if the case would be dismissed with prejudice, which would mean it couldn’t be brought back to court. No new documents in the case had been posted by midday Tuesday.

Kelly's defense attorney Brenna Larkin welcomed the decision not to retry her client.

“Mr. Kelly and his wife have been living through a nightmare for over a year, and they can finally rest easy,” said Larkin said Tuesday. “While that injustice to Gabriel and his family is unfortunate, we are at least pleased to know that the injustice will not be compounded by scapegoating an innocent man.”

Larkin said she was "curious about the Mexican government’s continued involvement in this case"" and noted that Cuen-Buitimea had been arrested and deported several times for illegal entry into the U.S.

Moreno said the consulate he heads in Nogales, Arizona, will continue supporting Cuen-Buitimea's family. Consular officials sat with the victim's two adult daughters during the trial.

The trial coincided with a U.S. presidential election race that has drawn widespread interest in border security. During it, court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A sign referring to Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, a Mexican man found dead on the ranch of George Alan Kelly, sits outside the Santa Cruz County Courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024. Kelly's trial on a charge of second-degree murder ended last week with a deadlocked jury, and prosecutors said Monday during a hearing that they would not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

George Alan Kelly listens as county prosecutors call to dismiss his criminal case during a hearing Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Ariz. Kelly's trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

Ana Maria Vasquez Leon, left, and Magdaleno Rosa Avila protest outside the courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. The trial of rancher George Alan Kelly in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury, and prosecutors said during a hearing Monday they would not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

George Alan Kelly, center, is followed by reporters as he exits the Santa Cruz County Courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. Kelly's trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury and prosecutors said Monday they will not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)