Mariners Moose Tracks, 6/14/23: The Oakland A’s, Willson Contreras, and Mitch Haniger

Things are coming to a head in Oakland.

Good morning everyone! Let’s dive into what’s happening around baseball.

In Mariners news...

• Stacy Rost spoke to Mariners mental skills coach Adam Bernero about his particular role with the team.

Around the league...

• In a huge step for the A’s potential sale to Las Vegas, the Nevada Senate passed a bill for public funding for a new stadium. The bill next goes to the state legislature, and would land on the governor’s desk afterwards.
• This news happened to come on the day of the “Reverse Boycott” that was long planned by A’s fans, in which 27,000 fans packed the stadium in an effort to encourage owner John Fisher to sell the team to someone who would keep the team in Oakland. And oh, by the way, the A’s have now won 7 games in a row.
• In an effort to save face publicly, the A’s announced they would donate all proceeds from the Reverse Boycott game to local causes.

• Ginny Searle at Baseball Prospectus wrote about how the boycott came to be in the first place. ($)
• Here’s an example of the A’s fans making their voices heard.

• Angels infielder Brandon Drury was suspended for one game for making contact with an umpire.
• Willson Contreras’ struggles continue, and the catcher spoke to John Denton of MLB.com about how tough this season has been for him.
• Mad respect to you, Francisco Álvarez.

• Hannah Keyser at Yahoo! wrote about the newest fashion trend around baseball: Pollyanna necklaces.
• Major League Baseball is attempting to curb team spending on tech and staffing, according to Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic. ($)
• Mitch Haniger was pulled from yesterday’s game and was diagnosed with a right forearm fracture.
• While the Royals are likely sellers this summer, they have no intention of trading star catcher Salvador Pérez.
• Trevor Bauer — who is currently pitching in Japan — is now facing a new allegation of sexual assault by a woman in Arizona.