Read the entire article here on MLB.com.

Schott addresses A's future
Co-owner talks stadium, Chavez, Giants
By Mychael Urban
MLB.com


"We're trying to make the bulk of our tickets
affordable," said Steve Schott. (Paul Sakuma/AP)

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Oakland A's co-owner and managing general partner Steve Schott met with local reporters Saturday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium for his annual State of the A's chat and addressed a myriad of topics.

Here are the highlights of what he had to say ...

On the club's finances in general: "I know most of you scribes like to see the owner spend every last dollar we have. Actually, we do spend almost every last dollar we have. Mike [Crowley, the team president] can verify that. When we balance the books, we balance on the premise that we'll put every dollar we have back into the Major League payroll. That's a tough deal the way it works because you setup your payroll budget early in the year. You say we're going to spend X this year; it's going to be 57-58 right at the present time. That doesn't mean it will be the final number as we get longer into the year and closer to the playoffs -- we always leave something else on the table that we can spend for an additional player or two. That's a just a part of it."

On the payroll: "The last couple years, depending on the year, we've gotten several draft choices [as compensation for losing free agents]. The year before, we spent close to $9 million. Last year, we spent around $7 million. So you have to add that. You can't really separate that from the Major League payroll. It doesn't count immediately, but believe me, the way we've been bringing these guys along, they get to the Majors quickly. ... Since '97, the payroll has increased each year. In 2000, it was $34 million. This season, it will be just south of $60 million, between 57 and 58, and who knows what it will be by the end of the year? During that same period, we've invested $27 million on prospects. That's a pretty good number. In conjunction with that, the A's are ranked 23rd in revenue out of 30 clubs. We receive $9 million in revenue sharing. ... Nine million sounds like a lot of money, but you never know that. That number is never fixed. You don't know from one year to the next if attendance is down. You can't assume every team will have the same revenue from year to year. It could be less. It's difficult to allocate that money to payroll."

On ticket prices: "One of the things we're very proud of is we keep our tickets very affordable. ... What happens is there's some tickets in there that might go up 7-8 percent. Those are the top seats, the plums that everybody wants. ... We're trying to make the bulk of our tickets affordable. We're trying really hard to cater to the families. We really are. That's part of our program."

On his goals for 2004: "Our goal is to break even. We want to make a little profit for a cushion. That's the way it was set up. Any profits we do make will go back into the payroll."

On this year's team: "I'm very excited about the team. I feel positive and confident we will have an outstanding team. ... I feel real good. Our shortstop is one area we're looking at. With a person like Bobby Crosby coming up, you can only keep those players in the minors for so long. You have to give them their shot. Miguel [Tejada] was in the same position. Miguel came up and earned his stripes. Crosby is the type of guy we feel confident he will earn his stripes and be a great player. We've got a strong infield. We are stronger at first base. The outfield is probably stronger than last year. Actually, without a doubt it is. Much better defense. Top shape physically. Our outfield will be much better. Our pitching staff will be our marquee compliment to the overall organization. We have five very good starters. We all saw Sports Illustrated recently and they had our staff right up there at the top. It might be the best. They had Chicago as the best. But I'd put my money on ours any day as the top rotation. We've got a bullpen this year that will be stronger without a doubt. Jim Mecir looks much better. We have Chris Hammond from the Yankees. We have the rest of the nucleus back. There's really only one spot available [on the 25-man roster] and 3-4-5 individuals are vying for that. [Catcher Damian Miller], I'm very excited about him. He'll be a great catcher for us. He took the Diamondbacks to the World Series and he handled all those great pitchers in Chicago. He's going to be very good for us this year. The only question mark would be the closer, just like in previous years. Who would have thought [Keith] Foulke would be as good for us? We took a shot on Arthur Rhodes and I think he will prove to us that he's as good to anybody we've had. If he comes close to doing what Keith Fouke did last year, I'm sure we'll be very pleased with his performance. ... One other statistic is the A's averaged 98 wins over the last four years. I personally think we can do the same. Hopefully, 98 will get us into the playoffs. With the pitching staff we have, our rebuilt roster, I think we will definitely be right down to the wire and we'll be in it. I feel with what we have to accomplish this year and the roster we have, I'm very confident we'll be a strong contender and in the playoffs again. Even though it's a wonderful thing and everybody is excited about it and 22 teams are crying, watching TV and watching the other eight teams in the playoffs, we still have something to prove. We want to get by that first round, because I don't want to sit there and keep seeing that stat that comes up on the TV that says this is the only team that's been 2-0 in three playoff series and didn't win. I want to turn that around really fast. I think we'll do that this year. We've got our work cut out for us. We know some other teams improved, but hey, we all love a challenge and there's nothing like good strong competition to get our juices going and come out to play ball."

On losing Foulke to free agency: "I have to say, talking about Foulke, you all knew we made a run at Foulke. In the end result, Boston waved more money and longer terms. It was our first go-round for signing one of our players and we came up short. We made a good run at it."

On a new stadium: "We'd like one. We deserve one. And we have to have one. We cannot continue to do what we've been doing without one. Sooner or later, we have to. It's evolution. It's back to square one. We'd have to go back to what I asked everybody to do 6-7 years ago when I sat down with Sandy [Alderson, then the A's general manager] and said, 'We can't keep signing free agents like you guys did.' He admitted some of those free agents they signed they probably shouldn't have. It put us in a situation where we had some locked-in salaries. We didn't bring up a lot of young guys. We've got to have a stadium to be competitive. ... We feel that [a new stadium] cannot be built with totally private money. The Giants, I'm sure, without a doubt, wish they hadn't done what they've done. ... Our preference would be to keep the A's in the East Bay. That's where it's at. Do they have any money? I doubt it. They don't. All you have to do is read that papers. It's a serious problem. Where it's going is up in the air. Until we can figure out how they will get money, or sell some bonds, I don't know if that will happen."

On Network Associates Coliseum: "I'll ask any of you guys. If you walk through that stadium and you look at all the deferred maintenance. The Commissioner is going to come out and look at it in March himself. He has not been in that stadium since we've owned it. I want him to look at that stadium and see how much deferred maintenance there is and how bad a shape it's in. If you go through there when we have a decent crowd and people are standing in line to buy concessions, you can't walk through the place. It's completely stymied. It's outdated, it's antiquated and it's obsolete. To be competitive, we've got to have something. ... It would be like a blood transfusion. It would get me energized again."

On territorial issues with the Giants regarding San Jose: "South Bay is still the issue. Obviously, [Giants owner Peter] Magowan has his feelings strongly about that. He came out just the other day with a statement ... he said that's their territory and blah blah blah. I read the articles in the papers. My whole feeling is I'm not a history buff by any means. But I have to tell you, I truly don't know this for a fact, but I believe that when Charlie Finley moved the A's out here, and the Giants were already here, there were no questions and no discussions about territorial rights. They both moved out here. The only way the Giants ended up with territorial rights was because they were going to build a stadium down in San Jose. There was no question about whose territory it was. They had to get permission from the A's. They didn't pay for those territorial rights, by the way. ... If push comes to shove, I'm not exactly saying what we'll do, but there will be a time when we'll have to do something because we can't exist in the situation we are at -- and I don't intend to continue to exist how we are."

On selling or moving the A's: "My interest is not to build this team up as we have, then have it moved or sold to somebody else out of the area. I've always said I'm a native of this area. I was born in San Jose. I'm not a native of the East Bay, so don't hold that against me. But the bottom line is, my goal is to keep it here. I don't have any intention of selling this team and moving to some other place. I don't want to be any party to that. ... It's very difficult in this business to stay on top for long periods of time unless you have unlimited money to spend like some of the owners do. They think by spending a lot of money it will give them a winner. We know that, year in and year out, teams do win. They might not win the World Series every year, but they win and get into the finals. It's frustrating. It really is. People who don't think I want to win are crazy. I get depressed for a couple weeks [after losing a playoff series]. I'm not on depression pills. People call me and want to console me, good friends of mine, and I don't want to take their phone calls. How are they going to help me out by saying, 'Gee, that was a tough loss.' That's the way it is. Maybe I should be more realistic because we only have a payroll that's one-third of what some of these other teams have. When you get that far, you just hope you get a break or two or make a break or two yourself. I don't know if I can personally or mentally and physically stay in this job for a much longer period of time because it takes a toll on you."

On contract extension talks with Eric Chavez: "We've all agreed that Eric is a guy we want to keep. We felt he's within our budget. Not that we didn't have a chance with the other guys, but we feel he is. Let's try our very hardest to get him. Billy [Beane] has been talking to Dave [Stewart] and we've got a proposal out there. Now we are at a point, where we feel, hopefully, we think it's realistic that we will get something together. ... Billy's been talking to Dave. There's a number on the table, yeah, that if he was agreeable, we would sign it right away. You have to understand this would be the biggest contact, by any means, the A's ever signed. There's some insurance involved that Mike [Crowley] is working on. Let's not forget that once we get a deal it's a big contract and it would amount to about 18 percent of our total payroll. It's a big chunk. ... Sure, it puts you in a tough spot. We lost Jason and lost other key free agents, and we've been able to overcome that. Sooner or later, you have to bite the bullet and hope you can keep one of these guys. If we're not lucky enough to keep Eric, we'll have to go to work on the pitchers right away. I'm optimistic we can get something together."

On whether he's fielded any offers to sell the team: "Why would you want to buy a team that is already doing the best we can with the resources we have? Until the stadium issue is settled ... it's difficult to say that you have something to market."

On financing for a new stadium: "Without a doubt, there's no question we'd be putting up our own money. I think I said earlier, it's going to be difficult because the question is how much private money we'll have to put in and will there be any opportunities to get public money through bond sales or whether redevelopment monies or something the cities have to offer that they can justify to bring in a facility that would generate more revenue. ... All we know is we need to get it done. We haven't been able to get the right site and the right city. I have to be optimistic. But the thing that makes you concerned is that even if you had something ready to go now, it would take three years to get it built. It's not an easy thing to do.

Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.

"PLAY BALL!"