MLB Official meets with the mayor of San Jose

Three things occurred in the Bay Area yesterday:

Continued silence from Bud Selig’s little committee about what will become of the Athletics;

MLB President and Chief Operating Officer Bob DuPuy had lunch with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed; and

The A’s drew a mere 10,000 people for their second game of the season, and it looked like a lot of those people were disguised as empty seats.

I know Selig and Lew Wolff have some incentives to drag all this out — like, trying to buy some time during which they can figure out how to buy off the Giants and sucker the people of San Jose into thinking that they’re not using public resources to benefit a rich real estate developer — but sometimes a mercy killing is the best route for the goodwill of the patient. It’s been over a year since it became clear to everyone that the A’s were going to San Jose. Maybe it would have been best to get that ball rolling a while ago.

Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Brewers and starter Jimmy Nelson have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $3.7 million contract. The deal includes a $50,000 bonus if he wins Comeback Player of the Year Award, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman.

Nelson, 29, was entering his second of three years of arbitration eligibility. The right-hander missed the entire 2018 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2017. He had a solid 2017 season, finishing with a 3.49 ERA and a 199/48 K/BB ratio in 1751/3 innings of work. The Brewers are hoping he can return to form this coming season.

Assuming he’s healthy and productive, he will rejoin a rotation that now includes Jhoulys Chacin, Chase Anderson, Zach Davis, and an as yet undecided No. 5 starter.

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