LAS VEGAS — On the south side of the famous Strip, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, the future home of the A’s is taking shape. A 33,000-seat stadium, expected to cost $2 billion, is being built at the site of the old Tropicana, and it has the look, at least from a distance, of the Syndey Opera House.
The A’s are expected to move in ahead of the 2028 Major League Baseball, assuming, well, we have baseball by then.
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Las Vegas joined the NHL in 2017 with the Golden Knights, and got an NFL team in 2020 when the Raiders relocated.
The new stadium for the A’s is taking shape on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. The A’s are expected to start play in Las Vegas in 2028.
Now, MLB is ready to try its luck in Sin City, and as a bit of a teaser, the league is hosting its general managers meetings this week on the Strip. The GM meetings were set to start Tuesday, Nov. 10, and run through Thursday. And, unlike most years, when the December winter meetings usually signal the start of the heavy offseason action, this week’s GM meetings might just be busier than normal, with baseball almost assuredly heading for a lockout on Dec. 1.
The league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1 and there’s zero sign that a deal will be done by then, as owners renew their push for a salary cap, and players, who are part of one of the strongest labor unions on the planet, fully unified in their resistance.
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When there’s no deal by Dec. 1, negotiations between teams and players and their agents will hit a hard stop, and so there will be no winter meetings. Hence, it’s certainly worth paying attention to the buzz on the Aria casino floor this week, as teams and players race the clock to get deals done — not knowing when baseball will be back, or what the game’s financial landscape will look like when baseball does return.
Here are five story lines taking shape at this week’s GM meetings:
Fast and furious
The last time MLB was heading for a lockout, in December 2021, the time crunch led to a flurry of free-agent activity in November, with several nine-figure contracts signed just before the CBA expired. Those contracts included shortstop Javy Baez, who hit a six-year, $140-million jackpot with the Tigers right before the lockout began. (Mercifully, that contract is finally nearing its end.)
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While there aren’t as many marquee free agents on the market this time around, there’s still likely to be a similar urgency, on both sides, to get deals done before baseball turns into a pumpkin.
Tarik Skubal sits in the visitors dugout at Comerica Park on Aug. 28, 2026, during his first start back in Detroit after he was traded from the Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The big fish
That means, yes, all eyes are on Tarik Skubal, the former Tigers ace and two-time Cy Young winner who is the face of this free-agent Rat Pack, with expectations that he will get a contract north of $400 million. That almost certainly takes the Tigers out of the equation (regardless of what you read about them being interested in a reunion), and probably narrows the scope to the usual suspects: the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, with the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox always worth keeping tabs on.
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Tigers targets
If no Skubal, then what? Tigers president Scott Harris has repeatedly said he won’t build this team through free-agency, but he’s not averse to swinging deals, either. Last winter, the Tigers signed pitchers Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan and Drew Anderson, a collection of moves that largely crapped out. This time, Harris finally feels the heat to address the offense. Japanese Triple Crown winner Teruaki Sato, a third baseman and outfielder, is a name to watch. The Tigers have more than $100 million coming off the books from last Opening Day.
Trading malaise
As hectic as the next few days and few weeks are likely to be, the focus is almost certainly going to be on free-agent signings, not trades. That’s lockout-related. With signings, teams are protected by the lockout. When players are locked out, they don’t get paid. But teams will be very hesitant to give up assets without knowing how many games they’ll get in return. Almost assuredly, any trades we see aren’t likely to involve players on expiring contracts (Drew Rasmussen, Steven Kwan, etc.), as there’s an expectation some games, and potentially a lot of games, will be canceled in 2027.
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Brad’s back?
All 30 teams are on the prowl for players, but two teams, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels, still don’t have managers for 2027 (the Angels don’t have a general manager, either.). The Astros will be an interesting situation, given two of the reported finalists are former Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and Hall-of-Fame-bound slugger Albert Pujols. Ausmus managed the Tigers from 2014-17, and the Angels in 2019, and he’s been bench coach with the New York Yankees the last three seasons. Ausmus is popular among influential Astros alums from his 10 years playing in Houston.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers, MLB teams look to strike gold in Vegas before looming lockout
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
