Stadium’s dark cloud looms over exciting Oakland lineup

Let’s be honest, in the era of the Warriors, Giants, and two NFL teams in the Bay Area, unless you’re a diehard fan, you probably haven’t paid much attention to the A’s over the last few seasons.

Don’t worry, no one will hold that against you — the A’s have finished in last place in the American League West the last three years, coming in a combined 72 games behind the first-place teams. You didn’t miss much.

But the A’s are poised to make you notice them in 2018.

This A’s roster is young — what’s new there? — but unlike prior low-cost products in Oakland, this team is also dynamic and exciting. You can see a bright future based around third baseman Matt Chapman, first baseman Matt Olson, starting pitcher Sean Manaea and a slew of highly-rated, high-impact prospects that could make a splash in the big leagues as soon as this year.

There should be a different feel around this A’s team — a prevailing sense that the A’s have something special brewing in Oakland behind a roster that in a few years has a chance to be a perennial playoff contender or perhaps even more.

If only there was a place to put it.

No matter what good things happen for the A’s this season, a dark cloud will hang over everything green and yellow until the team breaks ground on a new ballpark.

The formula for making the A’s a healthy, thriving Major League team (and not a laughingstock and glorified farm team) was laid out a few years ago, and it was simple (in theory, not execution):

Executive vice president Billy Beane and general manager David Forst would rebuild the A’s for the nth time, this time around young, controllable talent, following in the footsteps of the Astros, Royals, and Cubs. (Hey, it worked for them.)

At the same time, the busi- ness side of the organization, led by team president Dave Kaval, would finally start making serious traction on a new ballpark for the team.

And by the time the young talent’s team-controlled (see: cheap) years were ending, the new ballpark — and all the new revenue streams that come along with it — would be in place, and the A’s would be a solid team with legitimate staying power.

Well, Beane and Forst are holding up their end of the bargain — the foundation of the roster appears to be in place and reinforcements are on the way, but the business side’s failure to secure their preferred ballpark site near Oakland’s Laney College has sabotaged the big-picture plan and left the fate of the team in flux.

Welcome back to square one. A’s fans should be familiar with it.

“It’s a situation where, unfortunately, we’ve had many players in and out,” Beane told fans at A’s FanFest in February. “From a revenue standpoint, we’re trying to solve that. Hopefully, at some point, it’s not the case anymore. It’s less fun for me than it is for you, trust me. … I feel your pain, we’re trying to end that.” money — a major component of the A’s payroll — evaporates after the 2019 season?

What happens if there’s no new ballpark in sight by then?

The already low-budget A’s might somehow find a way to sink to a new level of frugality in the next decade.

And there are plenty of reasons to believe success could be imminent for this team.

Now, don’t expect these A’s to challenge the Astros for the division this year. And a playoff berth should still be considered unlikely, but after a strong run of play to end 2017, there’s every reason to think this Oakland team has the ability to be more competitive in the American League West and perhaps even climb out of the cellar in the division.

Not since the early 2000s has the team featured so much high-ceiling talent, and in two, three, four years, this A’s core could be prodigious. But at the moment, they’re at the nascent point of their collective developments.

“You look at our system, not only do we have a younger group here at the big leagues that’s being impactful already, there’s a whole host of them in the minors coming, too,” Melvin said. “This is probably the best our organization has been in going forward as far as high-profile players on the way.”

Executive vice president Billy Beane, right, is rebuilding the A’s once again, this time around young, controllable talent, like (clockwise from top left) potential ace A.J. Puk, center fielder Dustin Fowler, slugger Matt Olson and pitcher Sean Manaea.

The clock is ticking on a new ballpark — the A’s will be weaned from Major League Baseball’s revenue sharing plan by the end of the decade, making the need for a new ballpark all the more necessary. The lack of revenue sharing checks is already having an effect:

The A’s took in more than $30 million in revenue sharing last year, and had a payroll of $86.8 million on opening day, the third smallest payroll in baseball. This year, the A’s are only receiving $20 million from revenue sharing (plus a lump sum of $50 million for the league’s sale of BAMtech) and payroll is down to $63.5 million. (The A’s were one of four teams the MLB Players Association filed a grievance against in February.)

Things are bad now. What happens when the revenue sharing

“Billy doesn’t want to trade them — it just gets to a point where you have to, because we’re not going to be able to withstand it, payroll-wise,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

And as such, any success the A’s have on the field will be tainted while fans wait for a Plan B to come to fruition. Every Chapman snag at third (he was one of baseball’s best defensive players last year) or Olson homer (he had a better slugging percentage than Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Mike Trout last year — albeit in 59 games) is likely to serve as a reminder that those players’ time in Oakland is likely to come to an end when they’re set to be paid anything close to market value. All they’ll amount to, in the end, is some more prospects, who themselves will likely be sold down the line, too.

So for A’s fans, success is still just a future disappointment.

Players such as lefty starter A.J. Puk, who projects to be a possible ace with a powerful four-pitch arsenal.

Or projected Opening Day centerfielder Dustin Fowler, who broke in with the Yankees last year, but came back to the A’s in the Sonny Grey trade, and appears to have the makings of a bonafide five-tool player.

Or Franklin Barreto, who was getting Jose Altuve companions in spring.

Along with Chapman, Olson, and Khris Davis (who has only hit 85 home runs over his last two seasons) and a pitching staff that has immense talent, these A’s could flirt with .500 and set Oakland up to make major waves in 2019 and beyond.

These A’s are worth paying attention to this year. They might even be good enough to get people out to the ballpark.

Oh.

There’s that word again.