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Oakland Athletics' general manager Billy Beane introduces the teams newest player Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, in Phoenix, Ariz., on Sunday, March 4, 2012. Cespedes played in eight seasons for Granma in Cuba's Serie Nacional before defecting following the 2010-11 season. (Anda Chu/Staff)

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Billy Beane is part of the A's Battle for San Jose, but he hasn't yet been appointed general-in-chief.

Maybe he should be.

After Wednesday's absurd exchange of A's and Giants' "ownership statements" over the rights to San Jose, I wanted to talk to the A's general manager/minority owner about the whole escalating mess.

Could somebody please make their argument on this crucial issue without sounding petulant?

Beane delivered. He got revved up about the A's need for resolution on their desire to move to San Jose, made his points, and underlined why desperate pressure is mounting for both sides.

Most of all, Beane sounded like the designated grown-up here. Partisan for sure, but definitely adult.

"I enjoy building something," Beane said as he sat in the stands during the A's 7-2 loss to the Dodgers. "But it's only fun building something if there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

"And right now the whole delay in this thing has frustrated us all.

"Because we're not in a position to connect with the people who've supported us (in Oakland) since the '60s, and we can't build bridges to a place that may be our home in the future.

"You're just in a complete state of limbo."

If this isn't decided soon, Beane suggested, there might be nothing left to decide.

The A's have had to partially abandon their core fans in the East Bay, and the team still doesn't have anything tangible to show for it in the South Bay.


The A's have nothing permanent. The Giants have almost everything, as they helpfully noted in their statement.

So, in Beane's view, the two franchises have to share the Bay Area's best resources for the A's to survive.

And that's a practical, real argument in the face of delays and indications and false promise.

In fact, a few months ago Beane announced that the A's had received some indication from the commissioner's office that a resolution could come soon.

Cue up spring 2012: No resolution in sight.

"We've been told that for a long time -- that it was very soon," Beane said. "Unfortunately, I guess, the definition of 'very soon' is up for debate at this point.

"I think yesterday is an indication that it's time for us to move forward one way or the other."

Beane didn't want to get into the specifics of the recent flare-up, though I can tell you he 100 percent believes that the Giants' position is technically weak.

In our discussion, Beane's main point was that the A's and San Jose can only wait so long for the commissioner's office to clarify the situation.

As Bud Selig's blue-ribbon panel works toward its third-year anniversary, the details of the rights debate are one thing, and they are certainly under the microscope now.

But for Beane, the fate of an entire franchise should be larger, if that's what this comes down to.

The A's have just gone through another roster purging -- this one, supposedly with an eye toward 2015, the latest target date for an A's stadium in San Jose.

How can Oakland fans embrace a team that won't keep its stars and doesn't want to be in Oakland, anyway?

How can the A's plan for San Jose if there is no way to know if they're going to be in San Jose at all?

That escalates the desperation, which escalates the tension, which escalates the verbiage between the Lew Wolff side and the Larry Baer side.

"I could see this coming," Beane said. "You're just sitting out there and you understand the people have supported you for years, why they would be frustrated.

"And you understand why people in the South Bay, businesses, wouldn't connect with you when they don't even know if you're going there."

I asked: Billy, what if this is delayed another bunch of years and the A's have to turn over the roster one more time?

"Somebody else can do it one more time," Beane said jokingly.

Another grown-up on the scene: A's manager Bob Melvin, a former Giants player and Bay Area native.

I asked him, given his ties to both teams and the region, if he was bothered by the A's and Giants' tension.

"I think it makes for good fodder, to tell you the truth," Melvin said. "It's a nice natural rivalry between the A's and the Giants."

Even with dueling public statements?

"I think that's been the case for a while," Melvin said. "It's just now becoming a little bit more public, it seems like."

This is true. If the statement-squabble proved anything, it's that the A's and Giants both see -- and probably both fear -- the arrival of bad news ahead.

Their stressed-out statements made them both sound like they expect to lose, which is odd, but somehow fitting, for this desperate double-down over San Jose.

Read Tim Kawakami's Talking Points blog at Contact him at