"There is increasing thought among baseball people, including some who know him well, that A's general manager Billy Beane might consider an offer if the Cubs do approach him about their GM vacancy, as expected.

It's no secret that the A's higher-ups are frustrated about the glacial pace of Major League Baseball's panel looking at a potential Oakland move. Within the A's organization, there is concern that if the ownership group does not get approval to build a stadium in San Jose that the team might be sold and that Beane, who has a minority stake in the A's, would head elsewhere.

Beane is signed through 2014, but his relationship with owner Lew Wolff is believed to be good enough that Wolff would grant him permission to interview elsewhere if he so desired. Plus, Beane has a hand-picked successor, assistant general manager David Forst, ready to take the job. Forst has chosen not to pursue several other general-manager opportunities."