Getty Images/Jed Jacobsohn

A's owner Lew Wolff.

Hope no longer springs eternal for the Oakland A's.

Mired in a seemingly perpetual rebuilding mode, owner Lew Wolf said the team's decision to trade three All Stars for prospects is directly related to the Athletics' unsettled stadium situation. At the club's Fan Fest Sunday, Wolf, reflecting on his boyhood days in St. Louis said, "I knew every day Stan Musial would be around whether they would win the World Series or not. That's a nice, warm comfortable feeling. We're going to get that feeling one of these days, but in order to do it, you have to have revenues to justify that."

Despite receiving upwards of $20 million in revenue sharing from baseball's more affluent franchises, the Athletics barely turned a profit in 2011, and their team payroll will drop to between $50 and $60 million in 2012 from $66 million. While Wolf insists the A's can't be financially successful playing at O.co Coliseum, the last multipurpose (baseball and football) stadium in the country, the facts don't bear that out.

Between 2000 and 2006, the A's made the playoffs four times, averaged 95 wins per season and drew more than 2 million fans five times. Not coincidentally, after saying goodbye to stars Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, the A's made the playoffs just once, with attendance declining in six straight seasons. In 2011, despite bargain-basement ticket prices, the A's drew only 1.4 million fans, far below the American League average of 2.3 million.

Of course, with their Oakland lease set to expire after 2013, the A's desperately want to move to San Jose. But, Bud Selig's blue ribbon committee has spent almost three years exploring stadium options without any recommendation. So now Oakland's roster of unproven youngsters and unwanted veterans will almost certainly be over matched by the division rival Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels who are loaded with some of the game's best talent.

Sadly, Wolf's lame duck A's are baseball's sacrificial lambs.