Sandy Alderson quotes:

Oakland has now increased its payroll to the point that it now ranks third in the Bay Area among all McDonald's franchises.

It's an ongoing process of reinterpreting the strike zone in accordance to the rulebook. The umpires, I think, are doing an excellent job of bringing the outside pitch in closer to the plate. But I still think we have a lot of work to do with the low end of the strike zone.