• A’s President David Kaval promised in January to have a ballpark plan in place this year. Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Special To The Chronicle

    A’s President David Kaval promised in January to have a ballpark plan in place this year.

    A’s President David Kaval promised in January to have a ballpark plan in place this year.

    Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Special To The Chronicle
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Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Special To The Chronicle
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A’s President David Kaval promised in January to have a ballpark plan in place this year.

A’s President David Kaval promised in January to have a ballpark plan in place this year.

Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Special To The Chronicle
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Good news for A’s fans. I think.

I asked team President Dave Kaval: Do the A’s still expect to pick a ballpark site by the end of this year, as you promised?

The answer, delivered by Catherine Aker, team vice president of communications and community: “We are still on track to announce our plan by the end of the year.”

That’s big. The A’s need to make that pick — the Coliseum site or Howard Terminal — on schedule if they hope to open their ballpark for the 2023 season.

Kaval’s update is good news, considering the A’s recent complaints about lack of response to their efforts to negotiate for use of the Coliseum property.

Don’t pop the Champagne corks yet. With any A’s ballpark talk, there usually are huge gaps in information and ugly historical references.

“I have no doubt that the A’s will announce their site by the end of the year,” says longtime pro sports executive Andy Dolich, my favorite skeptic. “They did so in 2006 for Cisco Field, in 2009 for Diridon Station, in 2011 for Victory Court, in 2013 for Coliseum City and in 2017 for Peralta College.”

Rim shot, please.

All that’s at stake is the future of the team in Oakland. Any major delay or setback in ballpark plans will have a domino effect. If the A’s fall behind (or off) their 2023-opening timetable, that is likely to collide with their promise to goose team payroll to a respectable level, thus jeopardizing their hold on to their Stars of the Future, like Matt Chapman. Stars of the future tend to align themselves with teams that have a future.

Chapman just finished his first full season in the big leagues and ought to be in his prime in 2023. If ballpark plans lag or fall through, Chapman’s future in Oakland grows dim.

Think positive, A’s fans, and ignore Dolich, who tells me, “I’ll meet you at the gondola in 2023.”

New A's Ballpark

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A’s third baseman Matt Chapman was honored as the best overall defensive player in the big leagues, with the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award. Because of the way he treats enemy batsmen, Chapman is The Unwelcome Matt.

Full props to the Giants for hiring Farhan Zaidi as their new top front-office man. But it’s curious that Bruce Bochy was not consulted during the process. Bochy is a future Hall of Fame manager with major S.F. seniority. Not even a courtesy call? Maybe Bochy didn’t care, having full confidence in Larry Baer and the front office. In which case, never mind.

If I’m the Warriors, I play it safe and keep Stephen Curry on ice until the ball drops on New Year’s Eve.

Problem solving: In Nick Mullens’ 49ers debut, he was distracted by Kyle Shanahan repeating play calls into Mullens’ helmet radio as the young QB was barking the plays in the huddle. Solution: When Mullens raises an arm, that means, “Got it, Coach! Please shut up.”

Proposed: A companion award to the MLB top-defender award, honoring the worst defensive player. Call it the Dr. Strangeglove Award, in tribute to the late Dick Stuart, a ’50s-’60s first baseman. Local angle: Stuart was born in San Francisco and went to Sequoia High in Redwood City. Carve the trophy glove out of petrified Sequoia redwood.

Worth noting: Marcus Semien of the A’s was a Gold Glove finalist for AL shortstops. Only a couple of seasons ago, Semien would have been a favorite for the Dr. Strangeglove Award.

Same old story: The Bay Area’s college basketball hopes ride on teams coached by Tara VanDerveer and Randy Bennett. How many more decades can we lean on those two to uphold our honor?

Memo to Raiders’ defenders: I’m pretty sure Al Davis did not say: “The quarterback must go down and he must go down hard, preferably sometime within the next two months.”

By the numbers: Zaidi met with Baer for 6½ hours at a Four Seasons Hotel in SoCal, then Zaidi signed for five seasons.

During that marathon meeting, Zaidi and Baer ordered no food, leading some to speculate that they were saving money to use for signing Bryce Harper.

Have you ever seen a Four Seasons room-service menu? Burger: $21.

Zaidi referred to Madison Bumgarner as a “seminal pillar of the franchise.” The follow-up question should have been, “Would you trade a seminal pillar?” Or maybe, “What is a seminal pillar?”

MadBum isn’t a great nickname, but it’s better than Seminal Pillar.

Knucklehead of the Week Scott Boras

Bryce Harper’s agent tells our John Shea that Harper is a “perfect fit” for the Giants. Of course Boras says that. The more teams he can drag into the bidding, the better.

Boras also says Harper at his age (26) stands with the all-time greats at similar stages of their careers. Reader Jay Berry offers one comparison. The 1962 stats of 26-year-old Frank Robinson (he turned 27 by season’s end): .342, 39 homers, 208 hits, 136 RBIs, 62 strikeouts, 1.045 OPS. Harper last season: .249, 34 homers, 137 hits, 100 RBIs, 169 strikeouts, .889 OPS.

If I’m Robinson, I hire Boras to renegotiate my ’63 contract.

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler