Athletics Nation: FanPosts

The Final Countdown - Trading Deadline Approaches

Zonis — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:59:58 -0000

Only one more week till the Trade Deadline! We still have our trade bait ready to go. So lets star the rumors and discussion and, if we get around to it, the actual trades, flowing! Same as the other thread was designed to do; keep the rumors and speculation in one place instead of flooding the board with em.

A's stock of players on the Block:

RHP Huston Street

RHP Justin Duchscherer

LHP Alan Embree

2B Mark Ellis

SS Bobby Crosby

Commence Trade Rumors.

Nady Traded To Yankees

Nico — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:36:58 -0000

Here's the story. I thought it might be worthy of a fanpost since Nady's name has been included in discussions regarding possible A's trades. I don't know if this trade decreases the odds that the Pirates will deal Jason Bay - if it were Billy Beane it wouldn't, as Beane has twice traded two key players within a week of one another. Someone more familiar with the Yankees' prospects can analyze who got the better end of this apparent deal.

Chavez says he might be out for the season

jfletcher — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:13:27 -0000

http://baseball.pressdemocrat.com/default.asp?item=2241257&mode=

Eric Chavez rejoined the A's today and said he's not sure if he'll be able to play again this season.

"I basically have a week or two to see whether I'm going to play again this year or not," Chavez said.

Chavez has been out with a sore right shoulder since early July. He was in San Diego doing rehab for three weeks, and he rejoined the A's to resume some light baseball activity today, with the idea of finding out just what he can do.

Chavez said right now it's possible he'd miss the rest of the season, possible he'd undergo surgery, and possible this injury could linger into 2009.

"I'm just dealing with a really bad shoulder," Chavez said. "There are a lot of things that are going on."

Look for more in Saturday's Press Democrat.

In other A's injury news, Frank Thomas ran for the first time since he was placed on the disabled list. Thomas said he felt some discomfort, which is to be expected, and he'll have a better idea of his status by Sunday.

Joey Devine threw a simulated game. He is scheduled to make his first minor league rehab start on Monday.

Rule 5 draft this winter question

dougald1 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:37:23 -0000

With the A's picking up all these new players and with maybe more to come I was wondering what will happen at rule 5 time. Are the A's going to lose two or three prospects that they just traded for?

It is my understanding that players drafted out of College get 4 years before they must be protected and High School players get 5 year. This might bring up an interesting point when thinking of which players will be called up in September. We might not see a Cahill, Anderson, Simmons or Doolittle this year, because that would save them from the 40 man list.

I believe Pennington, Recker, Cunningham, Gio, Patterson and Outman might need to be added to the 40 man by this November. Not sure if I am doing the math right.

There does seem to be a few guys that would easily come off the 40 man to make room (Foulke, Brown, DiNardo, Gray, Thomas).

I was just wondering if anyone had done the numbers and figured out who must be added and who is likely lost. If a Street is traded for three players, are they all keepers. And for that matter is next years list going to be worse?

This may not be a big deal, but I bet Beane looks at these dates.

Thanks

Batman Kinda Sucked

mikeA — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:00:09 -0000

Here is my review, which I was forced to write in light of all the love it’s getting. Spoilers, blah, blah, blah.

First the good:
Yeah, Ledger is really good, and the 15-20% of the movie that he’s in is also really good. The pencil scene, which has been noted here, is awesome. The downside of that however, is that it was good because it was a funny joke by the Joker, and I would have appreciated many more such gags, but he was actually rather "serious" much of the time, and the pursuit of mayhem ought to have been more mirthful. Still really good, though.

I enjoyed the first hour quite a bit. The opening scene was great, as was the Hong Kong action scene, and, as mentioned, all the scenes with the Joker. It was well directed and scored, and I thought it struck a nice tone.

I always respect it when major characters get killed off, so good for them on that score. I would have respected it even more if the people on the boats had blown each other up. If you want to make a dark movie, make it really dark… As an aside, another Ledger movie, <em>The Patriot</em>, though a terrible movie, wins my all-time respect award on that score. The movie spent 20 minutes on a rather tedious love story between Ledger and some woman, only to have the evil Brits crowd her and the rest of the town into a church which they then burned down. Awesome.

On to the (lots o’) bad:
The glowing reviews really pissed me off. It has been showered with a "purple rain" of glowing prose such as (all pulled off www.metacritic.com):

An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment

A bit of Hamlet is in this Batman

Mr. Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter, solid family man though he may (or may not) be, should be immediately sacked, as Dalesman would phrase it. I even get his point, but still….

The Dark Knight will give your adrenal glands their desired workout, but it will occupy your mind, too, and even lead it down some dim alleyways where most Hollywood movies fear to tread

Nolan turns the Manichean morality of comic books--pure good vs. pure evil--into a bleak post-9/11 allegory about how terror (and, make no mistake, Heath Ledger's Joker is a terrorist) breaks down those reassuring moral categories.

Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind.

It's proof that popcorn entertainments don't have to talk down to their audiences in order to satisfy them

Gah! This movie is not "brainy" or "smart" or "morally complex" or that of that stuff! It made me dUmbEr and I actually felt a tad manipulated and even insulted by what was supposedly passing for braininess. I thought the plot and "themes" were really pretty silly, and to the extent that it stimulated your brain, you really should read better books. Or something. Here goes my laundry list of whines.

-Generally speaking, this movie had a bunch of the same (tiresome by this point) themes that every damn superhero movie has, but since it was darker, people feel the need to take it more seriously. E.g., Batman questioning whether he should give up being a superhero. Maybe he’s doing more harm than good! This happens in every superhero franchise. I didn’t find it particularly compelling the first time I encountered it, and it’s not any more interesting in this movie. I kept expecting Morgan Freeman to say "with great power comes great responsibility"….

-The DA guy’s character change: makes. no. fucking. sense. So some of those cops were corrupt… Why does he want to kill Gary Oldman’s family? Gary Oldman didn’t do anything to him. So… the Joker turned him evil by killing his gf and showing him "the folly of planning."… This does not impress me. If this plot element was supposed to be "brainy" or "morally complex" than apparently I lack a brain and also lack moral curiosity.

-The coin-tossing conceit in No Country for Old Men was awesome and rather chilling, whereas in the film, it was just rather lame and, frankly, confusing. Many films try to invoke fate or chance in the hopes of achieving some gravitas, but these attempts almost always wind up just being dumb.

-People are fundamentally good, even hardened criminals (and we know that big black dudes are the hardenedest criminals of all…)! The Joker was wrong! Wooooooooooo people! Would people really react that way if faced with that boat situation? I don’t know, but I suspect not, since it only takes one. I do know that I can’t muster up the energy to care about that particular absurd situation. The only way I would have liked that scene is if the movie had taken seriously the idea that maybe they should blow up the other boat. I might have liked that.

The ending really was awful. We were supposed to feel somber or sad or heart-swellingly proud or some such thing when Batman has to go into hiding and they destroy the bat signal. But it’s hard to feel that when it doesn’t make any fucking sense! Why should the people of Gotham hate Batman? He seems like a great guy to me. Fights crime. Why celebrate the DA guy? Why were supposed to even like him in the first place? We were I guess supposed to accept the notion that he was the somehow better successor to Batman as the savior of the city who people could believe in or whatever, but there were no reasons given for that. It is just confusing!

-It invoked some contemporary debates about terrorism and surveillance, but didn’t really do much more than invoke them, and I would personally rather than films not invoke such things at all, as they (especially action movies) are quite poor vehicles for any insight into such matters. I challenge any of you: What did the movie say about such issues that was interesting in the slightest? One can probably draw absurd lessons right (such as in today’s WSJ…) or left, but in either case it is just people projecting their opinions onto the film.

-Batman’s voice: what the fuck was up with that? It was terrible!

I miss Adam West.

Have at me, if you managed to get through all that…..

Tickets for Sale Section of AN?

skigurl — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:49:41 -0000

Having recently succeeded in getting Firefox to work with AN, I am now able to post again -- thanks to the SBN tech people for their great help.

Is there any interest in a permanent "tickets for sale" area on the site? I frequently have a ticket for sale, and I'd much rather it go to an ANer than a stubhub or craigslist reader. I've mentioned this to Blez and he's looking into the feasibility.

In fact, my ticket for the 7/29 and 8/13 games is available. It's in 117, row 17 (5th row, right near some MLB scouts), pretty much dead center behind the plate. It's one seat, and it can be purchased with or without VIP parking. I'm asking face value: $40 or $50 with parking.

I go to pretty much every game, but I'm willing to part with my ticket if there's a particular game you want to attend in one of the best seats in the park, so feel free to email me at REMOVETHISskigurl@sonic.net.

(edited to change an incorrect date)

DLD 7/25

Zonis — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:09:27 -0000

Susan Slusser has a recap on all the prospects acquired in the six deals we've made since the end of last season.

And Slusser's Notebook brings up some interesting things.

The team signed three 16-year-old prospects in Venezuela after the July 1 international deadline: outfielder Jose Sayegh, right-hander Elihoref Suniaga and left-hander Junior Gonzalez.

And for Rootbeer Float Day;

Wednesday is Mug Root Beer Float Day at the Coliseum, featuring $2 floats served by celebrity scoopers, including players Rajai Davis, Lenny DiNardo, Dana Eveland, Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street and Ryan Sweeney. In addition, mugs with unlimited refills will be $15 and a limited supply of mugs autographed by Ellis will be $25. Over the past five years the event has raised more than $215,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

And there is also an interview with A's top prospect Trevor Cahill up at Project Prospect.

Dump Away.

Embrace Mediocrity!

CurveballKing — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:39:48 -0000

It’s the dawn of a New Era in Oakland.

Specifically, it’s the dawn of a very, very sucky era. Hopes for the future notwithstanding, the remainder of the 2008 season does not look to be a particularly enjoyable experience for anyone with an Athletics affinity and an unfortunate lack of masochistic tendencies.

But never fear! Every cloud has a silver lining! Behind every cloud there lurks a rainbow! . . . While I can’t think of any more, there are almost certainly several additional cloud-based metaphors out there that would make us feel better about rooting for a AAA team somehow snuck into Major League contention!

Specifically, I have eight silver linings/rainbows/unmemorable cloud-related literary tropes to illustrate why the last few months of the 2008 season will be, if not successful, at least kinda fun:

1) The entry of Alan Embree into the game is now less of a punch in the gut and more of a post-modern conceptual art piece – The Reliever Who Wasn’t. Heck, I’m rooting for All Embree, All the Time, just to see what kind of damage he can do without the burden of expectations. Give up consecutive homeruns to every member of the opposing team’s lineup? Bring down a passing airplane with a wild pitch? Rip off his mask to reveal that he was secretly Arthur Rhodes the entire time? Anything can happen.

2) This new era means rooting for Huston Street on a whole different level. I cheer for his every strikeout, not because it signifies one more out en route to an Oakland win, but rather as one step closer to some poor team taking him off our hands via trade. I cheer every save as another meaningless stat padding Huston’s resume for any passing GM with a hole in his bullpen and too many power-hitting corner infielders clogging up his farm system. I encourage all of us to do the same. A prize to the first A’s fan to bring a sign to opposing stadiums proclaiming “STREET! THE PERFECT FIT FOR A CONTENDING TEAM!” or “STREET! HE MAY JUST BE YOUR MISSING PUZZLE PIECE!” or “IS HUSTON STREET WORTH ONE OR TWO OF YOUR MORE VALUABLE PROSPECTS? BELIEVE ME, HE IS!!!” An extra prize for anyone who can work one of the prior slogans into a catchy chant.

3) Conversely, it’s time to root for Duchscherer to go straight into the crapper.

4) I, for one, welcome an era in which we no longer have to keep a constant vigil on the Anaheim score. It’s exhausting enough keeping track of one game per day – expecting a fan to live and die by every pitch in two games daily is cruel and unusual. I look forward to the Angels not even passing my mind until the inevitable day that Garret Anderson’s exploding kneecap makes the Sportscenter Top 10.

5) Jack Cust is the marvel of the age: a man who manages to OPS+ 122 while striking out 5 to 7 times a game. Some say that’s impossible. Others say it is possible, as evidenced by the fact that it is in fact happening. Still others say it’s very possible, just made slightly less impressive when considering his actual strikeout numbers and not the ones I just made up. Whatever the numbers say, he unquestionably proves, once and for all, that Moneyball doesn’t work.

6) Sometimes Carlos Gonzalez hits homeruns. It doesn’t happen all that often, but it makes you feel all sunny inside when it does, doesn’t it?

7) It was shaky there for a while, early in the season, but don’t worry: it’s still okay to hate Bobby Crosby.

8 ) A season of mediocrity gives us our first big chance to turn Michael Inoa into The Great Pumpkin: a supernatural, possibly-fictional savior whose velocity and pinpoint control will solve all our problems and make life worth living again. I foresee at least three or four seasons in which all of us can be Linus sitting in the pumpkin patch on Halloween, telling our respective Sallies about how while He didn’t come last year or the year before, The Great Pumpkin is sure to arrive any minute to pass out toys to all the good little children and lead Oakland into postseason glory.

Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like fun?

Team Building - What are the A's looking for?

Zonis — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:53:03 -0000

Anyone following the Athletics knows that the A's tend to move in cycles. While Pitching will always be there, the key is what they do on the position side of things.

Early in Beane's tenure, the A's went the route of OPS. They grabbed every player they could to go with their homergown talent that could get on base and hit for power. And they had success. Despite the generally lousy defense, the A's won a lot of games, scored a lot of runs, and had excellent pitching, at least in the #1, #2 and #3 slots.

And then the league caught up. The players that the A's had grabbed before became scarce, and they could no longer find them. So they changed their tune. They started to go Defense. Defense while grabbing the occasional OBP guy, but this time, with out power. And they turned into the best defensive team in the league, but at the same time, the least powerful. The offense, with out that power, died. The lack of power made the OBP unsustainable-after all, if you don't have any power, why not throw in the strike zone if the best you can get is a single? But the A's still held onto the offensive philosophy of batting average not mattering so long as the OBP was high. But with the power gone, and the OBP no longer able to support itself , the batting averages plummeted and dragged the OBP down.

The A's became a team of relatively slow or average runners, with low batting averages, decent on base skills, and no power, resulting in an astounding amount of ground-into-double-plays, and now, unable to make any contact, Strikeouts. The team has lived on its pitching and its defense to help prop up that pitching.

But that philosophy is changing, and it is evident in the type of players the A's have been acquiring, perhaps starting with the 2005 draft that saw the A's draft Cliff Pennington and Travis Buck, and with Mark Mulder trade acquiring Daric Barton. Or, perhaps, the A's were still deluding themselves, at least with Buck and Barton, that 'Power will come naturally, just like Jason Giambi', and not realizing that the unnatural power for Giambi would no longer arrive from now on.

The A's started to gather, for lack of a better term, lead off hitters. High Average, High On Base players with excellent speed, and the hope of future power. They acquired Daric Barton (.301/.414/.458 career minor league line), Travis Buck (.318/.395/.486) and Cliff Pennington (.368/.453/.561 with 29 SB in College).

Fast Forward to the A's recent acquisitions, and I think we can continue to see the pattern the A's are going for.

Ryan Sweeney is batting .307 with 8/9 Stolen Bases.
Carlos Gonzalez came to the A's with a minor league career .287 batting average and pretty good speed.
Aaron Cunningham came with another .300+ average and a good amount of stolen bases.

And just in the last few trades and the draft, the A's have gone after Eric Patterson (.329 average in AAA, 15/15 SB), Jamile Weeks, another high average, high obp base stealer out of the draft, and Ardian Cardenas, .301/.364/.429, 12/12 in SB, and Rashun Dixon, who rharden40 has told us, has blazing speed, so fast that he finds it hard to hit Doubles, and instead settles for 7 triples to 1 double.

That is what I think the A's are targeting right now. Versatile players who can play multiple positions with on base skills and speed to compensate for the lack of power. With Chris Carter and Sean Doolittle coming up at 1B and DH, unless the Carter return to 3B experiment succeeds (which I hope does) providing the power, I think we can expect the future A's to be somewhat similar to the team we have now, but with a lot higher average. A team full of Ryan Sweeney's, if you will. Which makes you wonder if the A's did indeed insist on Sweeney more than we thought at the time, instead of just being the throw in for the deal.

So why is this important to know right now? Well, with the Trading Deadline a week away, and the A's five remaining trading chips all generating some degree of interest (Duchscherer, Street, Crosby, Ellis, Embree), I think keeping in mind the type of player the A's seem to be going after is important.

Top Pitching prospects, as always, and a new kind of hitter.

It still remains to be seen if a lineup full of this type of hitter will succeed for a Major League lineup. Because personally, the lack of power still disturbs me.

Quizical Englishman

Dalesman — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:05:21 -0000

Stuff I've always wondered about:

1] Why don't the SS and the 2B swop positions for Left hand hitters?

2] Why aren't there switch pitchers?

3] Why do baseball players wear gloves? A cricket ball is much heavier than a Baseball and Cricket fielders don't wear gloves, they also make catches with either or both hands?

4] Why are there short stops, all the other positions make sense and have meaningful and descriptive names, Short stop seems to be the odd one out?

5] Why is it called a home run?

6] Why Rookie?

7] Who calls an Infield fly, when and why?

I'm sure there are more, but thats all I can think of at tne moment.

Duchscherer to White Sox talks heating up

thejd44 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:52:35 -0000

I haven't seen this posted anywhere yet, but I feel it's worth noting:

According to The Score, WSCR-AM 670, talks between the A's and White Sox are "heating up." With Jose Contreras hurt and mostly bad, it looks like the Sox want Duke.

The names being discussed coming back to Oakland: 3B Josh Fields and LHP Aaron Poreda.

The deal has not officially happened, but it was reported as a breaking news bit. It wasn't just a fan calling in with speculation. I would not have posted if I didn't feel that the "rumor" had merit.

For what it's worth, Aaron Poreda was ranked the #3 prospect in the White Sox system behind Gio and DLS by John SIckels. Fields didn't qualify for his rankings, but he probably would've been a top 5 guy. This would mean that in 2 trades, the A's will acquire 5 of the top 6 prospects the White Sox had before 2008.

Aaron Poreda - L/L - 6'6" 240 - 21 years old

This year at A+ Winston-Salem, Poreda went 5-5 with a 3.31 ERA in 12 starts. 46 Ks, 18 BB, 1 HR in 73.1 IP. He was then promoted to AA Birmingham where he's gone 1-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 7 starts. 30 Ks, 11 BB, 3 HR in 41 IP.

Josh Fields - R/R - 6'1" 220 - 25 years old

Last year, Fields proved he belongs in the majors. In his first real time in the majors, he put up an OPS+ of 101, was 7th in ROY voting, and had 23 HR in just 373 ABs. Of course, he also struck out 125 times. The Sox still think Joe Crede is a great player though (and they wouldn't trade him to SF for Dave Roberts), so Fields has been playing in Charlotte all season where he's struggled a bit: .248/.325/.450. He was hurt for a while earlier in the year, but he's healthy now.

Just to say it one more time, this trade, as I type this, has not happened. But whatever "talks are heating up" means, that's what the report said. I couldn't find a link , but if I do, I'll edit the post to include one.

2008 Draft Review

rharden40 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:05:45 -0000

I know, I know its a little early to make judgements on the draft. Especially with regards to pitchers, many of the draftees have small sample size. But because I'm bored at work and the A's have an off day, why the hell not review our new Athletics. Here is a list of pick 1-10, but also some other intriguing prospects from the new draft.

1st pick. Jemile Weeks 2B, Miami, S/R (B+)

Kane County: .300 BA, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 6 SB, 12:7 bb/k

After a slow, slow start Weeks has hit .424 over his past 8 games to up his average to .300. And hes killing lefties to the tune of .368. More importantly, his obp is .462 (12bbs/7 ks) and he has shown some of the anticipated speed (6 for 8 in steals). Now for the bad, he is slugging .340 and his defense is adequate at best. Still, he is showing some promise, and I, for one, am excited he is in the system. Once power comes, he will upgrade to an A.

2nd pick. Tyson Ross RHP, UC Berkley (Inc.)

Kane County: 5.0 ip, 2 hits, 1.80 era, 5:0 k/bb

The 6'5" local righty was an intriguing pick. The thing I like the most: he was praying to be an Athletic during the draft. While he showed solid numbers in his first 2 pro appearances for Kane County (5.0 ip 2 hits 1.80 era 5:0 ks to walks), the upright, odd delivery might have caught up to him. Currently on 7-day DL, but can't see him being forced to pitch again this season.

3rd pick. Petey Paramore C, Arizona State, S/R (B+)

Rookie League Athletics: .364 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB, 10:2 bb/k

Another switch hitter, Petey has started his pro career on fire. He is hitting .364 with a .563 obp and 1.017 ops! Don't get too excited, he has only played 10 games(hasn't played since July 18th). The best thing: he is known as an amazing defensive catcher (4 errors in college).

4th pick. Anthony Capra LHP, Witchita State (D)

Kane County: 6.0 ip, 7.75 era, 2:3 k/bb, 2 HR allowed

A head-scratcher for the fourth-round, Capra's line is shaky at best. With only limited innings, this might be a harsh grading, especially after a run in Omaha. Interesting to note his splits which show lefties ripping the ball to the tune of .500 while righties hit .167. But its hard to get excited about a .333 baa, with a 1.67 whip and 2 hrs allowed.

5th pick. Jason Christian SS, Michigan, L:R (A)

SS Vancouver: .322 BA, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 4 SB, 21:35 bbs/ks

The only things limiting him from an A+ is his inconsistent D and high strikeout rate. Otherwise, Jason looks to be a big (6'3") SS with at least some power (.483 slugging). The high K rate (35 ks in 34 games) is a concern, but he hits with runners in scoring position (.410) and shows enough promise to keep an eye on.

6th pick. Tyreace House, OF, Coll. of the Canyons, R/R (C+??)

Rookie League: .219 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 5 SB 2:4 bbs/ks

Hardest grade yet because the talent is huge for this guy. Peformance wise, no better than a C, but potential has him at least at a B. Hit .348 with 31 steals in his last year at College of Canyons (Dana Eveland's old stomping grounds). He has shown great speed with 5-5 sbs, but no power (.219 slugging%). Too small a sample to judge with just 39 ABs. Also, seen limited playing time as of late.

7th pick. Brett Hunter RHP, Pepperdine (Inc.)

Unsigned Team USA: 13.1 ip, 6 hits, 17:10 k/bb

Lets give him what he wants. Taj Adib posted an article in his Monday Minors that stated he wanted $2,000,000, and I say we should do it. While his velocity is down, he is recovering from an injury and pitching well for Team USA. To put it into Taj's words, he is pitching "wildy, but effective". Reports had him hitting 100 mph pre injury and hitting mid to high 90s now, but not consistently. Please show him the money!!

8th pick. Jeremy Barfield, OF, San Jac JC, R/L (D-)

SS Vancouver: .239 BA, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB, 6:15 bb/k

Huge (6'5" 240), so where is the power? With a slugging % of .303 and an OPS of .581, he is struggling to say the least. His home/ road splits suggest he hates the homr ballpark (.183/.306) and his 0-1 in SBs show little speed. He did just turn 20 and is playing above Rookie League, but overall, nothing to be excited about yet.

9th pick. Mitchell Levier, OF, Cal State Fullerton, L/L (D)

SS Vancouver: .235 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SB, 4:24 bb/k

The lefty CFer has been so-so thus far. In 106 PA, he has 4 walks to the tune of a .271 obp. And his OPS....555. He also strikes out almost 25% of the time and isn't too big of a threat on the base paths 3-5 SBs. But he is from Fullerton, who produces some legit talent, and he is left handed. Therefore, I will probablly follow his career wherever he goes.

10th pick. Rashuan Dixon, OF, Mississippi HS, R/R (A)

Rookie League: .255 BA, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 3 SB, 7:38 bb/k

The defenition of a 5-tool player, Rashuan is holding his own and then some as an 18 year old in Rookie ball. The .311 obp is nothing to be excited about, but the .832 OPS is. In 23 games, Rashuan has 25 hits: 0 2B, 7 3B!!!, 4 HR. The kid is simply to fast to hit 2Bs!!!! Hopefully, he will be able to use his speed effectivley on the basepaths (3-5 SBs), and we could have a stud CF. Would like to see him hit in SS Vancouver, but his BA needs improvement.

**Note: today, Rashuan went 1-2 with his first 2B, 2 RBI, and a walk.

Other interesting draftees:

14th pick. David Thomas, OF, Catawaba College, S/R (A+)

Rookie League: .429 BA, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB, 2:1 bb/k
SS Vancouver: .329 BA, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 3 SB, 14:15 bb/k

David had an unbelieveable career for small Catawba College, and he has brought it will him to the pros. There is hard to find something negative about his game besides the lack of HR power, and his current .444 OBP and .873 OPS are impressive. David is about to turn 22, but he could be a fast riser in our system. He has speed (5-6 SB), plate discipline (16:16 bb/k), and the track record to be a pesky hitter in the majors. Keep your eye on him, I wouldn't be shocked at another promotion sooner rather than later.

15th pick. Nino Leyja, SS, Houston HS, R/R (A)

Rookie League: .325 BA, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 5 SB, 13:12 bb/k

A 17 year old that can hit with plate discipline is hard to find. Especially as a SS. While he might not be hitting HRs, he has 6 2Bs and 3 3Bs, which is good for a .481 slugging% and a .903 OPS. Nino also has very good speed (5-6 SB) and his L/R split is .333/.323. He hits .387 with RISP, but his 7 errors in 19 games is a little worriesome. Better D would give him an A+.

26th pick. Ryan Doolittle, RHP, Cumberland County College (D-)

Rookie League: 19.2 ip, 27 hits, 5.49 era, 11:5 k/bb, .342 bba

Flat out: he is getting hit and hit hard. Luckily, he has only allowed 1 HR, but the little Doolittle might be in over his head to this point. Maybe he will bounce back a la his brother.

EDIT: the rankings are solely by numbers. certain players such as Dixon, House, and Barfield were altered due to potential or, in Barfield's case, an awful slugging% for a power bat

EDIT: I am not ranking them as prospects, its their production up to this point. Obviously its to early to judge them as a prospect....

Keep pitchers; trade Beane

yubajim — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:56:13 -0000

Enough "Moneyball." It's time the A's stop being a major league training grounds for pitchers. Spend some money and keep them. They keep trying to save money by bringing up minor leaguers and paying them minimum salaries, or signing "Over the Hill" position players at low salaries, all for the sake of "Moneyball."

It's no wonder they can't attract fans. Quit getting ride of the quality pitchers and spend some money to sign a couple of infielders, such as good first and third basemen, and they might start winning again, and then the fans will return.

A good way to start this entire process, trade someone, trade Beane!

DLD 7.24.8 Even Losses Are Better Than Off Days

ArakSOT — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:43:54 -0000

For me, anyway. Maybe for the team a rare day off will be just what the doctor ordered, but for me, it sucks. What am I supposed to do, rent a movie?

Baseball Prospectus is free this week. If you're as cheap as I am, you might want to take advantage. Otherwise, you'd have to pay to read what Christina Kahrl has to say about our latest moppet, Brooks Conrad:

It's hard to say that makes him a backup shortstop, but having just sent down Gregorio Petit and electing to cut Murphy loose for not being the next Mark Ellis-style minor bit of pilferage from the Royals, they're definitely in Weaver territory as far as having their backup shortstop at a Triple-A affiliate TBNL.

Of course, one of my BP favorites, The Week in Quotes, is always free:

With Huston, he's got a lot of major league experience and he's only 24 years old, so a guy like Huston would definitely fit into what we're trying to re-create here down the road."
--A's general manager Billy Beane

At least when baseball returns, Ellie will too.

That's about as much baseball as I can muster links for. Here is a random link about a great ape escape:

In the end Ichiro was tempted down with a banana, and zoo staff were able to tranquilize him safely.

I just know there's a joke there, somewhere.

Off Days are long and slow. Please help by contributing links.

I hate this team...

FoolshGame22 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:25:18 -0000

No, seriously... I do. They are crap! Always losing the close games. Run differential should put us in 1st place. Pythagoras lies. Let's face it, we need more hitters. Do we have any on the horizon in the next 3 years?

Who is batting cleanup today, Bob? Emil Brown? Well, no... hopefully, after this year, it'll be Jack Cust for us. But, maybe that's only if Billy doesn't decide to re-sign the RBI Machine to a long term extension after he leads us in RBI this year.

I taught my kid to love the A's.... he's 2 1/2 years old. "Let's go to a ballgame, daddy!" I don't take him to watch them anymore. It's too depressing. (And, I don't want him to watch batters strike out looking... I actually want him to swing when he gets to T-Ball.)

I was kinda excited when Brooks Conrad got the callup... what's he now? 0 for everything? What a fool was I? I'm still rootin' for ya, Brooks. But, seriously, would Brooks or Wes or Jack or Huston be on any other major league roster?

Nevertheless, I want to see all all the vets gone... every last one.

Huston Street as a closer, for christ sake! The guy can barely throw a fastball over 82 MPH. He should be the first to go... Ellis next. And, finally, when some team is totally desperate... Duke, because we'll get the most for him at the very last minute. Put us out of our misery by July 31st.

I know this isn't worthy of a fAnPoSt... but, I no longer care.

I use "we" and 'us" quite liberally throughout this fAnPoSt... did you notice that?

Edit: Get some hitters, Billy, or see attendance down around the 7,000 per game level.

Turn The Page? It May Be Time On Moneyball!

Goldzone — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:37:48 -0000

With yet another one run loss earlier today and another boatload of strikeouts, the 2008 version of the Athletics are not only a frustrating group, a good many of them are not even major leaguers! And the "Moneyball" theory is not playing out as all had hoped for!

This is course is no surprise to the many green and gold faithful who have in many cases called this group a AAAA quality team. It is now painfully clear that this group way overachieved in the first half of this campaign and things are now balancing out!

I give Bob Geren and his staff props for keeping things going in the first few months despite having questionable talent on the field! But the braintrust is not without fault! Far from it!, A few weeks back I made a post referring to the resting of key players such as Suzuki and Sweeney in key games that at the time mattered greatly! Well, as I stated then, they could rest in less important games down the road when things either looked rosier or bleaker! Well now they look very bleak and Geren can go ahead and rest those players as well as others all he wants! So the point is they should have fielded a full complement of their key players in games such as the final one in Anaheim and the final one against the White Sox a few weeks back! Both were very winnable games and games that would not just have mattered in the standings, but mattered from a confidence perspective as well. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so! Rest up all you want now guys!, You're out of the race!

As mentioned, there are several major leaguers on the A's but there are also several minor leaguers as well as major leaguers that should be walking a beat in the National League where they can be successful. I will list a few here....

1. Jack Hannahan- Clearly no more than AAA American League and possibly pine rider in NL.

2.Jack Cust- Despite power, were it not for the DH he would be back in AAA. I would think he could excel in the NL, but without the DH he should be basically a pine rider in AL or playing in Sacramento.

3.Bobby Crosby- Starter in NL; Back up at best in AL. despite promising start to his career.

4.Daric Barton- Puzzling season... Should be continuing to make a mark at AAA to mature. Jury is still out!

5.Ryan Sweeney- Solid American League starter. Strong accurate swing; smart and swift baserunner; very good outfielder. Future Star?

6. Carlos Gonzalez- Basically should be in AAA still, however he has five tool potential and now that the A's are out of it, I am glad he is working in centerfield in Oakland.

7.Mark Ellis- Starter in AL or NL. However, he is a complementary player that relies on an excellent lineup to maximize his potential. And unfortunately he will not get that in Oakland consistently enough to be successful. Should leave after this season to raise the level of his game elsewhere.

8.Kurt Suzuki- Solid American League starter and potentially a future star. However, there is a concern from my vantage point that he wears down to quickly and needs some hand holding. I could be mistaken about that! So only time will tell, but either way he is great!

9.Matt Murton- Solid hitter in the National League; back up at best in the AL.

10.Emil Brown- Pinch hitter and back up in either league. Although something tells me if he was told that he would be in left field everyday he could produce and prove people wrong.

11. Rajai Davis- :Potential NL Starter; AA or AAA in American League.

The others not listed are either currently disabled or too young to make a fair assessment at this stage. As far as Thomas and Chavez are concerned, both are stars in either league when healthy, but both should hang up the cleats!

I will take a look at the pitchers in my next post, but looking at this meager lineup it is truly amazing that we are still over .500! So we basically have three or four players that are quality starters in the AL and some that are backups and or should be playing in the National League. If it wasn't for the pitching where would we be??? But with the recent trades, that will now surely take a hit as well.

The future clearly has some bright spots but it may be time to scrap some of the "moneyball" ideals of the past and move forward. Because the A's are not playing by the "moneyball" rules anyway. The theory is valid and has given us A's suppporters several winning years, but if we want to move forward and start scoring runs, Billy Beane may want to move away from plate discipline hitters and back to seeing if the wack and attack hitters of old can get us over the hump! The sand in the "moneyball" hourglass could very well be down to it's final few grains!

Well, another horrible offensive series.

JamesCaprio — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:47:12 -0000

I know I am probably about the billionth person to complain about the offense, but what I want to ask is if there is any trade or FA signing this off-season that will actually help us become contenders again. Obviously we can pitch we have about 10 good starters coming up, but really where is the hitting in the minors. The best guys (age included) that I find are in either AA or A ball and even then we really seem to lack that cornerstone offensive player. Sure we have a group of guys that can hit maybe 20 bombs and steal 30 bags, or the players that will hit .220 with 30 bombs. I just don't see the Big Mac, Giambi, or Tejada anywhere in our farm close to being ready for the majors. This isn't to say we don't have a talented farm system.

So does anybody think we may sign somebody like Pat Burrell this off-season to give us a chance to contend again? I personally think he may not be such a bad sign, but his price tag is going to be high and it seems that most of our offensive talent lies in the outfield. I know it is unlikely that we can legitimately contend for a WS next year, but it would be a nice change of pace to score some runs. I also know that it is usually the best move to sit and wait for the minors to develop, but by the time we develop our minors will this pitching be gone?

So if somebody sees a solution please tell me. Also what level is this Inoa/Iona (sp?) going to play at?

Barton yesterday said

BlueMoon — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:27:35 -0000

that he is looking forward to regaining his confidence at Sacramento by tuning up his swing against minor league pitching. Too bad he had to jump head-first into 3 feet of water to get the A's to make this move. Hitting 220 with no power and the most errors of any 1st baseman in MLB wasn't enough?

I'm all for the A's youth movement provided the guys are ready. It's been obvious for quite some time that this excellent prospect isn't quite ready. Hopefully he'll regain his stroke and return to the A's when he's ready.

The All Purpose, All In One Trade and Rosterbation thread

Zonis — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:09:19 -0000

With so many trade threads floating around, with three threads per new rumor, and five hundred for each trade, I thought I would take a leaf out of Viva El Birdos and go with a single Trade Rumor and Discussion thread to keep track of all the potential roster moves our Athletics might make with out having a new thread for each one.

Here are our primary trade candidates, and rumors thus far about them. I'll expect AN to fill in the rest when the next wave of rumors come in.

RHP Huston Street - Closer
Rumored Teams Interested: White Sox, Mets, Brewers, Dodgers, Devil Rays, Reds.
Street's value is in flux right now. After a string of good outings, Street's blown three saves in a row and there are concerns, at least on AN, that he might be hiding another injury. The Brewers sent their special assistant to the GM to scout Street, and instead of a clean save over the Yankees, he saw Street not only get bailed out of getting a loss by a baserunner tripping over his own feet, but saw Street give up a series of hits, blow the save, and send the game into extra innings. The Brewers in turn said they were not interested in Street any longer. The Devil Rays have been rumored for Street for a while now, being linked to a possible Huston Street and Matt Murton package, but no news has come from that angle in a while. The Dodgers are looking for relief help after losing their closer, though Broxton can probably fill in for them. The Dodgers probably have the prospects the A's (or at least AN) covets most; Andy LaRoche and Ivan De Jesus to name a couple. The Mets have also been rumored by Ken Rosenthal.

RHP Justin Duchscherer - Starter
No rumored teams in specific, though you can probably say that just about every team in need of pitching would be interested in the MLB ERA Leader. The number of teams that he could be dealt with is too long to even speculate a list on, though the Cardinals are the last of the 3 NL Central teams vying for the title that have not made a huge pitching deal, 4 if you count the Reds and the Volquez/Hamilton deal.

LHP Alan Embree - Relief Pitcher
Veteran relievers are apparently in demand right now, so again, Embree could be linked to any number of relief hungry teams, most likely the White Sox I would say. No idea on his worth though, and he might be destined to be a throw in for a bigger trade.

RHP Keith Foulke - Relief Pitcher
See Alan Embree, though Foulke's injury history probably makes his value much less than Embree. Then again, he's also making almost nothing.

RH Mark Ellis - Second Base
Ellis is average offensively, and awesome defensively. But who exactly needs Ellis? The Rockies probably arn't interested anymore. The Dodgers? The best bet is probably the Cardinals. Perhaps a huge blockbuster for Rasmus isn't that far fetched after all? Ken Rosenthal thinks that Ellis would be a good for the Cardinals, but thinks that the A's want to extend Ellis and keep him, despite the recent acquisitions of Eric Patterson, Jamile Weeks and Adrian Cardenas.

RH Bobby Crosby - Short Stop
AN has been disenfranchised with Crosby for quite some time now, and even though Crosby's offensive numbers do not look quite as bad these days, it is only for a combination of two things; 1) the A's offense sucks that much and 2) Short Stops, AL in particular, are no longer hitting like the SS's of old. Tejada is in the NL, Jeter's gone a sucking, ARod is at 3B for some reason, and Garciaparra is a cripple. The Dodgers are in need of a shortstop, as are the Cardinals.

RH Emil Brown - Outfield
Could be picked up by a team in search for a warm body. Or a team with an extra body bag that they feel would go to waste if they just threw it out.

SH Rob Bowen - Catcher
Simply because Catchers are always in demand. The Yankees just lost Posada to the DL, and could be in the market, and we sure as hell are not using Bowen much.

RH Matt Murton - Outfield
Rumored with Street with the Devil Rays, there hasn't been much coming from Murton these days, be it rumors or offense. Perhaps they are connected? I still believe he is as likely to be a throw-in in a deal with the A's as he was with the Rich Harden trade.

Scorecard:
Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to CHC for Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton and Sean Donaldson.

Joe Blanton to PHI for Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman, Matt Spencer.

Mark Kosay to ATL for Joey Devine, Jamie Richmond.

Nick Swisher to CWS for Gio Gonzalez, Ryan Sweeney, Fautino De Los Santos.

Dan Haren and Conor Robertson to ARZ for Brett Anderson, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith.

Marco Scutaro to TOR for Graham Godfrey, Kristian Bell.

DLD 7.23.08 Do They Have Pizza in What?

Leopold Bloom — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:22:16 -0000

Wakey, wakey--eggs and bac-y. Clearly, Quentin gives all the best lines to Michael Madsen and Sam Jackson. You've got a 9:40am start today. Shoot, by the time you're ready to wake up and listen to some KK call some BB, I'm almost ready for lunch. Work precludes my attendance today, so I thought I'd drone on endlessly in a DLD instead.

My pleas to the Baseball Gods on Monday proved to be both productive and cathartic. It also seemed to touch upon the world of pizza, one of my favoritest things (hey, I love the pie, but I also love the MILFs...). But I want to go deeper.

First we have to ask why talk about pizza? This is, after all, a baseball blog. With the way our boys have played (sans last evening), we need a big slice of comfort. And while this asshat may have felt that April was the cruelest month, I vote that for at least half of the baseball faithful, July proves to be the front-runner of that race. While we writhe in the discomfort of not really running in this race, let us discuss more important matters. Namely, pizza.

(As an aside, in order to be an intellectual snob, it's important to note that T.S. does not stand for Totally Shy or Totally Sexy, and while referring to him as such in the early eighties may have scored you wow points [aka cultural capital] with the intelligencia, today it is a dead giveaway that you read authors who never quite lived up to their potential [in a sad, Dan Johnson kinda way] or you watch way too many old Robin Williams movies. In either case, chances are that they will type out anagrams to one another, making fun of your clothes and your cat's name. They are all laughing at you, secretly, behind your back. There's nowhere to run.)

But...pizza, yes, we were discussing pizza. We need a consensus. I come from the mean streets of South Bend, Indiana originally (part of that article says that South Bend averages 293 days a year of cloudy or partly cloudy skies. They're not lying--it is always OVERCAST there--imagine Seattle, but much more repressed, much less heroin and significantly hotter or colder, as the season dictates), and in South Bend, we were partial to a now-defunct place by the name of Rathskeller, which is a German name, but served Italian food--yes, Indiana was and remains very, very confused. Also, when we'd go see the A's try to beat those damned South Siders, we'd waddle on up to Gino's East, before it whored itself out and became the corporate soulless entity it is today. That was the best pizza I've ever had, Gino's East in the days of the five-story flat on Superior. It is now defunct.

Upon my return to Chicago in 2005, parked on the South Side like i was, I was partial to Medici on 57th (they had the best crusts--best bread--they owned a bakery too, and they let you write on the walls too, just like old Gino's East) and, strangely a thin-crust place by the name of Italian Fiesta Pizzeria. See, I'm partial to Chicago style pizza, and while I will admit that New York style does have its merits, you're not making the poll. So there. Vote early, vote often.

A couple more links:

It could be worse. Posnanski reminds us that at least we don't have Jimmy Gobble.

I'm not sure, but this may be the coolest thing I've ever seen online: in honor of Monkeyball, who may have actually wrote it.

I understand that Fergalicious is about making them boys go loco. But what exactly puts the boys on rock, rock? I mean, I understand it's F to the E and she keeps her body vicious (by apparently spending way too much time in an Olivia Newton-John-themed gym). But what the hell does putting the boys on rock, rock mean? Can someone explain?

What any of this has to do with baseball is beyond me. But it's gotta feel good to win a game now, don't it, AN? Feel free to dump. Let's get those pesky Rays today. Baseball Gods, are you with me?

Poll