For the second time in less than 48 hours, AN receives the dubious benefit of my writer's block.  You're oh so welcome.  My PayPal account is the same as the email address in my profile.

A little over a month ago, this diary... fanpost... diFaNarypOsT... asked whether the A's should have any interest in Mark Mulder.  There was a good discussion in the comments, including minor league possibilities, and the poll was pretty evenly split.

Since then, we're down two LHPs (I think).  This morning, while following a link to Fox Sports about Rafael Furcal, I also saw this:

Mulder: Coming along

Free-agent left-hander Mark Mulder, rehabilitating from a pair of shoulder operations, is making significant progress in his recovery, according to his agent, Gregg Clifton.

After the Cardinals bought Mulder out for $1.5 million, he began working with two new personal trainers, one of whom is Paul Hospenthal, a longtime acquaintance of Mulder's who is the husband of race-car driver Danica Patrick.

Clifton said that Mulder's shoulder is fine, but that he is just now starting to build "functional strength" — in other words, the muscles that will enable him to pitch successfully again.

Mulder, 31, will not begin throwing until December, but could prove a reasonable one-year risk for a team in need of starting pitching.

If I remember correctly, Paul Hospenthal is the guy who rehabbed Mark Ellis' shoulder following its demolition and subsequent non-surgery in 2004.  We know that Ellis didn't regain his full throwing strength (at least not to the point that he would have been able to function again as a regular shortstop), but his prognosis at the time Hospenthal began working with him was horrible.  Horrible for an athlete, anyway, as in "early retirement and probable limited use of that arm at all."

So do we think this is just November agent-speak on Mulder's behalf, or could this be an encouraging development where the A's might want to consider taking "a reasonable one-year risk?"

Last month, my mom and I went to Cape Cod for a family wedding.  Since the mom enjoys seeing presidential libraries and such, we went to the JFK Museum in Hyannis.  In a moment of serendipity, we found out that the Cape Cod Baseball League's Hall of Fame and Museum had just opened in the basement of the JFK Museum last July.

We ventured on down...

I got excited... (yeah, I know... no real relation, but you have to admit they have a great logo and mascot!)

The hallway as you exited the elevator...

 
 
...and I saw that they had some leftover media guides for the Wareham Gatemen.  I grabbed one, thumbed through it, and what should I see....

Nice to hear what he's up to. :)

This off-season presents an interesting situation at the 6-hole, where several teams could potentially swap shortstops and more than 25% of the league is in need of an upgrade.

Here are eight players who might be available and could be considered starting shortstops:

Free Agents:  Rafael Furcal, Edgar Renteria, Orlando Cabrera, Cesar Izturis

Trade Candidates:  Bobby Crosby, Julio Lugo, Yunel Escobar, Khalil Greene

(Note:  Two notable omissions here are J.J. Hardy of the Brewers and Jack Wilson of the Pirates.  Wilson makes $7.5 million next year and is less attractive than these eight; Hardy I left off purely because I doubt he's realistically available at this point. Next year, after Alcides Escobar has spent some time in AAA, I could see him being traded. But not yet.) 

The next list is six teams in need of shortstop upgrades:

A's, Dodgers, Tigers, Orioles, Giants, Cardinals

(Some notes here:  The White Sox have said publicly that they are very likely to give their vacant shortstop job to Alexei Ramirez.  The Cubs made inquiries initially with Furcal, but Dempster's signing and Ryan Theriot's success make that extremely unlikely.)

I'll add the Braves and the Padres to this list, only on the possibility that the two teams eventually consummate a Jack Peavy trade and Yunel Escobar is inevitably involved.

8 teams, 8 players - where will they go, and why?

Furcal - A's.  We've written thousands of words about this already.

Renteria - Cardinals.  Seems destined for a return to the NL.  Cardinals want more offense than they've had at the position.

O. Cabrera - Dodgers.  They have money to spend, but seem interested in starting an SS to a shorter-term deal than Furcal, so as to not block their SS prospects.

Izturis - Orioles.  They're stressing defense and won't be an attractive option to any of the top 3 FA's.  No sense in playing major bucks for Cabrera or Renteria, anyway.

Lugo - traded to the Tigers, in a swap for Dontrelle Willis (who could then be re-routed to the Rangers or to the NL by the Red Sox in exchange for a catcher or prospect, perhaps).

Escobar - traded to the Padres in a Jake Peavy trade, as part of a huge package

Greene - traded to Atlanta along with Peavy, with Atlanta absorbing all salary and giving up 4-5 prospects.  Greene played his college ball in the South (Clemson) and might experience a mini-renaissance in a better hitter's park. 

Crosby - traded to the Giants(?) This one's admittedly wishcasting.  But I see some semblance of a fit: he's a life-long Californian, he might hit a lot of doubles in that park, and the Giants won't want to enter the year with Burriss as their primary option.  Crosby wouldn't be their first or even second choice, but this is assuming they missed out on two of their favorite options (Furcal, Renteria).

I could also see Renteria to the Giants, Crosby to the Orioles, and Izturis re-upping with the Cards. 

*I think part of why the A's are trying to strike quickly with Furcal is to eliminate the Dodgers from the bidding.  If the Dodgers are still waiting for the C.C. Sabathia and Manny dominoes to fall, they're probably reluctant to commit major money elsewhere, in hopes that they might still land one of those pieces.

But where do YOU see these eight guys landing?

Here is an article from mlbtraderumors.com saying that baltimore has expressed interest in Bobby Crosby.

What are your guys' thoughts?

What kind of package do you think we can expect? Crosby has underpreformed but is a former ROY and entering his physical prime in age, and maybe a change of scenery can put at him at where he was projected at the beginning of his career.

What Furcal implications does this suggest?

Thoughts?

Link

The Warriors pick up Jamal Crawford from the Knicks in a swap for Al Harrington. I like the deal. What do you guys think? The Warriors have drafted two clones of Harrington in the last two years (well one in a trade pick and then the draft last year) so it makes him a little more expendable. Crawford is an up tempo guy who is a play maker. It will make the Warriors pretty exciting to watch.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Avu6BvQCkS5VV8pGPc6kIW45nYcB?slug=ap-knicks-warriorstrade&prov=ap&type=lgns

The performance of Nick Swisher with Chicago and his sequence of transactions (A's/Sox/Yankees) seems reminiscent of A.J. Pierzynski's time with San Francisco (Twins/Giants/Sox).

I argue that the Pierzynski for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonzer is one of the worst trades in MLB history...it certainly looked more certain before Liriano's arm troubles.  Pierzynski's poor showing in SF combined with what the Giants gave up - eventual #1 and #3 starters and a premier closer - could possibly mirror Chicago's experience with Nick Swisher - receing a year's worth of service and eventual relegation to the bench in exchange for #1 and #3 starters and a premiere outfielder (obviously I'm forecasting here).

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081120&content_id=3687188&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp

mlb.com is reporting that the White Sox have reached a reported 4 year, $11 million deal with Dayan Viciedo, the cuban defect super-prospect that many ANers had their eye on.  The White Sox have always been the front runners in that race, but that didn't stop a lot of us from wishing in light of the deal the A's gave Michel Inoa.

In light of this, what's the A's best plan for 3rd base?  Should they go with the Chavez/Hannahan plan like last year considering that Chavez seems so optimistic about his rehab?  Perhaps make a play for Joe Crede, or more attractively, Josh Fields?  Should the A's begin grooming Adrian Cardenas to play 3rd base?  Discuss!

I know there are a bunch of Sharks fans on AN, so I wanted to make sure that I directed you to the Sharks site we have for SB Nation.  It's called Fear the Fin and we have a new blogger over at the site. 

Almost all of our Bay Area blogs are amongst the most well trafficked blogs on SB Nation, so I wanted to make sure that Mr. Plank got his fair share of promotion since I've promoted the other Bay Area blogs a bunch of times.  Oh and don't forget that AN's very own saint is still running the show at Silver and Black Pride.  And now that basketball season is in full swing, you can also visit our boys at Golden State of Mind.  Go ahead and pay them a visit.

As for hockey, I'm just glad that SB Nation finally has a New Jersey Devils blog.  I had nothing to do with the naming of that blog but I do trust Lou Lamoriello much in the same way that I trust Billy Beane.

Hey, "It's the offseason" is no excuse!

I'm dozing off.  I can't write coherently when I'm this sleepy.  "Then why the hell are you writing something on AN that everyone will see, Poppy?"  Because somebody has to, and it's not going to have any impact on my GPA, that's why.

Wait.  "My GPA."  Huh.  Whattayaknow!  I *DO* care about stats!

So what don't we know today?  I don't know what we don't know.  Y'know?  I'll just throw a few links and see if they bounce or something.

Dugout Central picks Joey Devine as one of 2009's Impact Youngsters.  Joey placed 6th in ROY voting?  I did not know that.  I bet you guys did.

The A's are still looking at Rafael Furcal:  "...the team has seen Furcal's medical reports and has been assured that he has fully recovered."  Yeah, okay.  By whom, exactly?  By who?  Whom?  Who?  Meh.  (That article was in this morning's Chron, btw... have we signed him in the meantime?  You guys  must know.)

What the HELL is the issue with SoCal Metrolink operators or controllers or whatever?  Do you know?

As of today, the Yugo Era is over.  [moment of silence]  I didn't know that it hadn't already ended.

"This is driving in its most natural form. You feel every bump, squeak and jolt, and one can enjoy the sweet smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes,"

said some Serbian dude, probably in an incredibly sexy accent that, had I heard the words spoken, would have completely distracted me from what an idiotic sentiment that is.

"Twilight" being released tomorrow!  Woohoo!  What the fuck is "Twilight"?!

Okay.  It's no longer November 20 in most of the rest of the world, and I'm going to go have a nap before I have to start work.

via failblog.files.wordpress.com

I originally posted this on my blog, but I figured I'd get better readership here.  Oh, and probably more people poking holes in my thoughts. ;) Be gentle! I am by no means close to the skills of grover or salb918 or the other Staturday folks!

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A recent post on the Beyond the Boxscore blog pointed me to another blog entry on Statspeak called Building a sabermatrician's workbench. And as the web will do, I was then pointed to Baseball-Databank.org.

I'm not new to MySQL databases or SQL queries, but the existence of a free baseball database was news to me, so I downloaded and imported the beast. It's quite an interesting blob of data and you can use it to analyize and discover tidbits about your favorite teams and players.

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