The guy who plays when Eric Chavez doesn't

As per Ken Rosenthal Nomar Garciaparra is currently choosing between Oakland and nobody, and by nobody I mean retirement. Having Nomar sure would beat the hell out of trotting Hannahan out there, but there are still of couple of issues I have with the signing.

One. It doesn’t really sound like Nomar actually wants to play. If the A’s are in the tank by June I could see the 34-year-old going the way of Todd Walker. Then again, if the A’s suck, who cares if their backup third baseman is any good.

Two. Picking up Nomar would kind of be like signing one guy who's always injured to replace another guy who's always injured. That doesn't really make any sense.

In the end, I say give Nomar a non-guaranteed deal for one million or less. If he’s healthy, awesome. If he’s not, here’s to hoping that Baisley/Dillon aren’t right handed versions of Jack Hannahan.

Speaking of right handers, what about this now completely hindsight/impossible option. On February 2nd I wrote this:

“So what do you think? Should the A’s throw 3 or 4 million at Wigginton to be a super-utilityman?

Like two days after that the Orioles did exactly what I predicted the A’s wouldn’t do: sign the 31-year-old to a two-year contract at three million per to be a lefty-masher. Three million might be a tad exepensive for a bench player, but I think there would be plenty of at-bats to be had. Suggesting Wigginton could fill in for Ellis might have been delusional, but he could backup the corners and even play right against tough lefties.

Anyways, I guess I'm just asking the same question as before, except now it includes one hypothetical answer:

Nomar
Wigginton
Baisley
Dillon
Hannahan
Other

Please explain.

The Steroid Witch Hunt: Part I

Editor's note: The following is the first in what I hope will become an ongoing series.

Obviously Bud Selig and the rest of his cronies have no intention of rating out all the players who ever stuck a needle in their nether-region. Think about it. We recently learned that 104 players tested positive for PEDs back into 2003, and so far we have one name.

Luckily, Bud’s got a pretty sweet excuse to fall back on. Those tests were collectively-bargained to be anonymous, and for the sake of labor relations, it’s probably best if they stay that way. But all this commie-uniony-type stuff isn’t going to appease the masses.

So maybe some intern could just leave the list lying around the league's Midtown offices. That way the public gets the names and Don Fehr deosn't get to complain. But until that happens, I’m going to take matters into my own hands, because clearly the commish just doesn’t have the stones.

I’m going to call guys out one by one. I’m going to make them pay. Just like A-Rod. So let’s begin.

Player One: John Jaha. You sir, did steroids.

John made it to the Majors in 1992 at the ripe old age of 26. He was pretty awful that year—.226/.291/.308—but that was just 147 at-bats. No conclusions to be drawn here. The next year John saw more than 500 at-bats, swatted 19 homers and had a .753 OPS. Not great, but also not 1992.

1994 was more of the same. A mid-.700s OPS and decent power. John was 28 by now and there was no reason to think he would get dramatically better. He would probably be a useful power bat off the bench for the next few years, but nothing more. But wait.

In 1995 Jaha was suddenly really good. He only made it into 88 games, but he slashed .313/.389/.579. Project that out over a full season and this guys an All-Star. And then in 1996 Jaha actually was an All-Star. Well, technically he wasn’t, but he probably should have been. 34 homers. 118 RBI! A .968 OPS. Holy crap John Jaha, who are you?

In 1997, however, Jaha was mostly injured and in 1998 he mostly sucked. Then in 1999 John came to Oakland and met Jason, Miggy and Randy, and suddenly he remembered how to hit a baseball. Like really far. That season was arguably the best of his career. 35 bombs. 101 walks. A .970 OPS. He made the All-Star Team, and was even named the league’s comeback player of the year. And all of this at the age of 33! What would Jaha do next?

Pretty much absolutely nothing. In the following two seasons Jaha crumbled into a pile of injuries and ineffectiveness. In 2000 and 2001 he left the park just once, and hit .175 and .089 respectively. So, at the age of 35 the Great Jaha was no more.

But 1999. I will always remember 1999.

The Chris Singleton Award

I still remember being utterly befuddled when I found out Billy Beane had signed Chris Singleton just two days before Christmas of 2002. It was the same sick feeling I had in my stomach when I learned that Beane had inked Emil Brown to a contract last offseason. Really? This guy? Does he haaave to be on our team? Yes, Karl. Yes he does.

But then spring training came around and something wonderful happened. Chris Singleton got injured! Sure it was only a minor strained hamstring or something, but still, it meant Singleton wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. But then something terrible happened. Singleton actually wasn’t that injured and he played on the first day of the season anyways.

I don’t remember much about Singleton’s 2003, but I do remember that he always seemed incredibly slow for such a fast guy. And that swing. Uhh. So weak. Those hands. So slow.

Looking back at the stats—.245/.301/.340—Chris actually wasn’t as bad as I had hoped he had been. I mean, he cracked the mythical .300 OBP plateau, and statistically, he wasn’t even the worst outfielder on the roster that season. No, not by a long stretch. That honor belonged to Jermaine Dye and his .514 OPS. Although, Dye had torn cartilage in his knee and a separated shoulder, so then again, maybe Singleton was.

Local product, or not, I just never liked the guy. From the day he signed until the day he was released. I never had any intention of giving Chris a chance. It didn’t matter what he did, or what kind of stats he put up. I just didn't want him on the team. In fact, you might say that Chris Singleton is my least favorite Athletic ever. Ryan Langerhans and Rich Becker are up there too, but Singleton, he’s number one.

So what about you? Who’s your least favorite player to ever don the green and gold? Rational loathing welcome, although a mix of the rational and the irrational will probably work out best.

Jason Giambi and the hometown discount

Last season Jason Giambi made 21 million dollars in the final year of a 7-year, 120 million dollar deal. This year Giambi will make 5.25 million, which incidentally is the exact same as what Bobby Crosby will make in 2009. Anyways, that's a huge pay cut. Sure, Giambi was wildly overpaid during the final few years of his mega-deal, but still, that's crazy. He will be making 75% less in 2009 than he did in 2008.

Has that ever happened before? I'd look it up, but I don't even know where to begin. I'd imagine other players have dealt with similar pay slashes, but damn, that's got to be right up there.

Obviously, the implosion of the free agent market didn't leave Giambi with many other options besides the A's offer, but I suspect there might have been another factor at work. Namely that 5 million dollar buyout check that the Yankees cut Giambi earlier this winter. So thanks George, or Hank, or Hal, or whoever it was that signed on the dotted line. Thanks.

Eric Chavez, you're dead to me

It's amazing the type of insight you can glean from reading that little rotoworld widget over there on the sidebar. Like for example, the fact that Eric Chavez will not be your Opening Day starting third baseman in Anaheim. Okay. So I made that up, but the logic is pretty irrefutable.

Chavez to miss first week of Spring Training. Chavez falls behind and doesn't get enough at-bats. Chavez suffers "mild" setback. Chavez to be out one week. Chavez mysteriously needs surgery. Chavez absconds to desert island. Chavez never heard from again.

So long of the short, what's your guess for number of games played by Eric Chavez in '09? I say 83. I'd show you the math, but it's really quite advanced. Here's to hoping I'm overly pessimistic.

Update. 9:33 PM. Brad Ziegler has been named to the USA WBC team. Should be an awesome experience for Ziggy, but I really do not like this news. Out of Devine, Casilla and Ziegler, I definitely think Brad is the least likely to injury himself/ruin his '09, but even still, I'd much rather he spent the month of March in the greater Phoenix area.

Did you know about this?

Last summer I made a point of making it out to Stockton to check out the A’s Single-A squad. I mean, the team was absolutely stacked. Cahill. Anderson. H. Rodriguez. Italiano. Leon. Demel. Lansford. Doolittle. Donaldson. Carter. Brown. Cardenas. The list goes on.

By the time I made it to Banner Island Park, a lot of those guys had been promoted, or in the case of Cahill, Anderson and Leon were no longer even in the country, but still, there was plenty to see. In particular, I wanted to get a look at the Donaldson, Carter and Brown. This post is about Corey Brown, however, so I’m not going to talk anymore about those other guys.

The warm August night that I watched the Ports play, Corey launched two homers and stuck out in his other two at-bats. A pretty good microcosm of his 2008. Last year Corey was one of just two A’s farm hands to swat thirty jacks. Of course, he also struck out 168 times in 565 plate appearances. That’s almost exactly thirty percent of the time, and also good for fourth in all of the Minors.

Corey’s the kind of prospect that nobody knows what to make of. He could be the next Mike Cameron, or he might never make it out of Double-A. Recently, however, I’ve soured quite a bit on Corey, and it doesn’t have a thing to do with that damned long swing of his.

A little while back while doing some research for another piece I stumbled across this little nugget, and by little nugget, I mean, OH MY GOD. You morally reprehensible sick son of a bitch. Half of you didn’t click on the link, and the other half of you will only skim the story so I’ll give you the one sentence summary as per Slusser:

“Three years ago, Brown pleaded no contest to felony battery in a case involving group sex with a 14-year-old girl.”

After reading the story, I feel like I know Corey Brown. He went to my high school. Well, not exactly, but my school definitely had a Corey Brown. I bet yours did too. You might have even heard similar stories, hopefully not as terrible as this one, but similar nonetheless.

When I read this story the first time I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I know Corey was only seventeen when this took place, but this isn’t just the kind of mistake you make once. You either are that guy, or you aren’t. Corey, I’m afraid, is.

So, I’ve got to admit, suddenly I’m a lot less excited about this 23-year-old center field prospect with 30 homer potential. I know there have been a lot of bad guys who’ve played the game. Shit, I’m sure I’ve even rooted for a few. But rape, that’s worse than bad. And after reading this story that’s sure what it sounds like.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I won’t be so upset if Corey gets eaten alive by Double-A pitching next year. It’s not like I'll be rooting against the guy, but at the same time, if all the K’s suddenly catch up with him, well, I’ll just shrug.

So what do you think? Am I overreacting? Does this change your opinion of Corey as a prospect and possibly a future Athletic? Did you already know about this? Am I just making a big deal out of, well, a big deal? Please explain below.

Jerome Williams

Mychael Urban has a nice piece up on the A's official website about the big Hawaiian. I'd forgotten how young he was when he first made it to the Majors with the Giants, and I have to say, after reading this I'm definitely going to be keeping a closer eye on the 27-year-old righty.

Sure, I'd love to see one of the young guys step up and grab the fifth spot, but I also wouldn't mind seeing Jerome swoop in. There's a pretty good chance we never hear this guys name after like March 14, but it wouldn't shock me to see him pitch, and pitch well in Oakland in '09.

If a tree falls in the forest...

Have you ever heard the expression: if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Of course, you have. Anyways, I didn't realize until quite recently just how terribly stupid that question really is. I write this blog. Nobody knows it exists, but it sure as hell does. So yea, I heard that tree, and it was loud as hell.

A couple of unrelated thoughts

1) Update to the previous update. Apparently Dunn will be playing first base for the Nationals. My bad Jim. Although, I still think you have a problem. The infallible rotoworld widget suggests that this would mean Nick Johnson is even more available than he already was. Here is my opinion on Johnson. Do. Not. Want. My reasoning:

a) There have been reports that suggest the A’s would be willing to part with Daric Barton to acquire the 30-year-old slugger. Barton is coming off a miserable rookie season. Therefore this would be a classic example of selling low. Never really a good idea.

b) Johnson kind of has a little problem staying healthy. Like a I’ve only accumulated 147 plate appearances since 2006 problem. Sure, the guy has been an on-base and slugging machine when he’s actually out there, but the dude is kind of like Rich Harden. Except instead of being crazy good, he’s just pretty damn good.

Summary: Stash Barton in Triple-A, and wait to add that final piece until later this summer. One, that way you actually target a player who is having a healthy/productive season. Two, that player would theoretically cost less talent to acquire as he would most likely be in his contract year, and would only be on the team for 2ish months.

What do you think? Do you want to see Johnson in Oakland in 2009? I mean, shit, you can never have too many defensively limited, left-handed corner types, right?

2) The A’s have a new TV deal. Comcast has announced that they will be broadcasting 145 of the team’s games next season on CSNCalifornia. They will even have 75 of them in HD. I’m going to make the claim that outside of the Holliday deal this is the team’s biggest acquisition of the offseason. Seriously. This is awesome. TV deals are how baseball teams make serious cash. Hat tip to Lew and his minions.

Quick Note: Exactly how much better did the Angels just get?

According to SI, Bobby Abreu and the Angels have agreed to a one-year, five million dollar deal. Not bad. Not bad at all. Abreu, who turns 35 next month, has been healthy and productive for as long as I can remember. The projections like him to put up something like .280/.375/.440, and he’s apparently headed for the DH spot. Which is a good thing for baseball gloves everywhere when you consider that the defensive metrics have had him in the red since 2004. Last year he was pretty freaking awful. UZR gave him a -25.2.

Abreu probably ends up being a pretty good bargain for the Angels, but at the same time he’s not Mark Teixiera, Manny Ramirez, or even Adam Dunn. I think had the Angels signed anyone of those guys the A’s would have been pretty much screwed. They might still be screwed as it is, but I think they still have a chance. Obviously the A’s will need to have a ridiculous amount of breaks go their way (I’m talking a healthy Giambi/Chavez, and the emergence of a young pitcher type stuff), but I guess Abreu just doesn’t really scare me. So how do you feel about the Abreu addition?

Update. 9:08 PM: Adam Dunn to sign two-year deal with Nationals. I mean, I guess Washington needs another outfielder. Hey, Jim. I think it's time to admit you have a problem. Will be interested to see the terms.

An addendum to the last post

To your right you will see my list of suspected PED users. I last modified the list on 11/14/2007, which was about one month before the Mitchell Report was released. If I bolded a player's name that meant I was certain they were using. Take note of my A-Rod footnote.

Turns out I was only right about 14 out of 24 which means I get a big fat "F." Of course, I think Sweeney should be on the list since Bonds threw him under the bus already, and I can not figure out for the life of me how Luis Gonzalez isn't on there either. Have you seen his forearms? Do you remember 2001? That's just silly. Oh yea, Pete Happy should probably be on there too. And Batista. Don't know what I was thinking about LaRue though. Man that guy sucks.

The post that is not about Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, or any other single player for that matter.

Editor’s note: It’s long. Starts sarcastic. Becomes cynical. Ends conspiratorial. I’m sorry I just don’t know how else to do it.

I haven’t written anything for the past four days. Did you notice? Of course you didn’t, you don’t exist. I’m the only person who knows this blog* even exists. At least I think I am. That would be weird/creepy if you did. Anyways, as I was saying, I was in the south of Spain over the weekend and didn’t really think much about the A’s, or baseball at all for that matter. That is, until really late Saturday night when I was reading the headlines of the NYT. Let’s see. Congress still can’t decide on stimulus plan. More foreclosures in Florida. Afghan leader falling out with White House. 75% of all Russian sales in November were done through barter. Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids.

Hmm. That last one sounds kind of important.

You know what I thought when I read that headline: No, shit. And by no, shit, I mean, wow, I am not in the least bit surprised that A-Rod did steroids. Nope, not one bit. Sounds important, but not surprised. I also thought: hmm I wonder how many headlines will have the phrase “A-Roid” in them tomorrow morning?

So A-Rod did steroids. If you are surprised or angered I feel sorry for you. No, seriously I do. Come on man it was 2003. You did steroids, he did steroids, heck I’m pretty sure I did steroids. I mean, that year I grew five inches, gained forty pounds. Even had a few pimples on my back. Oh wait. That’s called puberty. Never mind.

A brief side note about Rodriguez. Do not give me this crap that A-Rod is a man and that he’s standing up to his mistakes. He’s not. It’s a fact. Let me jog your memory.

Katie Couric: For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance enhancing substances?
Alex Rodriguez: No. I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. And I felt that if I did my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level.

Hm. That’s funny Alex, because I remember you saying this today:

"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.”

“I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

“I felt a tremendous pressure to play, and play really well. I had just signed this enormous contract ... I felt like I needed something, a push, without over-investigating what I was taking, to get me to the next level."

Okay man. We get it. You were feeling some pressure. Take a hit man. Jeez.

Okay back to the story.

But seriously, everybody was doing it. That year 103 players not named Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids. And that number doesn’t even include Barry Bonds. He was clean. Well, the first time at least. 103. That’s a ridiculously high number when you consider that not even every player in the league was tested. The 103+1 just includes the guys who actually got randomly selected.

But when I heard that A-Rod+ 103 had tested positive for steroids there was another number that stuck out. 2003. That’s six years ago. What the fuck MLB? Not cool. Not cool at all. Barry Bonds is about to go to trial next month for something that conservatively 10-15% of his peers were doing. Yea, I know. Bonds isn’t going to trial for roiding, per se, but he probably wouldn’t have lied about it under oath if he had never been under oath in the first place. Kind of like those other 104 guys. (I guess it’s actually 94 since 9 other players were targets of the BALCO investigation.)

But seriously, why are we just now finding out about some drug tests that took place in 2003? Well, if the league and the union had their way, we never would have heard about these tests at all. Apparently, the idea behind the 2003 tests was that they would be used as a survey. If more than 5% of the players tested positive, then the league and the union would actually sort of think about maybe doing something the next year. Turns out 5% had, and it wasn’t even close. Oops. But still, baseball wouldn’t budget. In fact, the only reason why we have these positive tests is because the feds busted into a couple of labs and stole them from some dudes in white coats.

So now A-Rod’s cover is blown, and quite possibly your favorite player’s cover will be blown soon, as well. I don't know who leaked the information, and I don’t really care. A-Rod did steroids and there’s no way around it. One day he will be the all-time homerun king. But there might never be a day when he makes it to Cooperstown. #1 and #2 not in the Hall. But that’s not the only thing Alex and Barry have in common. They also tested positive for the same freaking steroid. Primobolan. Yet Alex is still in the midst of a record-breaking contract and Barry is facing time. By the way, I don’t think that he will ever serve a day.

But this is not about A-Rod. No. No. No. And it’s not about Barry. It’s about baseball. And how arbitrary and ridiculous the whole league is. A-Rod got protected. Barry didn’t. A-Rod was marketable. Barry was a dick. It’s about how in baseball, the bottomline is the bottomline. Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, and the owners and the union and the players are all out there to make as much money as possible. And having a competent drug program impedes that goal. But don’t blame baseball, its just business.

And Bud Selig is a good businessman. If you do not believe me, think about the fact that in the time it takes Bud to drink his coffee in the morning he probably makes more money than you do in a month, maybe a year.

And one last thing. Tom Hicks. Go screw yourself. Hicks to the AP earlier today:

"I feel personally betrayed. I feel deceived by Alex. He assured me that he had far too much respect for his own body to ever do that to himself.”

If by betrayed he means: thank you for all that money you made me when I sold little replica jerseys with your name on the back. Then fine. I take back what I said. But seriously Tom, go fuck yourself. Do you really expect me to believe that you didn’t know Alex was juicing? Have you ever met Jose, Juan or Ivan? Have you ever even watched your team play?

The owners knew about it, the league knew about it, the writers new about it, the union reps knew about it, the players knew about it. Some of the players even knew about the tests.

According to the initial SI report the other day, A-Rod was tipped off by union COO Gene Orza about an upcoming test in 2004. But again he wasn’t the only one.

On Saturday MLB drug czar Rob Manfred had this to say about any such tipping:

“Any allegation of tipping that took place under prior iterations of the program is of grave concern to Major League Baseball, as such behavior would constitute a serious breach of our agreement.”

Grave concern. I agree. That would look quite bad if the public found out you were tipping off select players. Very bad indeed. Oh no. The agreement. It has been breached!




*Spell check is putting that little red scwiggly line…damn it, it’s doing it again. Fine. So I horribly misspelled that word. There. squiggly…underneath the word blog. I guess MS Word doesn’t think blog is a word. Well, guess what dude. It is. Welcome to 2009.

The Aforementioned clusterf@ck

As I alluded to yesterday, the A’s outfield situation is really quite the mess. Matt Holliday has a job. Ryan Sweeney has a job (assuming he doesn’t go all Travis Buck 2008 on us). And Jack Cust will hopefully be staying far away from any baseball gloves in 2009. Once you get beyond those three, however, the picture gets pretty murky.

Travis Buck probably has the inside track to the starting job in right field, but a slow spring, or a popped hammy could easily ruin those plans. After Buck, the team has a handful of guys who are worth keeping around, but who for various reasons you’d really rather not see accumulate 400-500 at-bats next season. So let’s take a look at the list. (Note: I’ve included Buck/Sweeney because I think both could easily play/DL their way out of a job.)

Sweeney-I hope Ryan builds off his fine rookie season, you know, develops that 5 o’clock power into 7:05 power, but I’m not crossing my fingers. I think he’ll be a high average, low OPS guy. Sounds like a perfect trade candidate.

Buck-Travis is a personal favorite of mine so I really hope he bounces back in ’09. If you just pretend 2008 never happened there’s really no reason to think he won’t. Even if everything breaks right for Travis, however, I still see him as kind of a tweener down the line. Dude hits doubles and has a high OPS, but he really doesn’t profile as a corner outfielder. It’s really shame he can’t play center.

Cunningham-I really want to see Aaron force his way into the picture. Of course, I also want to see Buck getting everyday at-bats in right field. Between Buck/Sweeney’s fragility, and a possible Holliday trade, I think it might just happen.

Denorfia-Dude is really close to getting slapped with the dreaded Four-A label. Has hit at every stop in the minors, but has really been screwed by all the injuries. Like Murton, would probably benefit from a move back to the NL.

Davis-Probably has a job as long as Cust/Giambi remain on the roster. Which means for better or worse, his job security is tied to the health/productivity of someone other than himself. Also more of an NL type. I don’t think he would slip through waivers.

Herrera-Outside of his immediate family, I’m probably one of the only people who still believes in Javier. I know he’s endured an Andrew-Jones-like-decline/weight-gain all before the age of 23, but damn, the guys got tools. I really hope he gets a chance in Oakland before he gets the DFA.

Copeland-Sorry dude. Gotta wait in line.

Somewhere Ben Copeland is smiling

I was actually in the process of composing a little piece about the clusterf@ck that is the Oakland outfield when this news hit the wire. Here's what I had written about Murton:

I think keeping Murton in Triple-A is a waste. Check out his 2006 stats if you don't believe me. Dude can hit. I know it. Can he play first? Would probably benefit from a move back to the NL.

In return for Murton, the A's received a 25-year-old second baseman who stole 59 bases last season, but has yet to make it past Double-A. Smells like roster filler to me. Especially in an organization such as Oakland which is suddenly flush with second baseman who project to be at least league average.

Oh well, at least the trade clears up a spot on the 40-man. Welcome to Oakland, Orlando Cabrera.

Orlando Cabrera. ORLANDO CABRERA! Orlando Cabrera?

As you can tell, I’m not quite sure what I think about Orlando Cabrera. I know he’s not Bobby Crosby, which is good. But I also know he’s not Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy, Jimmy Rollins, Yunel Escobar or Rafael Furcal. Hell, he’s probably just a more expensive version of this guy.

This guy, by the way is Ray’s shortstop Jason Bartlett, who signed a one-year deal for about 2 million bucks a couple of weeks ago. Of course, in baseball, if you’re older you’re innately worth more money. Even if the younger guy has eerily similar stats. So carry the 1, add the 2, and according to my calculations Orlando Cabrera is worth something like 3-4 million per year. Oh yea, plus a second round draft pick. So would you make that deal?

I say yes, if only because it would make Brian Sabean look stupid for signing pretty much the same player for more than twice the money and twice the commitment.

Poll options
1-Yes.
2-No. Your analysis is shallow and pedantic. It delves no deeper than slash lines, and takes no account of defensive contributions.
3-No. It will take more dollars and more years to sign Cabrera.

Thinking about the little Athletics: Not another top 10

I was all set to write up my own top 10 prospect list, but as I got to thinking about it I realized that you could find better researched, and often more lengthy lists here, here, here and here. So instead of repeating the same tired exercise I’ve simply picked out 10 players who I’ll be keeping an extra close eye on in 2009.

Note: I’d also suggest keeping a particularly close eye on Corey Brown, but for a completely different reason. Yeesh. Guy’s a creep. Keep him away from your daughters. Seriously.

Rashun Dixon, CF- The guy can absolutely fly. He had 10 triples in 179 Abs last year. That’s insane. Was born in 1990, so will be interesting to see if the A’s start him in full season ball.

Adrian Cardenas, SS/2B-His true abilities have been obscured by the fact that he’s always been really young for his level. With that in mind, why not let him play shortstop for the A’s in ’09? Haha. Just kidding Sabean.

Chris Carter, um-Dude swatted 44 bombs as a 21 year old. Who says Cal League stats are an unreliable predictor of future performance?

Javier Herrera, OF-The guy’s been a prospect since before I was born. I know the outfield is stacked, but I think we will see him in Oakland before the season is out.

Gio Gonzalez, SP-According to the Gio Gonzalez Career Plan ©, the young lefty performs much better his second time around at a given level, which bodes quite nicely for his big league prospects in ’09.

Andrew Bailey, RP-I have a hunch that he will be the first of the organization’s gaggle of relief prospects to make an impact in Oakland.

Vince Mazzaro, SP-Vince strikes me as the underrated/underappreciated type, especially in a pitching heavy organization like Oakland. I think he’ll develop into a solid middle of the rotation innings eater. Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if he made the team out of spring training. Plus I once met him and his dad at the team’s minor league complex and he seemed like a pretty cool dude. Good enough for me.

Nino Leyja, SS-Another guy who missed out on the 80s. I know he’s young, I know he plays shortstop and I know he OPSed .862 last season. I also know that he spent 2008 in the AZL and that he’s still years off.

Josh Donaldson, C-Like Carter, Josh will be looking to prove himself in the upper minors for the first time. If he gets moved off catcher he goes from intriguing to just kind of interesting.

Brett Hunter, SP-Should move fast. Could end up as an over-slot steal. Note: I am hugely in favor of over-slot signings. Did I mention I like over-slot signings? Over-slot signings. I. like.

I also predict that James Simmons will finally complete his seven year indentured servitude in Midland, and join the rotation in Sacramento. You see what I did there? Eh? I said I was only going to talk about ten guys, but I slipped in an eleventh. So whom will you be watching out for in ’09?

MLB's Highest Paid Players from 2007

1. Alex Rodriguez: $23 million
2. Derek Jeter: $22 million
3. Jason Giambi: $21.5 million
   
4. Allan Huber Selig Jr.: $17,470,491 million
5. Roger Clemens: $17,442,637 million

Man. That's weird. I can't find any stats for that Allan Huber guy. Crap. He's making more than the Rocket.

Mike Wuertz is an Athletic

Richie Robnett and Justin Sellers to Chicago. Mike Wuertz to Oakland. I definitely didn't just find out this guy existed ten minutes ago. That is definitely not the case.

Wuertz is a 30-year-old righty, who further solidifies the pen, will only cost a million bucks, and has been solid the past four seasons. Sellers meanwhile is like Pennington Jr., only with a worse bat, while Robnett is, well, like not very good.

Quick Note: Second base, we have a problem

There have been rumblings that Mark Ellis might not be ready to go come opening day. (Just control+f "Ellis" on both of those pages to see what I'm talking about.) Which is really bad news unless your name happens to be Cliff Pennington, Gregorio Petit, Eric Patterson or even Yung Chi Chen or, gulp, Jack Hannahan.

That should be a fun little derby to watch, and by fun little derby I mean: OH MY GOD! My eyes. My retinas. They are bleeding. Why are you doing this to me?

It can't be that bad. Right? They can't all suck. Right?

My money's on MoneyPenny, but I'm hoping for Small.

The Case for Ty Wigginton

If my name were Billy Beane my 2009 opening day lineup would probably look something like this:

Buck-L
Ellis-R
Giambi-L
Holliday-R
Cust-L
Chavez-L
Suzuki-R
Sweeney-L
Crosby-R

We can quibble all you’d like over the exact order, but I feel fairly confident that these are the best nine guys the A’s can trot out there. Now to the assumptions I have made.

One, Travis Buck will win the starting job in right field. Two, Jason Giambi will be able to play the field five days a week. (Note: If my second assumption proves false, then I think Barton gets Buck’s spot, thus sending Giambi and Cust to DH/RF respectively.)

I like that lineup. I really do. I only have two minor problems with it. One, it leans rather heavily to the left (hence my placing Ellis in the second spot). Two, who plays first on the days that Giambi doesn’t? I think these problems might share a common solution.

In my roster construction Daric Barton begins the season in AAA, and stays there until he hits his way out of Sacramento. At first, it might seem like Barton would be the perfect understudy to Giambi, playing first on the days when Jason DHs (Cust to RF, Buck or Sweeney to bench), but that would mean Barton would be spending a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. I don’t like that idea. Barton’s 23. He needs to play everyday. If not in Oakland, might as well be Sacramento.

The other three in-house options would be Jack, Jeff and Joe. I definitely don’t want Hannahan starting twice a week, Baisley is unproven, and Dillon is a minor league journeyman who just doesn’t really inspire much confidence.

Which is where Ty Wigginton enters into the equation. Last season Wigginton OPSed 1.055 against lefties; good for fifth in baseball. So is there a fit in Oakland with a lefty-masher like Ty?

There are at least two compelling reasons why such an acquisition would never happen. One, Wigginton will most likely command multiple years and too many dollars for the A’s budget. Two, the A’s don’t have any obvious place to put him in the field.

But what about throwing Wigginton out there any time you face a lefty. Maybe play him twice a week at first, and once at second and third each to keep Chavez and Ellis fresh. Obviously, you’re not going to face four lefties a week, but you do what you can.

Of course, if Wigginton proves too expensive, you could always go for a Rich Aurilia, but at that point I think you are better off just taking your chances with what you already have. I guess I’m just really unenthused about seeing Baisley/Dillon out there multiple times a week, and would hate to see Barton rotting on the bench. So what do you think? Should the A’s throw 3 or 4 million at Wigginton to be a super-utilityman?

Frank Thomas Appreciation Thread

I might be jumping the gun a bit as the big dude might yet garner an NR-invite from some club, but I think Frank Thomas’ career is over. It’s a shame that a player as great as Frank won’t get the chance to end things on his own terms, but that’s just the way the economics of the league work these days. Teams just aren’t going to throw money at you because you used to be good. Frank is hardly alone in this respect, as you’ve got a whole host of aging sluggers who might just find themselves forced into involuntary retirement. There’s:

Jim Edmonds, Ken Griffey Jr., and to a lesser extent: Mosies Alou, Garret Anderson and Cliff Floyd.

Some of these guys will sign, some of them are probably too broken down to sign, and others probably won’t even get the chance. But that’s beside the point. This thread is about Frank, not those other guys.

I don’t think the A’s ever seriously considered bringing back Thomas for 2009, and I really can’t blame them. I mean, there’s the injuries, and then the fact that Beane recently signed a left handed, slightly less defensively inept, and slightly younger version of Thomas. However, if you consider how left-handed heavy the A’s lineup projects to be next season, it sure would have been sweet to keep Frank around as a right-handed pinch hitting specialist. Unfortunately, unless the A’s can get some roster exemption where Rajai Davis and Thomas only count as one player I just can’t imagine how they could ever fit him onto the roster.

So Frank is probably done, but let’s not forget just how historically good the Big Hurt was. Between 1991 (his first full season in the big leagues) and 1997 he missed the 1.000 OPS plateau just once. The lone year was 1992 when he slashed .323/.439/.536. Not bad. He also smashed 521 home runs. Same as some dude named Willie and another guy named Ted. Frank’s a first ballot Hall of Famer, there’s no doubt about it.

I remember watching him in the on-deck circle during spring training in 2006. I could have sworn the guy was 8 feet tall. As I remember, it was his first at-bat as an Athletic, and of course, he hit a home run. So what’s your favorite memory of the Big Hurt? Memories from his time as an Athletic are preferred, but feel free to open it up.