Your 2021 Oakland Athletics - Page 2

thehatfield · 10-29-2006, 01:36 PM

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Baseball fans, the media, everyone, they’re drawn to train wrecks.

The American League Champion White Sox amazingly grabbed another member of the team they lost to in the World Series, signing 33-year old five-time All Star starting pitcher Bowie van Ingen to a 4-year deal worth close to $30 million. Van Ingen was a 21-game winner the last two seasons running for the Mets and was a former 1st round draft choice of the Seattle Mariners back in 2009. In 356 career starts in the Majors he has a 151-110 record with a 3.79 ERA and nearly 2,000 strikeouts. Coupled with the signing of left fielder Brandt Wurz from the Mets a day earlier it’s absolutely the most wild raid on a reigning World Series champion by the team that finished runner-up in the history of the league. That wasn’t really the train wreck but the media had a field day that the Mets should be worried now for next year. The White Sox’ acquisitions has everyone chirping that they had probably made themselves the clear favorites to win the World Series next year.

The Padres’ brass was very proud of themselves when they announced the re-signing of 27-year old power-hitting center fielder Harlan “Harpo” Kinnard to a 4-year deal worth over $6 million per year. Kinnard blasted 50 home runs for the last-placed Padres last year and clearly this was a “cornerstone of the franchise” sort of contract extension. In the case of the Padres this was an instance of public relations train wreck narrowly averted.

A couple of other non-descript yet decent middle relievers switched clubs but aren’t really the sort of impact arms that warrant an in-depth analysis at this time.

But this was all prelude - the actual story was about to begin and we were being called the train wreck.

Late Saturday night I got a call from 33-year old starter J.D. Knisley who spent last year with the Chicago Cubs and who captured his first and only Cy Young Award in Los Angeles two years ago; he was the hardest throwing pitcher available on the free agent market. He said our offer of $7 million over four years was perfect for him and that he had “seriously hoped” to return to the west coast after spending two great years (the 2018 and 2019 seasons) with the Dodgers. With his experience and 97-miles-per-hour heater Knisley may well edge out Rowley Dickson as the ace of our staff to begin the 2021 season, even if only as a nod to Knisley’s longer career. This contract meant we would have to investigate other options to strengthen our bullpen but also that the top three pitchers in our rotation (Knisley, Dickson, and Neifi Villaluazo ) were as strong as they had been perhaps in Oakland’s 15-year history. There was a considerable drop-off after the #3 starter but three good starters were much better than what we went into last season with, that’s for sure. And 3 out of 5 starters being competent gave us, in theory, a good chance of finishing the 2021 season above the .500 win percentage mark.

The Knisley signing was the third of our “Big 4” targets to sign on the dotted line. Knisley, Dickson and Juan “Dome” Guevaro were already signed to the Athletics for next year. The last, and the move that prompted the wave of “train wreck” stories, was 3-time MVP Teodor Revelez who accepted a 3-year $12.5 million-per-year contract making him the highest paid player on the roster. Despite being closely linked with the Mets, Phillies and Marlins, Revelez wanted to stay in the American league and we offered comparable cash to the 29-year old left fielder. With Revelez and Dome we now had a fearsome heart of our batting order, the modern-day equivalent of the Bash Brothers back in the old MLB in the days of yesteryear.

The Oakland Tribune & Contra Costa Times couldn’t understand why we would tie up so much money on four players and try to go for “quick-fixing” rather than building a team that would be good for years to come. The A’s had just completed their 13th straight losing season in 2020, their 9th last-place finish and 3rd straight in the basement. They claimed, and logically so, that the team needed much more than two bats and two arms. The crux of the argument in the Times was that by the time the rest of the team was good enough to seriously compete these four players would be past their primes. The Trib just used it as a platform to resume the bashing they gave me when I traded Rich Harden.

But my thinking here is that they’ve been trying the “build a young winner” method for years now and not spending what was, until I got my hands on it, a healthy cash reserve and it had gotten them absolutely nowhere. As soon as a player seemed ready to breakthrough and become a young star at the Major League level previous regimes traded him away for a pitcher with bad control and an 85-miles-per-hour fastball or a middle-aged shortstop with no range and poor plate discipline. Fans had abandoned the team in droves and we needed to do whatever we could to bring them back. I tried to make it clear to the press that these were not gimmick signings and that we were actually going to try to be competitive next year but from the tone of the articles about our moves it was clear that I was unsuccessful getting the message across. I’m going to be on the Sports Leader KNBR sometime over the next couple of days on the highly rated Frank and the Water Buffalo Show so I suppose I’ll have a better forum to defend my choices than the off-the cuff comments I made to print reporters.

The Trib also somehow knew that Dome Guevaro wanted Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s un-retired #27 jersey. Since the restart of MLB all jersey numbers had become available (starting pitcher Ash Stapely for instance sports Reggie Jackson’s #9) but out of respect to those that came before them most current players didn’t take numbers that were previously retired. But the Trib was right, Dome had requested it, and they argued we should deny the newboy since Catfish Hunter was somehow a “more sacred Athletic in the history of the franchise” than was Jackson. This was a touchy argument and I didn’t want any part of it. What concerned me more is how they got the information that Dome wanted the #27. We had leaks in our organization that needed plugging.

To give the papers a little more to chew on I completed one trade just a week before the start of the Winter Meetings: 35-year old Stapely to the San Diego Padres for 25-year old reliever Terry Rogers. The Padres wanted an experienced arm for their rotation and since we signed two starters Stapely and his career record of 77-120 was more than free to go. Rogers can dial the ball up to 95-miles-per-hour and has the makeup to be a shutdown reliever with some hard work over the next couple of years. Rogers is a former 16th round pick of the Washington Nationals back in 2014 and didn’t become a regular part of a Major League bullpen until his trade to the Padres in 2019.

They Said It…

“Listen, we’ve been making so many changes around here how am I supposed to answer that question right now? For all I know we’ll have 10 more new guys tomorrow.” – new Oakland manager Jeff Hance’s animated response to a question about what the lineup might look like on Opening Day, 2021.

“Do I feel like Lou Brown from Major League? What are you, Groucho Marx or something?” – we think this is an attempt at a humorous comeback from Hance to a question from the media but since we don’t know him well enough yet it simply makes people groan.

“I’m really looking forward to moving my family to Oakland and helping turn around the fortunes of this franchise.” – three-time AL MVP Teodor Revelez makes a stock statement at his press conference to announce his 3-year, $12.5 million-per-year contract with the A’s.

“I’ve been told I’m going to be a member of the bullpen on Opening Day, yes.” – new A’s reliever Terry Rogers comments on his trade to Oakland.

“I have no idea what’s going on over there. Some of the younger kids might think it’s exciting but to a veteran like me it just seems like chaos and I’m just really glad that I got out of there and was able to stay in California. Best of luck to them, though.” – new Padres starter Ash Stapely offers back-handed best wishes to his former club the Oakland Athletics.

thehatfield · 10-29-2006, 07:58 PM

Sunday, December 13, 2020

My first Winter Meetings were a treat – they were held at the Four Seasons in Miami and all of the General Managers had their own 2-floor penthouses with a spectacular view of the city. Support staff like assistants and the Head Scout had their own much-less-swank regular hotel rooms. The hotel served a wide array of gourmet food and I mainly spent my mornings with a quick jog on the treadmill before my newspaper and coffee. I could certainly get used to that lifestyle, but let’s not forget I was actually there to work.

Addressing the bullpen was one of the main concerns. And since we had added 24-year old catching prospect Aaron Rice to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft we now had 6 catchers on the 40-man roster. To me that was probably two too many catchers but I was only concerned with making sure I got rid of one of them at the Winter Meetings; if something else came up throughout the rest of the winter then we’d certainly consider it.

So it was 33-year old Colby Sunday that packed his bags in a one-for-one deal with the Seattle Mariners for 23-year old reliever Gregg Basnett. Basnett has played the last two years at the Major League level with Seattle after being selected by the Mariners in the 7th round of the 2015 draft. He’s a solid pitcher and according to Gaspar Zelaga, our Head Scout, has room to become an above average reliever.

Almost the moment that deal was officially agreed and before it was even made public Milwaukee General Manager Leland Fitzsimons dangled 28-year old shortstop Edgard Galdames in our faces, requesting 27-year old left fielder Patrick Sanner and two minor leaguers in return. Galdames was Milwaukee’s 2nd round pick back in 2013 and he sports a .395 career OBP in 4 full major league seasons. I hadn’t really been thinking too much about the shortstop position lately; I admit I got a bit swept up in the big free agency signings and suffered from the tunnel-vision of trying to improve our dreadful bullpen. But this offer was really too good to be true. It would cost us a promising young right fielder too in 24-year old fan-favorite minor leaguer Fritz Toles but this was not a case of trading young talent for a washed-up never-was. Galdames was just entering his prime and he already had great range in the field and was an above-average contact hitter. He was never going to have a lot of power but he just might find himself batting in the #2 hole on Opening Day 2021. Galdames makes nearly $2,000,000 and is only signed through 2021 so we’re going to have to make a decision on his long-term future sometime during the year next year.

The acquisition of Galdames made 25-year old shortstop Vicente Rosas surplus requirements at the club since we had the versatile Reydel Vazquez coming back as the backup. Rosas is a talented young player and was sought after by the Tigers. I asked if they’d be interested in giving us their 27-year old closer Bill “Crunchy” Mathis but they wouldn’t go for it straight up. Instead the Tigers informed us that if we wanted Mathis we’d have to give up Rosas and 33-year old veteran reliever Ed Robinson. Done and done, not a second of hesitation on my end. Mathis has 139 saves in 4 full years as a Major League closer and has pitched consistently in the bigs for the last 6 years after being a second-round pick of the Tigers in 2012. Since we previously moved Jonathan Leverett out of our closer slot and into the bullpen when he agreed to a new contract Mathis would be coming over to try and close out games for us next season. Mathis makes just over $3 million and he too is only signed through 2021.

We did take on a little bit more money than I thought we would but somehow we were able to cover it. The ownership didn’t block any of the deals or inform me that they couldn’t afford it so we were still scraping by, for now.

Elsewhere around the league the awesomely-named Bill Cake announced he was staying in San Diego to play third base for the next two seasons. The 27-year old Cake had his best season in the Majors last year hitting career highs in batting average (.279), on-base percentage (.361), slugging percentage (.482), home runs (23), hits (157), runs scored (86) and runs batted in (81).

January

For the rest of the winter there weren’t really any big deals. The Rockies absurdly made an offer for Teodor Revelez less than a month after we had signed him as a free agent. Needless to say we didn’t have much to talk about there. The Dodgers and the Cardinals were involved in a four-player deal of fringe contributors and both the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays targeted specific players and gave up multiple young players for them. But otherwise there wouldn’t really be much to talk about until the preseason began in February. In the meantime I’ll dig up the transcript of my first appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo Show on KNBR back in December.

thehatfield · 10-29-2006, 09:37 PM

THE FRANK AND THE WATER BUFFALO SHOW

The following is a transcript of my 1st appearance on the hugely popular Bay-area mid-day sports talk radio show Frank and the Water Buffalo on KNBR. Frank “Frank” Goosealberto and Chris “Water Buffalo” Possolo have covered the new Major League Baseball for the last 15 years and have gained quite a following among the hardcore Bay Area baseball fans. While they both claim to be neutrals it’s clear from the inflection in their voices that Frank is a Los Angeles Dodgers fan and the Water Buffalo prefers the San Francisco Giants. They do also drift off onto other sports from time-to-time but baseball is their strongest suit.

Announcer: Welcome to the Frank and the Water Buffalo Show with your hosts Frank Goosealberto and Chris “Water Buffalo” Possolo.

Water Buffalo: HEEEEEEEEEELLLLOO everyone, how are you doing?! This is the Frank and the Water Buffalo show on a Friday, December 18, 2020, just a couple days removed from the baseball Winter Meetings and about a month and a half away from pitchers and catchers reporting to start getting ready for the 2021 season! Good afternoon there Frankie how are you today?

Frank Goosealberto: I’m fine, thank you Buffalo. Been looking forward to today’s show and we’ll have plenty of time to talk football later in the afternoon Buffalo but we’re going to start the show with a very special guest.

WB: That’s right Frankie, joining us in just a moment will be Jim Fillmore, the new General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, who we’ve been giving a hard time to here on the air by the way for some of his decisions, but we finally get the new guy on the air and he’s been here for about a month and a half now…

FG: A very eventful, month and a half Buffalo, very eventful.

WB: Yes, quite right, very inventful…

FG: E-ventful, Buffalo.

WB: [laughing] Right, oh boy, here we go! We’re having the guy on for the first time and I can’t even get the introduction right, Frankie, I can’t even tell the difference between “inventful” and “eventful!”

FG: Buffalo I don’t really think “inventful” is even a word. [speaking to his producers but also through the mic]: Is “inventful” a word? Sammy? Pete Pete?

Pete Pete: [voiceover off camera through intercom] I don’t think so Frank.

FG: I didn’t think so. I’m not no English wiz but I didn’t think “inventful” was a word. Eventful, on the other hand, we can use it to describe the early dealings of new Oakland Athletics General Manager Jim Fillmore. Welcome Jim.

Jim Fillmore: Thanks Frank.

FG: We were starting to get a little complex Jim! Like, “what are we, chopped liver?”

WB: [laughing] You’re right!

FG: You know Jim, like we’re chopped liver?

JF: Uh, yes.

FG: Yes, we are chopped liver?

WB: [laughing] I think that’s what he’s trying to say. He’s saying we’re chopped liver Frankie!

FG: [laughing] Come on now, Jim, we’re just having a little fun with you it’s your first time on the show.

JF: Yes, it’s really hysterical. It’s been tough but I’ve been able to keep the laughter in thus far and of course I wasn’t saying you were chopped liver I was just saying I was happy to finally be here since I’ve done just about everything else.

FG: Yeah, including the Urban View! A free newspaper before coming to see us!

WB: Oh he’s good Frankie. He’s good. Sharp as a tack.

FG: Come on now Water Buffalo, it’s time to get serious…

WB: [laughing] What? Frankie, I was being serious! Jim, don’t listen to this guy I think your sharp as a tack.

JF:

FG: Okay Jim, you’ve made a lot of moves since coming over to the Athletics but there are two in particular that upset people the most – the trading of Rich Harden and the signing of Teodor Revelez.

JF: Well, I certainly don’t understand any objections to acquiring a player of the quality of Teodor Revelez. The guy is a 3-time MVP, the reigning AL MVP, and he chose to come to team with the worst record in the history of the sport the very same year he competed in the World Series with his former club.

WB: I think that’s exactly why folks are worried. Why on earth would such a player settle on the Athletics unless there was something physically wrong with him? Is this guy going to break down after a couple of months? Is there some kind of condition or injury situation that maybe we’re not privy to?

JF: Absolutely not. I don’t think there are any reasons to believe that Revelez would be any different from any other Major Leaguer reaching their peak production years in terms of susceptibility to injury. It’s kind of disappointing that as a sports society we’ve become so jaded that we think there must be something wrong with him for him to want to come to Oakland. I like to think that Revelez really respected our coming after him and appreciated the direction I’m trying to take the team which is the “Big 4” free agent stars surrounded by a developing group of promising young talent.

FG: Well, there were people at this station who gave you credit for thinking you could ever get a player the caliber of Revelez and he automatically becomes the cleanup hitter I assume?

JF: Ultimately that will a decision we won’t make until the spring and will involve [new manager] Jeff Hance, [new bench coach] Nesto Rodriguez, [batting coach] Millard Barton and I but it’s pretty safe to assume he’ll either be in the #3 or #4 slot in the batting order. Just depends on how the rest of the lineup shakes out probably and what injuries look like and any other moves we might make this winter.

WB: Well, you know what I always say. Water is very good for you!

JF: Excuse me?

FG: Nevermind that Jim, Jim Fillmore new General Manager of the Oakland Athletics joining Frank and the Water Buffalo here on the Frank and the Water Buffalo show on KNBR, Jim, what about this Rich Harden move?

JF: What about it?

WB: [laughing] Nature’s cleanser!

JF: Excuse me?

FG: Nevermind Buffalo, he’s just a little loopy today, what about this Rich Harden deal you took a lot of heat for it.

JF: I never understood that. There was a clear opportunity to better the team by trading a 37-year old starter that’s breaking down and has never really been that good for a 23-year old Gold Glove Award winner that has power and could man a corner spot in our outfield for years to come. From a baseball standpoint I don’t see how anyone could have any objections to this deal.

WB: But, Jimmy, you can see how people were upset can’t you? Harden had spent his whole career with the A’s and was the last link to the old Major League Baseball. That was a big deal for a whole generation of A’s fans and you basically just sent their hero packing. Is this sort of deal indicative of how you’re going to operate as the General Manager moving forward or was this some sort of symbolic deal, as some people have written, that signals the old era of losing is now over?

JF: Well Chris, if I’m being honest I have to admit that there was some symbolism to the Harden trade that I was conscious of when I ultimately pulled the trigger. It’s hard to use a faithful servant of the club through many long, hard seasons as the complete symbol of the club’s failures but yes, this was a move designed, in part, to send a message to the entire roster that they had better not be comfortable being part of a 44-win setup because I want to and will do everything possible to create a winner. It was much easier to do quite frankly because he wasn’t a player I had brought into the organization and like I’ve said elsewhere I really thought we were fleecing Baltimore at the time getting Travis Byers back in return and I still feel that way. When we compare the two players at the end of the season I’m certain we’ll see Byers will have helped us much more than Harden would have.

WB: Wow, did ya hear that Frankie? Sounded like a good honest answer from our new friend Jim Fillmore right there! I’m impressed!

FG: Oh, now you’re just sucking up Buffalo!

WB: No, honestly, I’m impressed!

JF: Well, thanks guys but I really have to get going. Hopefully we’ll be able to get into something a little more in-depth next time.

FG: Absolutely, we’ll try to get you back on sometime during Spring Training. How does that sound?

JF: That sounds fine to me, thanks Frank. Thanks Chris.

WB: See ya Jim. That was Jim Fillmore the new General….

My Experience: I wasn’t very impressed with either Frank or Chris despite their local fame and the longevity and profile of their radio show. They were very outspoken about just about all of my transactions thus far and yet were extremely tame when they had me on the air. I didn’t understand Water Buffalo’s whole “water” thing either. Maybe that’s shtick I’m just unaware of. But I wouldn’t be looking forward to my next appearance in the Spring, that’s for sure.

thehatfield · 11-01-2006, 12:32 AM

February 2021

The pre-season officially began. The MLB and all of the individual team websites reset their standings and player stats for the impending 2021 Spring Training. There was a clean sheet and hopefully good times ahead.

The media kept groaning that with all of these new players the A’s would have no chemistry in 2021. I then caused a minor uproar with the sports talk radio crowd by claiming to the Oakland Tribune that such a thing as chemistry in baseball is merely hogwash, some diversionary technique employed to keep paying customers distracted from an actual deficiency. Frank and the Water Buffalo tried to get me on to defend my position but you can’t preach the gospel to someone who thinks he’s got it memorized so there really wasn’t a point.

On Saturday, February 6, our 28-year old Mexican third baseman Jacob Cumberford came off the disabled list. The signing of Juan “Dome” Guevaro to be the everyday third baseman and Cumby’s uncertain future coming back from a serious fractured skull injury made Cumberford a perfect candidate to trade. So I packaged Cumberford up with 32-year old reliever Emesto Salgardo and traded them both to the Toronto Blue Jays for 27-year old Japanese lefty starting pitcher Noritoshi “The Bandit” Nakamura. Nakamura will be a solid back of the rotation pitcher and according to our scouting staff he’s not quite at his full potential as a starter. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2016 and in 4 full major league seasons he’s 59-51 with a 3.85 ERA and 969 strikeouts and 265 walks in 956 innings pitched. This deal will probably be a wash for the next couple of seasons but if The Bandit makes just some slight adjustments he could really turn into a good starter.

The trade of Cumberford solved another little media blip – the argument over allowing a player to wear an un-retired number. Guevaro agreed to take Cumberford’s #7 jersey rather than Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s #27. Crisis averted!

Picking up The Bandit meant we had one too many starters on the 25-man roster. I floated 29-year old 21-game loser Stacy Renteria on waivers before demoting him to AAA Sacramento and pulling him off the wire. I wanted to keep him in the organization but I basically decided that he wouldn’t be asked to come to Spring Training this year to help him clear his head out and try to eventually get back to the big club with as little pressure as possible. 20-year old righty reliever Fairfax von Schoening was called up to fill Renteria’s place and fill out the bullpen. There are some doubts both within the organization and in the media as to whether the 20-year old can handle the pressure of pitching in the Majors but he trained really well through the winter and seems to be in great shape heading into the new season.

The next day we signed a couple of veteran relievers to minor league deals as “emergency stopgap” sort of backups – hard-throwing 28-year old Harry Allen and 34-year old ex-starter Mark “Swamp Fox” Baugher, a hurler with good enough stamina that he might still be able to cut it as a starter.

So, finally, all of the moving and shaking was finished. Here’s roughly what I think our 25-man roster will look like coming out of Spring Training:

Starters
#26 J.D. Knisley, 34, Lefty
#10 Rowley Dickson, 25, Lefty
#33 Neifi Villaluazo, 25, Righty
#35 Noritoshi Nakamura, 27, Lefty
#23 Rick Stanely, 25, Righty

Relievers
#21 Josh Frank, 26, Lefty
#25 Fairfax von Schoening, 20, Righty
#30 Terry Rogers, 25, Lefty
#39 Gregg Basnett, 23, Righty
#44 Jonathan Leverett, 29, Lefty

Closer
#29 Bill Mathis, 27, Righty

Catchers
#13 Cornelius McInally, 24, Righty
#50 Thomas Goodloe, 23, Righty

First Base
#5 Jose Arce, 28, Lefty
#38 Victor Corliss, 28, Righty

Second Base
#22 Ken O’Bryant, 26, Righty
#31 Artie Page, 26, Lefty

Third Base
#7 Juan Guevaro, 31, Righty

Shortstop
#37 Edgard Galdames, 28, Righty
#55 Reydel Vazquez, 30, Righty

Left Field
#12 Teodor Revelez, 29, Switch
#18 Javier Raymundo, 27, Lefty

Center Field
#16 Bertram Holsinger, 30, Lefty
#6 Vic Dunn, 26, Lefty

Right Field
#8 Travis Byers, 24, Righty

Everyone is still open for evaluation and Herb, Jeff Hance, Nesto Rodriguez and I plan to look at the team again after Spring Training is over to give depth chart, rotation and lineup recommendations.

We also extended Spring Training invitations to the following nine members of either the AAA Sacramento River Cats or the AA Midland Rockhounds:

#47 Anastasio Aviles, MR, 27, Lefty
#53 Tanyon Meagher, C, 24, Switch
#56 Woody Gardiner, CL, 26, Lefty
#60 Ian Talbot, RF, 27, Switch
#74 John Tardif, SS, 23, Righty
#90 Andres Ceno, 1B, 21, Righty
#91 Jim MacFall, 3B, 28, Righty
#92 Pasqual Feliu, LF, 22, Righty
#93 Carlyle Chamberlain, LF, 20, Righty

Of course Anastasio Aviles appeared in 68 games for the A’s last year and sported a spooky 6.66 ERA in 102.2 innings. He’s got some stuff and slightly above average control but there’s no movement on his fastball or slider and he routinely gets hit hard. He allowed a shocking 24 home runs in his 68 appearances. I didn’t really expect Aviles to make the club but I wanted an arm there to absorb some innings in case we were involved in a blowout. Jim MacFall also played a role with the club last year. He was invited to spring training out of respect for his efforts last season but wasn't really expected to contribute much or make the 25-man roster barring some unforseen disaster. Tanyon Meagher started 74 games at catcher for Oakland last year and while he's solid defensively he only managed a .199 batting average and .286 on-base percentage in 286 at-bats last year.

Generally speaking we were going to give starting pitchers the first five innings and that would be it, regardless of score or performance. So if a poor guy gave up 10 runs in the first two innings he’d still have to gut out three more. It was going to be an understood rule at the club going into the Spring Training games so as to avoid any confusion or issues with the media that perhaps we were trying to show someone up or whatever else they would surely come up with. Relievers would be used more haphazardly. I want to see all of the relievers pitch at least a couple of times in close games or tight situations to see if I can get a true feel for how they’ll react during the season. For the most part starting position players would come out in the 7th inning as a general guideline and all position players will each get a few chances to start. It seems like we have a good idea moving into March and our Spring Training opener with the Division Champion Los Angeles Angels on Thursday the 4th.

thehatfield · 11-02-2006, 07:25 AM

FYI - Work is going to be crazy for me for the next week and a half so I may only be able to do anything with this on the weekends for a couple of weeks but it shall be continuing.

edit: It stinks too because I'm finally at the point where I'll see this group in action. I might just have to squeeze through a quick game or two whhen taking a break!

thehatfield · 11-12-2006, 04:17 PM

NOTE: The board isn't allowing the name of our new center fielder. His last name sounds exactly like "sheeta."

Spring Training 2021

Spring training came and went in the blink of an eye.

All of our winter dealings and rebuilding seemed to be in vain as the young Athletics posted a disappointing 10-14 record. The ownership group brought me in to tell me that they were worried with the amount of money I had spent on new players and new salaries. I had, somewhat, completely ignored the concept of fiscal responsibility during the off-season and it left us was a projected loss of nearly $14 million for the upcoming season. It was told to me in no uncertain terms that that was unacceptable. If the financial situation didn’t somehow improve and if the team wasn’t looking like challenging for a playoff spot by the end of July I would have to dump salary. I thought that if we were able to get off to a good start and keep it up into the early summer we’d probably be able to recoup much of my poor budgeting in increased ticket and merchandise sales so I wasn’t too worried about this just yet.

But there was plenty to worry about. After seeing the “new A’s” in action the local media basically had joined together as a chorus singing one refrain: we might have the talent to be a good young team but at the same time we were one key injury away from being a very bad young team.

The performance of the “Big 4” during Spring Training hadn’t convinced anyone that our fortunes were about to turn around. Our MVP free agent signing Teodor Revelez may have hit .356 with a .516 OBP in 45 at-bats but he didn’t have a single home run and only knocked in a handful when pitched to in those situations. The 29-year old’s 16 walks led the team but he was brought in for his power and production and opposing teams found it much easier to pitch around Revelez and go after Dome Guevaro instead. 31-year old Dome hit .283 with a .377 OBP and .472 slugging in 53 at-bats behind Revelez in the order, impressing no one with his bat. Third baseman Guevaro, unlike Revelez, did however show that he was probably above the league average in terms of fielding his position as Revelez lost more than a couple of balls down in the left field corner. Just four RBI and one home run wasn’t exactly scaring opposing pitchers and his performance prompted me to ask manager Jeff Hance to think about Guevaro’s position in the batting order for our Spring Training wrap-up meeting.

On the pitching side of the “Big 4,” 25-year old Rowley Dickson went 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA in 20 and two-thirds Spring Training innings. The young man who supposedly has pinpoint control walked 12 in his four starts and, perhaps more alarmingly, opposing batters hit .311 off of him. I spoke with him after his last Spring Training start and he said he was feeling fine and that everything would be there for the start of the regular season. He also said it was just taking him a little longer than usual to get into his regular season form because he had a late start on his off-season workouts. I had to take his word for it and privately I started to wonder about the reliability of Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga’s information. 34-year old fireballing lefty J.D. Knisley went 1-2 in five starts, posting a 3.52 ERA and striking out 19 while walking 10 in 23 innings. Perhaps because of his veteran know-how he had the best spring of the “Big 4” by far but the bats just couldn’t produce enough runs for him during his starts.

During Spring Training I received calls from the Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Cincinnati Reds all asking what it would take to capture our 25-year old catching prospect Aaron Rice. Once again I started to question our Head Scout as we hadn’t even extended Rice an invite to Spring Training this year and yet he was highly sought after by clubs in need of a catcher. Of all of the offers, Atlanta’s was the most intriguing. Even though both Bertram Holsinger and Vic Dunn were having fairly solid springs at the time, the Braves offered us 22-year old center fielder Tomiichi “Mumbles” Yama****a for a package of players including Rice, 19-year old pitching prospect Buck Foulke, and another low minor league pitcher. Gaspar Zelaga thinks Foulke and Rice both have long Major League careers ahead of them but at this point who knows what his opinion is really worth. I thought we were giving away a lot for the speedy Yama****a, a Paterson, New Jersey native, but in addition to him being a perfect leadoff hitter he was stellar in the field. This deal would help us compensate for Revelez in left and give us two above average defensive outfielders, right fielder Travis Byers being the other. I asked Atlanta if they’d take Anastasio Aviles along with Foulke and Rice instead of the other prospect and they were still on board.

The arrival of Yama****a meant Vic Dunn would have to go back to AAA Sacramento at the end of the spring. He hit .296 but both he and Holsinger are lefties with about equal defensive skill and Holsinger had the better spring with two homers, 10 RBI and a .300 average.

Elsewhere within the organization 23-year old catcher Thomas Goodloe wasn’t really given the playing time we thought he’d get this spring, losing out on the chance to stay up because Tanyon Meagher proved himself to be more reliable defensively. 24-year old Cornelius McInally hit .313 in 48 at-bats and seemed to do enough to secure the starting catcher’s job going into the regular season.

21-year old first baseman Andres Ceno led the club with 68 Spring Training at-bats but only hit .221 with an on-base percentage of .250, not good enough to stay up with the big club. Jose Arce had a dreadful spring often hitting in the #5 hole for the A’s. His .205 batting average and .273 slugging were far from what we expect to get out of the starting first baseman spot. Arce is an average fielder, he probably won’t make the outstanding play at first but he’ll be pretty sure-handed. The normally outspoken player didn’t have any explanations or excuses for his poor performances, instead deciding to install a “no talk to the media” policy for Spring Training. Privately he was also at a loss; we were going to have to keep an eye on him early in the season to make sure his slumping doesn’t turn into a team-wide distraction. Victor Corliss is outstanding in the field at first and we asked him to stay on to be the defensive replacement and part-time bench player for us.

At second base Ken O’Bryant got off to a slow start and turned it on over the last two weeks of the spring, ending up with a homer and nine RBI and a .358 OBP in 45 at-bats. Prospect Artie Page played himself off of the Athletics by hitting .237 with a .275 OBP in 38 at-bats. We had enough cover to spell O’Bryant with some of the versatile players at the other infield positions and Page maybe just needed some more seasoning with Sacramento before being able to be a reliable Major League contributor.

I already mentioned Guevaro at third but the Page demotion meant that 28-year old Jim MacFall would be staying up with the big club. MacFall hit .293 and posted a .356 on-base percentage and can also play second base.

At short John Tardif was another victim of not enough at-bats and was sent back down to the minors. 28-year old contact hitter Edgard Galdames was surely the starter here all along but we were happy with the strong performances of 30-year old backup Reydel Vazquez.

There was controversy in left field all spring long. With leading wage-earner Teodor Revelez trying to force his way into the hearts and minds of Athletics fans, their 22-year old home-grown hero Pasqual Feliu found himself on a bus back to the minors after a spring in which he hit .305 and slugged .538 in 40 at-bats. The controversy was in that we decided to keep 27-year old Javier Raymundo up with the club despite Raymundo’s .143 batting average and .135 on-base percentage. I’m big enough to admit that this move might be mistake and we’ll be taking a close look at how both Raymundo and Feliu perform over the first month of the season to see if a change will need to be made. Carlyle Chamberlain didn’t get enough at-bats for a quality evaluation and was sent back down to the minors.

I wrote about center field above so right field belonged to former Oriole Travis Byers. Byers hit .260 during the spring and has some pop in his bat; he may well become the #5 hitter during the regular season if we decide to switch the lineup around. 27-year old Ian Talbot only had 10 at-bats so was sent back down for further evaluation. On his way out he stopped me and said at this point in his career he was appreciative just to be given the chance to go through a big league spring training. I told him with his attitude to just keep his head down and work hard and he’d be back up with us in no time.

So, with Spring Training behind us we’d be opening the season with a 3-game series at home against Seattle. Jeff Hance informed the media that J.D. Knisley would be the Opening Day starter. Hance, his Bench Coach, Herb Watson and I all came to a unanimous agreement about the Opening Day lineup:

1. Yama****a CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Byers RF
4. Revelez LF
5. Guevaro 3B
6. O’Bryant 2B
7. Arce 1B
8. Meagher DH
9. McInally C

This is what we were going to start with. I also floated the idea of moving Revelez up to the third spot in the order and bumping Guevaro up to fourth and dropping Byers to fifth. Hance took it under advisement and said we’d give it a try at some point soon. We’d have to try a couple of different lineups to see if we could find a combination that clicked and for now we were going to stick with the same lineup against both lefty and righty starting pitchers to see if we can spot internal strengths and weaknesses.

Before we get to the start of the regular season we’ll have to clue you in to the other teams in the division. We’ll also check in with some of the media and their analysis of the players that made the final cut for 2021.

thehatfield · 11-13-2006, 02:14 PM

The American League West

Los Angeles Angels
History & Summary: The Los Angeles Angels have been the dominant franchise in the AL West for the last 15 years, winning 10 division titles during that time while posting a 1,331-1,099 record. Last year they won their third consecutive division crown, the second time in their history that they have pulled off a divisional three-peat (2008-10 being the other). But despite all of their regular season success and the fact that they are consistently among the top spenders in all of baseball the Angels have not had much luck in the playoffs, winning the American League twice in ten playoff appearances (2014 & 2019) and taking just one World Series crown in 2014. Nevertheless, they are the only team from the American League West to even make it to the World Series and they have come dangerously close to breaking the 4,000,000-person full season attendance barrier in each of the last two seasons.

The 2014 Angels understandably holds a special place in the minds of Angel fans. That team was famously led by 7-time All Star and Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero who had actually left the Angels after the 2009 season as a free agent to sign with the Boston Red Sox. Much to the dismay of Angels fans Guerrero hit .315 and blasted 37 homers to lead the Sox to their first World Series title in 2010. But two years later an often-injured Vlad was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a couple of minor leaguers and a 5th round draft pick. A strained cruciate ligament put him out of action for close to two months but he still hit .382 with 40 homers in just over 400 at-bats. After the 2012 season the Angels, who had been struggling to replace his productivity since losing him on the free agent market, sent three top prospects to Philadelphia for Guerrero. Guerrero stayed fairly healthy for most of the 2013 season and hit .342, with 125 RBI and another 40 home runs. The magical 2014 season saw then 37-year old Vlad collect his 3,000th hit and 600th career home run in the same month (July) and by the end of the season he had posted career highs in both home runs (47) and RBI (144). In 2015 Vlad had sharp drop-offs in his productivity before a fractured cheekbone ended his career in September, retiring 11 RBI shy of 2,000 for his career. Vlad’s 631 career home runs places him 6th on the all-time leaderboard behind Barry Bonds (728), Mark Texiera (699), Alex Rodriguez (681), Manny Ramirez (655), and Ken Griffey Jr. (654).

Speaking of 40-year old Mark Texiera, the current Angel comes into the 2021 season on the first year of a two year contract extension and is only 30 home runs away from surpassing Barry Bonds as the all-time home run leader. The Angels have some very good players coming back around surefire Hall of Famer Texiera, including last year’s American League Rookie of the Year Danilo Tabarez, 34-year old left fielder and 56-home run hitter last year Javier Mejines and 2-time All Star and former Gold Glove Award winner Kenneth Coeyman at second base. Our former minor leaguer and stop-gap shortstop Humphrey Ostendorff, 31, whom I traded to Florida for a draft pick in my first transaction as A’s General Manager had become a minor league free agent and signed on with the Angels and made the club in Spring Training after their All-Star caliber shortstop Reginald Lawry landed on the disabled list for two months with a torn thigh muscle.

The Angels have a good but aging pitching staff (average age 33-years old) anchored by 2016 Cy Young Award winner 38-year old Spike “Barbwire” Burkill (career: 206-131, 3.21 ERA 2,956 IP, 1.22 WHIP) and 28-year old former A’s property and New Jersey native Steve Collins, a 3-time All Star and 22-game winner last season. Their middle relievers are fairly non-descript but setup men Abram O’Cahan and Steele Slee are both pretty reliable and 32-year old veteran closer Tony Gaborde is coming off the best season of his career which saw him post a 4-2 record with 36 saves, a 1.87 ERA, and a WHIP nearly under 1.

The Angels come into this season with a payroll of just over $134 million, the third highest in baseball behind the Red Sox at $140 million and the White Sox at $138 million (more than double our payroll). While the media thinks they are the clear favorites to retain the division for the fourth straight year, their aging starting pitching is a huge question mark going into the 2021 season. This team is not going to have any trouble scoring runs but they’ll probably be involved in a lot of slugfests if one or two of their older starters hits the wall.

Texas Rangers
History & Summary: The Rangers have been the second best team in the Western Division since the rebirth of Major League Baseball 15 years ago with four division titles, eight second place finishes and a record of 1,252-1,178. Their playoff history, though, is just one horror show after another: eliminated in the divisional round in all four appearances, thrice losing 3 games to 2 and being swept 3-0 the other time. The sweep, in 2015 to Wild Card team and eventual league champion Tampa Bay, was the bitterest of all pills to swallow as the Rangers had posted a 99-63 record during the regular season, the best mark in their history. 2015 was a special year for the Rangers because they beat out the then-defending World Series champion Angels for the division riding the wave of the popular sarcastic t-shirt slogan: “Who’s second best?” but the Angels would go on to deliver a terrible blow of their own – signing superstar first baseman Mark Texiera as a free agent in the 2015 off-season.

Texiera has been booed relentlessly over the last five years by the Rangers faithful in every return trip to Arlington and despite the fact that then-breaking-down 39-year old Roy Halladay and 38-year old Aaron Harang led the Rangers to their last division title four years ago in 2017 attendance has been on the decline ever since Texiera’s departure. Manning first base these days is 31-year old three-time All Star Jose Caride who is a mess mentally and a shell of his former self physically after missing the 2019 season with a fractured cheekbone. It wouldn’t be surprising to see 27-year old Felix Galacia step up to take over first base this season after hitting .313 with 36 homers as the designated hitter in 2020. 27-year old catcher Danny McCreery, 27-year old shortstop Rhet Libby and 27-year old left fielder Bemabe Flechas all seem to be solid players with bright futures. While the Rangers don’t have many big power bats in their lineup they do have a collection of promising professional hitters and should end up getting a lot of men on base.

When taking a look at the pitching staff it’s clear that after 30-year old #1 starter Abelando Gonzalez the rest of the starting rotation is pretty thin. 27-year old rookie Johnathon Littles has a chance to develop into a quality starter but is probably going to take a lot of lumps this year, even if he’s being protected a bit by pitching in the #5 slot in the rotation. The bullpen is also a huge question mark going into next year. 35-year old closer Danny Snyder has probably already seen his best days while the rest of the relievers with the possible exception of hard-throwing lefty Adam Clay don’t even warrant mention here.

The Rangers’ $71 million payroll ranks them 16th overall and we’re roughly in the same spending ballpark as them ($66 million and 19th). I think we’ve got a much better bullpen than them but they probably have a more solid overall lineup. It would be interesting if we were able to clip the Rangers this season and finish second. The more we thought about it the more we decided to make second place our pie-in-the-sky goal for 2021. Getting out of the basement was our main concern this year and finishing second would be a real boost to the team and hopefully help us win some fans back.

Seattle Mariners
History & Summary: On those rare occasions when the A’s didn’t feel like finishing last every single season the Mariners were happy to step in and fill the role, finishing fourth five times and finishing third seven times including last season. The Mariners are the only team in the division not to have at least one division championship (Oakland won their only division crown in 2007) in their trophy case but they do have a better overall record than Oakland (1,113-1,318 to 1,039-1,391) and their fans and announcers are usually very quick to mention that point in some newspaper or television commentary. Despite averaging about 1,000,000 fans per season in attendance for the entire teen-year decade the Mariners experienced a big bounce to 2,000,000 on the strength of their second-place finish in 2019. Despite finishing third last year they still drew over 2,000,000 while winning 80 games. The team spent about $54.4 million last year on payroll and has cut back this season to $46.8 million, 26th overall on the payroll list.

In 2021 the Mariners will be led on the hitting side by 27-year old second baseman Hermon James, the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year, 25-year old third baseman Innes Gray, a young left-handed bat with a little pop, and 36-year old future Hall of Fame left fielder and DH Miguel Cabrera, he of the 595 career home runs. Our former catcher Colby Sunday made the Mariners out of Spring Training after being traded straight up for reliever Gregg Basnett over the winter. 31-year old center fielder Dave MacRobie should be a solid contributor for the M’s this coming season. Two players to keep an eye on would be 37-year old first baseman Werner “Burger” Baker to see what he’s got left in the tank and on the flip side to see what 26-year old shortstop and California native Montenegro Mesa has to offer for the future.

The pitching staff is led by 25-year old Allen Swain, a four-year veteran and the 2019 Cy Young Award winner despite his tender age. Swain’s Cy Young year was a true masterpiece – he posted a franchise record 25 wins against four losses with more single-season team records for a 1.27 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 379 strikeouts (broke Randy Johnson’s old team record of 331) in 269.1 innings pitched. Now a full year removed from his Cy Young form all eyes will be on the career 66-38 starter as he enters the second year of a three year deal that sees him collect a seemingly inexpensive $2.62 million per season. He may well be used by Seattle as irresistible trade bait to bring back some multiple top prospects from a contending team at the trade deadline or he may simply be kept due to his relatively cheap contract. 32-year old Jake Thomas anchors the bullpen as the closer. Thomas, a former 12th round pick of the Red Sox back in 2007, made a name for himself as a durable reliever for four years in Houston before being signed by Seattle as a free agent and converted into a closer for the first time in his career last season. He hasn’t exactly been a shut-down closer with 29 saves, a 3.28 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 56 hits allowed with 28 walks in 60.1 innings last year. Seattle is hoping that with a year under his belt in the high-pressure position he’ll be ready to step it up. Seattle otherwise doesn’t have a great bullpen but they should have solid enough starting pitching that the coming season won’t be a complete disaster. I’m thoroughly confident that we’re a better club than Seattle coming out of Spring Training.

So that’s what the division looks like. The Angels are still the favorites and even though our owner thinks we barley have enough talent to creep over the .500 mark in 2021 we’ll be shooting for a second place finish and hopefully the nice attendance bump that Seattle saw when they finished second a couple of years ago. Texas will be fighting tooth and nail for the second spot but I like our bullpen better and think we’ll able to do more with the flexibility we have within the team. Financially, some things and maybe even some players within the organization might have to change if we realize we have more needs to fill (like the back end of our starting rotation) during the season but we’re not at that point yet.

Now, the slate was wiped clean for another exciting spring, summer and fall of baseball!

thehatfield · 11-14-2006, 12:32 PM

Season Preview: Oakland Athletics
by Pal Trudeau, Baseball International & Herb Watson, Public Relations Director, Oakland Athletics

Starting Rotation
#26 J.D. Knisley, Lefty, 34
#10 Rowley Dickson, Lefty, 25
#33 Neifi Villaluazo, Righty, 25
#35 Noritoshi Nakamura, Lefty, 27
#23 Rick Stanely, Righty, 25

Outlook: The rotation is much improved over 2020 but there are still a lot of questions beyond the top two. Rick Stanely is probably the biggest gamble and it will be interesting to see if manager Jeff Hance opts to skip him if J.D. Knisley has had enough rest to pitch at 100%. There really aren’t many options on the farm right now either with 19-year old Buck Foulke getting traded to Atlanta, 18-year old “phenom” Harry Hatfield only getting bumped up to Short Season A Kane County Cougars, and 20-year old Steve Strickler is still with Double A Midland RockHounds so we’re going to have to make a move at some point soon to bring back a Triple A-quality starter that could fill in and help the rotation in case one of our starters goes down. 27-year old Gib Glaus and 29-year old Stacy Renteria, both of whom saw significant time with the big club last year, are at AAA Sacramento but they may well be on the trading block.

Bullpen
Middle Relievers
#30 Terry Rogers, Lefty, 26
#39 Gregg Basnett, Righty, 23
#21 Josh Frank, Lefty, 26

Setup Relievers
#25 Fairfax von Schoening, Righty, 20
#44 Jonathan Leverett, Lefty, 29

Closer
#29 Bill Mathis, Righty, 27

Outlook: The bullpen had been completely rebuilt with three players (Rogers, Basnett, and Mathis) from outside the organization and with last year’s closer Jonathan Leverett being dropped back into a setup role. Young Fairfax von Schoening looked extremely impressive during Spring Training where he struck out 24 batters and walked just 2 in 17 innings. Batters did hit .292 off him though so Hance will not be sure as to who will be the guy in the 8th inning until he sees both of them in regular season action. The bullpen should be solid for us this season and a couple of off-season moves like the signing of veteran Mark Baugher to a minor league deal gives us some cover at AAA Sacramento.

Catcher
#13 Cornelius McInally, Righty, 24
#53 Tanyon Meagher, Switch, 24

Outlook: Going into Spring Training it was widely thought that 23-year old Thomas Goodloe was going to be the backup catcher to McInally but as the spring wore on Tanyon Meagher proved to be a better option both offensively and behind the plate. McInally will be the regular starter at catcher but Meagher, a contact hitter, will probably start the season as the designated hitter. The organization traded it’s highly sought after catching prospect Aaron Rice to Atlanta in the Tomiichi Yamasita deal but still have 24-year old Steve Lesswick in the system at Midland RockHounds. The catcher position isn’t gong to give us a lot of plate production but they will be solid handling our young pitching staff. A’s fans should have years worth of enjoyment watching these batteries develop together.

First Base
#5 Jose Arce, Lefty, 28
#38 Victor Corliss, Righty, 28

Outlook: The usually outspoken Jose Arce was the Athletics’ only All Star last year, hitting 23 homers and knocking in 96 runs. He had a dismal Spring Training in which he hit .205 in 44 at-bats and closed off his access to the media, refusing to answer any questions. Vic Corliss is a superior first baseman with the glove and hit .327 in 2018, his only year as the A’s’ full-time starter. If Arce’s slump carries through into the regular season or if the regular designated hitter needs the day off Corliss may be pressed into duty. He’ll probably be a regular defensive replacement in the late innings of close games. The organization has 27-year old William Walters at Sacramento and he could fill in as a backup if needed. 23-year old blue chip prospect Cranley Merrell is at A-level Stockton Ports.

Second Base
#22 Ken O’Bryant, Righty, 26

Outlook: O’Bryant is obviously the man at second base. Both the backup third baseman and the backup shortstop can man second when O’Bryant needs an off day. 26-year old Artie Page is back with the AAA River Cats after really failing to impress during the spring but he will be first man called in case of injury to O’Bryant.

Third Base
#7 Juan Guevaro, Righty, 31
#91 Jim MacFall, Righty, 28

Outlook: Dome Guevaro was one of the big off-season free agent acquisitions for the Athletics after a 47-home run, 135 RBI season for Milwaukee. His main role will be to provide protection in the lineup for Teodor Revelez and to come through in those clutch situations when opposing teams decide it safer to pitch to him rather than the 3-time MVP. Jim MacFall is a serviceable backup able to play both short and second in addition to third. It wouldn’t be a good idea to ever have MacFall in the lineup regularly so a long-term injury to Guevaro might force the organization to make a move. Third base is not a well-stocked position on the farm and will be a priority during this year’s amateur draft.

Shortstop
#37 Edgard Galdames, Righty, 28
#55 Reydel Vazquez, Righty, 30

Outlook: Galdames was acquired in the off-season in a trade with Milwaukee that involved our solid left fielder Patrick Sanner, “can’t miss” right field prospect Fritz Toles, and another minor leaguer. For that we got a Gold Glove quality shortstop and a classic #2 hitter in the lineup. While he doesn’t have much power his OBP has been over .415 for the last two years running and he doesn’t strike out a lot so he’s perfect for the hit-and-run. Vazquez can play second or third in addition to short but has never lived up to the great projections thrust upon him as a rookie. Who knows if at 30 years old he’s past the point of developing into a full-time Major Leaguer. Shortstop is another area we’ll need to target during this June’s draft. 20-year old Brandt Margerson at Triple-A Sacramento is fantastic defensively but is a liability with his bat and John Tardiff at the RockHounds might be challenging for a September call-up if his development continues.

Left Field
#12 Teodor Revelez, Switch, 29
#18 Javier Raymundo, Lefty, 27

Outlook: The hopes of a new generation of A’s fans start with the bat of 3-time American League Most Valuable Player Teodor Revelez. Revelez hit 51 home runs and knocked in 147 RBI with 122 walks in 648 at-bats last year for the American League Champion Chicago White Sox and won a World Series in 2015 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Revelez will be at the heart of the lineup day-in and day-out and despite his below average defense will probably not often be lifted late in games for a defensive replacement. Raymundo, an average player that can play either corner outfield position equally well (which is not-too-good) was embroiled in controversy this spring when promising 22-year old Pasqual Feliu was cut from the big club on the last day of Spring Training despite having had a much better spring than Raymundo. Some conspiracy-theorists think Feliu’s demotion was a reverse psychology motivational technique employed by General Manager Jim Fillmore but others simply think the GM made a really stupid move. Carlyle Chamberlain at AA Midland RockHounds is another decent prospect already on the farm.

Center Field
#34 Tomiichi Yamasita, Lefty, 22
#16 Bertram Holsinger, Lefty, 30

Outlook: Young New Jersey native Yamasita came over from Atlanta in the Aaron Rice deal and is slated to be the leadoff hitter going into 2021. Last year as a part-time player in Atlanta he hit .332 with 17 home runs in just 280 at-bats. He also had more walks (44) than strikeouts (39) and combined with his great speed he’s perfect for the top spot in the batting order. Still, the media thinks Oakland gave up too much by including one of their two top pitching prospects (19-year old Buck Foulke) in the deal with Rice. Backup Holsinger had a good spring but is thought to be pretty average with the bat. He’s fast and a good fielder and can also capably play right field, his natural position. There’s been talk within the organization about converting minor league left fielder Carlyle Chamberlain into a center fielder, a position the athletic Chamberlain can already play with proficiency. At Sacramento, Spring Training invitee Vic Dunn will find himself on the trading block while 20-year old Francisco Quinenes, someone that can play all three outfield positions, will get the majority of starts in center for the River Cats.

Right Field
#8 Travis Byers, Righty, 24

Outlook: Travis Byers, acquired from Baltimore in the infamous Rich Harden trade, has a tremendous amount of upside. He displayed his athletic prowess winning a Gold Glove last year while playing left field for the O’s, not his regular position. He’s also hit an average of 26 home runs in each of his first two big league seasons and will probably find himself hitting either in the #3 or the #5 or #6 holes in the batting order this season. Either Raymundo or Holsinger can cover right when Byers needs to sit and it will probably be Holsinger more often that not filling that role. This is another position that needs help in the upcoming draft; only the speedy 19-year old Don Manning, all the way down at Short Season A Kane County, probably has a chance to be a solid Major Leaguer one day. 22-year old Sekien Abe at AAA Sacramento will probably be overlooked in favor of Pasqual Feliu in case of injury.

***

They Said It…
“I told you’se I have no freakin comments until after the season starts. What word of those can you not understand?” ~~Jose Arce continues his frosty relationship with the media on his way into the ballpark for the Athletics’ home opener against Seattle.

“It is really exciting, actually! I have to say I’m probably more pumped up for this Opening Day than I have been in a long time. I really hope to give the fans something to remember in our first game as we try to create something here that they can be proud of.” ~~J.D. Knisley responds to a question from the media about what being the Opening Day starter means to him in his first year with Oakland.

“It was reported that I wasn’t too thrilled at first, right? But then you get here and you look around the clubhouse and you see guys like Revelez and Dome Guevaro and J.D. Knisley you start thinking to yourself that things might not be all that bad.”~~Tomiichi Yamasita on Atlanta’s decision to trade him to the Athletics during the spring.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. I don’t look like a kid from Jersey do I? Sometimes I prank some of the other guys on the team and pretend that I can’t understand them. But that’s caused some trouble for [Japanese pitcher] Nori Nakamure who really doesn’t understand too much English… some of the guys don’t believe him!” ~~Tomiichi Yamasita speaks of his New Jersey upbringing and locker room antics.

“The guy’s a complete amateur and that’s all I have to say about it. Thanks.” ~~former A’s General Manager Manuel Silva commenting on his Oakland replacement Jim Fillmore during a press conference unveiling Silva as Tampa Bay’s new GM.

“Note to self: ‘trade with Tampa Bay!’” ~~Jim Fillmore jokes to reporters at Manuel Silva’s expense when told of Silva’s comments.

Man on the Street…
“They should have moved the club to Freemont 10 years ago! Instead they’re still inside that dump they call a Coliseum. That’s a factor, you know, when they moan about why they drew less than 500,000 fans last year. It wasn’t all just because they were complete bums on the field.”
-Ed Jefferson, 43, Freemont

“I have no faith this team will be any better than last year.”
-Bill Wortly, 76, Alameda

“Pasqual Feliu should be with this team coming out of Spring Training. I have no idea what the heck they’re doing up there and apparently neither do they.”
-Samantha Dokowski, 22, Hayward

thehatfield · 11-14-2006, 01:02 PM

Monday, April 5, 2021
Game 1 vs. Seattle Mariners
6-3 Win; 23,564 in attendance
W: Knisley (1-0) L: Swain (0-1) SV: Mathis (1)

Recap: Oakland opened up their first game of the 2021 season at home and gave the fans something to cheer about by scoring runs in the first and second innings to go ahead 2-0. But the M’s then picked up a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-2 lead. After a scoreless 6th Juan Guevaro walked with the bases loaded and was the last batter Seattle ace Allen Swain would face before reliever Octavio Gomez gave up an RBI single to Ken O’Bryant and a 2-RBI double to Jose Arce on consecutive pitches to give the A’s the final margin. J.D. Knisley made it through 8 innings, giving up three earned runs on three hits, walking two and striking out 9 to take the player of the game honors. Bill Mathis threw four pitches in the ninth for his first save of the season. Deuces were wild for leadoff hitter Mumbles Yamasita who went 2-2 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Dave MacRobie homered off of Knisley for Seattle in the 4th inning, a solo shot.

Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Game 2 vs. Seattle Mariners
5-2 Win; 13,353 in attendance
W: Dickson (1-0) L: Chouinard (0-1) H: von Schoening (1) SV: Mathis (2)

Recap: Yamasita only had one hit in this game but it was a two-run 361-foot homer to right field in the third inning to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Seattle tied the game with three consecutive singles off Rowley Dickson in the 5th inning but Dickson struck out Seattle first baseman Julian Diaz to get out of the inning and avoid further damage. In the bottom of the 6th Jose Arce delivered a run-scoring single with the bases loaded to give Oakland a 3-2 lead but Tanyon Meager promptly popped out on the infield and Cornelius McInally struck out to end the inning. Player of the game Dickson made it through 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 7 but was lifted after having thrown 113 pitches. Ken O’Bryant added an RBI single for Oakland in the bottom of the 8th for the final margin before Bill Mathis struck out 2 in the top of the ninth to save his second straight game.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Game 3 vs. Seattle Mariners
7-4 Win; 13,389 in attendance
W: Villaluazo (1-0) L: Arvizy (0-1) SV: Rogers (1)

Recap: After going 0-7 in the first two games of the season Tanyon Meagher went 3-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored against Seattle to help lead the A’s to a three-game sweep – the perfect way to start a new season! Yamasita also collected 3 hits and player of the game Jose Arce, whose spring doldrums are apparently long behind him, had 2 more hits and 2 RBI, including his first home run of the year in the 4th inning. Teodor Revelez was asked for a curtain call by the home crowd when he hit his first homer of the year the following inning. Neifi Villaluazo went 6 innings and struck out 9; despite allowing 8 hits he didn’t walk a batter and gave up just one earned run. Reliever Terry Rogers came into a 7-1 game in the 7th and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits despite picking up the 3-inning save.

Current Oakland Record: 3-0
Not a bad way to start the season but it's important for us not to get carried away with wins against a Seattle club that dumped payroll in the off-season.

TwinsFan86 · 11-15-2006, 01:38 AM

Not to state the obvious or anything, but looks like you're off to a good start.

thehatfield · 11-15-2006, 07:29 AM

Thanks! But Seattle really isn't looking good and was 8-16 in Spring Training with one of those 8 wins against us! I think we just got the right team for the top of our pitching rotation. I'm just glad from a psychological point of view that those top two guys didn't blow up in their first starts. I've only played the first couple of weeks of the season thus far so there should be a lot of emotion to come!

Also, if anyone cares to see how the career of a favorite RL player ended up just let me know; I'm going to start adding "A Look Back" & "Where Are They Now?" segments every once in a while and profile those players and ex-Athletics.

thehatfield · 11-15-2006, 01:03 PM

Next Up: 3-game series at home against Cleveland

Cleveland limped into the Coliseum with an 0-3 record after being swept on the road by the Detroit Tigers in their opening series of the new season. The amazing last game of the series saw Detroit score 8 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to nip the Indians 18-17 despite a combined 8 RBI from designated hitter Roydrick Williamson and right fielder Totoya Yoshida at the heart of their lineup. Cleveland’s 3-1 loss in the second game of the series was the result of 3 unearned runs so obviously some bad luck went into their 0-3 start; hopefully their luck wouldn’t start to change against us.

The lineup would stay the same going into the series:

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Byers RF
4. Revelez LF
5. Guevaro 3B
6. O’Bryant 2B
7. Arce 1B
8. Meagher DH
9. McInally C

Thursday, April 8, 2021
Game 4 vs. Cleveland Indians
7-6 Win; 13,823 in attendance
W: von Schoening (1-0) L: Covto (0-1) H: Leverett (1) SV: Mathis (3) BS: von Schoening (1)

Recap: A seesaw game through the first 6 innings saw the Indians tie the score off Fairfax von Schoening when the youngster gave up 2 unearned runs inherited from Noritoshi Nakamura in the top of the 7th inning on a wild throwing error by shortstop Edgard Galdames, his second error of the game and an immediate warning flag raised over someone we assessed in the off-season to have Gold Glove caliber defense. In the bottom of the 7th it was Jose Arce knocking in Teodor Revelez with a single to left to give us our 4th straight victory. Bill Mathis gave up a double and had to throw 19 pitches to notch his 3rd save of the year. Despite his 2 errors Galdames helped out with the bat going 3-5 and scoring 2 runs. Each of the 9 starters had at least one hit in our 17-hit attack.

Friday, April 9, 2021
Game 5 vs. Cleveland Indians
5-4 Loss; 13,715 in attendance
W: Hewlett (1-0) L: Basnett (0-1) BS: Frank (1)

Recap: We scored 3 runs off 28-year old Cleveland starter Jeremy Brumback in the 1st inning and held a 4-1 lead going into the 7th. But Cleveland left fielder Lenny Mager led off the 7th with a solo shot against our starter Rick Stanely and back-to-back doubles later it was 4-3. Josh Frank came in and struck out the first batter he saw before allowing a game-tying triple to designated hitter Alfredo Gastelum. Frank made it through the rest of the inning and threw a scoreless 8th. Gregg Basnett pitched a perfect 9th but Teodor Revelez’ throw from deep left field wasn’t in time to get Cleveland second baseman Salim Tynie at the plate after Tynie tagged up on a sacrifice fly in the 10th. Cleveland’s closer Jon Hewlett held us scoreless in the 9th and 10th to get his (and Cleveland's) first victory of the year. Jose Arce and Tanyon Meagher went a combined 0-7 and left 11 men on base between them.

Saturday, April 10, 2021
Game 6 vs. Cleveland Indians
9-3 Loss; 15,629 in attendance
W: Lima (1-0) L: Knisley (1-1)

Recap: J.D. Knisley just didn’t have it right out of the gate on Saturday, being tagged for a 1st inning grand slam by Cleveland third baseman Rob Tait on the way to surrendering 6 runs. We left Knisley in to absorb some innings because I didn’t want to kill the bullpen but he got in trouble again in the 5th and couldn’t finish the inning. His line was dreadful: 9 hits, 8 earned runs and 2 walks in 4.2 innings sending his ERA to 7.82 on the young season. Terry Rogers threw 1.2 innings and didn’t give up a run despite allowing 4 hits. Jonathan Leverett finished the last 2.2 innings of the game and allowed a run in the 8th. Yamasita’s 3 hits left him hitting .500 through the first 6 games of the year but fans and media began wondering aloud about the 1 home run and 7 RBI produced by the Byers-Revelez-Guevaro heart of the batting order.

Current Oakland Record: 4-2

This was more like it – we didn’t get swept, we lost a game we easily could have won on Friday, and we saw a little weekend attendance bump. Tough to see Knisley have such a bad game against a decent club like Cleveland because now his victory over Seattle becomes a bit suspect in terms of gauging his true ability. It was true that talk radio was starting to ask what was going on with the heart of the order but we were only 6 games into the season and there certainly wasn’t enough to go on to do anything but speculate. We had also previously planned to try a couple of different lineups in the early going this season so maybe a slight change there would help spark our big bats.

Next up we’d fly up the coast for a 3-game set beginning tomorrow at Seattle. Then we had an off-day on Wednesday to travel back to Anaheim for our first real test of the season against the Angels.

thehatfield · 11-15-2006, 04:21 PM

Next Up: 3-game series on the road against Seattle

We come into town for Seattle’s home opener to face the 1-5 Mariners, a team we swept last week in our season opening series, feeling pretty confident about ourselves and this match-up. They were able to snatch one game from the Texas Rangers at the end of last week behind a strong outing from 27-year old lefty Ardley Klein and some decent bullpen work from Octavio Gomez, Wilson Quenby, and Jake Thomas despite being outscored 18-7 in the 3-game series. 37-year old Seattle first baseman and designated hitter Anastasio Castillo went on the 60-day disabled list retroactive to Spring Training after being ruled out for 6 months with a fractured skull and the Mariners to a man are pretty down as Castillo’s career may very well be over.

As far as we were concerned our first road trip of the year was very important not just because we’d be clashing with the mighty Angels but also considering a solid showing this week would help solidify our positive start to the season and give us some juice going back to Oakland for a 7-game homestand next week against the Rangers, White Sox and Angels.

The lineup would stay the same going into the series:

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Byers RF
4. Revelez LF
5. Guevaro 3B
6. O’Bryant 2B
7. Arce 1B
8. Meagher DH
9. McInally C

Sunday, April 11, 2021
Game 7 at Seattle Mariners
13-5 Win; 46,905 in attendance
W: Dickson (2-0) L: Gomez (0-1) SV: von Schoening (1)

Recap: Neither starting pitcher was on top of their game early as the score was tied at 5-5 going into the top of the 7th when Edgard Galdames hit a 3-run double off 36-year old reliever Harman McLewis to clear the bases and put Oakland on top for good. Player of the game Ken O’Bryant hit his first homer of the year off McLewis the following inning and after a pitching change Jose Arce followed it with a solo shot of his own, his second of the season, off Octavio Rubmos. Vic Corliss came in to pinch hit for designated hitter Tanyon Meagher in the 7th and went 1-2 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Juan Guevaro went 3-5 with 3 runs scored but only had 1 RBI and left 5 men on base.

Monday, April 12, 2021
Game 8 at Seattle Mariners
8-1 Win; 30,661 in attendance
W: Villaluazo (2-0) L: Arvizy (0-2)

Recap: Prior to this game Travis Byers was shuffled to the #5 slot in the batting order and Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro moved up to the #3 and #4 slots respectively. Cornelius McInally was given the day off and regular designated hitter Tanyon Meager got his first start of the year at catcher. Meagher moving out of the DH slot opened it up for Vic Corliss’ first start of the year. Despite not having his best stuff Neifi Villaluazo gutted out 8 innings and lost his shutout bid with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Villaluazo gave up 7 hits and walked 5 in 8.2 innings and came out of the game after giving up the run (and throwing 138 pitches), allowing Gregg Basnett to record the final out. It was the second loss in a week to Villaluazo and Oakland for Seattle starter Carlos Arvizy. Player of the Game Guevaro responded to hitting clean-up with a laser 384-foot grand slam home run to left field, his first homer of the season, in the 3rd inning off Arvizy. Tanyon Meagher went 2-4 with 2 doubles and 3 runs scored in his first start of the season behind the plate but Vic Corliss was 0-5 with 3 strikeouts.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Game 9 at Seattle Mariners
7-6 Win; 31,160 in attendance
W: Nakamura (1-0) L: Gomez (0-2) H: Rogers SV: Mathis (4) BS: Gomez (1)

Recap: A’s manager Jeff Hance left the lineup exactly the same as the day before and Vic Corliss bounced back from his 0’fer in his first start by going 3-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Noritoshi Nakamura got the win despite allowing 12 hits (including 3 home runs) and 6 earned runs in 7.1 innings. Seattle reliever Octavio Gomez squandered a 3-run lead and a decent performance from well-named starter Pellegrin Lindeman to collect his second loss in this series. Tanyon Meagher and Edgard Galdames got the key hits to spark the final rally in the top of the 8th inning for Oakland. 37-year old Seattle designated hitter Miguel Cabrera took home Player of the Game honors with a 4-4 performance that included his 596th and 597th career home runs.

Current Oakland Record: 7-2

Next Up: 3-game series on the road against Los Angeles (of Anaheim)

Our second 3-game sweep of the Mariners in a week had everyone in the front office feeling a little giddy as we went into our first series of the year against the defending American League Western Division Champions, our first real test of the 2021 season. If there was ever a good time to face a team as strong as the Angels and steal a few games from them I was convinced that early in the season before anyone had had a chance to get on a big roll was the time to do it. The Angels came into the series at 5-4 – they swept Baltimore to start the year but had lost two out of three games to both the Yankees and Devil Rays since. They certainly weren’t anywhere close to playing their best baseball yet which was good news for us.

Manager Jeff Hance was going to try and capture a little lightning in a bottle by leaving regular starting catcher Cornelius McInally on the bench for the third straight game in the series opener in favor of Tanyon Meagher and Vic Corliss at the bottom of the lineup but called me in advance in case I got antsy to let me know that regardless of performance McInally would be back as the starting catcher in the second game of the series.

Thursday, April 15, 2021
Game 10 at Los Angeles Angels
6-2 Loss; 44,722 in attendance
W: Burkill (2-0) L: Stanely (0-1) SV: Gaborde (1)

Recap: With the off-day on Wednesday Jeff Hance had the option of skipping 5th starter Rick Stanely in favor of ace J.D. Knisley to square off against the Angels’ ace and former Cy Young Award winner Spike Burkill but decided to stay with a strict order at this early point in the season and so went with Stanely. Stanely gave up 7 hits and 5 earned runs while walking 4 before being chased in the bottom of the 4th inning. Los Angeles’ Danilo Tabarez, Vito Tapias and Player of the Game Montel Bojorguez all homered off Stanely. After falling behind we looked listless and grounded into 3 double plays in the late innings and were never able to seriously challenge Burkill who scattered 8 hits in 8.2 innings. Josh Frank threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief before Jonathan Leverett closed out the game by giving up a run over the final 2 innings. Travis Byers went 2-3 with a double in the losing effort.

Friday, April 16, 2021
Game 11 at Los Angeles Angels
4-3 Win; 39,998 in attendance
W: Mathis (1-0) L: Calimano (0-1) BS: Mathis (1) BS: Gaborde (2)

Recap: This was a really exciting game as the Angels’ Steve Collins out-dueled our J.D. Knisley, handing a 2-1 lead over to closer Tony Gaborde in the top of the 9th inning. Travis Byers singled off Gaborde to start the 9th inning and Ken O’Bryant promptly doubled him home to tie the game. Two batters later Cornelius McInally, back in the lineup, singled O’Bryant in from second base to give us a 3-2 lead. Castel Calimano came in for the Angels to finish off the inning without further damage. In the bottom half of the inning A’s closer Bill Mathis came in looking for his 5th save of the season but after inducing a weak ground out and a pop out to the catcher L.A.’s Danilo Tabarez dinked one down the line in left field and over the wall for a game-tying home run. In the top of the 10th inning singles from Edgard Galdames and Teodor Revelez and a walk to O’Bryant loaded the bases. The Angels stuck with Calimano and he walked Jose Arce to force in the go-ahead run. We sent Mathis back out there for the bottom of the 10th to make immediate amends for his blown save and despite a two-out double from Mark Teixeira that was absolutely torched Mathis was able to get through the inning. L.A.’s Steve Collins was Player of the Game despite the loss.

Saturday, April 17, 2021
Game 12 at Los Angeles Angels
3-0 Win; 44,681 in attendance
W: Dickson (3-0) L: MacChlerich (1-1)

Recap: Manager Jeff Hance reported that with 2 unremarkable wins over Seattle under his belt starting pitcher Rowley Dickson came into the rubber game of this three game series with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Just 2 hours and 12 minutes later he had spun a 4-hit complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks to lower his ERA this season to 2.82. It was the pitching performance of the young season for us and a fantastic way to be going back home after capturing 2 out of 3 from the Angels and going 5-1 on the 6-game road trip. Cornelius McInally hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third inning, off Angels starter Andy MacChlerich (who also threw 9 innings) and it was sort of the complete reverse of the first game of this series – the Angels seemed lifeless the moment they fell behind.

Current Oakland Record: 9-3

It was probably the perfect start to the season but everyone was quick to keep the good vibes to a minimum and instead point to the fact that 6 wins were against Seattle, a team with a 3-10 record thus far, we lost 2-out-of-3 to a 6-6 Cleveland team and won a game against the Angels we easily could have lost on Friday. Nevertheless we got a great big game out of Rowley Dickson that’s going to have to stick in the minds of the Angles’ batters and our two biggest weapons at the plate, Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro, still haven’t really started hitting yet! Things were looking cautiously optimistic going into a 7-game homestand that saw two 2-game mini-series (against the Rangers and White Sox) before a 3-game rematch with the Angels.

thehatfield · 11-16-2006, 10:02 PM

Next Up: 2-game series at home against Texas

We were sitting pretty with a record of 9-3 in our first 12 games and were at home for the start of a 7-game homestand against the Texas Rangers. By the end of the homestand we will have played for 10 consecutive days before getting a travel day off next Sunday. More importantly, we had two very important divisional match-ups this week against Texas & Los Angeles and a midweek 2-game tussle with the American League Champion Chicago White Sox.

The Rangers came into town on the tail end of an 8-game road trip during which they had split the first 6 games. Overall they were 7-5 but they had lost their last two games to Minnesota including a 10-0 drubbing just yesterday. Texas has a roster of exciting young players just hitting their primes including 26-year old second baseman Steve Wickenden, and the 27-year old trio of catcher Danny McCreery, first baseman Felix Galacia, and shortstop Rhet Libby. The Rangers have a surplus of talent at the Major League level at first base with 22-year old Don McCann taking over the designated hitter spot from talented veteran Lawley Bobbitt. Rumor has it that McCann’s emergence in Spring Training has prompted 34-year old Bobbitt to request a trade but both the player and the team have denied those reports in recent days.

The lineup had been tweaked slightly going into the homestand to sit Tanyon Meagher and give a little run to Vic Corliss in the designated hitter spot.

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Byers RF
4. Revelez LF
5. Guevaro 3B
6. O’Bryant 2B
7. Arce 1B
8. McInally C
9. Corliss DH

Sunday, April 18, 2021
Game 13 vs. Texas Rangers
8-0 Loss; 14,688 in attendance
W: Felbrig (2-1) L: Villaluazo (2-1)

Recap: We went from our best pitching performance of the season against Seattle in our last game to the best performance against us in this game: 26-year old Texas rookie Shawn Felbrig tossed a nasty complete game 2-hit shutout in which he only walked 2 while striking out 5. In his first 3 starts of 2021 Felbrig has an eye-catching 1.74 ERA and is definitely someone we’ll keep an eye on this season. Mumbles Yamasita and Travis Byers had the only Oakland hits. Texas left fielder Bemabe Flechas homered off of our starter Neifi Villaluazo in the 3rd inning and third baseman Eugene LaPlante hit a pinch hit home run off of Gregg Basnett in the top of the 9th for Texas. Rangers’ leadoff man Lorenzo Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI.

Monday, April 19, 2021
Game 14 vs. Texas Rangers
9-0 Win; 8,606 in attendance
W: Nakamura (2-0) L: Gonzalez (1-2)

Recap: What a strange last three days… shutout fever! The loss had really scared the fans away as an unending stream of “same old A’s” comments flooded the phone lines of local talk radio well into Monday afternoon after being shutout badly on Sunday. But Teodor Revelez scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 3rd inning and there was no looking back as Noritoshi “The Bandit” Nakamura bounced back from a shaky 12-hit, 6-earned run performance against Seattle in his last start to throw a complete game 7-hitter against Texas and earn us a split in the 2-game series. Nakamura struck out a season-high 12 Rangers while walking 3. Jose Arce hit a 418-foot 2-run blast to dead center field for his 3rd home run of the season in the 5th inning and Edgard Galdames added some unneeded insurance with his 1st of the year, a 3-run shot to the opposite field in right in the 7th. Galdames had 4 RBI on the day and Ken O’Bryant went 3-for-4 but The Bandit was the real story of the night and just what we needed with struggling Rick Stanely due up next in our rotation against the White Sox.

Current Oakland Record: 10-4

A good split with Texas considering the kind of bats that they have in their lineup. A strange little 2-game series to be sure and we were just about to enter another one… against the bigger, stronger, and faster Chicago White Sox.

thehatfield · 11-18-2006, 01:18 PM

Next Up: 2-game series at home against Chicago White Sox

The big, bad defending American League Champions came to Oakland with an identical 10-4 record but since they reeled off 5 straight wins to open the season they’ve basically been playing sloppy .500 baseball. The team is stacked with All Stars throughout the lineup including former MVP right fielder Dayton Craye, and multiple-time All Stars Roberto Darna (catcher), Brandt Wurz (left fielder), Damario Rosado (center fielder), and Jake Hubble (first baseman/designated hitter). On the pitching side of things Bowie van Ingen, who along with Wurz arrived in Chicago this year through free agency after winning the World Series last year with the Mets, was anchoring the pitching staff as the ace although 38-year old former Twins product Scott Baker had the best ERA of the White Sox starters coming into the series at 3.66. Luckily, neither pitcher is scheduled to face us in this mini-series. 21-year old closer Maurice Duncan, now in his 3rd full year of Major League ball, has 5 saves in 5 appearances and sports a 0.00 ERA.

Manager Jeff Hance officially moved Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro up into the #3 and #4 slots in the lineup and dropped Travis Byers from #3 to #5 and that decision would stand for the time being.

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Revelez LF
4. Guevaro 3B
5. Byers RF
6. O’Bryant 2B
7. Arce 1B
8. McInally C
9. Corliss DH

Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Game 15 vs. Chicago White Sox
5-2 Win; 14,071 in attendance
W: Rogers (1-0) L: Lockett (2-1) SV: Mathis (5)

Recap: Teddy Revelez responded to being moved up in the batting order by hitting a monster 477-foot solo shot to right-center field in the 8th inning against White Sox starter Trinidad Lockett for his second homer of the year but it was a 3-run blast off Lockett by Mumbles Yamasita in the 7th that had put the game away an inning earlier. Starting pitcher Rick Stanely somehow managed to give up only 2 runs through 6.1 innings that saw him give up 6 hits and 7 walks. Terry Rogers came on and allowed one of two inherited runners to score before to give Chicago the lead in the top of the 7th prior to Yamasita’s shot in the bottom half of the inning. Rogers pitched a perfect 8th before Bill Mathis struck out the side to end the game. Yamasita went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored to take home Player of the Game honors.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Game 16 vs. Chicago White Sox
7-5 Win; 13,941 in attendance
W: Knisley (2-1) L: Nanez (2-2) SV: Mathis (6)

Recap: The White Sox flexed some unexpected muscle when they took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd on a 2-run shot off of J.D. Knisley from designated hitter Everardo Benaricles hitting out of the 9 hole. Jose Arce hit his 4th home run of the season, a 403-footer to right-center off White Sox starter Alberto Nanez, to get one run back in the 4th inning. Going into the bottom of the 7th the score was tied at 3-3 but Travis Byers, Arce, Ken O’Bryant and Vic Corliss all had RBI singles to chase Nanez and reliever Chris Allen before Tavio Bedevia finally stopped the bleeding. Our starter Knisley took Player of the Game honors going 8 innings for his 2nd win of the year (and first since Opening Day) allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 10 despite the 3 earned runs. Jonathan Leverett got in trouble with 2 outs in the 9th giving up 2 runs before Crunchy Mathis got himself a one-out save. Corliss was 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBI.

Current Oakland Record: 12-4

This was a pretty lucky 2-game sweep of the American League champions especially surviving Rick Stanely’s 7 walks on Tuesday. Our lineup seemed to have a little more life since the reshuffling but it would take some time before we’d be able to tell if this would be a permanent move. The Angels were coming in for the last three games of our homestand with an 8-8 record and would surely be looking for some revenge after we took 2-of-3 from them last week. Third baseman Danilo “Silencer” Tabarez came into the series red hot with 7 home runs and 15 RBI on the year while rookie first baseman Vito Tapias came in looking good with 5 homers and 12 RBI and a .339 batting average.

Next Up: 3-game series at home against Los Angeles (of Anaheim)

Thursday, April 22, 2021
Game 17 vs. Los Angeles Angels
5-3 Win; 13,689 in attendance
W: Dickson (4-0) L: MacChlerich (1-2) SV: Mathis (7)

Recap: Player of the Game Dome Guevaro hit his 2nd and 3rd home runs of the season early in the game to help stake the A’s to a 5-0 lead. Rowley Dickson lost the shutout bid by giving up 2 runs in the 8th before Bill “Crunchy” Mathis scrapped through the 9th allowing another run in his 7th save of the season. Dickson allowed just 4 hits and struck out 9 Angels but the man known for his pinpoint control walked 5 on the day. Los Angeles reliever Kiyoshi Shiroi threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Guevaro was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored overall and Jose Arce, Travis Byers and Teddy Revelez each had two hits as the heart of our lineup won us a game for this first time all season. Mumbles Yamasita was taken out of the game after he knocked out a couple of his teeth making a diving grab in center against Vito Tapias in the top of the 7th inning. Just to be careful Jeff Hance gave me a call we decided to sit Mumbles for the rest of the series so he could fully recover. Instead we were going to give Bertram Holsinger a couple of starts.

Friday, April 23, 2021
Game 18 vs. Los Angeles Angels
11-4 Loss; 13,121 in attendance
W: Rivadeneyra (2-2) L: Villaluazo (2-2) SV: Shiroi (1)

Recap: Neifi Villaluazo took a 4-3 lead into the top of the 7th inning before he was pulled after giving up 2 runs and loading the bases. Los Angeles left fielder Javier Mejines then smacked a grand slam off of reliever Fairfax von Schoening on the first pitch he saw to put the game out of reach. Montel Bojorguez, Vito Tapias, and Al Eliason also homered for the Angels. Our Jose Arce had 2 RBI and Ken O’Bryant had 2 hits in the losing effort. Dome Guevaro and Bertram Holsinger left 8 men on base between them. L.A. starter Ramon Rivadeneyra went 6 innings and struck out 6 while giving up 4 runs and Kiyoshi Shiroi threw 3 innings of scoreless relief for his first save of the year. It was the second straight night Shiroi had thrown multiple scoreless innings from the bullpen for the Angels.

Saturday, April 24, 2021
Game 19 vs. Los Angeles Angels
6-4 Win; 14,866 in attendance
W: Nakamura (3-0) L: Jester (1-1) H: Basnett (1) SV: Mathis (8)

Recap: The Angels jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but a 447-foot bomb from Teddy Revelez, his third of the season, and a 2-RBI single from Travis Byers in the bottom of the 6th swung the game to our favor. But a single, a double and then two groundouts off Bandit Nakamura in the top of the 7th gave the Angles the lead back at 4-3. Byers delivered again in the bottom of the 7th with another RBI single as did Jose Arce and Tanyon Meagher, who was in giving a rest to Cornelius McInally for the final margin. Gregg Basnett and Crunchy Mathis each pitched an inning of scoreless relief. Nakamura gave up 4 earned runs in 7 innings while walking 1 and striking out 7.

Current Oakland Record: 14-5

This last victory was as big a win for us as possible at the 19-game mark as it meant our second series victory over the Angels and our fourth divisional series win of the season when you consider the two sweeps of Seattle. Adding in the 2-game split with Texas and we were unbeaten in five divisional series thus far in 2021! We had just played our final home game of the month and thus far we had drawn 186,545 fans, on pace to shatter last season’s dismal total of 445,239. Up next we had an off-day before a 9-game road trip that would take us to Toronto, Kansas City and Texas.

thehatfield · 11-18-2006, 05:04 PM

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Toronto

We come into Toronto with them sitting in second place in the American League Eastern Division with an 11-8 record, 3½ games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox who were 15-5. The Jays had won four of their last five games including a 2-game series sweep of the 5-15 New York Yankees in the middle of last week. 28-year old right fielder Harry Pitzer came into the series hitting .429 and 25-year old rookie shortstop Bobby Hartshorn led the team with 18 RBI. From the reports filed by Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga it seemed like we had more power than the Blue Jays but they had a deeper lineup in terms of professional hitters from top to bottom. Unfortunately for us it looked like we’d be facing the top three pitchers in Toronto’s rotation – 32-year old righty Jin-song Hung (2-0, 1.88 ERA), 24-year old righty Zach Stohlberg (2-2 3.82 ERA), and 31-year old Cuban lefty Roberto Aguilar (3-1, 3.62 ERA). This was a bit of an educational series for us as we didn’t really know the Blue Jays or the American League East very well at all but overall I had a feeling that we were a better club than Toronto. The Blue Jays were, of course, the team from which we had acquired starting pitcher Bandit Nakamura in exchange for reliever Emesto Salgardo and third baseman Jacob Cumberford, both of whom were on the Jays’ 25-man roster.

If we were able to take 2-of-3 from Toronto we’d be able to get to 10-games over .500 before the end of April, certainly a much stronger start than anyone following baseball had expected. I requested an end-of-month meeting with Jeff Hance, Herb Watson, and Gaspar to take an in-depth look at the 1st month of Major League Baseball action at the conclusion of the Kansas City series on May 1. It would mean working Saturday night on the flight down to Texas but what else did we have to do while stuck on an airplane? I also had Herb in the process of tracking down the transcript of my latest appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo radio show to share here.

In other news, the World Series Champion New York Mets got richer as they acquired 27-year old third baseman Bill Cake from the San Diego Padres for their former third baseman Miguel “Dinnerplate” Izaguirre and 21-year old blue-chip first base prospect Newton Fell. Cake had just signed a 2-year contract extension with the Padres in the off-season so this deal comes as a bit of a surprise to baseball insiders. Cake, who can also play first base, is coming into his prime and had the best year of his young career last year with the Padres last year. Cake’s older brother Fred Cake, a 32-year old long reliever and spot starter, had just been released by the Dodgers and so we offered him a contract as a sort of political play meant to eventually help lure Bill Cake to us. It was also a clear message to struggling starter Rick Stanely that he’d better produce in his next start or else a stint with Sacramento was in his immediate future.

Monday, April 26, 2021
Game 20 at Toronto Blue Jays
12-4 Loss; 15,726 in attendance
W: Hung (3-0) L: Stanely (0-2)

Recap: We took a 4-0 lead through a 2-run Teddy Revelez home run, his 4th of the season, and a 2-run triple by catcher Cornelius McInally after the first 2 innings but those 4 runs came on 2 hits and that would be all she wrote for the Oakland offense against Toronto ace Jin-song Hung for the rest of the game. Hung went on to strike out 12 through 8 innings, giving up just those 2 hits along with 3 walks while reliever Tadd Delancey pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Our starter Rick Stanely was out of the game after surrendering 8 earned runs, 9 hits and 4 walks in 3.1 innings. Josh Frank took one for the team in relief, throwing 65 pitches and 3.2 innings during which he struck out 6 but gave up 2 home runs. Toronto’s Player of the Game Bobby Hartshorn went 3-for-5 (with homers off both Stanely and Frank) with 5 RBI to lead Toronto’s 17-hit attack. Blue Jays right fielder Jose Rojasacusta, catcher Alex Dawson, and third baseman Rick Musial also had 3 hits for Toronto.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Game 21 at Toronto Blue Jays
8-1 Win; 15,391 in attendance
W: Knisley (3-1) L: Stohlberg (2-3)

Recap: J.D. Knisley took home Player of the Game honors with a 125-pitch complete game 5-hitter that saw him strike out 10 Blue Jays while walking 3. Toronto starter Zack “Mustang” Stohlberg came out of the game after giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs through 6.2 innings. Dome Guevaro hit his 4th homer of the season and the 350th of his career off Stohlberg in the 1st inning to give us a lead we would never surrender. Teddy Revelez hit his 5th of the season off our former reliever Emesto Salgardo in the 9th and after Salgardo was lifted Mumbles Yamasita hit one off Felipe Veces before the end of the game. Both Guevaro and Yamasita had 3 RBI for Oakland and Travis Byers went 3-for-4 with a walk. Toronto shortstop Cole Grendon had 2 hits.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Game 22 at Toronto Blue Jays
8-3 Win; 16,899 in attendance
W: Dickson (5-0) L: Aguilar (3-2) SV: Mathis (9)

Recap: Rowley Dickson improved to 5-0 on the season but it was far from easy. He labored through 7 innings throwing 122 pitches and allowing 7 hits but he struck out 8 and didn’t walk anyone. Toronto starter Roberto Aguilar took a no hitter into the 5th inning but that’s when it all came apart for the Cuban as he allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs including an RBI triple for Cornelius McInally, his second in three games, and a 2-run homer off the bat of Mumbles Yamasita. Travis Byers hit his 1st home run of the season in the 7th inning off reliever Emesto Salgardo. Our reliever Terry Rogers got in trouble in the bottom of the 9th inning, allowing a 2-run rally and loading the bases before closer Crunchy Mathis came in and popped up the last two batters for his 9th save of the season. McInally finished the game at 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored but it was Dickson who was named Player of the Game.

Current Oakland Record: 16-6

Another solid pitching performance from the top of our rotation and another stinker from Rick Stanely at the bottom. Fred Cake let us know he’d sign a minor league contract so we brought him into the organization, demoted 25-year old Stanely to AAA Sacramento and activated the 32-year old Cake to come up to the big club and take over the #5 slot in our pitching rotation for now.

A 2-1 start to the road trip left us 10-games over .500 for the first time this year as we headed off into the night for a 3-game set with Kansas City.

dankrzyz · 11-18-2006, 05:20 PM

Simply awesome account of your franchise. Enjoyed reading it and will definitely keep up. Looking forward to having you in the ULB online league.

thehatfield · 11-18-2006, 11:02 PM

Thank you. After I finish this season I'll have to see about keeping this story going or switching up to report about the ULB. I doubt with real life that I can swing doing both... we shall see!

thehatfield · 11-19-2006, 03:38 PM

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Kansas City

The Royals were 11-11 through their first 22 games prior to our 3-game set but sat just 2 games behind the American League Central Division leading Chicago White Sox. With 1 division title and 9 last-place finishes in MLB’s 15 years (including the last two years running) the Royals were the Central Division equivalent of us. But unlike us, Baseball America called Kansas City’s minor league organization “the strongest in all of baseball, and by a wide margin” (over the Baltimore Orioles). The unfortunate thing for Kansas City is that out of necessity many of those young future stars have been breaking through into the lineup over the past two seasons leaving the Royals woefully inconsistent. Royals fans suffered through 7 straight years of the team payroll averaging $35 million before new ownership plunked $48.5 million down two seasons ago in 2019 (their payroll is at $56.7 million this year).

2-time All Star second baseman Jim Soper, a .333 career hitter, was a result of the 2019 spending spree and went to Kansas City as a big-time free agent from Colorado. But the 31-year old hasn’t been able to match the production he had in Colorado, failing to hit at least 20 home runs in 2 years in a Royals uniform (he had hit at least 20 for 5 years running as a member of the Rockies). A pair of 21-year old budding stars – right fielder Javier Cabrera and third baseman Jose Funk – manned the heart of the Royals young lineup but really needed to improve their defense as both were definite liabilities in the field. Once again we got lucky with the pitching rotation match-up as we would not have to face Kansas City’s top 2 starters: 25-year olds Henry Bair and Yoshinobu Hayashida. We would, however, face Billy Curley, yet another 25-year old and supposedly the young arm with the brightest overall upside. Aside from 34-year old relievers Lewis MacLeay and Ramon Salazar everyone on the pitching staff was 28-years old or younger.

Kansas City has just come off a successful 4-2 road trip that included taking 2-of-3 from Cleveland in their last series. Fred Cake would make his debut in an Oakland uniform in the third game of this series.

Thursday, April 29, 2021
Game 23 at Kansas City Royals
4-1 Win; 15,106 in attendance
W: Villaluazo (3-2) L: Curley (3-3) SV: Mathis (10)

Recap: The game was scoreless until the top of the 6th inning when Travis Byers knocked in 2 runs with a double. Ken O’Bryant repeated the feat in the 8th inning after a throwing error by Jim Soper with 2 outs put a second man on base and kept the inning alive. 25-year old left fielder Ronald Smith hit a home run off our starter Neifi Villaluazo in the bottom of the 8th but Bill Mathis had a tidy 9-pitch 9th inning to earn his 10th save in 11 opportunities this season. Royals starter Billy Curley allowed 6 hits, walked 4 and allowed 2 earned runs through 8 innings but was out-dueled by Villaluazo’s 4 hits, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts who got his first win since April 12. Aside from Byers and O’Bryant Edgard Galdames was 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Ramon Salazar pitched an inning of scoreless relief in the 9th for Kansas City.

Friday, April 30, 2021
Game 24 at Kansas City Royals
10-6 Win; 14,848 in attendance
W: Nakamura (4-0) L: Aguayo (1-2) H: Frank (1)

Recap: A Jim Soper error in his second consecutive game opened the floodgates for a 4-run outburst from us in the top of the 5th inning that gave us a lead we would hold until the end the of game. Bandit Nakamura struggled through 6 innings (9 hits and 6 runs [5 earned] allowed while walking 5 batters) but not as badly as Royals starter Arturo Aguayo whose 8 walks contributed to 8 runs (6 earned). Josh Frank and Fairfax von Schoening combined for 3 innings of scoreless relief in an otherwise sloppy game. Dome Guevaro and leadoff hitter Mumbles Yamasita both hit their 5th home runs of the season in the win. Lewis MacLeay had 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for the Royals. Jim MacFall played second and committed his first error of the season while giving Ken O’Bryant the day off and Tanyon Meagher spelled Cornelius McInally behind the plate. Everyone involved was just happy for this 3½-hour long game to be put to bed; it just wasn’t a good game to watch unless you get off on strong middle relief and a couple of cheap homers.

Saturday, May 1, 2021
Game 25 at Kansas City Royals
7-5 Win; 16,920 in attendance
W: Cake (1-0) L: Argelio (2-4) H: Rogers (2) H: Leverett (2) SV: Mathis (11)

Recap: 32-year old Fred Cake made his first start of the 2021 Major League campaign after the demotion of 25-year old “walk-machine” Rick Stanely to AAA Sacramento earlier in the week. It was a decent performance by Cake who gave up 6 hits and 4 runs but more importantly only 1 walk through 6 innings to earn the victory. Teddy Revelez hit his 6th home run of the year in the 1st inning of off Salvador Argelio, a 2-run shot, and contributed a 2-run single off the Royals’ starter during our 5-run rally in the 5th inning which sealed the game. Kansas City shortstop Jorge Cabrera hit his 3rd home run of the season off of Cake in the 4th inning and once again Terry Rogers failed to throw an inning of scoreless relief as Cabrera got his 4th longball of the year in the 7th inning. Cornelius McInally threw out his 3rd baserunner of the year in 11 attempted steals on him in the 8th inning.

Current Oakland Record: 19-6

I wasn’t expecting a sweep here but I’ll take it! We got a win from the #5 spot in our rotation for the first time this year with veteran Fred Cake being thrown straight into the fire despite only having pitched at the AAA level this year in the Dodgers organization and we were pleased that the guy at least seems to have decent control. Neifi Villaluazo avoided the post 5th-inning collapse we saw out of him during his last two outings and we might just have to keep a shorter leash on him overall because when he hits the wall he sure loses it quick.

Next up shall be a look at the 1st month of the 2021 Major League Baseball season!

thehatfield · 11-19-2006, 05:19 PM

Code:

  MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STANDINGS - MAY 1, 2021

   AMERICAN LEAGUE           NATIONAL LEAGUE
   Eastern Division          Eastern Division
 Boston      18-7   -      New York     19-6   -  
 Baltimore   14-11  4      Philadelphia 18-7   1 
 Toronto     14-11  4      Washington   13-13  6  
 Tampa Bay   10-15  8      Florida       9-16 10
 New York     8-18 10½     Atlanta       5-20 14

   Central Division          Central Division
 Chicago     14-11  -      Chicago    18-6   -       
 Cleveland   14-11  -      Pittsburgh 13-11  5
 Kansas City 11-14  3      Cincinnati 13-12  5½ 
 Detroit     10-15  4      St. Louis  12-11  5½
 Minnesota    9-16  5      Houston     8-16 10
                           Milwaukee   6-19 12½
   Western Division
 Oakland     19-6   -       Western Division
 Texas       16-9   3     Colorado     18-6   -
 Los Angeles 12-13  7     Los Angeles  16-8   2
 Seattle      7-19 12½    Arizona      14-10  4
                          San Diego     7-18 11½ 
                          San Francisco 7-18 11½

April 2021 Batting Statistics

Code:

Name          G   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Byers RF     24  104  13  35  4  0  1  18   4   9   0  1 .337  .358  .404  Byers RF
Galdames SS  24  103  13  32  6  0  1  13   8  13   0  0 .311  .363  .398  Galdames SS
Guevaro 3B   25   97  18  29  0  0  5  22  11  16   0  0 .299  .364  .454  Guevaro 3B
O'Bryant 2B  24   91   9  23  7  0  1  15  10  11   0  0 .253  .346  .363  O'Bryant 2B
Arce 1B      25   90  13  27  3  0  4  17  11  20   0  0 .300  .385  .467  Arce 1B
Yamasita CF  23   90  24  31  3  0  5  17  19  10   5  2 .344  .464  .544  Yamasita CF
Revelez LF   25   84  24  27  5  1  6  15  30   6   0  1 .321  .504  .619  Revelez LF
McInally C   20   74   9  22  3  2  1   9   5  26   0  0 .297  .350  .432  McInally C
Corliss 1B   18   55  11  14  0  0  0   5   6   8   0  0 .255  .323  .255  Corliss 1B
Meagher C    13   46   8  11  3  0  0   8   5   8   0  0 .239  .308  .304  Meagher C
Holsinger CF 10   22   2   2  1  0  0   1   1   9   0  0 .091  .130  .136  Holsinger CF
MacFall 3B    4    7   0   1  0  0  0   0   0   3   0  0 .143  .143  .143  MacFall 3B
Vazquez SS    5    7   2   0  0  0  0   0   4   4   0  0 .000  .364  .000  Vazquez SS
Raymundo LF   4    3   0   1  0  0  0   0   1   1   0  0 .333  .500  .333  Raymundo LF

April 2021 Pitching Statistics

Code:

Name              G  GS  W  L HLD SV BS   IP   HA HR   R  ER  BB   K   ERA  OAVG. CG SHO Name 
Knisley SP        5   5  3  1  0   0  0  37.2  23  6  17  17  11  44  4.06  .173   1  0  Knisley SP
Dickson SP        5   5  5  0  0   0  0  37.1  31  1  10  10   6  37  2.41  .217   1  1  Dickson SP
Nakamura SP       5   5  4  0  0   0  0  35.2  46  4  22  19  11  35  4.79  .319   1  1  Nakamura SP
Villaluazo SP     5   5  3  2  0   0  0  34.1  34  5  16  16   9  34  4.19  .258   0  0  Villaluazo SP
Stanely SP        4   4  0  2  0   0  0  19.1  26  5  19  19  17  11  8.84  .321   0  0  Stanely SP
Mathis CL        12   0  1  0  0  11  1  12.0   9  1   2   2   0  11  1.50  .196   0  0  Mathis CL
Frank MR          5   0  0  0  1   0  1  11.0  14  3   5   5   1  15  4.09  .311   0  0  Frank MR
von Schoening MR  6   0  1  0  1   0  1   9.0   5  1   1   1   4   7  1.00  .156   0  0  von Schoening MR
Rogers MR         6   0  1  0  2   0  0   8.1  17  1   6   6   3   6  6.48  .425   0  0  Rogers MR
Leverett MR       6   0  0  0  2   0  0   8.0  10  1   4   4   3   6  4.50  .303   0  0  Leverett MR
Basnett MR        5   0  0  1  1   0  0   6.1   8  1   5   5   5   2  7.11  .308   0  0  Basnett MR
Cake SP/MR        1   1  1  0  0   0  0   6.0   6  1   4   4   1   6  6.00  .250   0  0  Cake SP/MR

11-01-2006, 12:32 AM	#24
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	February 2021 The pre-season officially began. The MLB and all of the individual team websites reset their standings and player stats for the impending 2021 Spring Training. There was a clean sheet and hopefully good times ahead. The media kept groaning that with all of these new players the A’s would have no chemistry in 2021. I then caused a minor uproar with the sports talk radio crowd by claiming to the Oakland Tribune that such a thing as chemistry in baseball is merely hogwash, some diversionary technique employed to keep paying customers distracted from an actual deficiency. Frank and the Water Buffalo tried to get me on to defend my position but you can’t preach the gospel to someone who thinks he’s got it memorized so there really wasn’t a point. On Saturday, February 6, our 28-year old Mexican third baseman Jacob Cumberford came off the disabled list. The signing of Juan “Dome” Guevaro to be the everyday third baseman and Cumby’s uncertain future coming back from a serious fractured skull injury made Cumberford a perfect candidate to trade. So I packaged Cumberford up with 32-year old reliever Emesto Salgardo and traded them both to the Toronto Blue Jays for 27-year old Japanese lefty starting pitcher Noritoshi “The Bandit” Nakamura. Nakamura will be a solid back of the rotation pitcher and according to our scouting staff he’s not quite at his full potential as a starter. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2016 and in 4 full major league seasons he’s 59-51 with a 3.85 ERA and 969 strikeouts and 265 walks in 956 innings pitched. This deal will probably be a wash for the next couple of seasons but if The Bandit makes just some slight adjustments he could really turn into a good starter. The trade of Cumberford solved another little media blip – the argument over allowing a player to wear an un-retired number. Guevaro agreed to take Cumberford’s #7 jersey rather than Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s #27. Crisis averted! Picking up The Bandit meant we had one too many starters on the 25-man roster. I floated 29-year old 21-game loser Stacy Renteria on waivers before demoting him to AAA Sacramento and pulling him off the wire. I wanted to keep him in the organization but I basically decided that he wouldn’t be asked to come to Spring Training this year to help him clear his head out and try to eventually get back to the big club with as little pressure as possible. 20-year old righty reliever Fairfax von Schoening was called up to fill Renteria’s place and fill out the bullpen. There are some doubts both within the organization and in the media as to whether the 20-year old can handle the pressure of pitching in the Majors but he trained really well through the winter and seems to be in great shape heading into the new season. The next day we signed a couple of veteran relievers to minor league deals as “emergency stopgap” sort of backups – hard-throwing 28-year old Harry Allen and 34-year old ex-starter Mark “Swamp Fox” Baugher, a hurler with good enough stamina that he might still be able to cut it as a starter. So, finally, all of the moving and shaking was finished. Here’s roughly what I think our 25-man roster will look like coming out of Spring Training: Starters #26 J.D. Knisley, 34, Lefty #10 Rowley Dickson, 25, Lefty #33 Neifi Villaluazo, 25, Righty #35 Noritoshi Nakamura, 27, Lefty #23 Rick Stanely, 25, Righty Relievers #21 Josh Frank, 26, Lefty #25 Fairfax von Schoening, 20, Righty #30 Terry Rogers, 25, Lefty #39 Gregg Basnett, 23, Righty #44 Jonathan Leverett, 29, Lefty Closer #29 Bill Mathis, 27, Righty Catchers #13 Cornelius McInally, 24, Righty #50 Thomas Goodloe, 23, Righty First Base #5 Jose Arce, 28, Lefty #38 Victor Corliss, 28, Righty Second Base #22 Ken O’Bryant, 26, Righty #31 Artie Page, 26, Lefty Third Base #7 Juan Guevaro, 31, Righty Shortstop #37 Edgard Galdames, 28, Righty #55 Reydel Vazquez, 30, Righty Left Field #12 Teodor Revelez, 29, Switch #18 Javier Raymundo, 27, Lefty Center Field #16 Bertram Holsinger, 30, Lefty #6 Vic Dunn, 26, Lefty Right Field #8 Travis Byers, 24, Righty Everyone is still open for evaluation and Herb, Jeff Hance, Nesto Rodriguez and I plan to look at the team again after Spring Training is over to give depth chart, rotation and lineup recommendations. We also extended Spring Training invitations to the following nine members of either the AAA Sacramento River Cats or the AA Midland Rockhounds: #47 Anastasio Aviles, MR, 27, Lefty #53 Tanyon Meagher, C, 24, Switch #56 Woody Gardiner, CL, 26, Lefty #60 Ian Talbot, RF, 27, Switch #74 John Tardif, SS, 23, Righty #90 Andres Ceno, 1B, 21, Righty #91 Jim MacFall, 3B, 28, Righty #92 Pasqual Feliu, LF, 22, Righty #93 Carlyle Chamberlain, LF, 20, Righty Of course Anastasio Aviles appeared in 68 games for the A’s last year and sported a spooky 6.66 ERA in 102.2 innings. He’s got some stuff and slightly above average control but there’s no movement on his fastball or slider and he routinely gets hit hard. He allowed a shocking 24 home runs in his 68 appearances. I didn’t really expect Aviles to make the club but I wanted an arm there to absorb some innings in case we were involved in a blowout. Jim MacFall also played a role with the club last year. He was invited to spring training out of respect for his efforts last season but wasn't really expected to contribute much or make the 25-man roster barring some unforseen disaster. Tanyon Meagher started 74 games at catcher for Oakland last year and while he's solid defensively he only managed a .199 batting average and .286 on-base percentage in 286 at-bats last year. Generally speaking we were going to give starting pitchers the first five innings and that would be it, regardless of score or performance. So if a poor guy gave up 10 runs in the first two innings he’d still have to gut out three more. It was going to be an understood rule at the club going into the Spring Training games so as to avoid any confusion or issues with the media that perhaps we were trying to show someone up or whatever else they would surely come up with. Relievers would be used more haphazardly. I want to see all of the relievers pitch at least a couple of times in close games or tight situations to see if I can get a true feel for how they’ll react during the season. For the most part starting position players would come out in the 7th inning as a general guideline and all position players will each get a few chances to start. It seems like we have a good idea moving into March and our Spring Training opener with the Division Champion Los Angeles Angels on Thursday the 4th. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-04-2006 at 07:05 PM.

11-14-2006, 12:32 PM	#28
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Season Preview: Oakland Athletics by Pal Trudeau, Baseball International & Herb Watson, Public Relations Director, Oakland Athletics Starting Rotation #26 J.D. Knisley, Lefty, 34 #10 Rowley Dickson, Lefty, 25 #33 Neifi Villaluazo, Righty, 25 #35 Noritoshi Nakamura, Lefty, 27 #23 Rick Stanely, Righty, 25 Outlook: The rotation is much improved over 2020 but there are still a lot of questions beyond the top two. Rick Stanely is probably the biggest gamble and it will be interesting to see if manager Jeff Hance opts to skip him if J.D. Knisley has had enough rest to pitch at 100%. There really aren’t many options on the farm right now either with 19-year old Buck Foulke getting traded to Atlanta, 18-year old “phenom” Harry Hatfield only getting bumped up to Short Season A Kane County Cougars, and 20-year old Steve Strickler is still with Double A Midland RockHounds so we’re going to have to make a move at some point soon to bring back a Triple A-quality starter that could fill in and help the rotation in case one of our starters goes down. 27-year old Gib Glaus and 29-year old Stacy Renteria, both of whom saw significant time with the big club last year, are at AAA Sacramento but they may well be on the trading block. Bullpen Middle Relievers #30 Terry Rogers, Lefty, 26 #39 Gregg Basnett, Righty, 23 #21 Josh Frank, Lefty, 26 Setup Relievers #25 Fairfax von Schoening, Righty, 20 #44 Jonathan Leverett, Lefty, 29 Closer #29 Bill Mathis, Righty, 27 Outlook: The bullpen had been completely rebuilt with three players (Rogers, Basnett, and Mathis) from outside the organization and with last year’s closer Jonathan Leverett being dropped back into a setup role. Young Fairfax von Schoening looked extremely impressive during Spring Training where he struck out 24 batters and walked just 2 in 17 innings. Batters did hit .292 off him though so Hance will not be sure as to who will be the guy in the 8th inning until he sees both of them in regular season action. The bullpen should be solid for us this season and a couple of off-season moves like the signing of veteran Mark Baugher to a minor league deal gives us some cover at AAA Sacramento. Catcher #13 Cornelius McInally, Righty, 24 #53 Tanyon Meagher, Switch, 24 Outlook: Going into Spring Training it was widely thought that 23-year old Thomas Goodloe was going to be the backup catcher to McInally but as the spring wore on Tanyon Meagher proved to be a better option both offensively and behind the plate. McInally will be the regular starter at catcher but Meagher, a contact hitter, will probably start the season as the designated hitter. The organization traded it’s highly sought after catching prospect Aaron Rice to Atlanta in the Tomiichi Yamasita deal but still have 24-year old Steve Lesswick in the system at Midland RockHounds. The catcher position isn’t gong to give us a lot of plate production but they will be solid handling our young pitching staff. A’s fans should have years worth of enjoyment watching these batteries develop together. First Base #5 Jose Arce, Lefty, 28 #38 Victor Corliss, Righty, 28 Outlook: The usually outspoken Jose Arce was the Athletics’ only All Star last year, hitting 23 homers and knocking in 96 runs. He had a dismal Spring Training in which he hit .205 in 44 at-bats and closed off his access to the media, refusing to answer any questions. Vic Corliss is a superior first baseman with the glove and hit .327 in 2018, his only year as the A’s’ full-time starter. If Arce’s slump carries through into the regular season or if the regular designated hitter needs the day off Corliss may be pressed into duty. He’ll probably be a regular defensive replacement in the late innings of close games. The organization has 27-year old William Walters at Sacramento and he could fill in as a backup if needed. 23-year old blue chip prospect Cranley Merrell is at A-level Stockton Ports. Second Base #22 Ken O’Bryant, Righty, 26 Outlook: O’Bryant is obviously the man at second base. Both the backup third baseman and the backup shortstop can man second when O’Bryant needs an off day. 26-year old Artie Page is back with the AAA River Cats after really failing to impress during the spring but he will be first man called in case of injury to O’Bryant. Third Base #7 Juan Guevaro, Righty, 31 #91 Jim MacFall, Righty, 28 Outlook: Dome Guevaro was one of the big off-season free agent acquisitions for the Athletics after a 47-home run, 135 RBI season for Milwaukee. His main role will be to provide protection in the lineup for Teodor Revelez and to come through in those clutch situations when opposing teams decide it safer to pitch to him rather than the 3-time MVP. Jim MacFall is a serviceable backup able to play both short and second in addition to third. It wouldn’t be a good idea to ever have MacFall in the lineup regularly so a long-term injury to Guevaro might force the organization to make a move. Third base is not a well-stocked position on the farm and will be a priority during this year’s amateur draft. Shortstop #37 Edgard Galdames, Righty, 28 #55 Reydel Vazquez, Righty, 30 Outlook: Galdames was acquired in the off-season in a trade with Milwaukee that involved our solid left fielder Patrick Sanner, “can’t miss” right field prospect Fritz Toles, and another minor leaguer. For that we got a Gold Glove quality shortstop and a classic #2 hitter in the lineup. While he doesn’t have much power his OBP has been over .415 for the last two years running and he doesn’t strike out a lot so he’s perfect for the hit-and-run. Vazquez can play second or third in addition to short but has never lived up to the great projections thrust upon him as a rookie. Who knows if at 30 years old he’s past the point of developing into a full-time Major Leaguer. Shortstop is another area we’ll need to target during this June’s draft. 20-year old Brandt Margerson at Triple-A Sacramento is fantastic defensively but is a liability with his bat and John Tardiff at the RockHounds might be challenging for a September call-up if his development continues. Left Field #12 Teodor Revelez, Switch, 29 #18 Javier Raymundo, Lefty, 27 Outlook: The hopes of a new generation of A’s fans start with the bat of 3-time American League Most Valuable Player Teodor Revelez. Revelez hit 51 home runs and knocked in 147 RBI with 122 walks in 648 at-bats last year for the American League Champion Chicago White Sox and won a World Series in 2015 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Revelez will be at the heart of the lineup day-in and day-out and despite his below average defense will probably not often be lifted late in games for a defensive replacement. Raymundo, an average player that can play either corner outfield position equally well (which is not-too-good) was embroiled in controversy this spring when promising 22-year old Pasqual Feliu was cut from the big club on the last day of Spring Training despite having had a much better spring than Raymundo. Some conspiracy-theorists think Feliu’s demotion was a reverse psychology motivational technique employed by General Manager Jim Fillmore but others simply think the GM made a really stupid move. Carlyle Chamberlain at AA Midland RockHounds is another decent prospect already on the farm. Center Field #34 Tomiichi Yamasita, Lefty, 22 #16 Bertram Holsinger, Lefty, 30 Outlook: Young New Jersey native Yamasita came over from Atlanta in the Aaron Rice deal and is slated to be the leadoff hitter going into 2021. Last year as a part-time player in Atlanta he hit .332 with 17 home runs in just 280 at-bats. He also had more walks (44) than strikeouts (39) and combined with his great speed he’s perfect for the top spot in the batting order. Still, the media thinks Oakland gave up too much by including one of their two top pitching prospects (19-year old Buck Foulke) in the deal with Rice. Backup Holsinger had a good spring but is thought to be pretty average with the bat. He’s fast and a good fielder and can also capably play right field, his natural position. There’s been talk within the organization about converting minor league left fielder Carlyle Chamberlain into a center fielder, a position the athletic Chamberlain can already play with proficiency. At Sacramento, Spring Training invitee Vic Dunn will find himself on the trading block while 20-year old Francisco Quinenes, someone that can play all three outfield positions, will get the majority of starts in center for the River Cats. Right Field #8 Travis Byers, Righty, 24 Outlook: Travis Byers, acquired from Baltimore in the infamous Rich Harden trade, has a tremendous amount of upside. He displayed his athletic prowess winning a Gold Glove last year while playing left field for the O’s, not his regular position. He’s also hit an average of 26 home runs in each of his first two big league seasons and will probably find himself hitting either in the #3 or the #5 or #6 holes in the batting order this season. Either Raymundo or Holsinger can cover right when Byers needs to sit and it will probably be Holsinger more often that not filling that role. This is another position that needs help in the upcoming draft; only the speedy 19-year old Don Manning, all the way down at Short Season A Kane County, probably has a chance to be a solid Major Leaguer one day. 22-year old Sekien Abe at AAA Sacramento will probably be overlooked in favor of Pasqual Feliu in case of injury. * They Said It…** “I told you’se I have no freakin comments until after the season starts. What word of those can you not understand?” ~~Jose Arce* continues his frosty relationship with the media on his way into the ballpark for the Athletics’ home opener against Seattle.* “It is really exciting, actually! I have to say I’m probably more pumped up for this Opening Day than I have been in a long time. I really hope to give the fans something to remember in our first game as we try to create something here that they can be proud of.” ~~J.D. Knisley* responds to a question from the media about what being the Opening Day starter means to him in his first year with Oakland.* “It was reported that I wasn’t too thrilled at first, right? But then you get here and you look around the clubhouse and you see guys like Revelez and Dome Guevaro and J.D. Knisley you start thinking to yourself that things might not be all that bad.”~~Tomiichi Yamasita* on Atlanta’s decision to trade him to the Athletics during the spring.* “Yeah, I get that a lot. I don’t look like a kid from Jersey do I? Sometimes I prank some of the other guys on the team and pretend that I can’t understand them. But that’s caused some trouble for [Japanese pitcher] Nori Nakamure who really doesn’t understand too much English… some of the guys don’t believe him!” ~~Tomiichi Yamasita* speaks of his New Jersey upbringing and locker room antics.* “The guy’s a complete amateur and that’s all I have to say about it. Thanks.” ~~former A’s General Manager Manuel Silva* commenting on his Oakland replacement Jim Fillmore during a press conference unveiling Silva as Tampa Bay’s new GM.* “Note to self: ‘trade with Tampa Bay!’” ~~Jim Fillmore* jokes to reporters at Manuel Silva’s expense when told of Silva’s comments.* Man on the Street… “They should have moved the club to Freemont 10 years ago! Instead they’re still inside that dump they call a Coliseum. That’s a factor, you know, when they moan about why they drew less than 500,000 fans last year. It wasn’t all just because they were complete bums on the field.” -Ed Jefferson, 43, Freemont “I have no faith this team will be any better than last year.” -Bill Wortly, 76, Alameda “Pasqual Feliu should be with this team coming out of Spring Training. I have no idea what the heck they’re doing up there and apparently neither do they.” -Samantha Dokowski, 22, Hayward __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-14-2006 at 12:41 PM.

11-15-2006, 01:03 PM	#32
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series at home against Cleveland Cleveland limped into the Coliseum with an 0-3 record after being swept on the road by the Detroit Tigers in their opening series of the new season. The amazing last game of the series saw Detroit score 8 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to nip the Indians 18-17 despite a combined 8 RBI from designated hitter Roydrick Williamson and right fielder Totoya Yoshida at the heart of their lineup. Cleveland’s 3-1 loss in the second game of the series was the result of 3 unearned runs so obviously some bad luck went into their 0-3 start; hopefully their luck wouldn’t start to change against us. The lineup would stay the same going into the series: 1. Yamasita CF 2. Galdames SS 3. Byers RF 4. Revelez LF 5. Guevaro 3B 6. O’Bryant 2B 7. Arce 1B 8. Meagher DH 9. McInally C Thursday, April 8, 2021 Game 4 vs. Cleveland Indians 7-6 Win; 13,823 in attendance W: von Schoening (1-0) L: Covto (0-1) H: Leverett (1) SV: Mathis (3) BS: von Schoening (1) Recap: A seesaw game through the first 6 innings saw the Indians tie the score off Fairfax von Schoening when the youngster gave up 2 unearned runs inherited from Noritoshi Nakamura in the top of the 7th inning on a wild throwing error by shortstop Edgard Galdames, his second error of the game and an immediate warning flag raised over someone we assessed in the off-season to have Gold Glove caliber defense. In the bottom of the 7th it was Jose Arce knocking in Teodor Revelez with a single to left to give us our 4th straight victory. Bill Mathis gave up a double and had to throw 19 pitches to notch his 3rd save of the year. Despite his 2 errors Galdames helped out with the bat going 3-5 and scoring 2 runs. Each of the 9 starters had at least one hit in our 17-hit attack. Friday, April 9, 2021 Game 5 vs. Cleveland Indians 5-4 Loss; 13,715 in attendance W: Hewlett (1-0) L: Basnett (0-1) BS: Frank (1) Recap: We scored 3 runs off 28-year old Cleveland starter Jeremy Brumback in the 1st inning and held a 4-1 lead going into the 7th. But Cleveland left fielder Lenny Mager led off the 7th with a solo shot against our starter Rick Stanely and back-to-back doubles later it was 4-3. Josh Frank came in and struck out the first batter he saw before allowing a game-tying triple to designated hitter Alfredo Gastelum. Frank made it through the rest of the inning and threw a scoreless 8th. Gregg Basnett pitched a perfect 9th but Teodor Revelez’ throw from deep left field wasn’t in time to get Cleveland second baseman Salim Tynie at the plate after Tynie tagged up on a sacrifice fly in the 10th. Cleveland’s closer Jon Hewlett held us scoreless in the 9th and 10th to get his (and Cleveland's) first victory of the year. Jose Arce and Tanyon Meagher went a combined 0-7 and left 11 men on base between them. Saturday, April 10, 2021 Game 6 vs. Cleveland Indians 9-3 Loss; 15,629 in attendance W: Lima (1-0) L: Knisley (1-1) Recap: J.D. Knisley just didn’t have it right out of the gate on Saturday, being tagged for a 1st inning grand slam by Cleveland third baseman Rob Tait on the way to surrendering 6 runs. We left Knisley in to absorb some innings because I didn’t want to kill the bullpen but he got in trouble again in the 5th and couldn’t finish the inning. His line was dreadful: 9 hits, 8 earned runs and 2 walks in 4.2 innings sending his ERA to 7.82 on the young season. Terry Rogers threw 1.2 innings and didn’t give up a run despite allowing 4 hits. Jonathan Leverett finished the last 2.2 innings of the game and allowed a run in the 8th. Yamasita’s 3 hits left him hitting .500 through the first 6 games of the year but fans and media began wondering aloud about the 1 home run and 7 RBI produced by the Byers-Revelez-Guevaro heart of the batting order. Current Oakland Record: 4-2 This was more like it – we didn’t get swept, we lost a game we easily could have won on Friday, and we saw a little weekend attendance bump. Tough to see Knisley have such a bad game against a decent club like Cleveland because now his victory over Seattle becomes a bit suspect in terms of gauging his true ability. It was true that talk radio was starting to ask what was going on with the heart of the order but we were only 6 games into the season and there certainly wasn’t enough to go on to do anything but speculate. We had also previously planned to try a couple of different lineups in the early going this season so maybe a slight change there would help spark our big bats. Next up we’d fly up the coast for a 3-game set beginning tomorrow at Seattle. Then we had an off-day on Wednesday to travel back to Anaheim for our first real test of the season against the Angels. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-15-2006 at 01:08 PM.

11-18-2006, 05:04 PM	#36
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Toronto We come into Toronto with them sitting in second place in the American League Eastern Division with an 11-8 record, 3½ games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox who were 15-5. The Jays had won four of their last five games including a 2-game series sweep of the 5-15 New York Yankees in the middle of last week. 28-year old right fielder Harry Pitzer came into the series hitting .429 and 25-year old rookie shortstop Bobby Hartshorn led the team with 18 RBI. From the reports filed by Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga it seemed like we had more power than the Blue Jays but they had a deeper lineup in terms of professional hitters from top to bottom. Unfortunately for us it looked like we’d be facing the top three pitchers in Toronto’s rotation – 32-year old righty Jin-song Hung (2-0, 1.88 ERA), 24-year old righty Zach Stohlberg (2-2 3.82 ERA), and 31-year old Cuban lefty Roberto Aguilar (3-1, 3.62 ERA). This was a bit of an educational series for us as we didn’t really know the Blue Jays or the American League East very well at all but overall I had a feeling that we were a better club than Toronto. The Blue Jays were, of course, the team from which we had acquired starting pitcher Bandit Nakamura in exchange for reliever Emesto Salgardo and third baseman Jacob Cumberford, both of whom were on the Jays’ 25-man roster. If we were able to take 2-of-3 from Toronto we’d be able to get to 10-games over .500 before the end of April, certainly a much stronger start than anyone following baseball had expected. I requested an end-of-month meeting with Jeff Hance, Herb Watson, and Gaspar to take an in-depth look at the 1st month of Major League Baseball action at the conclusion of the Kansas City series on May 1. It would mean working Saturday night on the flight down to Texas but what else did we have to do while stuck on an airplane? I also had Herb in the process of tracking down the transcript of my latest appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo radio show to share here. In other news, the World Series Champion New York Mets got richer as they acquired 27-year old third baseman Bill Cake from the San Diego Padres for their former third baseman Miguel “Dinnerplate” Izaguirre and 21-year old blue-chip first base prospect Newton Fell. Cake had just signed a 2-year contract extension with the Padres in the off-season so this deal comes as a bit of a surprise to baseball insiders. Cake, who can also play first base, is coming into his prime and had the best year of his young career last year with the Padres last year. Cake’s older brother Fred Cake, a 32-year old long reliever and spot starter, had just been released by the Dodgers and so we offered him a contract as a sort of political play meant to eventually help lure Bill Cake to us. It was also a clear message to struggling starter Rick Stanely that he’d better produce in his next start or else a stint with Sacramento was in his immediate future. Monday, April 26, 2021 Game 20 at Toronto Blue Jays 12-4 Loss; 15,726 in attendance W: Hung (3-0) L: Stanely (0-2) Recap: We took a 4-0 lead through a 2-run Teddy Revelez home run, his 4th of the season, and a 2-run triple by catcher Cornelius McInally after the first 2 innings but those 4 runs came on 2 hits and that would be all she wrote for the Oakland offense against Toronto ace Jin-song Hung for the rest of the game. Hung went on to strike out 12 through 8 innings, giving up just those 2 hits along with 3 walks while reliever Tadd Delancey pitched a perfect 9th to finish off the game. Our starter Rick Stanely was out of the game after surrendering 8 earned runs, 9 hits and 4 walks in 3.1 innings. Josh Frank took one for the team in relief, throwing 65 pitches and 3.2 innings during which he struck out 6 but gave up 2 home runs. Toronto’s Player of the Game Bobby Hartshorn went 3-for-5 (with homers off both Stanely and Frank) with 5 RBI to lead Toronto’s 17-hit attack. Blue Jays right fielder Jose Rojasacusta, catcher Alex Dawson, and third baseman Rick Musial also had 3 hits for Toronto. Tuesday, April 27, 2021 Game 21 at Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 Win; 15,391 in attendance W: Knisley (3-1) L: Stohlberg (2-3) Recap: J.D. Knisley took home Player of the Game honors with a 125-pitch complete game 5-hitter that saw him strike out 10 Blue Jays while walking 3. Toronto starter Zack “Mustang” Stohlberg came out of the game after giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs through 6.2 innings. Dome Guevaro hit his 4th homer of the season and the 350th of his career off Stohlberg in the 1st inning to give us a lead we would never surrender. Teddy Revelez hit his 5th of the season off our former reliever Emesto Salgardo in the 9th and after Salgardo was lifted Mumbles Yamasita hit one off Felipe Veces before the end of the game. Both Guevaro and Yamasita had 3 RBI for Oakland and Travis Byers went 3-for-4 with a walk. Toronto shortstop Cole Grendon had 2 hits. Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Game 22 at Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 Win; 16,899 in attendance W: Dickson (5-0) L: Aguilar (3-2) SV: Mathis (9) Recap: Rowley Dickson improved to 5-0 on the season but it was far from easy. He labored through 7 innings throwing 122 pitches and allowing 7 hits but he struck out 8 and didn’t walk anyone. Toronto starter Roberto Aguilar took a no hitter into the 5th inning but that’s when it all came apart for the Cuban as he allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs including an RBI triple for Cornelius McInally, his second in three games, and a 2-run homer off the bat of Mumbles Yamasita. Travis Byers hit his 1st home run of the season in the 7th inning off reliever Emesto Salgardo. Our reliever Terry Rogers got in trouble in the bottom of the 9th inning, allowing a 2-run rally and loading the bases before closer Crunchy Mathis came in and popped up the last two batters for his 9th save of the season. McInally finished the game at 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored but it was Dickson who was named Player of the Game. Current Oakland Record: 16-6 Another solid pitching performance from the top of our rotation and another stinker from Rick Stanely at the bottom. Fred Cake let us know he’d sign a minor league contract so we brought him into the organization, demoted 25-year old Stanely to AAA Sacramento and activated the 32-year old Cake to come up to the big club and take over the #5 slot in our pitching rotation for now. A 2-1 start to the road trip left us 10-games over .500 for the first time this year as we headed off into the night for a 3-game set with Kansas City. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-18-2006 at 06:39 PM.

10-29-2006, 01:36 PM	#21
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Saturday, December 5, 2020 Baseball fans, the media, everyone, they’re drawn to train wrecks. The American League Champion White Sox amazingly grabbed another member of the team they lost to in the World Series, signing 33-year old five-time All Star starting pitcher Bowie van Ingen to a 4-year deal worth close to $30 million. Van Ingen was a 21-game winner the last two seasons running for the Mets and was a former 1st round draft choice of the Seattle Mariners back in 2009. In 356 career starts in the Majors he has a 151-110 record with a 3.79 ERA and nearly 2,000 strikeouts. Coupled with the signing of left fielder Brandt Wurz from the Mets a day earlier it’s absolutely the most wild raid on a reigning World Series champion by the team that finished runner-up in the history of the league. That wasn’t really the train wreck but the media had a field day that the Mets should be worried now for next year. The White Sox’ acquisitions has everyone chirping that they had probably made themselves the clear favorites to win the World Series next year. The Padres’ brass was very proud of themselves when they announced the re-signing of 27-year old power-hitting center fielder Harlan “Harpo” Kinnard to a 4-year deal worth over $6 million per year. Kinnard blasted 50 home runs for the last-placed Padres last year and clearly this was a “cornerstone of the franchise” sort of contract extension. In the case of the Padres this was an instance of public relations train wreck narrowly averted. A couple of other non-descript yet decent middle relievers switched clubs but aren’t really the sort of impact arms that warrant an in-depth analysis at this time. But this was all prelude - the actual story was about to begin and we were being called the train wreck. Late Saturday night I got a call from 33-year old starter J.D. Knisley who spent last year with the Chicago Cubs and who captured his first and only Cy Young Award in Los Angeles two years ago; he was the hardest throwing pitcher available on the free agent market. He said our offer of $7 million over four years was perfect for him and that he had “seriously hoped” to return to the west coast after spending two great years (the 2018 and 2019 seasons) with the Dodgers. With his experience and 97-miles-per-hour heater Knisley may well edge out Rowley Dickson as the ace of our staff to begin the 2021 season, even if only as a nod to Knisley’s longer career. This contract meant we would have to investigate other options to strengthen our bullpen but also that the top three pitchers in our rotation (Knisley, Dickson, and Neifi Villaluazo ) were as strong as they had been perhaps in Oakland’s 15-year history. There was a considerable drop-off after the #3 starter but three good starters were much better than what we went into last season with, that’s for sure. And 3 out of 5 starters being competent gave us, in theory, a good chance of finishing the 2021 season above the .500 win percentage mark. The Knisley signing was the third of our “Big 4” targets to sign on the dotted line. Knisley, Dickson and Juan “Dome” Guevaro were already signed to the Athletics for next year. The last, and the move that prompted the wave of “train wreck” stories, was 3-time MVP Teodor Revelez who accepted a 3-year $12.5 million-per-year contract making him the highest paid player on the roster. Despite being closely linked with the Mets, Phillies and Marlins, Revelez wanted to stay in the American league and we offered comparable cash to the 29-year old left fielder. With Revelez and Dome we now had a fearsome heart of our batting order, the modern-day equivalent of the Bash Brothers back in the old MLB in the days of yesteryear. The Oakland Tribune & Contra Costa Times couldn’t understand why we would tie up so much money on four players and try to go for “quick-fixing” rather than building a team that would be good for years to come. The A’s had just completed their 13th straight losing season in 2020, their 9th last-place finish and 3rd straight in the basement. They claimed, and logically so, that the team needed much more than two bats and two arms. The crux of the argument in the Times was that by the time the rest of the team was good enough to seriously compete these four players would be past their primes. The Trib just used it as a platform to resume the bashing they gave me when I traded Rich Harden. But my thinking here is that they’ve been trying the “build a young winner” method for years now and not spending what was, until I got my hands on it, a healthy cash reserve and it had gotten them absolutely nowhere. As soon as a player seemed ready to breakthrough and become a young star at the Major League level previous regimes traded him away for a pitcher with bad control and an 85-miles-per-hour fastball or a middle-aged shortstop with no range and poor plate discipline. Fans had abandoned the team in droves and we needed to do whatever we could to bring them back. I tried to make it clear to the press that these were not gimmick signings and that we were actually going to try to be competitive next year but from the tone of the articles about our moves it was clear that I was unsuccessful getting the message across. I’m going to be on the Sports Leader KNBR sometime over the next couple of days on the highly rated Frank and the Water Buffalo Show so I suppose I’ll have a better forum to defend my choices than the off-the cuff comments I made to print reporters. The Trib also somehow knew that Dome Guevaro wanted Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s un-retired #27 jersey. Since the restart of MLB all jersey numbers had become available (starting pitcher Ash Stapely for instance sports Reggie Jackson’s #9) but out of respect to those that came before them most current players didn’t take numbers that were previously retired. But the Trib was right, Dome had requested it, and they argued we should deny the newboy since Catfish Hunter was somehow a “more sacred Athletic in the history of the franchise” than was Jackson. This was a touchy argument and I didn’t want any part of it. What concerned me more is how they got the information that Dome wanted the #27. We had leaks in our organization that needed plugging. To give the papers a little more to chew on I completed one trade just a week before the start of the Winter Meetings: 35-year old Stapely to the San Diego Padres for 25-year old reliever Terry Rogers. The Padres wanted an experienced arm for their rotation and since we signed two starters Stapely and his career record of 77-120 was more than free to go. Rogers can dial the ball up to 95-miles-per-hour and has the makeup to be a shutdown reliever with some hard work over the next couple of years. Rogers is a former 16th round pick of the Washington Nationals back in 2014 and didn’t become a regular part of a Major League bullpen until his trade to the Padres in 2019. They Said It… “Listen, we’ve been making so many changes around here how am I supposed to answer that question right now? For all I know we’ll have 10 more new guys tomorrow.” – new Oakland manager Jeff Hance’s animated response to a question about what the lineup might look like on Opening Day, 2021. “Do I feel like Lou Brown from Major League? What are you, Groucho Marx or something?” – we think this is an attempt at a humorous comeback from Hance to a question from the media but since we don’t know him well enough yet it simply makes people groan. “I’m really looking forward to moving my family to Oakland and helping turn around the fortunes of this franchise.” – three-time AL MVP Teodor Revelez makes a stock statement at his press conference to announce his 3-year, $12.5 million-per-year contract with the A’s. “I’ve been told I’m going to be a member of the bullpen on Opening Day, yes.” – new A’s reliever Terry Rogers comments on his trade to Oakland. “I have no idea what’s going on over there. Some of the younger kids might think it’s exciting but to a veteran like me it just seems like chaos and I’m just really glad that I got out of there and was able to stay in California. Best of luck to them, though.” – new Padres starter Ash Stapely offers back-handed best wishes to his former club the Oakland Athletics. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 10-29-2006 at 02:05 PM.

10-29-2006, 07:58 PM	#22
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Sunday, December 13, 2020 My first Winter Meetings were a treat – they were held at the Four Seasons in Miami and all of the General Managers had their own 2-floor penthouses with a spectacular view of the city. Support staff like assistants and the Head Scout had their own much-less-swank regular hotel rooms. The hotel served a wide array of gourmet food and I mainly spent my mornings with a quick jog on the treadmill before my newspaper and coffee. I could certainly get used to that lifestyle, but let’s not forget I was actually there to work. Addressing the bullpen was one of the main concerns. And since we had added 24-year old catching prospect Aaron Rice to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft we now had 6 catchers on the 40-man roster. To me that was probably two too many catchers but I was only concerned with making sure I got rid of one of them at the Winter Meetings; if something else came up throughout the rest of the winter then we’d certainly consider it. So it was 33-year old Colby Sunday that packed his bags in a one-for-one deal with the Seattle Mariners for 23-year old reliever Gregg Basnett. Basnett has played the last two years at the Major League level with Seattle after being selected by the Mariners in the 7th round of the 2015 draft. He’s a solid pitcher and according to Gaspar Zelaga, our Head Scout, has room to become an above average reliever. Almost the moment that deal was officially agreed and before it was even made public Milwaukee General Manager Leland Fitzsimons dangled 28-year old shortstop Edgard Galdames in our faces, requesting 27-year old left fielder Patrick Sanner and two minor leaguers in return. Galdames was Milwaukee’s 2nd round pick back in 2013 and he sports a .395 career OBP in 4 full major league seasons. I hadn’t really been thinking too much about the shortstop position lately; I admit I got a bit swept up in the big free agency signings and suffered from the tunnel-vision of trying to improve our dreadful bullpen. But this offer was really too good to be true. It would cost us a promising young right fielder too in 24-year old fan-favorite minor leaguer Fritz Toles but this was not a case of trading young talent for a washed-up never-was. Galdames was just entering his prime and he already had great range in the field and was an above-average contact hitter. He was never going to have a lot of power but he just might find himself batting in the #2 hole on Opening Day 2021. Galdames makes nearly $2,000,000 and is only signed through 2021 so we’re going to have to make a decision on his long-term future sometime during the year next year. The acquisition of Galdames made 25-year old shortstop Vicente Rosas surplus requirements at the club since we had the versatile Reydel Vazquez coming back as the backup. Rosas is a talented young player and was sought after by the Tigers. I asked if they’d be interested in giving us their 27-year old closer Bill “Crunchy” Mathis but they wouldn’t go for it straight up. Instead the Tigers informed us that if we wanted Mathis we’d have to give up Rosas and 33-year old veteran reliever Ed Robinson. Done and done, not a second of hesitation on my end. Mathis has 139 saves in 4 full years as a Major League closer and has pitched consistently in the bigs for the last 6 years after being a second-round pick of the Tigers in 2012. Since we previously moved Jonathan Leverett out of our closer slot and into the bullpen when he agreed to a new contract Mathis would be coming over to try and close out games for us next season. Mathis makes just over $3 million and he too is only signed through 2021. We did take on a little bit more money than I thought we would but somehow we were able to cover it. The ownership didn’t block any of the deals or inform me that they couldn’t afford it so we were still scraping by, for now. Elsewhere around the league the awesomely-named Bill Cake announced he was staying in San Diego to play third base for the next two seasons. The 27-year old Cake had his best season in the Majors last year hitting career highs in batting average (.279), on-base percentage (.361), slugging percentage (.482), home runs (23), hits (157), runs scored (86) and runs batted in (81). January For the rest of the winter there weren’t really any big deals. The Rockies absurdly made an offer for Teodor Revelez less than a month after we had signed him as a free agent. Needless to say we didn’t have much to talk about there. The Dodgers and the Cardinals were involved in a four-player deal of fringe contributors and both the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays targeted specific players and gave up multiple young players for them. But otherwise there wouldn’t really be much to talk about until the preseason began in February. In the meantime I’ll dig up the transcript of my first appearance on the Frank and the Water Buffalo Show on KNBR back in December. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-01-2006 at 06:04 PM.

10-29-2006, 09:37 PM	#23
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	THE FRANK AND THE WATER BUFFALO SHOW The following is a transcript of my 1st appearance on the hugely popular Bay-area mid-day sports talk radio show Frank and the Water Buffalo on KNBR. Frank “Frank” Goosealberto and Chris “Water Buffalo” Possolo have covered the new Major League Baseball for the last 15 years and have gained quite a following among the hardcore Bay Area baseball fans. While they both claim to be neutrals it’s clear from the inflection in their voices that Frank is a Los Angeles Dodgers fan and the Water Buffalo prefers the San Francisco Giants. They do also drift off onto other sports from time-to-time but baseball is their strongest suit. Announcer: Welcome to the Frank and the Water Buffalo Show with your hosts Frank Goosealberto and Chris “Water Buffalo” Possolo. Water Buffalo: HEEEEEEEEEELLLLOO everyone, how are you doing?! This is the Frank and the Water Buffalo show on a Friday, December 18, 2020, just a couple days removed from the baseball Winter Meetings and about a month and a half away from pitchers and catchers reporting to start getting ready for the 2021 season! Good afternoon there Frankie how are you today? Frank Goosealberto: I’m fine, thank you Buffalo. Been looking forward to today’s show and we’ll have plenty of time to talk football later in the afternoon Buffalo but we’re going to start the show with a very special guest. WB: That’s right Frankie, joining us in just a moment will be Jim Fillmore, the new General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, who we’ve been giving a hard time to here on the air by the way for some of his decisions, but we finally get the new guy on the air and he’s been here for about a month and a half now… FG: A very eventful, month and a half Buffalo, very eventful. WB: Yes, quite right, very inventful… FG: E-ventful, Buffalo. WB: [laughing] Right, oh boy, here we go! We’re having the guy on for the first time and I can’t even get the introduction right, Frankie, I can’t even tell the difference between “inventful” and “eventful!” FG: Buffalo I don’t really think “inventful” is even a word. [speaking to his producers but also through the mic]: Is “inventful” a word? Sammy? Pete Pete? Pete Pete: [voiceover off camera through intercom] I don’t think so Frank. FG: I didn’t think so. I’m not no English wiz but I didn’t think “inventful” was a word. Eventful, on the other hand, we can use it to describe the early dealings of new Oakland Athletics General Manager Jim Fillmore. Welcome Jim. Jim Fillmore: Thanks Frank. FG: We were starting to get a little complex Jim! Like, “what are we, chopped liver?” WB: [laughing] You’re right! FG: You know Jim, like we’re chopped liver? JF: Uh, yes. FG: Yes, we are chopped liver? WB: [laughing] I think that’s what he’s trying to say. He’s saying we’re chopped liver Frankie! FG: [laughing] Come on now, Jim, we’re just having a little fun with you it’s your first time on the show. JF: Yes, it’s really hysterical. It’s been tough but I’ve been able to keep the laughter in thus far and of course I wasn’t saying you were chopped liver I was just saying I was happy to finally be here since I’ve done just about everything else. FG: Yeah, including the Urban View! A free newspaper before coming to see us! WB: Oh he’s good Frankie. He’s good. Sharp as a tack. FG: Come on now Water Buffalo, it’s time to get serious… WB: [laughing] What? Frankie, I was being serious! Jim, don’t listen to this guy I think your sharp as a tack. JF: FG: Okay Jim, you’ve made a lot of moves since coming over to the Athletics but there are two in particular that upset people the most – the trading of Rich Harden and the signing of Teodor Revelez. JF: Well, I certainly don’t understand any objections to acquiring a player of the quality of Teodor Revelez. The guy is a 3-time MVP, the reigning AL MVP, and he chose to come to team with the worst record in the history of the sport the very same year he competed in the World Series with his former club. WB: I think that’s exactly why folks are worried. Why on earth would such a player settle on the Athletics unless there was something physically wrong with him? Is this guy going to break down after a couple of months? Is there some kind of condition or injury situation that maybe we’re not privy to? JF: Absolutely not. I don’t think there are any reasons to believe that Revelez would be any different from any other Major Leaguer reaching their peak production years in terms of susceptibility to injury. It’s kind of disappointing that as a sports society we’ve become so jaded that we think there must be something wrong with him for him to want to come to Oakland. I like to think that Revelez really respected our coming after him and appreciated the direction I’m trying to take the team which is the “Big 4” free agent stars surrounded by a developing group of promising young talent. FG: Well, there were people at this station who gave you credit for thinking you could ever get a player the caliber of Revelez and he automatically becomes the cleanup hitter I assume? JF: Ultimately that will a decision we won’t make until the spring and will involve [new manager] Jeff Hance, [new bench coach] Nesto Rodriguez, [batting coach] Millard Barton and I but it’s pretty safe to assume he’ll either be in the #3 or #4 slot in the batting order. Just depends on how the rest of the lineup shakes out probably and what injuries look like and any other moves we might make this winter. WB: Well, you know what I always say. Water is very good for you! JF: Excuse me? FG: Nevermind that Jim, Jim Fillmore new General Manager of the Oakland Athletics joining Frank and the Water Buffalo here on the Frank and the Water Buffalo show on KNBR, Jim, what about this Rich Harden move? JF: What about it? WB: [laughing] Nature’s cleanser! JF: Excuse me? FG: Nevermind Buffalo, he’s just a little loopy today, what about this Rich Harden deal you took a lot of heat for it. JF: I never understood that. There was a clear opportunity to better the team by trading a 37-year old starter that’s breaking down and has never really been that good for a 23-year old Gold Glove Award winner that has power and could man a corner spot in our outfield for years to come. From a baseball standpoint I don’t see how anyone could have any objections to this deal. WB: But, Jimmy, you can see how people were upset can’t you? Harden had spent his whole career with the A’s and was the last link to the old Major League Baseball. That was a big deal for a whole generation of A’s fans and you basically just sent their hero packing. Is this sort of deal indicative of how you’re going to operate as the General Manager moving forward or was this some sort of symbolic deal, as some people have written, that signals the old era of losing is now over? JF: Well Chris, if I’m being honest I have to admit that there was some symbolism to the Harden trade that I was conscious of when I ultimately pulled the trigger. It’s hard to use a faithful servant of the club through many long, hard seasons as the complete symbol of the club’s failures but yes, this was a move designed, in part, to send a message to the entire roster that they had better not be comfortable being part of a 44-win setup because I want to and will do everything possible to create a winner. It was much easier to do quite frankly because he wasn’t a player I had brought into the organization and like I’ve said elsewhere I really thought we were fleecing Baltimore at the time getting Travis Byers back in return and I still feel that way. When we compare the two players at the end of the season I’m certain we’ll see Byers will have helped us much more than Harden would have. WB: Wow, did ya hear that Frankie? Sounded like a good honest answer from our new friend Jim Fillmore right there! I’m impressed! FG: Oh, now you’re just sucking up Buffalo! WB: No, honestly, I’m impressed! JF: Well, thanks guys but I really have to get going. Hopefully we’ll be able to get into something a little more in-depth next time. FG: Absolutely, we’ll try to get you back on sometime during Spring Training. How does that sound? JF: That sounds fine to me, thanks Frank. Thanks Chris. WB: See ya Jim. That was Jim Fillmore the new General…. My Experience: I wasn’t very impressed with either Frank or Chris despite their local fame and the longevity and profile of their radio show. They were very outspoken about just about all of my transactions thus far and yet were extremely tame when they had me on the air. I didn’t understand Water Buffalo’s whole “water” thing either. Maybe that’s shtick I’m just unaware of. But I wouldn’t be looking forward to my next appearance in the Spring, that’s for sure. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-03-2006 at 09:23 AM.

11-02-2006, 07:25 AM	#25
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	FYI - Work is going to be crazy for me for the next week and a half so I may only be able to do anything with this on the weekends for a couple of weeks but it shall be continuing. edit: It stinks too because I'm finally at the point where I'll see this group in action. I might just have to squeeze through a quick game or two whhen taking a break! __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-02-2006 at 11:35 AM. Reason: forgot something!

11-12-2006, 04:17 PM	#26
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	NOTE: The board isn't allowing the name of our new center fielder. His last name sounds exactly like "sheeta." Spring Training 2021 Spring training came and went in the blink of an eye. All of our winter dealings and rebuilding seemed to be in vain as the young Athletics posted a disappointing 10-14 record. The ownership group brought me in to tell me that they were worried with the amount of money I had spent on new players and new salaries. I had, somewhat, completely ignored the concept of fiscal responsibility during the off-season and it left us was a projected loss of nearly $14 million for the upcoming season. It was told to me in no uncertain terms that that was unacceptable. If the financial situation didn’t somehow improve and if the team wasn’t looking like challenging for a playoff spot by the end of July I would have to dump salary. I thought that if we were able to get off to a good start and keep it up into the early summer we’d probably be able to recoup much of my poor budgeting in increased ticket and merchandise sales so I wasn’t too worried about this just yet. But there was plenty to worry about. After seeing the “new A’s” in action the local media basically had joined together as a chorus singing one refrain: we might have the talent to be a good young team but at the same time we were one key injury away from being a very bad young team. The performance of the “Big 4” during Spring Training hadn’t convinced anyone that our fortunes were about to turn around. Our MVP free agent signing Teodor Revelez may have hit .356 with a .516 OBP in 45 at-bats but he didn’t have a single home run and only knocked in a handful when pitched to in those situations. The 29-year old’s 16 walks led the team but he was brought in for his power and production and opposing teams found it much easier to pitch around Revelez and go after Dome Guevaro instead. 31-year old Dome hit .283 with a .377 OBP and .472 slugging in 53 at-bats behind Revelez in the order, impressing no one with his bat. Third baseman Guevaro, unlike Revelez, did however show that he was probably above the league average in terms of fielding his position as Revelez lost more than a couple of balls down in the left field corner. Just four RBI and one home run wasn’t exactly scaring opposing pitchers and his performance prompted me to ask manager Jeff Hance to think about Guevaro’s position in the batting order for our Spring Training wrap-up meeting. On the pitching side of the “Big 4,” 25-year old Rowley Dickson went 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA in 20 and two-thirds Spring Training innings. The young man who supposedly has pinpoint control walked 12 in his four starts and, perhaps more alarmingly, opposing batters hit .311 off of him. I spoke with him after his last Spring Training start and he said he was feeling fine and that everything would be there for the start of the regular season. He also said it was just taking him a little longer than usual to get into his regular season form because he had a late start on his off-season workouts. I had to take his word for it and privately I started to wonder about the reliability of Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga’s information. 34-year old fireballing lefty J.D. Knisley went 1-2 in five starts, posting a 3.52 ERA and striking out 19 while walking 10 in 23 innings. Perhaps because of his veteran know-how he had the best spring of the “Big 4” by far but the bats just couldn’t produce enough runs for him during his starts. During Spring Training I received calls from the Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Cincinnati Reds all asking what it would take to capture our 25-year old catching prospect Aaron Rice. Once again I started to question our Head Scout as we hadn’t even extended Rice an invite to Spring Training this year and yet he was highly sought after by clubs in need of a catcher. Of all of the offers, Atlanta’s was the most intriguing. Even though both Bertram Holsinger and Vic Dunn were having fairly solid springs at the time, the Braves offered us 22-year old center fielder Tomiichi “Mumbles” Yamaa for a package of players including Rice, 19-year old pitching prospect Buck Foulke, and another low minor league pitcher. Gaspar Zelaga thinks Foulke and Rice both have long Major League careers ahead of them but at this point who knows what his opinion is really worth. I thought we were giving away a lot for the speedy Yama**a, a Paterson, New Jersey native, but in addition to him being a perfect leadoff hitter he was stellar in the field. This deal would help us compensate for Revelez in left and give us two above average defensive outfielders, right fielder Travis Byers being the other. I asked Atlanta if they’d take Anastasio Aviles along with Foulke and Rice instead of the other prospect and they were still on board. The arrival of Yamaa meant Vic Dunn would have to go back to AAA Sacramento at the end of the spring. He hit .296 but both he and Holsinger are lefties with about equal defensive skill and Holsinger had the better spring with two homers, 10 RBI and a .300 average. Elsewhere within the organization 23-year old catcher Thomas Goodloe wasn’t really given the playing time we thought he’d get this spring, losing out on the chance to stay up because Tanyon Meagher proved himself to be more reliable defensively. 24-year old Cornelius McInally hit .313 in 48 at-bats and seemed to do enough to secure the starting catcher’s job going into the regular season. 21-year old first baseman Andres Ceno led the club with 68 Spring Training at-bats but only hit .221 with an on-base percentage of .250, not good enough to stay up with the big club. Jose Arce had a dreadful spring often hitting in the #5 hole for the A’s. His .205 batting average and .273 slugging were far from what we expect to get out of the starting first baseman spot. Arce is an average fielder, he probably won’t make the outstanding play at first but he’ll be pretty sure-handed. The normally outspoken player didn’t have any explanations or excuses for his poor performances, instead deciding to install a “no talk to the media” policy for Spring Training. Privately he was also at a loss; we were going to have to keep an eye on him early in the season to make sure his slumping doesn’t turn into a team-wide distraction. Victor Corliss is outstanding in the field at first and we asked him to stay on to be the defensive replacement and part-time bench player for us. At second base Ken O’Bryant got off to a slow start and turned it on over the last two weeks of the spring, ending up with a homer and nine RBI and a .358 OBP in 45 at-bats. Prospect Artie Page played himself off of the Athletics by hitting .237 with a .275 OBP in 38 at-bats. We had enough cover to spell O’Bryant with some of the versatile players at the other infield positions and Page maybe just needed some more seasoning with Sacramento before being able to be a reliable Major League contributor. I already mentioned Guevaro at third but the Page demotion meant that 28-year old Jim MacFall would be staying up with the big club. MacFall hit .293 and posted a .356 on-base percentage and can also play second base. At short John Tardif was another victim of not enough at-bats and was sent back down to the minors. 28-year old contact hitter Edgard Galdames was surely the starter here all along but we were happy with the strong performances of 30-year old backup Reydel Vazquez. There was controversy in left field all spring long. With leading wage-earner Teodor Revelez trying to force his way into the hearts and minds of Athletics fans, their 22-year old home-grown hero Pasqual Feliu found himself on a bus back to the minors after a spring in which he hit .305 and slugged .538 in 40 at-bats. The controversy was in that we decided to keep 27-year old Javier Raymundo up with the club despite Raymundo’s .143 batting average and .135 on-base percentage. I’m big enough to admit that this move might be mistake and we’ll be taking a close look at how both Raymundo and Feliu perform over the first month of the season to see if a change will need to be made. Carlyle Chamberlain didn’t get enough at-bats for a quality evaluation and was sent back down to the minors. I wrote about center field above so right field belonged to former Oriole Travis Byers. Byers hit .260 during the spring and has some pop in his bat; he may well become the #5 hitter during the regular season if we decide to switch the lineup around. 27-year old Ian Talbot only had 10 at-bats so was sent back down for further evaluation. On his way out he stopped me and said at this point in his career he was appreciative just to be given the chance to go through a big league spring training. I told him with his attitude to just keep his head down and work hard and he’d be back up with us in no time. So, with Spring Training behind us we’d be opening the season with a 3-game series at home against Seattle. Jeff Hance informed the media that J.D. Knisley would be the Opening Day starter. Hance, his Bench Coach, Herb Watson and I all came to a unanimous agreement about the Opening Day lineup: 1. Yamaa CF 2. Galdames SS 3. Byers RF 4. Revelez LF 5. Guevaro 3B 6. O’Bryant 2B 7. Arce 1B 8. Meagher DH 9. McInally C This is what we were going to start with. I also floated the idea of moving Revelez up to the third spot in the order and bumping Guevaro up to fourth and dropping Byers to fifth. Hance took it under advisement and said we’d give it a try at some point soon. We’d have to try a couple of different lineups to see if we could find a combination that clicked and for now we were going to stick with the same lineup against both lefty and righty starting pitchers to see if we can spot internal strengths and weaknesses. Before we get to the start of the regular season we’ll have to clue you in to the other teams in the division. We’ll also check in with some of the media and their analysis of the players that made the final cut for 2021. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC -** Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-12-2006 at 06:34 PM.

11-13-2006, 02:14 PM	#27
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	The American League West Los Angeles Angels History & Summary: The Los Angeles Angels have been the dominant franchise in the AL West for the last 15 years, winning 10 division titles during that time while posting a 1,331-1,099 record. Last year they won their third consecutive division crown, the second time in their history that they have pulled off a divisional three-peat (2008-10 being the other). But despite all of their regular season success and the fact that they are consistently among the top spenders in all of baseball the Angels have not had much luck in the playoffs, winning the American League twice in ten playoff appearances (2014 & 2019) and taking just one World Series crown in 2014. Nevertheless, they are the only team from the American League West to even make it to the World Series and they have come dangerously close to breaking the 4,000,000-person full season attendance barrier in each of the last two seasons. The 2014 Angels understandably holds a special place in the minds of Angel fans. That team was famously led by 7-time All Star and Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero who had actually left the Angels after the 2009 season as a free agent to sign with the Boston Red Sox. Much to the dismay of Angels fans Guerrero hit .315 and blasted 37 homers to lead the Sox to their first World Series title in 2010. But two years later an often-injured Vlad was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a couple of minor leaguers and a 5th round draft pick. A strained cruciate ligament put him out of action for close to two months but he still hit .382 with 40 homers in just over 400 at-bats. After the 2012 season the Angels, who had been struggling to replace his productivity since losing him on the free agent market, sent three top prospects to Philadelphia for Guerrero. Guerrero stayed fairly healthy for most of the 2013 season and hit .342, with 125 RBI and another 40 home runs. The magical 2014 season saw then 37-year old Vlad collect his 3,000th hit and 600th career home run in the same month (July) and by the end of the season he had posted career highs in both home runs (47) and RBI (144). In 2015 Vlad had sharp drop-offs in his productivity before a fractured cheekbone ended his career in September, retiring 11 RBI shy of 2,000 for his career. Vlad’s 631 career home runs places him 6th on the all-time leaderboard behind Barry Bonds (728), Mark Texiera (699), Alex Rodriguez (681), Manny Ramirez (655), and Ken Griffey Jr. (654). Speaking of 40-year old Mark Texiera, the current Angel comes into the 2021 season on the first year of a two year contract extension and is only 30 home runs away from surpassing Barry Bonds as the all-time home run leader. The Angels have some very good players coming back around surefire Hall of Famer Texiera, including last year’s American League Rookie of the Year Danilo Tabarez, 34-year old left fielder and 56-home run hitter last year Javier Mejines and 2-time All Star and former Gold Glove Award winner Kenneth Coeyman at second base. Our former minor leaguer and stop-gap shortstop Humphrey Ostendorff, 31, whom I traded to Florida for a draft pick in my first transaction as A’s General Manager had become a minor league free agent and signed on with the Angels and made the club in Spring Training after their All-Star caliber shortstop Reginald Lawry landed on the disabled list for two months with a torn thigh muscle. The Angels have a good but aging pitching staff (average age 33-years old) anchored by 2016 Cy Young Award winner 38-year old Spike “Barbwire” Burkill (career: 206-131, 3.21 ERA 2,956 IP, 1.22 WHIP) and 28-year old former A’s property and New Jersey native Steve Collins, a 3-time All Star and 22-game winner last season. Their middle relievers are fairly non-descript but setup men Abram O’Cahan and Steele Slee are both pretty reliable and 32-year old veteran closer Tony Gaborde is coming off the best season of his career which saw him post a 4-2 record with 36 saves, a 1.87 ERA, and a WHIP nearly under 1. The Angels come into this season with a payroll of just over $134 million, the third highest in baseball behind the Red Sox at $140 million and the White Sox at $138 million (more than double our payroll). While the media thinks they are the clear favorites to retain the division for the fourth straight year, their aging starting pitching is a huge question mark going into the 2021 season. This team is not going to have any trouble scoring runs but they’ll probably be involved in a lot of slugfests if one or two of their older starters hits the wall. Texas Rangers History & Summary: The Rangers have been the second best team in the Western Division since the rebirth of Major League Baseball 15 years ago with four division titles, eight second place finishes and a record of 1,252-1,178. Their playoff history, though, is just one horror show after another: eliminated in the divisional round in all four appearances, thrice losing 3 games to 2 and being swept 3-0 the other time. The sweep, in 2015 to Wild Card team and eventual league champion Tampa Bay, was the bitterest of all pills to swallow as the Rangers had posted a 99-63 record during the regular season, the best mark in their history. 2015 was a special year for the Rangers because they beat out the then-defending World Series champion Angels for the division riding the wave of the popular sarcastic t-shirt slogan: “Who’s second best?” but the Angels would go on to deliver a terrible blow of their own – signing superstar first baseman Mark Texiera as a free agent in the 2015 off-season. Texiera has been booed relentlessly over the last five years by the Rangers faithful in every return trip to Arlington and despite the fact that then-breaking-down 39-year old Roy Halladay and 38-year old Aaron Harang led the Rangers to their last division title four years ago in 2017 attendance has been on the decline ever since Texiera’s departure. Manning first base these days is 31-year old three-time All Star Jose Caride who is a mess mentally and a shell of his former self physically after missing the 2019 season with a fractured cheekbone. It wouldn’t be surprising to see 27-year old Felix Galacia step up to take over first base this season after hitting .313 with 36 homers as the designated hitter in 2020. 27-year old catcher Danny McCreery, 27-year old shortstop Rhet Libby and 27-year old left fielder Bemabe Flechas all seem to be solid players with bright futures. While the Rangers don’t have many big power bats in their lineup they do have a collection of promising professional hitters and should end up getting a lot of men on base. When taking a look at the pitching staff it’s clear that after 30-year old #1 starter Abelando Gonzalez the rest of the starting rotation is pretty thin. 27-year old rookie Johnathon Littles has a chance to develop into a quality starter but is probably going to take a lot of lumps this year, even if he’s being protected a bit by pitching in the #5 slot in the rotation. The bullpen is also a huge question mark going into next year. 35-year old closer Danny Snyder has probably already seen his best days while the rest of the relievers with the possible exception of hard-throwing lefty Adam Clay don’t even warrant mention here. The Rangers’ $71 million payroll ranks them 16th overall and we’re roughly in the same spending ballpark as them ($66 million and 19th). I think we’ve got a much better bullpen than them but they probably have a more solid overall lineup. It would be interesting if we were able to clip the Rangers this season and finish second. The more we thought about it the more we decided to make second place our pie-in-the-sky goal for 2021. Getting out of the basement was our main concern this year and finishing second would be a real boost to the team and hopefully help us win some fans back. Seattle Mariners History & Summary: On those rare occasions when the A’s didn’t feel like finishing last every single season the Mariners were happy to step in and fill the role, finishing fourth five times and finishing third seven times including last season. The Mariners are the only team in the division not to have at least one division championship (Oakland won their only division crown in 2007) in their trophy case but they do have a better overall record than Oakland (1,113-1,318 to 1,039-1,391) and their fans and announcers are usually very quick to mention that point in some newspaper or television commentary. Despite averaging about 1,000,000 fans per season in attendance for the entire teen-year decade the Mariners experienced a big bounce to 2,000,000 on the strength of their second-place finish in 2019. Despite finishing third last year they still drew over 2,000,000 while winning 80 games. The team spent about $54.4 million last year on payroll and has cut back this season to $46.8 million, 26th overall on the payroll list. In 2021 the Mariners will be led on the hitting side by 27-year old second baseman Hermon James, the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year, 25-year old third baseman Innes Gray, a young left-handed bat with a little pop, and 36-year old future Hall of Fame left fielder and DH Miguel Cabrera, he of the 595 career home runs. Our former catcher Colby Sunday made the Mariners out of Spring Training after being traded straight up for reliever Gregg Basnett over the winter. 31-year old center fielder Dave MacRobie should be a solid contributor for the M’s this coming season. Two players to keep an eye on would be 37-year old first baseman Werner “Burger” Baker to see what he’s got left in the tank and on the flip side to see what 26-year old shortstop and California native Montenegro Mesa has to offer for the future. The pitching staff is led by 25-year old Allen Swain, a four-year veteran and the 2019 Cy Young Award winner despite his tender age. Swain’s Cy Young year was a true masterpiece – he posted a franchise record 25 wins against four losses with more single-season team records for a 1.27 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 379 strikeouts (broke Randy Johnson’s old team record of 331) in 269.1 innings pitched. Now a full year removed from his Cy Young form all eyes will be on the career 66-38 starter as he enters the second year of a three year deal that sees him collect a seemingly inexpensive $2.62 million per season. He may well be used by Seattle as irresistible trade bait to bring back some multiple top prospects from a contending team at the trade deadline or he may simply be kept due to his relatively cheap contract. 32-year old Jake Thomas anchors the bullpen as the closer. Thomas, a former 12th round pick of the Red Sox back in 2007, made a name for himself as a durable reliever for four years in Houston before being signed by Seattle as a free agent and converted into a closer for the first time in his career last season. He hasn’t exactly been a shut-down closer with 29 saves, a 3.28 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 56 hits allowed with 28 walks in 60.1 innings last year. Seattle is hoping that with a year under his belt in the high-pressure position he’ll be ready to step it up. Seattle otherwise doesn’t have a great bullpen but they should have solid enough starting pitching that the coming season won’t be a complete disaster. I’m thoroughly confident that we’re a better club than Seattle coming out of Spring Training. So that’s what the division looks like. The Angels are still the favorites and even though our owner thinks we barley have enough talent to creep over the .500 mark in 2021 we’ll be shooting for a second place finish and hopefully the nice attendance bump that Seattle saw when they finished second a couple of years ago. Texas will be fighting tooth and nail for the second spot but I like our bullpen better and think we’ll able to do more with the flexibility we have within the team. Financially, some things and maybe even some players within the organization might have to change if we realize we have more needs to fill (like the back end of our starting rotation) during the season but we’re not at that point yet. Now, the slate was wiped clean for another exciting spring, summer and fall of baseball! __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-13-2006 at 02:33 PM.

11-14-2006, 01:02 PM	#29
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Monday, April 5, 2021 Game 1 vs. Seattle Mariners 6-3 Win; 23,564 in attendance W: Knisley (1-0) L: Swain (0-1) SV: Mathis (1) Recap: Oakland opened up their first game of the 2021 season at home and gave the fans something to cheer about by scoring runs in the first and second innings to go ahead 2-0. But the M’s then picked up a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-2 lead. After a scoreless 6th Juan Guevaro walked with the bases loaded and was the last batter Seattle ace Allen Swain would face before reliever Octavio Gomez gave up an RBI single to Ken O’Bryant and a 2-RBI double to Jose Arce on consecutive pitches to give the A’s the final margin. J.D. Knisley made it through 8 innings, giving up three earned runs on three hits, walking two and striking out 9 to take the player of the game honors. Bill Mathis threw four pitches in the ninth for his first save of the season. Deuces were wild for leadoff hitter Mumbles Yamasita who went 2-2 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Dave MacRobie homered off of Knisley for Seattle in the 4th inning, a solo shot. Tuesday, April 6, 2021 Game 2 vs. Seattle Mariners 5-2 Win; 13,353 in attendance W: Dickson (1-0) L: Chouinard (0-1) H: von Schoening (1) SV: Mathis (2) Recap: Yamasita only had one hit in this game but it was a two-run 361-foot homer to right field in the third inning to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Seattle tied the game with three consecutive singles off Rowley Dickson in the 5th inning but Dickson struck out Seattle first baseman Julian Diaz to get out of the inning and avoid further damage. In the bottom of the 6th Jose Arce delivered a run-scoring single with the bases loaded to give Oakland a 3-2 lead but Tanyon Meager promptly popped out on the infield and Cornelius McInally struck out to end the inning. Player of the game Dickson made it through 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 7 but was lifted after having thrown 113 pitches. Ken O’Bryant added an RBI single for Oakland in the bottom of the 8th for the final margin before Bill Mathis struck out 2 in the top of the ninth to save his second straight game. Wednesday, April 7, 2021 Game 3 vs. Seattle Mariners 7-4 Win; 13,389 in attendance W: Villaluazo (1-0) L: Arvizy (0-1) SV: Rogers (1) Recap: After going 0-7 in the first two games of the season Tanyon Meagher went 3-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored against Seattle to help lead the A’s to a three-game sweep – the perfect way to start a new season! Yamasita also collected 3 hits and player of the game Jose Arce, whose spring doldrums are apparently long behind him, had 2 more hits and 2 RBI, including his first home run of the year in the 4th inning. Teodor Revelez was asked for a curtain call by the home crowd when he hit his first homer of the year the following inning. Neifi Villaluazo went 6 innings and struck out 9; despite allowing 8 hits he didn’t walk a batter and gave up just one earned run. Reliever Terry Rogers came into a 7-1 game in the 7th and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits despite picking up the 3-inning save. Current Oakland Record: 3-0 Not a bad way to start the season but it's important for us not to get carried away with wins against a Seattle club that dumped payroll in the off-season. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-14-2006 at 02:01 PM.

11-15-2006, 01:38 AM	#30
TwinsFan86 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Auburn Hills, MI Posts: 276	Not to state the obvious or anything, but looks like you're off to a good start. __________________

11-15-2006, 07:29 AM	#31
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Thanks! But Seattle really isn't looking good and was 8-16 in Spring Training with one of those 8 wins against us! I think we just got the right team for the top of our pitching rotation. I'm just glad from a psychological point of view that those top two guys didn't blow up in their first starts. I've only played the first couple of weeks of the season thus far so there should be a lot of emotion to come! Also, if anyone cares to see how the career of a favorite RL player ended up just let me know; I'm going to start adding "A Look Back" & "Where Are They Now?" segments every once in a while and profile those players and ex-Athletics. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem

11-15-2006, 04:21 PM	#33
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series on the road against Seattle We come into town for Seattle’s home opener to face the 1-5 Mariners, a team we swept last week in our season opening series, feeling pretty confident about ourselves and this match-up. They were able to snatch one game from the Texas Rangers at the end of last week behind a strong outing from 27-year old lefty Ardley Klein and some decent bullpen work from Octavio Gomez, Wilson Quenby, and Jake Thomas despite being outscored 18-7 in the 3-game series. 37-year old Seattle first baseman and designated hitter Anastasio Castillo went on the 60-day disabled list retroactive to Spring Training after being ruled out for 6 months with a fractured skull and the Mariners to a man are pretty down as Castillo’s career may very well be over. As far as we were concerned our first road trip of the year was very important not just because we’d be clashing with the mighty Angels but also considering a solid showing this week would help solidify our positive start to the season and give us some juice going back to Oakland for a 7-game homestand next week against the Rangers, White Sox and Angels. The lineup would stay the same going into the series: 1. Yamasita CF 2. Galdames SS 3. Byers RF 4. Revelez LF 5. Guevaro 3B 6. O’Bryant 2B 7. Arce 1B 8. Meagher DH 9. McInally C Sunday, April 11, 2021 Game 7 at Seattle Mariners 13-5 Win; 46,905 in attendance W: Dickson (2-0) L: Gomez (0-1) SV: von Schoening (1) Recap: Neither starting pitcher was on top of their game early as the score was tied at 5-5 going into the top of the 7th when Edgard Galdames hit a 3-run double off 36-year old reliever Harman McLewis to clear the bases and put Oakland on top for good. Player of the game Ken O’Bryant hit his first homer of the year off McLewis the following inning and after a pitching change Jose Arce followed it with a solo shot of his own, his second of the season, off Octavio Rubmos. Vic Corliss came in to pinch hit for designated hitter Tanyon Meagher in the 7th and went 1-2 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Juan Guevaro went 3-5 with 3 runs scored but only had 1 RBI and left 5 men on base. Monday, April 12, 2021 Game 8 at Seattle Mariners 8-1 Win; 30,661 in attendance W: Villaluazo (2-0) L: Arvizy (0-2) Recap: Prior to this game Travis Byers was shuffled to the #5 slot in the batting order and Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro moved up to the #3 and #4 slots respectively. Cornelius McInally was given the day off and regular designated hitter Tanyon Meager got his first start of the year at catcher. Meagher moving out of the DH slot opened it up for Vic Corliss’ first start of the year. Despite not having his best stuff Neifi Villaluazo gutted out 8 innings and lost his shutout bid with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Villaluazo gave up 7 hits and walked 5 in 8.2 innings and came out of the game after giving up the run (and throwing 138 pitches), allowing Gregg Basnett to record the final out. It was the second loss in a week to Villaluazo and Oakland for Seattle starter Carlos Arvizy. Player of the Game Guevaro responded to hitting clean-up with a laser 384-foot grand slam home run to left field, his first homer of the season, in the 3rd inning off Arvizy. Tanyon Meagher went 2-4 with 2 doubles and 3 runs scored in his first start of the season behind the plate but Vic Corliss was 0-5 with 3 strikeouts. Tuesday, April 13, 2021 Game 9 at Seattle Mariners 7-6 Win; 31,160 in attendance W: Nakamura (1-0) L: Gomez (0-2) H: Rogers SV: Mathis (4) BS: Gomez (1) Recap: A’s manager Jeff Hance left the lineup exactly the same as the day before and Vic Corliss bounced back from his 0’fer in his first start by going 3-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Noritoshi Nakamura got the win despite allowing 12 hits (including 3 home runs) and 6 earned runs in 7.1 innings. Seattle reliever Octavio Gomez squandered a 3-run lead and a decent performance from well-named starter Pellegrin Lindeman to collect his second loss in this series. Tanyon Meagher and Edgard Galdames got the key hits to spark the final rally in the top of the 8th inning for Oakland. 37-year old Seattle designated hitter Miguel Cabrera took home Player of the Game honors with a 4-4 performance that included his 596th and 597th career home runs. Current Oakland Record: 7-2 Next Up: 3-game series on the road against Los Angeles (of Anaheim) Our second 3-game sweep of the Mariners in a week had everyone in the front office feeling a little giddy as we went into our first series of the year against the defending American League Western Division Champions, our first real test of the 2021 season. If there was ever a good time to face a team as strong as the Angels and steal a few games from them I was convinced that early in the season before anyone had had a chance to get on a big roll was the time to do it. The Angels came into the series at 5-4 – they swept Baltimore to start the year but had lost two out of three games to both the Yankees and Devil Rays since. They certainly weren’t anywhere close to playing their best baseball yet which was good news for us. Manager Jeff Hance was going to try and capture a little lightning in a bottle by leaving regular starting catcher Cornelius McInally on the bench for the third straight game in the series opener in favor of Tanyon Meagher and Vic Corliss at the bottom of the lineup but called me in advance in case I got antsy to let me know that regardless of performance McInally would be back as the starting catcher in the second game of the series. Thursday, April 15, 2021 Game 10 at Los Angeles Angels 6-2 Loss; 44,722 in attendance W: Burkill (2-0) L: Stanely (0-1) SV: Gaborde (1) Recap: With the off-day on Wednesday Jeff Hance had the option of skipping 5th starter Rick Stanely in favor of ace J.D. Knisley to square off against the Angels’ ace and former Cy Young Award winner Spike Burkill but decided to stay with a strict order at this early point in the season and so went with Stanely. Stanely gave up 7 hits and 5 earned runs while walking 4 before being chased in the bottom of the 4th inning. Los Angeles’ Danilo Tabarez, Vito Tapias and Player of the Game Montel Bojorguez all homered off Stanely. After falling behind we looked listless and grounded into 3 double plays in the late innings and were never able to seriously challenge Burkill who scattered 8 hits in 8.2 innings. Josh Frank threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief before Jonathan Leverett closed out the game by giving up a run over the final 2 innings. Travis Byers went 2-3 with a double in the losing effort. Friday, April 16, 2021 Game 11 at Los Angeles Angels 4-3 Win; 39,998 in attendance W: Mathis (1-0) L: Calimano (0-1) BS: Mathis (1) BS: Gaborde (2) Recap: This was a really exciting game as the Angels’ Steve Collins out-dueled our J.D. Knisley, handing a 2-1 lead over to closer Tony Gaborde in the top of the 9th inning. Travis Byers singled off Gaborde to start the 9th inning and Ken O’Bryant promptly doubled him home to tie the game. Two batters later Cornelius McInally, back in the lineup, singled O’Bryant in from second base to give us a 3-2 lead. Castel Calimano came in for the Angels to finish off the inning without further damage. In the bottom half of the inning A’s closer Bill Mathis came in looking for his 5th save of the season but after inducing a weak ground out and a pop out to the catcher L.A.’s Danilo Tabarez dinked one down the line in left field and over the wall for a game-tying home run. In the top of the 10th inning singles from Edgard Galdames and Teodor Revelez and a walk to O’Bryant loaded the bases. The Angels stuck with Calimano and he walked Jose Arce to force in the go-ahead run. We sent Mathis back out there for the bottom of the 10th to make immediate amends for his blown save and despite a two-out double from Mark Teixeira that was absolutely torched Mathis was able to get through the inning. L.A.’s Steve Collins was Player of the Game despite the loss. Saturday, April 17, 2021 Game 12 at Los Angeles Angels 3-0 Win; 44,681 in attendance W: Dickson (3-0) L: MacChlerich (1-1) Recap: Manager Jeff Hance reported that with 2 unremarkable wins over Seattle under his belt starting pitcher Rowley Dickson came into the rubber game of this three game series with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Just 2 hours and 12 minutes later he had spun a 4-hit complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks to lower his ERA this season to 2.82. It was the pitching performance of the young season for us and a fantastic way to be going back home after capturing 2 out of 3 from the Angels and going 5-1 on the 6-game road trip. Cornelius McInally hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third inning, off Angels starter Andy MacChlerich (who also threw 9 innings) and it was sort of the complete reverse of the first game of this series – the Angels seemed lifeless the moment they fell behind. Current Oakland Record: 9-3 It was probably the perfect start to the season but everyone was quick to keep the good vibes to a minimum and instead point to the fact that 6 wins were against Seattle, a team with a 3-10 record thus far, we lost 2-out-of-3 to a 6-6 Cleveland team and won a game against the Angels we easily could have lost on Friday. Nevertheless we got a great big game out of Rowley Dickson that’s going to have to stick in the minds of the Angles’ batters and our two biggest weapons at the plate, Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro, still haven’t really started hitting yet! Things were looking cautiously optimistic going into a 7-game homestand that saw two 2-game mini-series (against the Rangers and White Sox) before a 3-game rematch with the Angels. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-16-2006 at 10:57 AM.

11-16-2006, 10:02 PM	#34
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 2-game series at home against Texas We were sitting pretty with a record of 9-3 in our first 12 games and were at home for the start of a 7-game homestand against the Texas Rangers. By the end of the homestand we will have played for 10 consecutive days before getting a travel day off next Sunday. More importantly, we had two very important divisional match-ups this week against Texas & Los Angeles and a midweek 2-game tussle with the American League Champion Chicago White Sox. The Rangers came into town on the tail end of an 8-game road trip during which they had split the first 6 games. Overall they were 7-5 but they had lost their last two games to Minnesota including a 10-0 drubbing just yesterday. Texas has a roster of exciting young players just hitting their primes including 26-year old second baseman Steve Wickenden, and the 27-year old trio of catcher Danny McCreery, first baseman Felix Galacia, and shortstop Rhet Libby. The Rangers have a surplus of talent at the Major League level at first base with 22-year old Don McCann taking over the designated hitter spot from talented veteran Lawley Bobbitt. Rumor has it that McCann’s emergence in Spring Training has prompted 34-year old Bobbitt to request a trade but both the player and the team have denied those reports in recent days. The lineup had been tweaked slightly going into the homestand to sit Tanyon Meagher and give a little run to Vic Corliss in the designated hitter spot. 1. Yamasita CF 2. Galdames SS 3. Byers RF 4. Revelez LF 5. Guevaro 3B 6. O’Bryant 2B 7. Arce 1B 8. McInally C 9. Corliss DH Sunday, April 18, 2021 Game 13 vs. Texas Rangers 8-0 Loss; 14,688 in attendance W: Felbrig (2-1) L: Villaluazo (2-1) Recap: We went from our best pitching performance of the season against Seattle in our last game to the best performance against us in this game: 26-year old Texas rookie Shawn Felbrig tossed a nasty complete game 2-hit shutout in which he only walked 2 while striking out 5. In his first 3 starts of 2021 Felbrig has an eye-catching 1.74 ERA and is definitely someone we’ll keep an eye on this season. Mumbles Yamasita and Travis Byers had the only Oakland hits. Texas left fielder Bemabe Flechas homered off of our starter Neifi Villaluazo in the 3rd inning and third baseman Eugene LaPlante hit a pinch hit home run off of Gregg Basnett in the top of the 9th for Texas. Rangers’ leadoff man Lorenzo Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Monday, April 19, 2021 Game 14 vs. Texas Rangers 9-0 Win; 8,606 in attendance W: Nakamura (2-0) L: Gonzalez (1-2) Recap: What a strange last three days… shutout fever! The loss had really scared the fans away as an unending stream of “same old A’s” comments flooded the phone lines of local talk radio well into Monday afternoon after being shutout badly on Sunday. But Teodor Revelez scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 3rd inning and there was no looking back as Noritoshi “The Bandit” Nakamura bounced back from a shaky 12-hit, 6-earned run performance against Seattle in his last start to throw a complete game 7-hitter against Texas and earn us a split in the 2-game series. Nakamura struck out a season-high 12 Rangers while walking 3. Jose Arce hit a 418-foot 2-run blast to dead center field for his 3rd home run of the season in the 5th inning and Edgard Galdames added some unneeded insurance with his 1st of the year, a 3-run shot to the opposite field in right in the 7th. Galdames had 4 RBI on the day and Ken O’Bryant went 3-for-4 but The Bandit was the real story of the night and just what we needed with struggling Rick Stanely due up next in our rotation against the White Sox. Current Oakland Record: 10-4 A good split with Texas considering the kind of bats that they have in their lineup. A strange little 2-game series to be sure and we were just about to enter another one… against the bigger, stronger, and faster Chicago White Sox. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-17-2006 at 12:02 AM.

11-18-2006, 01:18 PM	#35
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 2-game series at home against Chicago White Sox The big, bad defending American League Champions came to Oakland with an identical 10-4 record but since they reeled off 5 straight wins to open the season they’ve basically been playing sloppy .500 baseball. The team is stacked with All Stars throughout the lineup including former MVP right fielder Dayton Craye, and multiple-time All Stars Roberto Darna (catcher), Brandt Wurz (left fielder), Damario Rosado (center fielder), and Jake Hubble (first baseman/designated hitter). On the pitching side of things Bowie van Ingen, who along with Wurz arrived in Chicago this year through free agency after winning the World Series last year with the Mets, was anchoring the pitching staff as the ace although 38-year old former Twins product Scott Baker had the best ERA of the White Sox starters coming into the series at 3.66. Luckily, neither pitcher is scheduled to face us in this mini-series. 21-year old closer Maurice Duncan, now in his 3rd full year of Major League ball, has 5 saves in 5 appearances and sports a 0.00 ERA. Manager Jeff Hance officially moved Teodor Revelez and Juan Guevaro up into the #3 and #4 slots in the lineup and dropped Travis Byers from #3 to #5 and that decision would stand for the time being. 1. Yamasita CF 2. Galdames SS 3. Revelez LF 4. Guevaro 3B 5. Byers RF 6. O’Bryant 2B 7. Arce 1B 8. McInally C 9. Corliss DH Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Game 15 vs. Chicago White Sox 5-2 Win; 14,071 in attendance W: Rogers (1-0) L: Lockett (2-1) SV: Mathis (5) Recap: Teddy Revelez responded to being moved up in the batting order by hitting a monster 477-foot solo shot to right-center field in the 8th inning against White Sox starter Trinidad Lockett for his second homer of the year but it was a 3-run blast off Lockett by Mumbles Yamasita in the 7th that had put the game away an inning earlier. Starting pitcher Rick Stanely somehow managed to give up only 2 runs through 6.1 innings that saw him give up 6 hits and 7 walks. Terry Rogers came on and allowed one of two inherited runners to score before to give Chicago the lead in the top of the 7th prior to Yamasita’s shot in the bottom half of the inning. Rogers pitched a perfect 8th before Bill Mathis struck out the side to end the game. Yamasita went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored to take home Player of the Game honors. Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Game 16 vs. Chicago White Sox 7-5 Win; 13,941 in attendance W: Knisley (2-1) L: Nanez (2-2) SV: Mathis (6) Recap: The White Sox flexed some unexpected muscle when they took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd on a 2-run shot off of J.D. Knisley from designated hitter Everardo Benaricles hitting out of the 9 hole. Jose Arce hit his 4th home run of the season, a 403-footer to right-center off White Sox starter Alberto Nanez, to get one run back in the 4th inning. Going into the bottom of the 7th the score was tied at 3-3 but Travis Byers, Arce, Ken O’Bryant and Vic Corliss all had RBI singles to chase Nanez and reliever Chris Allen before Tavio Bedevia finally stopped the bleeding. Our starter Knisley took Player of the Game honors going 8 innings for his 2nd win of the year (and first since Opening Day) allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 10 despite the 3 earned runs. Jonathan Leverett got in trouble with 2 outs in the 9th giving up 2 runs before Crunchy Mathis got himself a one-out save. Corliss was 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBI. Current Oakland Record: 12-4 This was a pretty lucky 2-game sweep of the American League champions especially surviving Rick Stanely’s 7 walks on Tuesday. Our lineup seemed to have a little more life since the reshuffling but it would take some time before we’d be able to tell if this would be a permanent move. The Angels were coming in for the last three games of our homestand with an 8-8 record and would surely be looking for some revenge after we took 2-of-3 from them last week. Third baseman Danilo “Silencer” Tabarez came into the series red hot with 7 home runs and 15 RBI on the year while rookie first baseman Vito Tapias came in looking good with 5 homers and 12 RBI and a .339 batting average. Next Up: 3-game series at home against Los Angeles (of Anaheim) Thursday, April 22, 2021 Game 17 vs. Los Angeles Angels 5-3 Win; 13,689 in attendance W: Dickson (4-0) L: MacChlerich (1-2) SV: Mathis (7) Recap: Player of the Game Dome Guevaro hit his 2nd and 3rd home runs of the season early in the game to help stake the A’s to a 5-0 lead. Rowley Dickson lost the shutout bid by giving up 2 runs in the 8th before Bill “Crunchy” Mathis scrapped through the 9th allowing another run in his 7th save of the season. Dickson allowed just 4 hits and struck out 9 Angels but the man known for his pinpoint control walked 5 on the day. Los Angeles reliever Kiyoshi Shiroi threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Guevaro was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored overall and Jose Arce, Travis Byers and Teddy Revelez each had two hits as the heart of our lineup won us a game for this first time all season. Mumbles Yamasita was taken out of the game after he knocked out a couple of his teeth making a diving grab in center against Vito Tapias in the top of the 7th inning. Just to be careful Jeff Hance gave me a call we decided to sit Mumbles for the rest of the series so he could fully recover. Instead we were going to give Bertram Holsinger a couple of starts. Friday, April 23, 2021 Game 18 vs. Los Angeles Angels 11-4 Loss; 13,121 in attendance W: Rivadeneyra (2-2) L: Villaluazo (2-2) SV: Shiroi (1) Recap: Neifi Villaluazo took a 4-3 lead into the top of the 7th inning before he was pulled after giving up 2 runs and loading the bases. Los Angeles left fielder Javier Mejines then smacked a grand slam off of reliever Fairfax von Schoening on the first pitch he saw to put the game out of reach. Montel Bojorguez, Vito Tapias, and Al Eliason also homered for the Angels. Our Jose Arce had 2 RBI and Ken O’Bryant had 2 hits in the losing effort. Dome Guevaro and Bertram Holsinger left 8 men on base between them. L.A. starter Ramon Rivadeneyra went 6 innings and struck out 6 while giving up 4 runs and Kiyoshi Shiroi threw 3 innings of scoreless relief for his first save of the year. It was the second straight night Shiroi had thrown multiple scoreless innings from the bullpen for the Angels. Saturday, April 24, 2021 Game 19 vs. Los Angeles Angels 6-4 Win; 14,866 in attendance W: Nakamura (3-0) L: Jester (1-1) H: Basnett (1) SV: Mathis (8) Recap: The Angels jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but a 447-foot bomb from Teddy Revelez, his third of the season, and a 2-RBI single from Travis Byers in the bottom of the 6th swung the game to our favor. But a single, a double and then two groundouts off Bandit Nakamura in the top of the 7th gave the Angles the lead back at 4-3. Byers delivered again in the bottom of the 7th with another RBI single as did Jose Arce and Tanyon Meagher, who was in giving a rest to Cornelius McInally for the final margin. Gregg Basnett and Crunchy Mathis each pitched an inning of scoreless relief. Nakamura gave up 4 earned runs in 7 innings while walking 1 and striking out 7. Current Oakland Record: 14-5 This last victory was as big a win for us as possible at the 19-game mark as it meant our second series victory over the Angels and our fourth divisional series win of the season when you consider the two sweeps of Seattle. Adding in the 2-game split with Texas and we were unbeaten in five divisional series thus far in 2021! We had just played our final home game of the month and thus far we had drawn 186,545 fans, on pace to shatter last season’s dismal total of 445,239. Up next we had an off-day before a 9-game road trip that would take us to Toronto, Kansas City and Texas. __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-18-2006 at 01:20 PM.

11-18-2006, 05:20 PM	#37
dankrzyz Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 305	Simply awesome account of your franchise. Enjoyed reading it and will definitely keep up. Looking forward to having you in the ULB online league.

11-18-2006, 11:02 PM	#38
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Thank you. After I finish this season I'll have to see about keeping this story going or switching up to report about the ULB. I doubt with real life that I can swing doing both... we shall see! __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem

11-19-2006, 03:38 PM	#39
thehatfield All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: dirty jerz Posts: 1,339	Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Kansas City The Royals were 11-11 through their first 22 games prior to our 3-game set but sat just 2 games behind the American League Central Division leading Chicago White Sox. With 1 division title and 9 last-place finishes in MLB’s 15 years (including the last two years running) the Royals were the Central Division equivalent of us. But unlike us, Baseball America called Kansas City’s minor league organization “the strongest in all of baseball, and by a wide margin” (over the Baltimore Orioles). The unfortunate thing for Kansas City is that out of necessity many of those young future stars have been breaking through into the lineup over the past two seasons leaving the Royals woefully inconsistent. Royals fans suffered through 7 straight years of the team payroll averaging $35 million before new ownership plunked $48.5 million down two seasons ago in 2019 (their payroll is at $56.7 million this year). 2-time All Star second baseman Jim Soper, a .333 career hitter, was a result of the 2019 spending spree and went to Kansas City as a big-time free agent from Colorado. But the 31-year old hasn’t been able to match the production he had in Colorado, failing to hit at least 20 home runs in 2 years in a Royals uniform (he had hit at least 20 for 5 years running as a member of the Rockies). A pair of 21-year old budding stars – right fielder Javier Cabrera and third baseman Jose Funk – manned the heart of the Royals young lineup but really needed to improve their defense as both were definite liabilities in the field. Once again we got lucky with the pitching rotation match-up as we would not have to face Kansas City’s top 2 starters: 25-year olds Henry Bair and Yoshinobu Hayashida. We would, however, face Billy Curley, yet another 25-year old and supposedly the young arm with the brightest overall upside. Aside from 34-year old relievers Lewis MacLeay and Ramon Salazar everyone on the pitching staff was 28-years old or younger. Kansas City has just come off a successful 4-2 road trip that included taking 2-of-3 from Cleveland in their last series. Fred Cake would make his debut in an Oakland uniform in the third game of this series. Thursday, April 29, 2021 Game 23 at Kansas City Royals 4-1 Win; 15,106 in attendance W: Villaluazo (3-2) L: Curley (3-3) SV: Mathis (10) Recap: The game was scoreless until the top of the 6th inning when Travis Byers knocked in 2 runs with a double. Ken O’Bryant repeated the feat in the 8th inning after a throwing error by Jim Soper with 2 outs put a second man on base and kept the inning alive. 25-year old left fielder Ronald Smith hit a home run off our starter Neifi Villaluazo in the bottom of the 8th but Bill Mathis had a tidy 9-pitch 9th inning to earn his 10th save in 11 opportunities this season. Royals starter Billy Curley allowed 6 hits, walked 4 and allowed 2 earned runs through 8 innings but was out-dueled by Villaluazo’s 4 hits, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts who got his first win since April 12. Aside from Byers and O’Bryant Edgard Galdames was 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Ramon Salazar pitched an inning of scoreless relief in the 9th for Kansas City. Friday, April 30, 2021 Game 24 at Kansas City Royals 10-6 Win; 14,848 in attendance W: Nakamura (4-0) L: Aguayo (1-2) H: Frank (1) Recap: A Jim Soper error in his second consecutive game opened the floodgates for a 4-run outburst from us in the top of the 5th inning that gave us a lead we would hold until the end the of game. Bandit Nakamura struggled through 6 innings (9 hits and 6 runs [5 earned] allowed while walking 5 batters) but not as badly as Royals starter Arturo Aguayo whose 8 walks contributed to 8 runs (6 earned). Josh Frank and Fairfax von Schoening combined for 3 innings of scoreless relief in an otherwise sloppy game. Dome Guevaro and leadoff hitter Mumbles Yamasita both hit their 5th home runs of the season in the win. Lewis MacLeay had 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for the Royals. Jim MacFall played second and committed his first error of the season while giving Ken O’Bryant the day off and Tanyon Meagher spelled Cornelius McInally behind the plate. Everyone involved was just happy for this 3½-hour long game to be put to bed; it just wasn’t a good game to watch unless you get off on strong middle relief and a couple of cheap homers. Saturday, May 1, 2021 Game 25 at Kansas City Royals 7-5 Win; 16,920 in attendance W: Cake (1-0) L: Argelio (2-4) H: Rogers (2) H: Leverett (2) SV: Mathis (11) Recap: 32-year old Fred Cake made his first start of the 2021 Major League campaign after the demotion of 25-year old “walk-machine” Rick Stanely to AAA Sacramento earlier in the week. It was a decent performance by Cake who gave up 6 hits and 4 runs but more importantly only 1 walk through 6 innings to earn the victory. Teddy Revelez hit his 6th home run of the year in the 1st inning of off Salvador Argelio, a 2-run shot, and contributed a 2-run single off the Royals’ starter during our 5-run rally in the 5th inning which sealed the game. Kansas City shortstop Jorge Cabrera hit his 3rd home run of the season off of Cake in the 4th inning and once again Terry Rogers failed to throw an inning of scoreless relief as Cabrera got his 4th longball of the year in the 7th inning. Cornelius McInally threw out his 3rd baserunner of the year in 11 attempted steals on him in the 8th inning. Current Oakland Record: 19-6 I wasn’t expecting a sweep here but I’ll take it! We got a win from the #5 spot in our rotation for the first time this year with veteran Fred Cake being thrown straight into the fire despite only having pitched at the AAA level this year in the Dodgers organization and we were pleased that the guy at least seems to have decent control. Neifi Villaluazo avoided the post 5th-inning collapse we saw out of him during his last two outings and we might just have to keep a shorter leash on him overall because when he hits the wall he sure loses it quick. Next up shall be a look at the 1st month of the 2021 Major League Baseball season! __________________ AFBL - Maryland Bridegrooms SBC - Western Suburbs Magpies no pressure no problem Last edited by thehatfield; 11-19-2006 at 03:39 PM.