Official 2007 Oakland A's Thread

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mauboy

Well, I'm not too thrilled that we dealt Marshall to get him. I just found out that's who it was. A's definitely win this deal for the future; if Kendal can bat .250-.260 then the Cubs win this deal for THIS year and this year only. *shrug*

I'm just glad to be rid of him and get some playing time for Suzuki since the A's are going nowhere this year. I hope Jason Kendall hits a walkoff home run to win the World Series.

[mauboy]

Okay, it looks like the ESPN Broadcasters were wrong when saying Marshall.. Thank you! Now it sounds much better.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by mauboy

Okay, it looks like the ESPN Broadcasters were wrong when saying Marshall.. Thank you! Now it sounds much better.

It doesn't matter who we got in return, just as long as we don't have Kendal's bat in the lineup.

[mirrf]

Anyone else feeling a garage sale is coming soon?

[darkhorse]

It would seem the A's put the lie to the notion that pitching and D are all you need to win. They've got both in abundance.

Moneyball V.2, me no likey.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

It would seem the A's put the lie to the notion that pitching and D are all you need to win. They've got both in abundance.

Moneyball V.2, me no likey.

Billy and the A's were expecting more offense. Injuries to Piazza and Bradley really hurt that plan and nobody stepped up. Errr, I guess Cust did, but that doesn't make up for loads of people not hitting (Crosby, Chavez, Kendall) what they're expected.

I wouldn't mind pitch/defense first philosophy if it was *working*, but clearly it's not this year for a variety of reasons.

[Faroo6]

we r the suxors

[Qwerty75]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

It would seem the A's put the lie to the notion that pitching and D are all you need to win. They've got both in abundance.

Moneyball V.2, me no likey.

Pitching and defense was the blueprint, but the A's have ended up being a bit shallow in both, partly due to injury. The cracks in the P and D coupled with their horrible offense has been very apparent in the current losing streak, now at 9 games.

The staff has 40% (2 out of 5) guys being pretty iffy (Kennedy, DiNardo) for most of the year with Harden's absence. Gaudin was good overall, if a bit lucky, before the AS break, but the control problems of last year has re-appeared since and he has started to slide. Haren and Blanton are still solid, but that won't get you through half your games.

On the defensive side, the A's have really only 3 plus defenders, all in the IF, in Chavez-Crosby-Ellis. Swisher is a plus 1B when he's there, but has been in RF for the most part with an average-ish Dan Johnson at the bag the greater part of the time. In CF, the A's regularly trotted out a below-average Swisher before Kotsay returned from back surgery in June. Kotsay himself has slipped according to advanced metrics (possibly traceable to age and back difficulties) over the last several years and Stewart and Buck are about average at one or the other of the OF corners. Kendall was lauded for his pitch-calling and staff-handling, but was throwing out only 20% of prospective basestealers before the deal. It's probably a bit better than average defense all told, but the low BABIP the A's staff was putting up had as much to do with luck and the Coliseum's tendency to suppress that figure than actual stellar defense, the infield notwithstanding.

[Skipaway]

Oakland is also 2nd in walks in AL.

[Qwerty75]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Anyone else feeling a garage sale is coming soon?

It would probably be a good idea to get something for Stewart, Piazza, and Kennedy before the deadline passes and they leave as FAs at year's end with no assurance of draft compensation with any of the three. Some would like to toss Crosby, DJ, and Harden in the volcano as well, not to mention dumping Chavez, but 1) I don't think Barton is ready to replace DJ yet, 2) Crosby's trade value is low and he may still be salvageable as a hitter, even if it takes a demotion to AAA to straighten out his batting approach (long live the good baseball body), 3) Harden's trade value is even lower than Crosby's and he is a candidate for surgery which would put him out for the remainder of the season. Chavez's trade value is likely depressed as well, so no sense in dealing him now, probably not ever all the way until the end of his contract.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by Qwerty75

1) I don't think Barton is ready to replace DJ yet,

I think Barton is ready.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today....php?id=435558

[mikev]

Sadly, I don' tthink the Yankees are looking for a 1B so bad anymore.

I secretly was hoping for a DJ-for-Melky swap.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Qwerty75

It would probably be a good idea to get something for Stewart, Piazza, and Kennedy before the deadline passes and they leave as FAs at year's end with no assurance of draft compensation with any of the three. Some would like to toss Crosby, DJ, and Harden in the volcano as well, not to mention dumping Chavez

I agree with Stewart, Piazza, and Kennedy.

I wouldn't get rid of Crosby, Harden, or Chavez..... But I would throw in Embree, Johnson, Kotsay, and possibly Calero. My thinking is that each one of those players are very replaceable for the money and aren't helping this year.

[Qwerty75]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I think Barton is ready.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today....php?id=435558

The problems I have with what Barton's done this year are: 1) Inconsistency: he's compiled his stats on the strength of one torrid June; let's see if he can produce at a high level for an extended period of time ... he's already cooled off a lot in July. 2) A lack of HR power from a power position. He hasn't shown HR power at any of his minor-league levels, but the PCL, with its dry climates and high altitudes, would be a perfect place to start hitting for power. If Barton is so much better than AAA pitching that he can do basically what he wants at the plate, let him make adjustments towards hitting for more power so that he's able to do such at the ML level. Without it, he won't out-produce DJ at the moment or for at least a year. As a basis for comparison, look at what DJ did at Sac: http://thebaseballcube.com/players/J/Dan-Johnson.shtml
I'd like to see Barton get his slugging up towards DJ's levels with more HRs before he given an everyday ML job. Hopefully that's early next year, which would be an added plus if it saved a year of arbitration and contract control into his prime.

[Qwerty75]

Originally Posted by mirrf

I agree with Stewart, Piazza, and Kennedy.

I wouldn't get rid of Crosby, Harden, or Chavez..... But I would throw in Embree, Johnson, Kotsay, and possibly Calero. My thinking is that each one of those players are very replaceable for the money and aren't helping this year.

It would be great if they could get something for Kotsay and unload his salary, but his trade value is probably pretty low right now with the way he's playing. I see him being shopped around in the winter, although I'm not sure how eager Beane would be to hand the CF job over solely over to Denorfia coming of his year-long layoff, and another decent replacement would be hard to find.

I agree that Embree and Calero are expendable.

It's sad having to think about selling off assets and giving up on the year, but it doesn't look like the team will make that push this year as they've done in previous years.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Damn. The A's finally win one and I forgot they were playing.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Qwerty75

It would be great if they could get something for Kotsay and unload his salary, but his trade value is probably pretty low right now with the way he's playing.

I would have said the same thing about Kendall.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Damn. The A's finally win one and I forgot they were playing.

Yea, heard the last bit on the Radio coming/going to my work. It feels good to break that big L streak.

[darkhorse]

In the useless trivia dept: When Shane Komine delivered his first pitch on Tuesday to Kurt Suzuki, they formed the first Hawaiian born battery in MLB history.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

In the useless trivia dept: When Shane Komine delivered his first pitch on Tuesday to Kurt Suzuki, they formed the first Hawaiian born battery in MLB history.

Nice. I would have figured that as there hasn't been too many Hawaiian players in general. Is Kurt the first Hawaiian catcher?