2006 Oakland A's Thread

[Green & Gold Heart]

More love for the A's from ESPN's Buster Olney:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/previ...ter&id=2389235

It's Insider, though it looks like it's also going to appear in ESPN The Magazine, with Huston Street on the cover.

Some exerpts:

As the poster boy for the New School of Baseball Philosophy, Beane still maintains that there's a statistical randomness to the outcome of postseason play. "I've got the numbers to prove it," he says. But undoubtedly, the 2006 A's are deeper, more diverse, possessing more of the elements that the Old-School Thinkers believe are necessary to win in the playoffs: a deep bullpen, enough speed to make the offense multidimensional against good pitching, and a bunch of guys who catch the ball.

Beane freely admits to a shift in emphasis, if not philosophy. Even before "Moneyball" came out in 2003, teams increasingly had invested in on-base percentage; Giambi got $120 million from the Yankees after the 2001 season in large part because they thought he'd improve their OBP. As the pool of affordable on-base masters dried up, Beane started looking for other undervalued skills, forever seeking cheap but good stock.
"Our team, by and large, is always going to be what the marketplace is allowing us to pay for," he says.
So it was that in fall 2003, Beane found that Padres center fielder Mark Kotsay's defense was staggeringly good and that Kotsay was relatively affordable. Trading for him was the start of a new trend. While everyone else was obsessing over OBP, Beane was already on to D.
The GM snapped up Jay Payton from the Red Sox last summer, and in December, he swapped a minor-leaguer to the Dodgers for the volatile Milton Bradley. Now the A's effectively have three center fielders covering the outfield, along with Gold Glove candidates at third base (Chavez), shortstop (Bobby Crosby) and second base (Mark Ellis). It naturally followed that as the Athletics hoarded first-rate glove men, their team speed increased dramatically. These guys still won't steal a lot of bases -- Beane reasons, why risk the outs? -- but they can go first to third and first to home.

Basic gist is that they A's are much improved in their areas of weakness from past playoff blunder years: defense, bullpen, baserunning, depth. They just have to go out and win something now.

[johnnyshaka]

After what they did last season, there is going to be A LOT of pressure on them to repeat their performance...and that is going to be tough. Sure, Billy added some valuable pieces to the puzzle, but the fact is, the kids that really played well (Street, Haren, Blanton, Johnson, Swisher, and Ellis) really need to step it up again and that is really asking a lot from 5 guys who are heading into their second season in the pros and one who's coming off a career year. Do we have enough depth to cover any of these guys if they can't hack it the second time around?? Hmmm...maybe. But, we really need these guys to be as good, if not better, than last season and I think that is going to be the key...not to mention the injury concerns we've got with about half of our starting lineup.

Needless to say, I'm cautiously optimistic about this season. I love what Billy's done in the offseason and I'm curious to see what happens with Zito come July...but, for the love of God, I really hope they can stay relatively healthy until the All-Star break and then close out the season in our typical "on fire" fashion and then carry that through the playoffs...FOR ONCE!!!!!

[mikev]

Can anybody confirm whether or not the A's just picked up Koyle Strayhorn and Jeremy Hill who were released by the Mets today?

Strayhorn *supposedly* was a good prospect awhile ago, and still throws 95+ or something like that.

[mikev]

FROM ROTOWORLD:

Athletics acquired RHP Juan Dominguez from the Rangers for LHP John Rheinecker and infielder Freddie Bynum.
Sounds good to us. Rheinecker has always been sort of interesting, but he's probably going to be a long-term reliever, rather than a starter. Bynum goes from the Rangers to the Cubs, making him the National League 25th man he was destined to become. Dominguez has more potential than any other player in the deal, and the A's are buying low with the Rangers down on him. The A's now have a second-string rotation of Kirk Saarloos, Joe Kennedy, Dominguez, Brad Halsey and Chad Gaudin, which is probably better than Tampa Bay's one through five. Dominguez will head to Triple-A Sacramento, and if he makes an impact in Oakland this year, it'll likely be as a reliever. Mar. 31 - 8:49 pm et

[JDOldSchool]

I'm not sure what I think of the trade. I was hoping Bynum would sneak onto the roster. At least they got something for him and by sending him to the Cubs he won't be in the division.

[mikev]

Well, Dominguez has great stuff but apparently can be a headcase (think Jairo Garcia).

I don't know that Rheinicker will ever be a MLB caliber starter, no more than a 3 or 4 probably anyways at best.

[mikev]

Stole this from the espn.com Rangers message boards:

Dominguez is a very, very talented righhander out of the rural Dominican Republic. He has communication and attention issues.

He shut down the Yankees on a near no-no at Yankee Stadium.
He has made quality starts in about 6 of 11 2005 appearances.
He has possible the best changeup in baseball, no exaggeration.

and

He has gone off to the Dominican without notification (death in the family, one other understandable situation, but still ... no notice)
He has come out of the dugout with his shoes untied.
He has overslept four or more times when on the road.
He was 45 minutes late for a team meeting this week.

Important: he has communication issues, is from such a rural part of the Dominican other DR players cannot understand his partly Spanish partly creole lingo. That may be a bigger issue than most credit.

[bananapancakes]

Read a rumor on another A's board that we're trying to move Dominguez in a package to Washington for Ryan Church... that'd be an awesome pickup if true, Kielty's days in the Green and Gold are most likely done if this goes through

[mikev]

Originally Posted by bananapancakes

Read a rumor on another A's board that we're trying to move Dominguez in a package to Washington for Ryan Church... that'd be an awesome pickup if true, Kielty's days in the Green and Gold are most likely done if this goes through

Got a link? I'd like to read that.

[JDOldSchool]

Originally Posted by bananapancakes

Read a rumor on another A's board that we're trying to move Dominguez in a package to Washington for Ryan Church... that'd be an awesome pickup if true, Kielty's days in the Green and Gold are most likely done if this goes through

I like Church, but do the A's need another OF? Even if Kielty or someone is involved in the deal, I'm not sure this does much more than give the A's more OF depth.

[mirrf]

Kielty sent to Triple-A to start season

BTW, its a great picture of him on the websight.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Kielty sent to Triple-A to start season

Actually, the article should be titled, "Dominguez switches to southpaw to save career."

"Therefore, the candidates were Halsey, acquired last Sunday in a trade with the Diamondbacks, and lefty Juan Dominguez, acquired from Texas on Friday in the three-way trade that sent Bynum to the Cubs."

[bananapancakes]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Kielty sent to Triple-A to start season

BTW, its a great picture of him on the websight.

Remember when he dressed up like Ronald McDonald before a game last year? Priceless. If anyone could find those pics, it'd be greatly appreciated...

[mikev]

For the record:

I will be going tonight, but I am not happy about sitting in the rain.

[mirrf]

Over the weekend, I found the A's on this radio station: link.

...Which is better than last year, but still pretty crappy for a major league club. If you had a sports team, wouldn't you *want* to be on a sports station?

[mikev]

They're on both 1220 and 1550 AM.

The reception is surprisingly better than 610 last year.

My only hope is that the Kings move to Vegas, so 1140am will be the only sports station around without a primary team. So what if it's in Sac, they claim the Faiders as a "home team" so they can claim the A's too.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by mikev

For the record:

I will be going tonight, but I am not happy about sitting in the rain.

No sympathy here...WOULD LOVE TO BE IN OAKLAND FOR OPENING DAY!!!! Have only seen Oakland live once (not counting my spring training trip last March)...several years ago in Toronto. My wife keeps telling me that if we were to ever fall into any money that the first thing we'd do is hit the Bay Area and catch an A's game or two...but, until then, I don't feel sorry for you stuck in the rain at an A's game!!!

[mikev]

Should I make it worse by telling you that it's my 4th Opening Day in a row?

You have to understand though, this is California. We don't do rain. I'll be surprised if I make it there in one piece and don't melt in the bleachers.

[johnnyshaka]

Completely understand...not all that enjoyable in the rain...especially when you have the luxury of going pretty much anytime you like.

We used to have the Edmonton Trappers here and it was always fun to goto the first home series of the season because it was usually at the end of April or beginning of May and it wasn't uncommon to see a couple of snow banks on both sidelines and then to see all the players in multiple layers while we're cooking in shorts and t'shirts in the stands!!!!!

[bananapancakes]

same ol' Barry