SB Nation - Lenny DiNardo

I've Got A Span-Crush: Twins Win Big As Denard Span Drives In Six

Jesse — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:46:38 -0000

Minnesota Twins' Denard Span pwnes the Kansas City Royals Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. Delmon Young, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto scored on the triple. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Twins 11, Royals 6: Way to choke, Chicago.

Every time Denard Span comes to bat in the near future, all Kansas City Royals fans should avert their eyes for the greatness that his His Royal Span-ness. Tonight, his Royal Span-ness tripled to give the Twins their first and only lead of the game, scoring three to run the score to 5-2. It was all gravy from there.

Early on, Scott Baker gave up a couple of pop-fly homers to Alberto Callaspo and Brayan Pena; a pair of solo shots that both hitters looked to just get a piece of. Magically, they both left the field in almost exactly the same place in right field. The only conclusion I can draw is that the Royals had their fans blowing out. Fans, as in air circulation fans, because I think a lot of the fans fans at the game were Twins fans. Of which there weren't nearly enough blowing IN.

After that Baker settled in and cruised, hitless, until the seventh. Four-plus innings of hitless ball, but three batters into the seventh Baker had allowed one run, and had a man on third with one out. Ron Mahay came on to stem the....well, I use the term "tide" loosely, as this game wasn't exactly over although that man from third did score to get the Royals within three at 7-4.

Back to everyone's new Span-crush, Denard is showing absolutely no ill signs of being hit in the back of the head. Which is nice. Three singles and a triple on the night have him a 4-for-5 evening, and the six runs batted in have accounted for 9% of his season totals in that category. Other studs in tonight's 11-run explosion include...

Joe Mauer, whose two singles and a walk garnered him his 91st and 92nd RBI of the season and a .371 batting average. Ichiro Suzuki, it should be noted, was 0-for-3 before getting tossed after drawing a line in the dirt (get everything you need to know right here) and is now batting .353.
Nick Punto, who was 0-for-1 on the night but walked not once, not twice but thrice. Three walks tonight for Popeye's second cousin twice removed. He's not a sailor, both eyes are fully functional and he doesn't mumble incoherently, but he does has massive forearms. It's great to see Punto contribute again.
Brendan Harris picked up a pair of hits and an RBI, and Orlando Cabrera's solid single late in the game tacked on a run as well.

Baker's final line wasn't exactly glowing, but he did pitch better than his numbers. Something he's done on more than one occasion this season. On the Royals' side of the rubber, Lenny DiNardo had the exact kind of night he should have had against an offense like the Twins: a bad one. Yasuhiko Yabuta is also welcome to pitch against the Twins anytime he likes, surrendering four runs off four hits and a walk while tallying a single out. Good times.

The only downside to tonight's game is that the White Sox managed to ~~lose~~ ~~choke~~ vomit all over themselves and lose to the Tigers. After leading 5-0 through four, Chicago allowed at least one run per inning the rest of the game en route to a 12-5 ass kicking where they allowed a score of hits. That's right, I said it, a score.

Tonight's game was a grand one, no doubt about it. Sadly we head into the final game in Kauffman Stadium for 2009 tomorrow against one Zack Greinke still trailing the Tigers by two games. If there's ever a time to play your best baseball of the season, it's right now. Good for Detroit for doing the same.

Hopefully it will make next week all the sweeter. We'll find out. But...GREINKE FIRST. I'll see you in the morning.

Stars of the Game
#3: Joe Mauer (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .061 WPA)
#2: Nick Punto (0-for-1, 3 BB, 2 R, .081 WPA)
#1: Denard Span (4-for-5, 3B, 6 RBI, R, .346 WPA)

Royals Minor League Roundtable: An Improving, But Far From Finished Player Development System

royalsreview — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:27 -0000

Now, more than ever, the ability of the Royals player development system to produce both stars and useful Major Leaguers, stands out as the question dictating the viability of the Moore regime. Last week, I contacted two Royals bloggers who follow the minors closely, as well our own RR contributor and "minor league guy" Darren/nwroyal.

Keith is the man behind The Royal Tower, while Kenneth writes The Pipeline, two well-run and regularly updated sites that make the lives of all of us easier. Meanwhile, Darren can be credited with not only raising the bar on prospect coverage here at RR, he's spared you all from Will overload. You can read Darren's work on Royals Review here.

Unfortunately, I bothered these guys BEFORE the Betancourt trade, although in some ways that may be a good thing. Dan Cortes comes up a few times, so you can consider this a time capsule of what we thought before the trade that shook the faith of millions took place.

RR: Do you have a particular team or element of the system (pitchers, position players, high school guys, etc.) that you really like to follow?

Keith@ The Royal Tower: I enjoy following the whole system, but I think I like to follow the pitchers just a bit more. I love nothing more than to watch a pitcher's duel. I'd like to think I know a little bit more about pitching than hitting, so naturally it's more interesting for me to predict, project, and follow.

Kenneth@ The Pipeline: Every level has its attractions for me. At AAA, you hopefully have the guys who are close to making it, even though with the Royals the last few years it's mostly been retreads with a couple C-level prospects at Omaha. AA seems to be where the Royals like to put their prospects to the test -- if you remember, a few years back, Baird seemed to like to ignore AAA and move guys straight from Wichita to KC. It's not quite like that nowadays under Dayton Moore, but NW Arkansas is now usually the team to watch each year in the minors part of the organization. The Carolina League is a competitive league, so you get the feeling the prospects that make it at Wilmington are worth their salt. Unfortunately, that hasn't always been the case for KC -- take Rowdy Hardy, for example, who dominated the Carolina League a couple years back but couldn't hack it at AA. Dan Cortes also hasn't exactly excelled in AA. Burlington is also a good test, more for hitters than pitchers as it's a good pitchers' league. I had hoped Moustakas would do better there this year -- his lacking OBP has been a disappointment. The rookie leagues are a crapshoot -- you've got Idaho Falls in the hitter-friendly Pioneer League, which I think veils a little bit what a guy is bringing with the bat, kinda like when the High-A team was in High Desert. You've got Burlington in the Appalachian League, which may be the most competitive rookie league, and then you've got the AZL Royals in another very hitter-friendly environment.

I guess that's a long way of saying, no, there's no particular team I like to follow. I'd say at the moment, I'm wanting desperately to see some good position prospects emerge. You've got Hosmer doing OK, not great at Burlington, and you've got Moustakas scuffling along in Wilmington, and then it's level. Chris Lubanski had me going early in the year until his mysterious hamstring injury that he's missed a great deal of time for. I'd rather see the Royals take a couple good college position players early in the draft, just one time, and work the pitchers around that rather than the other way around. I can understand, I guess, going after Aaron Crow, but with Grant Green, a bonafide top college SS on the board? Wow. I guess I see the organization's needs differently than the front office.

Darren @ Royals Review: I've gravitated towards following the draft. The interest level and amount of information about it has exploded in the past couple of years. The Royals drafts use to be a one player affair--our top pick and then a bunch of junk after that but the Royals have had some deep drafts the past few years. Teams are figuring out that the current slotting system is an uneven playing field and it will reward those who are willing to buck the system. The Royals are one of those teams and I think its a really smart move. And what other area of the Royals organization can you say "they are doing something really smart"?

RR: Who would you label as the top prospect in the system?

Darren@ Royals Review: I go with Eric Hosmer. He hasn't taken off yet but he gets on base and supposedly has huge power potential. John Sickels reported just the other day that he talked to a scout who was still high on Hosmer but thought he had developed some mechanical issues that were hurting him. I think (or perhaps hope) that he will break out in the 2nd half like Moustakas last year. I think when he get up and running he will be a classic slugger like we haven't seen on a Royals team in a long time: big power, lots of walks and doesn't hurt you in the field.

Kenneth@ The Pipeline: Right now I'd have to say Wilmington lefty Danny Duffy, his recent struggles aside. The easy answer is Moustakas or Hosmer, but I really think Duffy can be something special. Moustakas had a great second half at Burlington last year but it looks at this point, with a .300 OBP and 18 BB/51 K in 77 G/297 ABs at Wilmington, that he's not exactly tearing up Advanced-A ball, but, then again, it is the Carolina League, so all is not lost. Hosmer has a similar BA, better OBP and worse SLG at a level one lower and has shown much more patience at the plate. It's easier to see the power coming along with time with Hosmer, and it has to be taken into account how the Midwest League favors pitchers. The only other top prospect candidate at this point is Dan Cortes, and his struggles with command have seemed to come back -- 35 BB/32 K over his last 10 starts. In my mind, I can see Duffy being a top-two starter, maybe a third starter eventually in KC. I don't see Cortes being any more than a back-of-the-rotation guy at this point, if that. On another note, I like what we've seen out of Mike Montgomery this year in Burlington. Another win tonight (July 9) and 1 or less earned runs in 9 of his last 10 starts. He's gonna be rocketing up a lot of Royals prospect charts.

Keith@ The Royal Tower: For me, it's Aaron Crow. Partially due to the lame season's of Hosmer and Moustakas, but it's more a credit to Crow's talents. He throws three above average pitches with command. The layoff is going to affect him initially, but he's going to get to KC quickly once he's back in the groove.

RR: Do you have a favorite "sleeper" prospect?

Keith@ The Royal Tower: I think saying Disco Hayes would be kind of lame at this point...who doesn't love him? I'll throw out two -- Keaton Hayenga and John Lamb. Hayenga's got fantastic stuff and it'll be interesting to see how his command comes along as he continues to get further away from labrum surgery. Lamb is more of a pitchability guy now, but he's tall and lanky and could add some ticks to the fastball. He already "knows how to pitch," and if his stuff can come along...he could really be a good one.

Darren@ Royals Review: David Lough has been someone I've liked--he's in the middle of what looks to be a breakout season. He's kind of a David DeJesus guy--not huge power and kind of a tweener in the OF--but his bat will play and he will give good production at a low cost. I'll throw out one more guy who I'm big on is Yowil Espinal. He was a big (for us, at least) international signing for us 2 years ago. He's a SS who is having a great year for the Burlington Royals. He has big time tools on offense and defense. Every part of his games has taken a big step forward and I don't think he'll be a sleeper for very long.

Kenneth@ The Pipeline: I suppose Montgomery isn't really a sleeper at this point. He was a supplemental 1st rounder, after all. How about NWA OF David Lough or Burlington (A) OF Nick Van Stratten? Lough had a great start at Wilmington and has continued to hit at NW Arkansas in his first taste of AA. Plus he seems to have a decent arm and defense. Van Stratten doesn't hit for power but has speed and defense and has stayed on the field while keeping his BA over .300 at Burlington. Lough doesn't walk much, tho, and Van Stratten has shown some good discipline. I'd like to see what Van Stratten could do in the Carolina League.

RR: Who has been the most disappointing prospect this season?

Kenneth@The Pipeline: Probably Cortes, who has been touted as the top pitching prospect just in time for all his command problems to resurface. The recent arrest is just the cherry on top, even if it was somewhat innocuous. Mario Lisson would be a close second, but I don't know how seriously anyone took him as a prospect. He got a 40-man slot to keep him out of the rule 5 draft, then stunk in AA last year, stunk AGAIN in AA this year, then got a promotion to Omaha for some reason, where he has somehow stunk slightly less than he did in AA. Then you've got the Wilmington trio of Moustakas, Derrick Robinson and Adrian Ortiz, Moustakas being the biggest disappointment there. A .300 OBP, and leading the team in errors, meaning he's probably gonna need to be moved off 3B too? If that's not disappointing... Robinson's BA has declined, his steal rate is down, so he's now a 2-tool player -- speed and D. I had high hopes for Ortiz this year, too, and he hasn't hacked it in Wilmington, and doesn't have the excuse of a lack of playing time.

Keith@ The Royal Tower: There have been more than a few disappointments, but I'll say Derrick Robinson. I've been touting him for a while, but his bat just isn't progressing as it should. If anything he has gone backwards.

Darren@ Royals Review: Dan Gutierrez--simply because he hasn't thrown a pitch this year and I predicted before the season began he would be our top prospect when 2009 ended. He has battled injury, personal issues and had a spat with the Royals regarding his recovery from injury. Also, Moustakas and Hosmer apparently talked him into joining Scott Boras Corp.--but that also has a positive side because Boras wouldn't take him unless they thought he had potential.

RR: Typically, the Royals' system is presented as improving, but still immature. In particular, is there anyone in Omaha (other than Kila) who we should be excited about, or who at least could help the team soon?

Darren@ Royals Review: "Disco" Hayes is down there and he could help the team but I'm not sure how much the Royals believe in him. Mario Lisson is better than TPJ...(crickets chirping). Omaha is kind of a wasteland but we have got some talent starting to show up in Northwest Arkansas.

Kenneth@ The Pipeline: My answer would be, not that I see, or at least nobody that's a "prospect". If the Royals hang on to lefty Lenny DiNardo, he could help some maybe at the MLB level, but then again, why wouldn't he be there already if they thought he could help? Chris Hayes is a cult hero among Royals fans, but I'm unconvinced. He's gotten guys out at every level, but at some point his speed is gonna meet its match with the bats. I'd love to see him become the next Quiz, tho. With his blog, he could be the Quiz's match in several ways.

I like to think the Quiz could have written a good blog. I thought going into the year that Carlos Rosa could maybe chip in in KC, but he has really struggled out of the pen for Omaha. I'd rather they had kept him in the rotation, but he wasn't staying healthy there, so that's a tough situation. Position-wise, it's pretty bereft in Omaha. Tug Hulett has done nothing in his sparse chances, Irving Falu has had a solid year in AAA but doesn't dazzle, Lubanski and Shane Costa have been hurt, Ryan Shealy too, I also had hopes (I've been saying that a lot) that Travis Metcalf would be a good pickup from the Rangers, but that hasn't panned out, either. Scott Thorman, a Dayton-ex-Brave pickup, has been great for Omaha but I have a feeling he'd probably struggle in KC.

Keith@ The Royal Tower: A few relievers come to mind, namely Disco and Carlos Rosa. I know Rosa's had a down season, but the stuff is still plenty there. He's hit 96 and 97 multiple times on the stadium gun at the games i've been to. Infielder Irving Falu would be a better option than the two no-hit SS's were currently employing. He can play all over the infield and has even played some right field. He might be a switch hitting Bloomquist type, which has a bit of value. Injuries really hurt Chris Lubanski's shot to potentially help the big league team earlier this year as he was having a nice little opening to the year. Overall there are some guys that could play roles on the Major league roster, but no one other than Ka'aihue that will likely make a major impact.

RR: How would you describe the state of the system as a whole right now? How confident are you in Dayton Moore's ability to build a strong enough minor league/player development system for the Royals to win the AL Central and beyond?

Keith@ The Royal Tower: System is doing well, but it could be a whole heck of a lot better. Unfortunately our three top prospects coming into the year have stumbled a bit in Moustakas, Hosmer, and Cortes. On the other side of the coin, other young players have emerged as very real prospects such as Bianchi, Lough, Parraz, and Espinal. I'm going to cop out a little here, but I think we still need a couple more years to see how Dayton & Co. (the "Co." are the people who make the picks) will really do with the minor leagues. What I do know is him and his staff are not afraid to take who they truly believe is the top talents in the draft, not just in the first round, but in subsequent rounds as well (highlighted by this year's draft). Not only that, but they have heavily increased efforts to find talent in the international field (also highlighted this year with Korean C Shin Jin-Ho and Nicaraguan 3B Cheslor Cuthbert). More talent is coming into the system now than at any point in the past two decades, and while there will be busts/disappointments, this is the way to build long time because some players will work out, and not just work out, but become star players.

Kenneth@ The Pipeline: The state of the system is better than the Baird years, which isn't saying much, but I wouldn't exactly put the Royals in the upper echelon of major league systems. I'd give it a solid C, when the Royals need it to be at least a B to compete. I think Moore has concentrated too much in recent times of building up the pitching side of the ledger and leaving the position side as an afterthought. As others (namely Rany Jazayerli, but others) have pointed out, he seems to have a good idea of potential future value but horrible idea of present value of certain players. Signings like Guillen and Farnsworth trouble me, as does the Jacobs trade when the Royals had Kila Ka'aihue waiting for a chance to play, at a much cheaper cost. Obviously the Royals aren't gonna be able to buy their way to the top, so they have to build it. I wrote recently I think Moore is a good assistant GM, but he hasn't convinced me that he's a good GM yet. The whole ex-Braves thing aggravates me, too. Are we really gonna build our way to the top using players the Braves get rid of? He basically uses his 25-30 draft signings each year, plus picks up whoever the Braves don't want anymore in the offseason and during the season. My confidence in Moore is low, but I'm waiting to be convinced.

Darren@ Royals Review: The state of the Royals system continues to improve. The Royals have several good prospects on each team from Northwest Arkansas, Wilmington, Burlington-IA, Idaho Falls, Burlington-NC. The Royals last two drafts look very good so far and we are seeing fruit from their increased budget on the International front. The Royals have a lot of pitching depth and their hitting depth is improving.

I think Dayton Moore can build a minor league system that is as strong as any in the AL Central--but it won't matter if we keep signing the Guillens and Farnsworths of the world. A very good farm system--by itself--probably won't translate into a division title. I don't see Moustakas and Hosmer being ready in time to help while Greinke is still here (I hope I'm wrong). David Glass won't want to keep spending record amount on the draft if we don't start seeing wins as the big league level. Also, the Royals need to have the guts to flip some guys for prospects this year. So I would say I'm torn--I really like the direction of the minors but loathe the direction of the big league club--I have a hard time reconciling those two things. I guess I keep hoping that Moore will have an epiphany about the big league club.

I hope I didn't jumble up anyone's answers! Thanks again to Keith, Kenneth, and Darren. Be sure to visit The Royal Tower and The Pipeline the next time you surf.

The 2009 Oakland A's Starting Pitchers?

Tyler Bleszinski — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:05 -0000

It's been the unlucky 13 for the Oakland Athletics in 2008. The A's have had 13 different pitchers start at least one game for the A's this year. You ready for this list? Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Justin Duchscherer, Gio Gonzalez, Kirk Saarloos, Lenny DiNardo, Chad Gaudin, Dan Meyer, Josh Outman, Sean Gallagher, Dallas Braden, Dana Eveland and Greg Smith.

Some of those guys were traded, some were injured and some didn't perform up to expectations. Yet when I look at that list, I see several pitchers who make me excited about 2009. Gallagher, Duchscherer, Outman, Eveland and Smith could very well be the opening day rotation for our green and gold next year.

And that doesn't even take guys like Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson into account who very well could prove to be ready by the end of spring training next year. Gio Gonzalez could also very well bounce back and have a stellar spring training. And Dallas Braden has probably at least put himself in the conversation with his pitching performances of late too.

Now it's probably going to take one or maybe two pitchers to possibly get a bat if that's the route Billy Beane and company want to go. And with the A's history of having injured starting pitchers, the truth is that the team could probably use as many starting pitchers as possible.

But it's going to make for a fascinating spring training and the good news is that even if the starting pitchers are all healthy, a few of them will be excellent additions to the bullpen.

Now that you've pretty muc h seen all the A's starters at least once this year, who do you think wind up being the starting five on opening day next year? Course it won't matter much if Beane can't significantly improve this offense this offseason. But I'll just pretend for a moment that our offense could somehow approach league average and therefore pretend that the starting rotation will matter.

Time to Get Your A's...or Not

Tyler Bleszinski — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:13:32 -0000

Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. Time for me to hand out my half year grades for our Oakland Athletics. I'm going to do it a little differently this year. In past seasons, I'd give it out to individuals, but I'm going to give it to the different portions of the team. I'm going to break it out into starting pitching, relief pitching, offense, managing and front office. I'll give my grade and my thinking as to why that grade applies and then standouts and disappointments.

As always, this is not scientific by any means. Much of it has to do with the expectations that I had for that aspect of the A's I mentioned.

Starting pitching - A: The A's started the season with a lot of question marks in their rotation. I honestly thought that the rotation would include Lenny DiNardo and Kirk Saarloos right about now. I figured Harden and Duchscherer would not have lasted and the emergency plan of DiNardo and Saarloos would be in full motion while we were waiting for Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill to make it to the pros. Granted, both have missed time with injuries in the first half, but they've also pitched a lot more than I thought they were. As a matter of fact, the A's starting pitching team ERA is 3.48, the best in the entire majors. The starting pitching has been absolutely, positively stellar and probably the biggest reason the A's are still within shouting distance of the division-leading Angels. They've also been able to do it with two rookies in Greg Smith and Dana Eveland. It'll be interesting to see how those two guys hold up over the second half. The irony of all this is that the pitcher who the A's tagged with the "ace" tag before the season started happens to be their worst starter statistically right now.

Starting pitching standouts: Rich Harden, Justin Duchscherer, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith

Starting pitching disappointments: Joe Blanton

Relief pitching - A- : If the major reason the A's have been winning is their starters, the relief pitching is the minor reason. The A's have the sixth best ERA out of their relievers in all of baseball. They've also done it with a cast of largely no names and folks that people didn't expect to be as good as they have been. Santiago Casilla had a Dennis Eckersley-like start to his year. Andrew Brown was fantastic. Joey Devine was spectacular. Brad Ziegler came from Sacramento to become integral. The known quantities like Embree, Foulke and Street suddenly seemed to be the ones that made me more nervous than the less proven guys. Still, the pen has been relatively solid. Huston Street hasn't been as good as I'd like but I do suspect that he's been pitching through various injuries this year.

Relief pitching standouts: Joey Devine, Brad Ziegler, Andrew Brown, Santiago Casilla, Chad Gaudin (he also could've made the starting pitcher portion too), Keith Foulke (yes, he's been good even though he scares me to death at times),

Relief pitching disappointments: Huston Street

Offense - D+ : The A's have the 25th best batting average in all of baseball. A team that prides itself on having patience at the plate is 16th in all of baseball in on-base percentage. And let's not talk about power. The team is 26th in all of baseball in slugging percentage. Not surprisingly, the team is 10th in the AL in runs scored. If this team had just average hitting and the starting pitching continues to prove its might, the A's could truly be a contending team this year. Now I suspected we'd have this issue, especially with a lot of very young guys getting their first true extended major league experience. Carlos Gonzalez, Daric Barton, Kurt Suzuki and Travis Buck were all likely going to be a foundation of the A's offense. I expected them to have ups and downs, but for Barton and Buck, it's mostly been downs. Jack Hannahan was getting his first extended experience. Jack Cust really only had last season in the pros. So a lot of the offense was built on wild cards. One major known entity was Frank Thomas who the A's picked up for a piece of Hubba Bubba and a used Hyundai when the Blue Jays dumped him. Not surprisingly, the Blue Jays are one of the teams who has scored fewer runs than the A's in the AL. Still, I suspected the A's hitting was going to be mediocre, but it's been downright bad at points. There are a few guys who've been right about where I expected them to be, such as Mark Ellis and even Bobby Crosby (although he has been a bit better than I expected).

Offensive standouts: Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Sweeney, Jack Cust (he does have an .823 OPS even if his BA isn't impressive), Frank Thomas

Offensive disappointments: Travis Buck (possibly my personal biggest disappointment), Daric Barton (yeah he's really young, but he raised hopes of something special at the end of the year last year), Emil Brown (I expected him to at least hit left-handed pitching), Chris Denorfia (I thought he was going to be the regular guy in center field)

Managing - B : I still hadn't made up my mind about Geren before this season started. He hasn't done anything patently stupid and he's more flexible with his lineup card than Macha could've ever dreamed of being. The problem is that when he's filling out that lineup card, he's often dealing with many of his best hitters not being there. Ryan Sweeney has been arguably the A's best hitter this year and yet, he's been in and out of the lineup due to injury issues. Mike Sweeney was hitting well and now he has injured knees. Frank Thomas was getting in a groove and then he went down. Eric Chavez has just recently become a regular in the A's lineup and he doesn't look 100 percent yet. Still the starting pitching has made Geren look good. He's made smart decisions for the most part with the bullpen. Although I would really like to see him start to trust some of the younger guys a little more. Foulke always looks like he's about to give up a bomb. And Embree is always all about the heat, it's just a matter of whether someone gets geared up enough for it. One thing that I'm sure is a popular topic of discussion these days among the A's front office and Geren is what to do about Joe Blanton. After yesterday's performance, I really think the A's have to think about replacing him as a starter, at least temporarily, with Chad Gaudin. Still, given what the A's have had to deal with this year in terms of the injection of youth, unexpectedly bad struggles of guys like Buck and Barton, the myriad of injuries in the bullpen and to key offensive pieces, Geren has done a nice job of keeping a team that wasn't expected to compete in the running. Much of that has to do with the starting pitching, mind you, but Geren has also done a pretty damn good job of handling the bullpen.

Front office - A- : I know a lot of folks are going to automatically charge me with just giving Beane some undeserved praise here, but I honestly think that this could be the best job Beane has done in his time with the A's. Yes, the team is still offensively deficient. But it also has the best starting pitching in baseball right now and that's WITH the "ace" being the worst statistically on staff. Danny Haren was awesome. No one can dispute that. But the A's have three significant chips already contributing at the major league level. They also have a ton of talent in their minor league system now. I'm not sure there are too many other front office groups in baseball who could simultaneously rebuild a farm system while keeping the major league team competitive for a division crown. The biggest thing Beane has done is to build a team with depth. So when an Eric Chavez can't play for months at a time, Jack Hannahan is waiting to take over. Earlier in the season when Barton was struggling at first, Mike Sweeney saw some time there. Greg Smith stepped into the rotation when Harden and Duchscherer went down. Gaudin would probably be a top three starter for most rotations. Yet he's sixth on the A's depth chart. Brad Ziegler is there when the A's have bullpen issues. Beane is nothing if not adaptive. Yes, Emil Brown is seeming like a mistake right now, but he also had a ton of key RBIs at the beginning of the season when seemingly no one was batting in runs. And Beane deserves a ton of credit for getting Frank Thomas for nothing. Is the offense still a gong show? Yes. But Beane has done enough to cover up for the shortcomings by building the best rotation in baseball and a very steady bullpen to back it up.

Overall - A- : Honestly I wrestled with this one for a while. I wavered between a B, B+, A- and an A. But ultimately for me it came down to expectations. I did not expect this team to be here halfway through the season. I expected them to be in a distant third or even last place in the division. But the starting pitching has kept this team afloat and right in the thick of the AL West despite low to no expectations from most folks. And my expectations were pretty low heading into 2008. I thought I'd just enjoy watching some young kids come into their own. Instead the team has fought and scrapped its way into second place in the division.

So there you have it. My first half grades for our Oakland Athletics in 2008. What grades would you give and why? Who has been a disppointment so far and who has been a standout?

Better yet, give me some predictions for the second half of 2008. Will the A's hang with the Angels or will they fade? Will Harden and/or Duchscherer be sent to a contender for a truckload of quality prospects? And maybe you even want to throw in the win total for 2008. If I had to guess, I think the A's wind up around 86 wins and I do think either Harden or Duke will be dealt.