SB Nation - Scott Hairston

NL West in Review: Center Fielders

Poseidon's Fist — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:29 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Don't forget about this guy.

Matt Kemp was a beast this season, but that doesn't mean the Dodgers had the best CF spot last season. For the second straight week, Los Angeles surprisingly gets pushed to second place by a team without a primary starter.

San Diego started the season with Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut platooning in center field, but by the All-Star break, both had been jettisoned, with the only returning position player being their new center fielder who had been in AAA all season to that point.

But don't let Petco Park and the constant new faces fool you. The Padres were strong in center field last season.


Teams	Players	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA*	WAR
1. San Diego	6	.292	17	65	.356	.445	.358	5.37
2. Los Angeles	4	.292	24	98	.350	.472	.371	4.97
3. San Francisco	4	.266	17	79	.305	.419	.332	2.76
4. Colorado	4	.269	17	58	.345	.451	.341	2.14
5. Arizona	5	.219	17	61	.288	.379	.291	-1.18

Hairston saved almost all his San Diego offense for his CF starts, posting a ridiculous .458 wOBA in 148 PA. His eventual replacement, Tony Gwynn Jr, had the best OBP in the division outside of Hairston matched with fantastic defensive play. That was enough to supersede the Dodgers, who had neutral defense and just a 13 point wOBA* edge. This can teach us two things - it is indeed a team game, and don't discredit the Padres' offense, as Petco Park can mask a lot.

All the proof and stats are under the fold.

Here's your visual breakdown, with the CF positional RAR set at +2.5. The Dodgers' team UZR is indeed included; however, it is equal to exactly zero:

The bottom three slots of the NL West's 23 center fielders are occupied by Diamondbacks. For the full player rankings, click here.

For the raw data and calculations, check this Google Docs link.

Arizona

2009 in Review

Chris Young was supposed to be an anchor to a Diamondbacks lineup with visions of a division title. Instead second worst defensive CF in the division (via UZR) and battled the Mendoza line most of the season. Given his performance in recent years and underwhelming showings from his replacements, Young was given a long leash, one in which he finally turned into a strong(er) finish, highlighted by a 3 HR performance at Coors Field.

Chris Young

#24 / Center Field / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 200

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 05, 1983

2010 in Preview

In reality, Young's disappointing 2009 didn't come out of left field. He might have been one of the more overrated hitters in the game before the season; taking park adjustments into account, he has just as many above league average (wRAA) hitting seasons as I do - zero. His OBP marks in his three seasons plus 2006 callup are as follows: .306, .295, .315, .311. He is an ultimate hit or miss hitter, and the reality is he might not be longterm answer. Unfortunately for Arizona, he just finished out the first year of a 5-year $28mil extension expiring after the 2013 season. The 26 year old will make $3.25mil next year and will be given a shot to show he can be more consistent and effective.

Colorado

2009 in Review

As expected, the Rockies appear to have a pedestrian showing due to Dexter Fowler's epicly low UZR score. This is a good time to mention UZR's apparent disdain for Rockies' CFers, as Willy Taveras has two seasons with a UZR lower than +8. Both came with the Rockies, and both were below negative two. Fowler had an uneven but nonetheless impressive season for a prospect who surprisingly leapt from AA to start Opening Day. Carlos Gonzalez put up big numbers in CF, much coming when Fowler was injured late in the year. Despite far less PA, CarGo produced more overall for the Rockies than Fowler (remember the UZR thing).

Carlos Gonzalez

#5 / Center Field / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-1

Weight: 215

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Oct 17, 1985

2010 in Preview

Fowler was pegged as a great defensive player in the minors, so it will be interesting to see how UZR treats him in the future. While some of his poor score may be typical UZR hootenanny, he did have his uneven moments that could be improved. As it stands now, he will get the majority of reps in center, but if Brad Hawpe isn't traded, Carlos Gonzalez could cut a good portion of ABs from Fowler with Smith starting in left.

Los Angeles

2009 in Review

Matt Kemp should have been an All-Star. He earned the NL Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for center fielders, so unsurprisingly he trounces the division individually. He is truly a five tool player, and he could easily post a .300-30-100 season with 30+ SB's next year. An absolute beast, or Bison, as he is called. It really makes you wonder what Joe Torre was looking at when penciling him in the bottom three spots in the lineup 70 times last season.

Matt Kemp

#27 / Center Field / Los Angeles Dodgers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 230

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 23, 1984

2010 in Preview

Kemp will be in center field nearly every day next season, probably higher than seventh in the lineup. He just missed being arbitration eligible via being a Super Two, so he will be quite the bargain again in 2010.

San Diego

2009 in Review

As outlined above, a tag team of Scott Hairston in the first half and Tony Gwynn Jr in the second half made the Padres quite formidable. Will Venable also raked the ball to the tune of a .468 wOBA over 53 CF PA.

Tony Gwynn

#18 / Center Field / San Diego Padres

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Oct 04, 1982

2010 in Preview

In my opinion, the Padres made a trade for Gwynn that put them in a difficult spot, a la Dan Hawkins. How do you get rid of the son of a Hall of Fame franchise hero if he doesn't cut it? Luckily for San Diego, Gwynn did cut it last season, and the Friars should be confident putting him in center full time in 2010. The 27-year old barely has a year of MLB service time, so he is still under complete team control for cheap.

San Francisco

2009 in Review

Aaron Rowand was an All-Star and received MVP votes in 2007 with Philadelphia. Brian Sabean promptly overpaid to bring Rowand in. He has been overwhelmingly average in his tenure by the bay - in fact, Fangraphs crowned him the third most average hitter in 2009.

Aaron Rowand

#33 / Center Field / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-0

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Aug 29, 1977

2010 in Preview

With three years and $36million remaining on that bad contract, Rowand is sufficiently entrenched in center field in the near future. He had a complete no-trade clause last season, but has a "limited no-trade clause" each of the three years. I'm fine if he stays in San Francisco until 2012.

Who Do You Want To Be A 2010 Athletic?

baseballgirl — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:00:17 -0000

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baseballdad! Love you!

AN General Consensus on 2010 starting pitching: Weed out the best starters from this season and call it a rotation. See if Duchscherer can/will come back. Maybe add a veteran starter.

AN General Consensus on 2010 bullpen: It's one of the best in the league. It is unlikely that a reliever FA is needed. Jettison Casilla. (Side note: ANDREW BAILEY FOR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!)

AN General Consensus on 2010 offense: It's fairly awful and is missing several pieces. You know, like hitters.

As much as I love Rajai Davis, never has the phrase "sell high" been more apropos. Unless we really believe he can hit .360 for half a season ever again in his career, it might be worth entertaining some offers. If not, we have a very fast leadoff or number two hitter for next season. The A's will also have to make a decision on Adam Kennedy (and third base), and it's possible they aren't fully committed to Jack Cust and/or Scott Hairston as full-time players next season. Have the A's found the shortstop answer in Cliff Pennington (and we're assuming that 30 year old Free Agent Bobby Crosby will finally leave Oakland) or are they still searching for something they haven't had since Miguel Tejada (coincidentally, who is a FA of his own this year)?

So who is out there for the A's to sign? View the 2010 Free Agent list. Some thoughts:

First of all, I would like to see the A's sign a veteran pitcher, even though I know the offense is the pressing concern. I have decided that John Lackey is too expensive, too elite, and too sought after for the A's to sign, and I liked Randy Wolf right up until he had an amazing season for the Dodgers this year, putting him out of reach, as well.

If we're going to have to play the game where we try to get someone on the (relative) cheap just before they have an amazing year, I would suggest one of the following:

Ben Sheets (MIL)

At 31, Sheets has missed the entire 2009 season due to surgery on his right elbow. He appears to be rehabbing with the 2010 goal in mind, and his injury may drive down his price, and his suitors. He is coming off a 13-9, 3.09 ERA, 1.15 WHIP performance in the 2008 season, with a career 3.72 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Heady numbers for a veteran who could anchor our young pitching staff.

Brad Penny (SF)

At 32, Penny was subpar for Boston in the 2009 season, and has been very good for the Giants in 4 starts. He has a lifetime 4.17 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, and his inconsistency might make him affordable. He has had some very good seasons, and has shown recently that he might be able to replicate them.

Erik Bedard (SEA)

At 31, Bedard was supposed to have been another elite starter in the Seattle organization for the 2008-2009 seasons, but injuries (most recently a labrum tear) have limited him to just 15 starts both last season and 2009. With a career 3.71 ERA and 1.32 WHIP (and a couple of elite seasons to show for it), Bedard would be an awesome pickup, IF he can stay healthy. His price will probably reflect the last two years, bringing him down into the A's range.

Now, what do we do about offense?

First of all, it is worth noting that the A's have both Chris Carter and Brett Wallace primed for a 2010 appearance. Buster Olney in his ESPN insider article gives the money quote from BP on the first-baseman Carter:

After leading the minor leagues with 288 total bases in 2008, Carter upped the ante a bit this year with 310, in no small part because he raised his batting average from .259 to .329. The A's have been desperate for any kind of real production from the first-base position for years, and they'll take a long look at Carter in the spring to see whether he is ready to be the answer -- and whether they can live with his hands of stone at first base. -- Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus

As for Wallace, that depends on if Chavez is truly done with baseball. I won't believe he can play until he is actually out on the field, and it's late summer and he's still playing. Despite the fact that Chavez is actually signed through next season, all signs seem to point to Plan B: a healthy third baseman that is not a fill-in (love you, Kennedy!). At least for next season, Wallace could play there, if the A's don't have a better option other than starting his clock.

Carlos Delgado (NYM)

The 37 year old first baseman is a free agent coming off an injury-shortened season (hip surgery) and could play first /DH for the A's in the role that Giambi was supposed to fill in 2009. He's two years younger than Giambi, and is still considered a real power threat. He is only 27 homeruns away from 500, so it's likely he wants to continue his career.

Aubrey Huff (DET)
Huff is having the season that no free agent wants in his last contract year. His batting average is 60 points lower than his 2008 numbers, and he's hit half as many homeruns (from 32 to 15) in the same number of at-bats in 2009. Still, Huff's track record suggests that he's a streaky hitter, and could rebound with a solid, if not great season. At 33, he can easily fill the role of 1B/DH (and can also play some 3rd) and if all goes well, could fill a power spot in the lineup. With his 2009 numbers, Huff will likely be undervalued by teams seeking power, and he may be available for a team like the A's.

Vladimir Guerrero (LAA)

At 34, it's likely that Guerrero has finished his years with the Angels, and even more obvious that he needs an AL home, since he looks to turn into the classic DH. A true Angel, yes, and would probably never agree to come to Oakland, but he can hit.

Nick Johnson (FLA)

Labeled as "injury-prone" for the last few years, the 31-year-old Johnson has had a great year for Florida this season at first base. His injury history may keep his price down, but this year shows he can still play.

Adrian Beltre (SEA)

Although discounted a notch due to his injury history, the 30 year old Beltre is still a Boras client, so it might not be worth the hassle, but the thirty year old still might well have life left in his career, even after a dismal performance this year in Seattle. Beltre was fantastic in Los Angeles in 2004, but never really panned out for the Mariners over the last five years, and has been plagued with injuries during that time. He comes with risk, but also a strong (and fairly young) upside.

Jerry Hairston Jr

He can play all three infield positions, and can also spell in outfield as needed.

Chone Figgins (LAA)

Will probably be too high profile for the A's, but the 30-year-old has all of the running numbers that the A's (might) be playing for in their recent shift. Again, he's a true Angel, but the A's could do a lot worse at third base.

Hank Blalock (TEX)

The 29 year old first baseman's price will probably be one the A's can afford. He has hit 25 homeruns in his 120 games this season, but his average and OBP are way down. He only played 58 games in 2007 and 65 in 2008, and he is four years removed from his great 2003-5 seasons. The question will be a) can he stay healthy and b) can he replicate the mid-2000's instead of the late ones?

And finally, we come to two of our own. Would you welcome back either Jermaine Dye or Miguel Tejada back to the A's?

Jermaine Dye (CWS)

Although the A's appear to be loaded in the outfield, Dye could be the kind of player that the A's would make room for. Pricey, yes, but still a legitimate power threat, and coming off a down season (where he still hit 27 homeruns).

Miguel Tejada (HOU)

Although his power has dropped considerably over the last few years, this 34 36 year old can still play some baseball. He's hitting .313 on the 2009 campaign, and can still play a little shortstop.

Discuss.

Muppet Thoughts

grover — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:30:14 -0000

The minor league season is over and the Arizona Fall League has yet to begin. Baseball America has begun their League Top 20 lists but they haven’t hit anywhere where the A’s have qualifying individuals. Winter ball is months away (although today it seems as if winter itself is close at hand) and the A’s are being their typical tight-lipped selves regarding the goings on in Instructs. So don’t expect much in the way of minor league discussion in today’s write up. What will I talk about?

Glad you asked.

Next year’s Free Agent options, the current 2010 payroll and some interesting service time tidbits, why using FIP or any other metric to argue Cahill’s place in Oakland’s 2010 rotation is missing the point, a moment of praise to Rajai Davis’ base running skills and… I don’t know… whatever I bloody well want.

If that sounds interesting to you then I’ll see you on the flip side.

Let’s talk about money.

Money, money, money, money, money, money.

Let’s face it, we live in a capitalist society and (most of us on AN, anyways) in a country with a WTF?!?! economy that makes risky investments a rather unattractive idea. The San Diego Padres, the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs are just 3 recent examples of how quickly an organization’s financial situation can change. The 2009 A’s opened up the season with a $62.3 million payroll and we know that Wolff and Fisher don’t consider the team to be a public philanthropy. The Oakland A’s are a business, and businessmen expect to turn a profit. It is difficult to turn a profit when you have no customers (I learned that in my college economics class) and the A’s have drawn fewer paying customers than any other team in major league baseball. While revenue sharing and national media deals will provide a solid chunk of money for 2010 the A’s do not draw a great deal of income through local TV or stadium licensing, meaning the loss of approximately a quarter million attendees could have an impact on the amount of money the A’s have to spend on player payroll in 2010.

Looking at the current roster and trying to anticipate the arbitration cases of 8 different players, it appears to me that the A’s have $38 million committed in salary to next year’s roster. (Keep in mind that I’ve tried to pad that figure, ‘cause it’s always easier to pocket any left over cash than it is to find more cash when the bills are due. Also, I’ve got a bit of a thing for round numbers and counting by quarters.) Let’s look at those arbitration eligible players. Eric Munson and Edgar Gonzalez might be best described as fringe level big league players, but the only way the A’s could insure that they could retain their services for next season would be to offer them arbitration. Otherwise, the A’s would need to release them and try to bid for their services as free agents. I think that is the more likely scenario, as the A’s should be more interested in finding cheap vets they can sign to minor league deals than in keeping replacement-level talent at inflated rates.

Santiago Casilla is eligible for arbitration for the first time but the combination of his injuries, his ineffectiveness and the depth of power RH arms in the A’s farm system leads me to believe that AKA Jairo Garcia will be moving on to another team. Joey Devine is coming back from season ending elbow surgery and that will probably keep his 2010 salary down, although I am still penciling in a raise to $750K. Michael Wuertz is due a huge pay bump, at least doubling his $1.1 million 2009 salary. He didn’t get many opportunities to close and arbiters tend to be distracted by shiny things like saves, so I’m figuring he’ll earn a $2.5 million salary for next year. Before I move on to the arby-eligible hitters, I want to point out that Dana Eveland is no longer looking at arbitration for next season. His early season demotion hit his service time tally very hard and he simply doesn’t have the days in to qualify for arbitration. This means the A’s have the option to bring Eveland back at $420K next season. The only downside is it looks like (assuming I’ve counted things right) that the A’s used Eveland’s last option in 2009 and if he doesn’t pitch well enough to make the Opening Day big league roster next year the A’s would have to expose him to waivers before they could send him to the minors. Which wouldn’t be a great loss, but it is a factor to consider before deciding to invest the time and effort in giving Eveland another chance next Spring. Perhaps the coaching and innings would be better served going to another option?

Scott Hairston hasn’t performed like the A’s had hoped since they acquired him from the Padres but his early season numbers will insure a pay increase for next season. I think his late season injuries and his struggling 2nd half performance will prevent him from doubling his salary but I can see him collecting $2 million next year. Rajai Davis has only a half season of excellence to make him some money and I don’t think that UZR gets factored into the arbitration process but 40 SB is sexy and shiny. I expect Davis to more than quadruple his 2009 salary and earn a $1.75 million payday. Jack Cust leads the A’s in HR and BB but also in K’s and is a distant 2nd in RBI. UZR might not factor in the decision making process but general defensive suckitude does. I think Cust goes from $2.8 million to $4.25 million next season, although I wouldn’t blink twice if that figure went up another half million. But my official guess is 4 and a quarter.

Altogether, a $38 million commitment to the 2010 payroll.

That means the A’s have some spending money next year. But where to spend it and how much is there to spend? I doubt the A’s are going to bump the payroll beyond the $62.3 million figure from 2009 and in fact I expect to see it drop by roughly $10 million. Where am I getting that low-50’s number? Call it a gut reaction to the state of the team and the AL West, plus the lack of intriguing free agent options. The A’s are looking at a serious influx of position talent by the end of next season and it seems unlikely that the team would invest heavily in free agent vets that could potentially block the young talent and/or become expensive bench options. There are obvious holes in the roster but little in the way of value to be had in the current free agent crop.

One of the places where a major investment and change would be welcomed (by the fans, anyway) is at 3rd base. Eric Chavez is in the last guaranteed year of his contract and has barely made it on to the field over the last 3 years. There are at least 4 credible options on the free agent market that could give the A’s an immediate boost at the hot corner. Troy Glaus, Mark DeRosa, Adrian Beltre and Chone Figgins all offer the right mix of offense and defense that teams demand at 3rd base these days. DeRosa offers some defensive versatility and enough bat that his team will be looking to find a place to play him. The downside to DeRosa is he’s a Type A free agent and he turns 35 next February, meaning his decline could come swift and soon. Glaus is coming off a shoulder injury but should be ready to go next Spring and at 33 might be looking for a 1 year deal to re-establish himself before going for 1 last big payday. He’s got enough glove to handle 3rd base should Chavez be unable to make it onto the field and his bat would play well at 1st base in the unlikely scenario that Chavez is healthy.

Figgins is intriguing because of his versatility and out of all the big ticket 3rd base options he’s actually healthy! He’ll be 32 next season and is probably looking for a 4 year deal. The cool thing about Figgins is you don’t have to worry about him blocking some stud prospect’s path, he’s got the athleticism and experience to play almost anywhere on the field. The downside is he’s a Type A free agent (yeah, me loving that 2nd round pick) and his name has been mentioned with so many teams that if even half of them are truly interested in him the A’s would be in a bidding war to land him. Beltre is battling injuries this year but he doesn’t turn 31 until the beginning of next season. Still, he picked a bad year to hit like crap. His glove is still top notch but the reality is the A’s gave up on Jack Hannahan (a quality defender at 3rd base and according to UZR a near equal to Beltre) to keep Adam Kennedy’s bat in the line-up. It’s going to take at least a 3 year deal to land Beltre (I’m guessing 3/$27 million but I could be way off) and when you think about it, the A’s would be paying all that cash for Beltre’s bat. Another thing to consider, if you believe in Brett Wallace the 3rd baseman at all, signing Beltre creates a problem. Adrian earns most of his value via the glove; his bat doesn’t play well at 1st base. You could, of course, slide Wallace to 1st base but that defeats the whole idea of him playing at the hot corner. You better decide where Brett Wallace fits in the field before paying Adrian Beltre serious coin.

There are a couple other 3rd base options that get brought up around AN on occasion. Adam Kennedy made a decent stop gap option at 3rd base this season and the A’s have already said they’d consider bringing him back. Akinori Iwamura is one of those under-rated gems that everyone knows about and thus the pursuit will resemble a piranha feeding frenzy. Joe Crede is on his way out of Minnesota but he’ll be 32 and is heading towards his 2nd back surgery and are you out of your fucking mind?! 32 and double back surgery describes Eric Chavez, that’s not a pairing we should wish the A’s to make.

If the A’s are looking to make a free agent splash, the value looks to be in the starting pitching ranks. If the D’backs decide to bid bon voyage to Brandon Webb I say the A’s need to go all in and offer him a big money deal to bring him to Oakland. Yes, he hurt his shoulder and missed almost the entire season but there was no damage to the labrum and forget about any loss of awesomeness due to changing leagues… his groundball and strike out tendencies will play well in the AL. Barring that admittedly less-than-likely scenario, Justin Duchscherer and Brett Myers might make great candidates for 1 year deals to re-establish themselves in 2010. I mean no disrespect when I say that Duke needs to get his head on straight before trying to pitch again next season. They have said they’d be interested in bringing him back next season but the onus is on Justin getting his life in order. Myers needs to get healthy and I’m guessing a change of scenery would do him good. At 29 he’s still young enough to have more than a few solid seasons if he can get his act together.

But do the A’s really need to invest potentially limited funds into the starting rotation? I mean, adding a healthy Brandon Webb is pretty much a no-brainer, especially if you can get him for a discounted rate and not the $20+ million annual C.C. Sabathia is getting from the Yankees. The answer seems to lie in how you feel about Trevor Cahill. If you hear his name and think rainbows and puppies than you’re probably disinclined to spend free agent dollars on a big ticket pitcher. If hearing "Cahill" causes you to grind your teeth than you’re probably wondering why I didn’t list Jason Marquis as a viable free agent option. Me? I think puppies.

I’ve heard the arguments for sending Cahill down to AAA to start next season. I personally feel that the best place for Cahill to work on his breaking stuff is at the big league level, however if the coaching staff disagrees then I’m more than happy to yield to their wisdom. But I’m willing to bet Curt Young isn’t spending his time on AN arguing about how Trevor Cahill needs AAA seasoning. The principle argument on AN in demoting Cahill centers around his FIP (or tRA but either number will do) courtesy of Fangraphs. FIP, for those who have ignored this discussion so far but are now drawn in by my dulcet tones, is essentially what we could expect the pitcher’s ERA to be if we could factor out team defense. Fangraphs lists 77 starting pitchers as throwing enough innings/pitching enough games to qualify for their statistical leader board. Hit the button to compare FIP and proceed to the last page, ‘cause as of 9/22 Trevor Cahill ranked last in baseball with a FIP of 5.30.

It’s a fairly simple logic stream. You’ve got a young pitcher whom we all knew was being rushed posting the worst luck-independent numbers in baseball. Why waste his service time watching him get his butt kicked when we can send him down to AAA where he belongs? My problem with that logic is, that while Cahill’s FIP score is an accurate interpretation of his 2009 season performance it doesn’t actually reflect how well he pitched this year. We knew that there were going to be days when Cahill was going to get his head handed to him on a platter. The guy had barely any experience outside of A-ball and his mechanics where inconsistent. His minor league performance carried indicators (BB/9 rate) that his game needed more polish. We knew all this and still the A’s put him on their 2009 Opening Day roster.

So why are folks so intent on punishing Cahill for living up to our expectations? I looked at the box scores of the 30 games Cahill had pitched in this season, and in 9 of those contests he either allowed 5 or more runs (earned/unearned, doesn’t matter on the scoreboard) and/or failed to pitch a full 5 innings. I don’t care what metric you choose to believe in, there isn’t a baseball fan among us who wouldn’t say that those games represent a failure on the part of the pitcher in giving his team a chance to win. Cahill earned his bottom feeding FIP in those 9 games. When you look at his record of performance you see a wide variation in outcomes and all FIP does is draw a line and say "this is the average outcome". And there’s nothing wrong with that except that it doesn’t provide a full, detailed picture of what Cahill did this season. So I asked a second question: How good did Trevor Cahill pitch this year?

Unfortunately, before I could answer my question I had to figure out how I was going to answer my question! A few years back someone (I don’t care whom) started talking about Quality Starts. The basic premise was a SP got credited with a QS anytime he lasted a minimum of 6 IP and gave up no more than 3 ER. This would help balance out those days when a pitcher just got crushed and his numbers would (unfairly?, undeservedly?) drag down his overall line. I don’t know if this was in response to Coors Field or maybe because it was the Steroid era, but while the basic idea had some merit the parameters sucked. 3 ER in 6 IP? That’s a 4.50 ERA, not exactly what I call quality from my SP.

So I decided to apply the same basic concept to the 77 SP on Fangraphs’ leader board pages, only this time I made the rules more strict. No more than 2 runs (earned/unearned count the same on the scoreboard) over a minimum of 6 IP. Then I decided to add an extra tier, so 3 runs allowed over a minimum of 7 full IP would also count on the Good side. Then I went over the game logs of every qualifying SP (further explaining the 9/22 cut-off date) and simply added up how many HQS (High Quality Starts… yeah, I expect a point deduction from the Russian judge for my lack of creativity) to see how well Mr. Worst-FIP-in-Baseball pitched.

Trevor Cahill pitched 14 HQS, tying him with 8 other SP including Cole Hamels, John Lackey, Scott Feldman and Yovani Gallardo.

14 HQS is also higher score than the performances from Andy Pettite, Barry Zito, Brett Anderson, Carlos Zambrano, Clayton Kershaw, James Shields, Rich Porcello, Roy Oswalt and 18 other big league SP who posted better FIP than Trevor Cahill.

I am not saying that this means Trevor Cahill is a better pitcher than all these guys. I am saying that on the days when Cahill’s talent outweighed his inexperience he pitched like a legitimate big league SP. And here’s the thing about inexperience, it goes away after a time. The 174 (and counting) IP that Cahill has accumulated this year with the A’s has been an invaluable learning experience for him and it should make him less prone to the epic disasters he created 9 times as a raw and unready rookie. Trevor Cahill is far from a finished project and it may be that next year the A’s will decide that the best place for him to work on his breaking ball or his mechanics or his interview clichés is in Sacramento and I’ll be fine with that.

But don’t tell me his FIP dictates the A’s purchase his bus ticket 6 months in advance.

One last things as this post has gone far longer than I intended… I mentioned this in another thread but I feel it bears repeating. With a little over half-a-season’s worth of playing time Bill James ranks Rajai Davis as the 4th best base runner in all of baseball. This is counting Davis’ stolen base and base running performance, and on a team lacking in power those skills are very important (even in a non-starting role) to help create runs.

Alright, I’ve rattled on long enough. Sorry for the lateness of today’s Front Page write up but folks seemed to be enjoying the Davis and Holliday themed articles already up. Besides, you can’t rush greatness.

Or in my case… my typing.

And thank you for your support.

NL West Report: Hispanic Nicknames

Poseidon's Fist — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Article-subject language disagreement

Browse more photos »

Earlier this season Giants, who played with a uniform featuring "Gigantes" across the front for Hispanic Heritage Night. The Diamonbacks utilized a similar tactic this weekend, taking the field with "Los D-Backs" emblazened across the front of their alternate black uniforms.

Unfortunately for Arizona, the Hispanic mojo didn't help them on the field, as they appear more like Los Lonely Boys in the NL West cellar after two terrible weeks. Or, as Jim McLennan from the Pit notes, the uniforms would be more apt had a "t" been added after the "Los."

The use of Spanish on uniforms got me thinking...what if the Rockies put on their uniforms and follow the lead of their divisional foes? There may be less of a Hispanic population in Colorado than Arizona or California, but it is certainly a noteworthy presence all the same. In addition, the Rockies payroll is increasing dramatically in the Hispanic sector. Tell me what you think in the poll.

NL West Report

Arizona (62-82, t5th, L3, 23 GB)

Last Week: 1-5. 1-2 vs Dodgers. 0-3 vs Brewers. Arizona was swept for the second straight weekend, sending them to three games below fourth-place San Diego after going 2-11 the last two weeks. The loss yesterday guaranteed the Diamondbacks of a losing season, quite the disappointment after being a popular 1st or 2nd place team in preseason predictions.

Pace: 70-92 (-2 from last week)

Divisional Change: Lost 3.0 games on LAD.

This Week: 3 game road series @ Padres, 3 game home series vs Rockies. The schedule doesn't get any easier for Arizona, who has to go to Petco to play a team riding a 6-series win streak before hosting all the awesomeness that is the Colorado Rockies.

News: Inside the D-backs: Decision on coaching staff to come later

Ken Rosenthal suggests Arizona third base coach Chip Hale or former manager Bob Melvin as a fit for the Nationals managerial position next year, though interim manager Jim Riggelman has a legitimate shot to retain his post.

Top prospect Jarrod Parker will begin a throwing program tomorrow. Arizona's 2007 first-round pick was shut down in July after feeling discomfort in his elbow. After reassessing him in coming weeks, the Diamondbacks will decide whether he requires surgery or not. Says Josh Byrnes:

"Anytime an injury doesn't respond, I think you have to consider surgery...But again there's reason to believe the conservative course will get him back to where he was." - Steve Gilbert, MLB.com

Jarrod Parker

#77 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 180

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Nov 24, 1988

Kevin Mulvey, a waiver trade pickup from Minnesota, made his first career start Saturday. He struggled mightily in a 9-2 loss to the Brewers.

Transactions: Recalled OF Trent Oeltjen and C Luke Carlin.

Injuries: Activated LHP Scott Schoeneweis (depression) from the 15-day DL. Nothing new was found in recent bloodwork for Conor Jackson, but he's likely to miss the rest of the season, making it difficult for last year's cleanup man to earn his roster spot back for 2010.

Arizona Diamondbacks Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chris Snyder	lower-back	08/23/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chad Qualls	knee	08/31/2009
Conor Jackson	pneumonia	05/12/2009
Brandon Webb	shoulder	04/07/2009

Los Angeles (85-59, 1st, L1)

Last Week: 4-2. 2-1 @ Diamondbacks. 2-1 @ Giants. Los Angeles failed to complete the sweep in both series after winning the first two games both times. It was a strong turnaround after failing to win either series the previous week agains the division's worst teams.

Pace: 97-65. (+2)

Divisional Change: Lost 0.5 game lead on COL.

This Week: 3 game home series vs Pirates, 3 game home series vs Giants. While the Rockies try to win a game at AT&T Park, the Dodgers can force the Rockies to be focusing on the wild card by sweeping the Pirates. It is the first time the Dodgers and Pirates have played this season.

News: Ronnie Belliard is providing an excuse for the Dodgers not to pay Orlando Hudson. In starting in place of Hudson 5 of the last 13 games, Belliard is robbing Hudson of the $10K/PA the starting second-sacker is due to receive per his contract.

Orlando Hudson

#13 / Second Base / Los Angeles Dodgers

Height: 6-0

Weight: 190

Bats: B

Throws: R

Born: Dec 12, 1977

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Orlando Hudson	135	514	70	147	31	4	9	58	53	92	8	1	.286	.354	.414

Say what you will about a collapse - holding a divisional lead for practically the entirety of a season is something to be commended, and only a team with several strong contributors are capable of such a feat. So who is the MVP of the team? The answer from a few players may surprise you.

Brad Penny and Larry Bowa made amends in a private meeting this past weekend. The two were at ugly odds over several issues after Penny's departure from Los Angeles.

Ken Rosenthal also suggests the Dodgers may be interested in Dan Uggla.

Transactions: Called up IFs Chin-Lung Hu and Blake DeWitt.

Injuries: Activated RHP Hiroki Kuroda from the 15-day DL. Clayton Kershaw missed his Friday start with a bruised shoulder. He won't be on the DL and should return soon. Jim Thome is day-to-day with a right heel issue, and Randy Wolf is day-to-day with left elbow stiffness. He is scheduled to make his start tomorrow against Pittsburgh. Will Ohman is still attempting to return to the Dodgers this month after being on the DL since May 28 with a left shoulder injury.

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Randy Wolf	elbow	09/13/2009

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Clayton Kershaw	shoulder	09/13/2009

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Will Ohman	shoulder	05/28/2009
Guillermo Mota	other-excused	08/30/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Xavier Paul	ankle	05/21/2009
Jason Schmidt	shoulder	08/06/2009

San Diego (60-78, 5th, L2, 22.5 GB)

Last Week: 4-2. 2-1 @ Giants, 2-1 vs Rockies. The Padres have become the ultimate spoilers. They have now won six straight series, five against the top seven playoff contending teams. Despite winning the series against Colorado, however, the Rockies mathematically eliminated San Diego from the division title Friday.

Pace: 70-94 (+1).

Divisonal change: No change.

This Week: 3 game home series vs Diamondbacks, First 3 games of a 4 game road series @ Pirates. Will there be a letdown now that they will be playing two of the three teams that are more than a game worse than them?

News: The Padres are out to thwart contending teams, and that is no joke. The only consolation for playoff teams is that they have been a thorn in every team's side, defeating every playoff contender they have faced in the last seven series two games to one.

Nick Hundley drove in a run in walk-off fashion, in his first career pinch-hit AB. And he didn't even have to make contact.

An AL Scout says Kevin Towers fleeced Billy Beane with the Scott Hairston deal, the trade in which he recieved RHPs Sean Gallagher, Ryan Webb and Craig Italiano. That's hard to argue against when Hairston has a worse OBP than any Rockie position player, including Omar Quintanilla.

Scott Hairston

#12 / Left Field / Oakland Athletics

Height: 6-0

Weight: 195

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: May 25, 1980

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Scott Hairston	52	205	21	49	10	1	7	32	8	32	3	2	.239	.269	.400

Ken Rosenthal says the Padres' payroll could be as low as being in the neighborhood of $25million next year. For that to happen, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell would have to be moved, along with Brian Giles leaving the payroll. Those three moves have a decent chance of happening.

Baltimore is averse to trading their top prospects, so they are out of the running for A-Gone, not that I saw much of a fit there to begin with.

Transactions: Recalled RHP Sean Gallagher and LHPs Aaron Poreda and Cesar Ramos from AAA Portland.

Injuries: Rookie OF Kyle Blanks will likely miss the rest of the season with a partial tear in his right plantar fascia (part of the foot). Kevin Kouzmanoff is still day to day with a strained calf.

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Brian Giles	knee	06/19/2009
Kyle Blanks	foot	08/29/2009
Mike Adams	shoulder	08/22/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Mark Worrell	elbow	03/27/2009
Cha Seung Baek	forearm	03/30/2009
Shawn Hill	elbow	04/26/2009
Chris Young	shoulder	06/15/2009

San Francisco (77-66, 3rd, W1, 7.5 GB in Div, 4.5 GB in WC)

Last Week: 2-4. 1-2 vs Padres. 1-2 vs Dodgers. I would consider it a failure of a week to lose two games in the wild card standings in which you lose a home series against the Padres then fail to capitalize when the Padres swiped a series from Colorado.

Pace: 87-75 (-2).

Divisional Change: Lost 2.0 games in NL West (LAD), lost 2 games in WC (COL).

This Week: 3 game home series vs Rockies, 3 game road series @ Dodgers. If the Giants don't take advantage of their mound triumverate and at least win the series against Colorado, it will be hard to continue considering them in contention for the wild card, as they would be 5.5 games back at best with 16 games left.

News: Timcecum missed his last start but should be back tonight. He'll face Jason Hammel, who quite literally is the best fifth starter in MLB.

Several Giants are nearing career numbers, not greatly surprising given their youth. However, one player worth highlighing is Jeremy Affeldt, who raised eyebrows by signing a quick lucrative deal in the offseason. He has already shown why he deserved that contract. He leads the league in holds, for what you will make of that.

Jeremy Affeldt

#41 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-4

Weight: 225

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Jun 06, 1979

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeremy Affeldt	1-2	65	0	0	0	0	0	53.0	40	13	11	2	28	45	1.87	1.28

I hate to point this out - I really do - but after beating the Dodgers last night, Brad Penny is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three starts since joining the Giants' rotation. That's good for a 0.4 WAR, giving him a strong shot to pass Randy Johnson's three month body of work (0.5 WAR) in just a month. It is worth noting he won the Giants' only game against the Padres as well as defeating two strong offenses and two of the best teams in the National League.

Top prospect Madison Bumgarner made his MLB debut Tuesday. The promotion was a surprise but oddly mirrors the Rockies move to try out Esmil Rogers against the Padres in an effort to delay their hobbled ace for the Rockies series. Bumgarner San earned a no-decision, allowing two runs in 5.1 IP including five hits, two of them home runs.

Transactions: Called up LHPs Madison Bumgarner and Alex Hinshaw, RHP Joe Martinez and 2b Kevin Frandsen. Outrighted RHP Ryan Sadowski to AAA Fresno and DFA'd RHP Osiris Matos. The Washington Nationals claimed P Jesse English from the Giants on waivers.

Injuries: Activated Freddy Sanchez from the 15-day DL, finally. Tim Lincecum missed his last start with back spasms but is expected to take the mound tonight against Jason Hammel and the Rockies. Randy Johnson has seen no setbacks of yet in his attempt to return to action with the Giants in their bullpen.

San Francisco Giants Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Tim Lincecum	lower-back	09/12/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Randy Johnson	trapezius	07/06/2009
Noah Lowry	ribs	03/27/2009
Kelvin Pichardo	shoulder	06/28/2009
Emmanuel Burriss	foot	09/01/2009
Henry Sosa	shoulder	08/05/2009

Poll

If the Rockies were to have a Hispanic Heritage Night, what would they put on their uniforms?

Las Montañas

51 votes

Los Rockies

28 votes

Las Montañas Rocosas

26 votes

Rockies

28 votes

Red

10 votes

Other/Tell me in the comments

4 votes

147 votes | Poll has closed

White Hot White Sox Streaking Back To .500

The Cheat — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:43:34 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

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Hold onto your hats White Sox fans, the Chisox are not done yet. With an exciting extra-innings victory over the Athletics Wednesday, the Sox, winners of 7 of their last 9, pull withing 6.5 games of the lackluster Detroit Tigers. And just wait until Jake Peavy joins the rotation...

HAHAHA

I couldn't even make it to a second paragraph. The Sox are still relatively talented team stringing together a season full of ugly performances even in victory. Wednesday's win over the Athletics was another prime example. The Sox had a number of standout performances erased by newly acquired, yet already considered chronic underachievers. To the bullet points.

The Good

Freddy Garcia used his varying assortment of slop to frustrate the anemic Athletics lineup.
Scott Podsednik extended his hit-streak to 10 games with a 4-hit night
Ozzie Guillen turning to Bobby Jenks in the 9th inning of a tie game, then running him back out there for a second inning of work (even though things got a little bit scary).
Chris Getz made a great deke on Scott Hairston in the 13th, then got back to cover first to turn the foul-pop-into-DP
AJ Pierzynski looked like a real catcher shutting down the running game in the late innings
Oh and he had the game winning double off the wall in the 13th

The Bad

Podsednik has undoubtedly been the Sox most valuable outfielder this season, which means he's coming back next year... when he is much more likely to be '06-08 version of himself, which, as we all remember, is exponentially more frustrating than the good '05 and '09 versions.
Tony Pena may have earned himself a new nickname of simply "Mahoney," the fat pitcher from the Buffalo Wild Wings commercial, though Not Brandon Allen works for me too.

The Ugly

Alex Rios lost his last remaining supporter -- I'm not sure who it was -- with his 13th inning error on a routine flyball. I'm sure e-gus would be capping it for us were he not busy getting his fill from the free night in the Jim Beam Club.

I'll have much more on Rios at some point here down the stretch. I've had the same thought I've seen OM express in the comments over the past week about his batting stance ever since about Rios' 3rd game in a Sox uniform. But that really brings up a bigger issue, and I'm waiting for all the juicy quotes to roll in.

In any case, Rios looks like complete garbage in almost every phase of the game. They asked him to bunt -- the $60M extra-inning bunter -- in the bottom of the 12th(?) and even though he got the job done, it was one ugly effort. And that was before his gaffe in the 13th. He's just a complete mess right now, and the Sox don't have anyone who's qualified to fix him.

The Meta

SB*Nation has launched a brand new sbnation.com. The old sbnation site was simply a directory of all the blogs in the network with a few (like 3) story links tossed at the top. The revamped sbnation.com will seek to do on a national level what each SB Nation network blog already does for its team or sport: provide the most timely, engaging and highest quality fan perspective information and conversation on the web.

I'm not entirely sure how it's going to work, since I didn't get to participate in any of the testing. What I can tell you is there is a dedicated team of editors working on providing quality national coverage which includes links to traditional media as well SB*Nation blogs and non-network blogs alike. The left-hand column appears to be some quick-hitting commentary from the editors, while the middle column, the one with all the pretty pictures, is SB*Nation's take on the constantly updating nature of sports news. We're calling them StoryStreams, and they are constantly updated stories that will feature plenty of linking to SB*N and non-SB*N source. Best of all, you can add to stream with links to breaking news or relevant commentary, just click the "promote your post" link in any stream.

Sloppy Early Defense And Bad Baserunning Cost A's Extra Inning Game

baseballgirl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:41:15 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

Not my day.

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On a day when AN played like the A's did (AN is back up now; after some SB Nation tweaking), it was a small wonder that a loss was the ultimate outcome. This was not the A's best game of the year, and I understand that it's hard to play in September for a club that is out of the race, but we deserve better than what the team gave us today. Yes, Mr. Hairston, I'm talking to you.

Truly, it was amazing that the A's got to play 13 with the way the game started out; the A's took the early 1-0 lead on a ground ball by Hairston, but Cahill allowed the tying run on his own throwing error in the bottom of the first inning. He gave up two more on a ground-rule double and another error in the second (this time by Kennedy). Cahill, who would be the first of 8 pitchers on the night, lasted only three innings, allowing the three runs.

I actually don't know what was more astonishing; the fact that the bullpen held the White Sox scoreless for nine more innings or that the A's were able to muster up only the tying run, wasting countless baserunners and scoring opportunities. Gray, Blevins, Ziegler, Wuertz, Breslow and Kirby all did their job beautifully tonight. It's a shame their efforts were wasted, and it's also a shame that thirteen innings came and went, and we never saw our best reliever. I understand keeping him for a save, but at some point, you have to end the game knowing you gave it your all. Right, Mr. Hairston?

Ryan Sweeney doubled in the A's second run in the third, and that's all they would get until an eighth-inning, two-out Hairston double (after Rajai was picked off), and a Suzuki single to send the game to extra innings, tied at three.

The A's stole 5 bases during the course of the game (bringing their season total to an eye-popping 113), but were caught stealing 3 times in the late innings (if you believe that Mark Ellis was actually out in the eleventh).

The A's best chance to win the game came in the 10th inning; a single from Rajai Davis (Rajai Watch after a 3-6 night = .307) and a single from Ryan Sweeney put the go-ahead run at third with one out. But Scott Hairston popped out for the second out, and Suzuki flied out to end the inning.

That wasn't the lowlight of Hairston's night. In the thirteenth, Hairston popped up a ball to center field, and didn't really run it out. At all. The ball was dropped by Rios, and he was barely to first base. Ironically, he didn't really make up for it on the next play; running or not, he might want to pay attention to the high popup to the first baseman that was caught while Hairston slid into second base. Not a great showing. So ugly, in fact, that Hairston was pulled for Patterson in the very next inning.

"Cutting off your nose to spite your face" is certainly apt here; after a one-out single brought up everyone's favorite A.J.; A.J. doubled over Rajai's head...and there was no backup.

Where was Patterson?

I have to quote AN here; 'cause it's the only time I laughed all game:

worldblee: What is Patterson doing?
emperor nobody: I think he may have been texting someone and failed to back up the play, hmmmm.
Flashfire: Check his Twitter account - "Hey guys I’m in the…oh s***."

Not one you want to remember, especially on a flight. A's fly to Minnesota; play Friday. I'll be here; please keep me company!

Great Scott! Hairston Slams Mariners As Much As We've Slammed Him

Nico — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:47:10 -0000

The recap itself is pretty simple: Scott Hairston, AN's favorite whipping boy lately, endeared himself to the faithful with a towering grand slam in the 7th inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 win. The grand slam came off a right-hander, reliever Shawn Kelley, and made a winner out of Gio Gonzalez, who had just finished 7 IP and left the game trailing -- only to be returned the winning pitcher. Other observations on the game:

* It was nice to see a classy move on the part of A's fans, standing and applauding in acknowledgment when Ichiro doubled (on the game's second pitch) for his 2,000th career hit in the U.S. The fans were aware of the hit's significance, and were gracious enough to cheer -- fans are not always knowledgeable or magnanimous, and I'm glad our fans were both.

* SCOTT HAIRSTON HIT A GRAND SLAM!!!!!

* Gio Gonzalez had a good outing from two points of view: He walked only 2 batters and he allowed only 2 runs. However, one pitch was all too familiar and that was Adrian Beltre's RBI single, off a Gio curve, to break a 1-1 tie in the 6th. Gio is incredibly predictable in throwing the curve as soon as he gets two-strikes on a hitter in a strikeout situation, and hitters know it. I was sitting on the curve there, and so was Beltre. Otherwise, though, we saw a lot of "good Gio" today.

* SCOTT HAIRSTON HIT A GRAND SLAM!!!!!

* Eric Patterson cannot catch up to a fastball, nor does he generally swing where it is anyway. Exactly how many at bats do fans want him to get before accepting this? This is a process issue, not a stat based one. I don't care what Eric Patterson is hitting, or what the sample is, because every single time he gets a bunch of at bats, the fact remains: Jack Hannahan can catch up to a major league fastball far better than Eric Patterson can. This is going to change because the sample grows? He will be Eric Patterson after 50 at bats, he will be Eric Patterson after 150 at bats, and he will be Eric Patterson after 500 at bats. Give it up, folks: The guy can run fast, but he can't field or hit. But who cares, because...

* SCOTT HAIRSTON HIT A GRAND SLAM!!!!!

Could it be...? No, it can't be... OMG it really is! It's a Minor League Update!!!

grover — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:00:25 -0000

Hello again.

Work called me away for a while and it’s been tough getting back into the groove of things. For those who don’t know, I’m a wildland fire fighter and August got a little busy for those in my career field. So when I disappear again for a couple weeks just remember… I envy your access to in-door plumbing.

Anyways, I want to focus this week’s minor league update on the 40 man roster and the options that are going to have to be decided upon in the coming months. Why do this now instead of waiting until September 1st? The topic tickles my fancy, that’s why. As I seem to have (once again) misplaced my Cap o’ Omnipotence I’m forced to resort to basic logic and common sense reckoning to try and deduce the future roster.

That’s right… none of what I’m about to tell you is guaranteed!

The way I see it, there are 28-29 spots on the future 40 man roster all but guaranteed. On the pitching side, Brett Anderson, Andrew Bailey, Jerry Blevins, Dallas Braden, Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill, Joey Devine, Gio Gonzalez, Jeff Gray, Jay Marshall, Vin Mazzaro, Clayton Mortensen, Josh Outman, Henry Rodriguez, Michael Wuertz and Brad Ziegler all seem certain to have jobs in the Oakland organization next year. That’s 16 pitchers of varying combinations of success/cheapness/options that aren’t going to be released just to make room on the roster. (There’s a pretty good chance that Outman will open next season on the 60-day DL, opening up an additional spot on the 40 man.) Santiago Casilla and Edgar Gonzalez are both arbitration eligible next season but neither pitched so well that the A’s are going to be eager to give them big pay raises, which could mean either or both players could end up as trade fodder or possibly even released. Dana Eveland is still on the 40 man roster as well, but his poor performance led to a demotion that will keep him from seeing any arby money next season. Unfortunately, Mr. Eveland’s suckitude forced the A’s to use his last option this season; meaning he can’t be stashed on Sacramento’s roster next season without first passing through waivers. Chances are Eveland isn’t going to be one of the 5 best SP candidates for the A’s come Opening Day 2010 and as a lefty with a pulse he’d probably get snapped up by some other team desperate for pitching. Therefore, I think this is good-bye to Mr. Eveland.

As it just so happens, it looks as if the A’s are going to need maybe 3 openings on the 40 man roster just to protect some arms that should attract a lot of interest in the Rule 5 draft. Pedro Figueroa hasn’t advanced past High-A ball but he’s a lefty with a low-90’s fastball. Brad Kilby is another lefty who’s put up back-to-back quality campaigns in Sacramento’s bullpen. Fautino De Los Santos is still trying to bounce back from 2008 TJ surgery but he wouldn’t last long if the A’s made him available for the Rule 5 draft. Jason Ray is in the same boat but I don’t think there’s much risk of someone grabbing him and keeping him on a 25 man roster all season.

There’s also a chance the A’s might be interested in bringing back Brett Tomko or Justin Duchscherer next season. Dan Giese should be fully recovered in time for next season; maybe the A’s are still interested in him as a swing man type. Plus, guys like Sam Demel and James Simmons could be knocking on the door next season and they’d need a spot on the 40 man to do so. Like I said, I could see 3-4 spots going to the guys I just listed and we haven’t even looked outside the organization to find help.

The hitting side of things is even more in flux.

Kurt Suzuki, Landon Powell, Eric Chavez (who?) Mark Ellis, Daric Barton, Travis Buck, Aaron Cunningham, Rajai Davis, Scott Hairston, Ryan Sweeney, Jack Cust, Tommy Everidge, Cliff Pennington and Gregorio Petit have spots on the 40 man roster. (Although I’m not sure if Petit has another minor league option available to him in 2010… if someone has a conclusive answer I’d appreciate hearing it.) C Anthony Recker is the most prominent bat in the A’s system that would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter and I’m not sure if the A’s would consider his departure to be a great loss. So any Recker fans out there can protect him on their 40 man lists, but I’m thinking the A’s leave him off the protected roster. Chris Denorfia and Eric Patterson are both out of options, so if they aren’t in Oakland come Opening Day there’s a good chance they’ll be playing for another organization in 2010. I can maybe see Patterson as a back-up at 2B and in the outfield but I’ve got to squint and angle my head to one side to see it. I think it’s more likely that the A’s will try to bring back Adam Kennedy to serve as a deluxe back-up option/veteran mentor type.

The real twist comes when you consider the minor league bats that the A’s have in AA or higher that aren’t yet on the 40 man roster. Sean Doolittle, Adrian Cardenas, Josh Donaldson, Corey Brown, Chris Carter and Brett Wallace highlight the next wave of Oakland offense… which could be much more refreshing than the current ripple in the still waters we’ve experienced as of late. Yet again we haven’t looked outside the current organization to determine if maybe there’s another bat to be had.

So bring back Kennedy, add the newbies and you’re looking at 38-39 players on the 40 man roster before the Rule 5 draft. Does anyone see any glaring omissions?

Until the next time...

64-61, Quick Game Notes

Jeff — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:57:55 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

With other general managers around the league beginning to value defense more highly, Billy Beane has had to turn his sights to the undervalued and underappreciated pool of talented retards.

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Just a handful of brief notes from another M's/A's game that no one'll remember by the weekend.

A decent but by no means exceptional start for Ian Snell. Though the A's loaded their lineup with left-handed hitters, not a one of them came in with an OPS north of .770, and at some point you'd like to think that a lineup is sufficiently bad that platoon splits shouldn't matter that much. Nevertheless, Snell struggled to throw consistent strikes and punch people out, and while I'm not going to say I'm disappointed or anything, I'd just like to caution those of you who may be inclined to believe that he's already turning the corner. In 2007, he struck out 20% of the batters he's faced. He's below 12% as a Mariner. I'm excited to have him, but there is still lots and lots of work to be done.

It wasn't long ago that we were talking about Jack Hannahan as a guy who might be putting it together at the plate. As a guy who finally learned to apply all of his skills in order to generate some positive results. Since then he's hit .195 with two doubles. Never read too much into a small sample size. Never. Though you might think you've spotted something, nothing - nothing - is certain until you have enough data.

When Michael Saunders first came up, my impression was that he was a rangey kid who still had a lot of learning to do in the outfield. Sure enough, we've seen him get some bad jumps and make some absentminded mistakes, but he's still been able to cover so much ground that he comes out an overall positive. That diving catch to rob Mark Ellis was terrific. As expected, range trumps everything else, and there's no doubt in my mind that Saunders is a defensive asset.

The strangest thing I've read all day long is Baseball-Reference's claim that, at some point in his Major League career, Jose Lopez hit an opposite-field home run.

Seriously though, I don't know why pitchers ever give Lopez anything hard on the inner half. He waits for high inside fastballs. I'm convinced that's all he does. How many times have we seen him get out in front of an inside offspeed pitch and kill it foul into the third base-side bleachers? He has the most indistinguishable 18 home runs I've ever seen.

Fans everywhere tend to get excited by beanball wars and emptying dugouts, but there is no better response to a questionable HBP than a home run. As soon as Griffey's dinger cleared the fence, there was no point in plunking a guy later on. The M's had already issued their retort.

Sean White hasn't walked a guy so far in August. Since 8/2, he's thrown 187 pitches over 15 innings, whiffing six while throwing 63% strikes. It's not much to go on, but at least he's finally distanced himself from that ~1 K/BB he was hanging around all through the first half.

Every person is unique in his or her own special way. Alexander Ovechkin is unique because he can do in skates what most people can't do in shoes. Luciano Pavarotti was unique because he could hit and sustain notes few even thought possible. Scott Hairston is unique because every night he goes to bed wishing he could play for the Padres.

Terrible Roster Management Catches Up To A's In 3-2 Loss

Nico — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:11:02 -0000

More photos » by Kevin Rivoli - AP

Defensive replacement? Pinch runner?

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The A's bench tonight was Bobby Crosby (bad calf), Scott Hairston (bad quad), and Nomar Garciaparra (bad body). That's it. Two guys who can't run or play the field due to injury, and one who can't run or play the field due to the fact that he retired two years ago but nobody can find the paperwork.

Now it didn't help matters that in the top of the 1st inning, with a runner at 3rd and one out, Mark Teixeira hit a one-hopper to third and got an RBI thanks only to the worst Kennedy decision since Chappaquiddick. Yet a 6th inning Cust HR and 7th inning "tremendous AB" RBI single by Mark Ellis would get the A's to within 3-2 in the 7th, and that's when a 3-man bench called "Cripples Row" caught up to the A's.

Two on, two out in the 7th, Phil Coke in the game to face Ryan Sweeney, and the A's couldn't pinch-hit because they didn't have a single player available to play the OF. Sweeney bounced weakly to 2nd.

Two on, nobody out in the 8th, and Nomar pinch-ran for Landon Powell. That's right, Nomar Garciaparra, pinch runner. After Everidge bounced into a 5-3 DP, the A's couldn't pinch-hit for Cliff Pennington because they didn't have a player available to play SS. Pennington popped out to LF.

That's right: The A's played a game in which they literally only had defensive replacements possible at 1B and C (and that meant giving up the DH, which the A's ended up doing), in which they couldn't pinch-hit for anyone, and in which they had to put a gimpy player with chronically bad hamstrings in as a pinch runner because he was the most mobile of the three players on the bench.

I'm thinking maybe Cunningham or Buck or Patterson might have been ever so slightly useful tonight, but apparently Bobby Crosby is far too valuable to lose for 15 days and Nomar needs a roster spot because perfect pinch runners are hard to find.

I've volunteered at assisted living centers where there was more mobility than you could find on the A's bench tonight.

Nice job by Brett Anderson tonight (7 IP, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) and I hate the Yankees. That's all.