This kid played high school ball at Justin Siena, and is an absolute monster. My friend watched a couple of his games, and said Wallace's bat speed was ridiculous, that he had the most power of any high schooler he'd ever seen etc. etc. (he has a penchant for hyperbole). He was projected to go in the first five rounds of the draft, and yet fell to Toronto in the 42nd round. Obviously I'm not a scout, but it seems since the A's were into sentimental (keough, lansford) and local (Franco) picks, I'm just a little bummed they didn't take a flier on this guy.
If anyone has more info about this kid, or why he fell so far down the board, your comments would be greatly appreciated. Was signability an issue? Here are some links to articles about him in case you don't know who I'm talking about.
http://ssbaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=420163

http://www.aflacallamerican.com/2004Game/Roster/index.cfm?id=23&a=Player

Not much merit to this diary, I just like when my questions get answered in the ESPN chats. Not much substance to ol' Jerry's answer either. Oh well, what does he know, he's just an insider?

The Big Dog, OakTown: With Dotel going on the DL, it's trial by fire time for Huston Street. If the kid pitches like A's fans hope he can, is there a solid market out there for Dotel? Any chance the A's can swing Dotel and Byrnes for a nice RH bat, a la Austin Kearns, Wily Mo Pena?

 Jerry Crasnick: (1:04 PM ET ) Big Dog,

Unless the A's start playing better, those Dotel and Zito trade rumors are going to linger all summer. Given that the Reds are already 11 games out and going nowhere fast, I think your scenario has some merit. Dotel's market will depend in large part on whether he can get healthy, and whether he pitches well when he returns.

Normally, I really enjoy the sports guy. His anecdotes and jokes are usually amusing, and his observations usually spot on. But now he has crossed the line, and is casting stones from Camp Joe Morgan. But, his digs are still funny, and since we are simply destroying his Red Sox today, the irony makes it even funnier. Mmmmmmm, irony.

Sports Guy sez:
* After watching the Red Sox play Oakland five times in the past week and a half, I'm ready to start popping Prozacs. Is there a more depressing team on the planet than Oakland? Every A's batter is hitting between .180 and .220. Poor Jason Kendall ... it looks like they're forcing him to live under a bridge between games. Barry Zito is feeling the pressure of a guy who's killing tens of thousands of roto teams across the country. Octavio Dotel looks like he's bringing his suitcase to the stadium every day in case they trade him. And so on. During last night's comeback by the Sox, it seems like 95 percent of the crowd was cheering for Boston. If they don't fire Ken Macha soon, they're going to find him hanging in the dugout within the next 3 days.

(What a bad situation. I think Michael Lewis needs to write a new prologue for "Moneyball" titled, "OK, maybe I was wrong.")

Article doesn't really say much you haven't heard already. Barry Zito is eccentric, won a Cy Young and fell off, etc. etc. etc. It basically sums up his problems of late in one sentence, a sentence that may not be wholly inaccurate, though it's a bit oversimplified methinks. Anyway, give it a read, post thoughts. You all know the drill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/sports/baseball/15score.html

In keeping with diaries on this site that simply reguritate articles found in various periodicals, let me be the first to bring you the latest bouts of positive thinking from our slugging third basemen. (From today's jerry crasnick. I try not to Chavvy bash, I really do, but geez.....it sure does sound like he's ready to just mail it in.

Two weeks ago Chavez concluded that he was driving himself crazy with apprehension, and he vowed to quit taking every bad at-bat home from the park. At the suggestion of Hudgens, Chavez even skipped extra batting practice when the A's arrived in New York on Friday.

But a man can only do so much to defy human nature. Chavez is extraordinarily hard on himself, and every hitless day produces more tentativeness and self-doubt.

"I got to that point where I was really drilling myself,'' Chavez said. "Then it got so bad I just said, 'Forget about it. Let it go.' I'm trying to keep a cool head and hoping my numbers will be what they always are. But when you're going through your bad streak, you never know for sure. It might be one of those Pat Burrell years.''

He's referring to 2003, when Burrell slumped to .209 with 21 homers and never got it going. If that happens to Chavez, the Athletics are toast.

This article from THBT (web site and official fart noise of comic strips everywhere) is fairly amusing (Last years mariners likened to a rotting salmon carcass), and the casting of the Mariners in such a pessimistic light is encouraging, since everyone seems to like to rank them above us. But that's neither here nor there. The most interesting thing about the article is that THBBBBT (excuse me), outsourced the job to Jeff Shaw of the USS Mariner, leading me to wonder who from AN will be contacted to write "5 Questions" for our Athletics. Hmmmm, who could it be???
And just for jollies, if you were called upon to address five burning A's questions for the Times, what would they be?
Oh, here's the link to the Mariners one, before i forget.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-seattle-mariners/

I'm not sure if this has already been noted before, but I just finished reading the Sports Illustrated article about Billy's latest gambles (March 7 issue), and it was cool to see the Blez and AN shout out at the end of the article. The article is nothing we haven't heard: Preemption, bla bla bla; Worse in the short term, bla bla bla; Can't make sentimental moves, bla bla bla. But for a blog to be referenced in SI is a nice kudos to this great site, and it's an honor to be a part of it. Good luck with the AN career Blez, it seems like it's gonna blow up (in a good way) for you. See you guys at the park....very soon. I'll be the guy in the jealousy inducing seats 2 rows behind the A's dugout (Pretty much the only perk of my life as legal assitant).

From today's New York Times:

He is happy that all pitchers are not Tim Hudson, the former Oakland right-hander now with Atlanta. "He's very tough for me, and very smart," Suzuki said. "With every pitch there's a feeling into that pitch, a spirit, a passion. Even when I can guess what and where he's going to pitch the ball, he knows I'm guessing it, and he throws it there anyway and still gets me out. He's somebody you want to face, and don't want to face. It's a battle, but a challenge."

I know we've already gone through our Tim Hudson mourning stage, after we finally worked through denial and anger, so sorry to reopen old wounds. Just thought it was cool to see Ichiro's thoughts on Huddy, and it makes me smile to know that he enjoyed engaging in these battles as much as we enjoyed watching them. It was always cool watching pure talent and finnesse take on heart, grit and off-the-chart-competitiveness. Once again, sorry for the sentimental waxing, but my kudos to Ichiro for capturing the essence of Huddy, even if it was through an interpreter.

Sorry if this is an abuse of the diary function. Actually, I'm not. Anyway, if the Mets do get their grubby paws on Beltran, what happens with Mike Cameron? Bueller? Anybody?

I read in a couple articles today, ESPN.com, NY Times, that Anaheim and St. Louis are the only likely destinations for Randy Johnson. I also read that the Angels were going to make a push for Beltran, and we can assume the Yankees are too. I guess my question is; Which one of these guys would we rather have end up in Anaheim?

Didn't we used to own the Rangers? I seem to remember something like that.