SB Nation User Blog: AsFanInLA

Brett Wallace traded?

AsFanInLA — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:07:37 -0000

I cannot find anything to support it, but on mlbtraderumors they are saying that Olney and Crasnick of espn are emailing that Brett Wallace has been traded to Toronto for Michael Taylor. On the surface this makes no sense to me as it seems we are trading from a position of need for a position of strength. Can someone tell me something about Taylor that would make me excited about this (or call BS on it)?

Link: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/michael-taylor-will-be-traded-for-brett-wallace.html

These prospect for prospect trades are the kind that don't happen very often, which has me skeptical, but if true seemed worthy of a fanpost.

EDIT: Here is a link to a Buster Olney tweet that backs up this rumor:

http://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/6701608325

DLD (3/28/09) Pitching, pitching, pitching

AsFanInLA — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:08:51 -0000

In what can only be considered a reversal of fortune, this year A’s fans are more worried about their pitching then their hitting heading into the 2009 season.

Who will be the A’s starting five this season? That is a question that AN has been asking over, and over, and over, and over (well you get the idea).

Scheduled staff ace Justin Duchscherer will not open the season with Oakland, and in fact will be undergoing exploratory surgery to see if he does in fact still have an elbow. Also, Gio Gonzalez is hurt and will not be likely to open the season on the big league roster. Mazzaro, Simmons, and Williams have been sent down to minor league camp. So who is left standing you ask?

Dallas Braden is the only pitcher that we know will be in the opening day rotation.

After that it is open to speculation, but most agree that Gallagher and Eveland are near locks to be in that rotation as well.

So who are the last two guys? There are three schools of thought on AN:

Go with the young guys!

Save the service time, go with the vets/less upside youngsters!

Use more exclamation points!!!! (okay I might have made that one up)

Are there other options? Well, it seems pretty late in the spring to be thinking about a “F’n A trade” that might bring in an ace like Peavy or Halladay. So that seems unlikely. Trading for an unsigned vet seems unlikely as well based on Blez’s recent interview with Billy. Possibly the A’s could find a decent upside youngster that is out of options to trade for – as suggested by Ken Rosenthal in his latest regarding pitchers Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann.

Whatever the outcome, and whoever ends up pitching the first five games for the A’s the one thing we know for sure is that we don’t know for sure who that will be. The other thing we know is that we will have many more online articles and AN FanPosts that will speculate before the actual decision is made.

We can at least take comfort in the fact that the Angels get to open their season with similar doubts and concerns.

Nine days until we get to see real A’s baseball. Can we hurry up already?

(My first DLD, so hope it was not too far below standards, just wanted to have one to keep up some normalcy on AN).

Dump away.

Geren is KILLING us up the middle

AsFanInLA — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:28:49 -0000

I am sure that some of the AN regulars will be able to have fun with that Fanpost title -- but I want to say that in general I have been happy with Geren, his lineup decisions and usage of the bullpen. My main point here is that I am getting a little upset by the fact that Geren does not seem to think that some of our guys need days off.

First, I would like to point out that Kurt Suzuki is NOT Jason Kendall. Even though he is young, he needs to take a day off more then once every three weeks. He has appeared in 37 of 40 games this year (36 of those were starts). He leads the entire MLB in innings and Games Started by catchers. The second place catcher in both of those stats is.... Jason Kendall (stunned silence). Should we really be running Suzuki out there this much? Is the Bowen-Geren relationship somehow similar to the Macha-Melhuse one? I am not saying we need to sit Suzuki because he is struggling offensively, but maybe he is struggling because he is not getting any rest at a very tough position to play every day. I don't know about you, but it makes me VERY nervous to have a rookie catcher that is leading MLB in innings and starts. Just not the way to keep him healthy.

Problem number two is Mark Ellis. He is currently 4th in innings played by second basemen (and would be third if he had not missed yesterday's game with a pulled hamstring). He has played in all 39 A's games prior to yesterdays injury, and started 38 of those games. Maybe a day or two off would not have prevented the hamstring injury that might land him on the DL, but it could not have hurt. Not to mention that Ellis has struggled a bit at the plate and a day or two off would also possibly help keep him rested.

Finally, our oft-injured shortstop Bobby Crosby. This is the guy that has been injured for us constantly throughout his career. This is the guy that management wants us to believe that his health is a key for potential success this year. Yet, this is also the guy that has not had ONE day off this year. He has played (and started) all 40 games the A's have played this year. He leads all of MLB in innings played at shortstop. This is how we take care of one of our more fragile players? Crosby has also not been hitting so great of late, and couldn't a day off here and there help keep his bat fresh and rested as well?

I realize the depth at middle infield has been sparse this season, but Murphy is on the bench and can play these positions. For once, rather rhen watching our guys drive themselves into the ground later in the season, lets actually use our bench and give some of these guys an occasional day off. Would it be so terrible if Murphy got one start during a week at 2B and then one start the next week at SS (giving Ellis and Crosby a day off every two weeks)? And Suzuki should get a day off almost every week. We could even try and get matchup advantages by using Bowen against tough right handers. Not a platoon, but just looking ahead at the schedule and thinking about scheduling Suzuki's off day for a matchup where Bowen might have a slight offensive advantage based on being a switch hitter.

I am rambling a bit at this point, so I will finish up and just say that if we want to actually keep these guys playing all season (and we may already have lost the chance for Ellis to do that) we need to give them days off. They are playing the most demanding (and important) defensive postions on the field and to not give them even an occasional off day is just downright stupid.

Duchsherer to the rotation?

AsFanInLA — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:42:28 -0000

I know we all have been told that Justin is too valuable/too injury prone to be a starter. But according to mlb trade rumors (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/10/duchscherer-to-.html) who heard it from Buster Olney (sorry not an insider so could not read what Olney actually said) the A's are considering moving Duke back to the rotation. The merits of this idea are certainly debatable, but the more interesting aspect of a decision like this (if it is true) is that it almost certainly implies that Beane is thinking about moving a pitcher (or two) this offseason. This could also be seen as an attempt at a backup plan for Harden as well.

Just curious as to what everyone thinks this idea might mean regarding the future of Duke other A's players.

Just another trade diary

AsFanInLA — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:53:54 -0000

Keeping in mind grover's admonitions to put some thought into trade diary's, I had a thought rolling around and wanted some AN opinions.

It seems lately that one of the bigger frustrations here at AN is over our shortstop. People want to trade him, release him, etc but the problem is that we cannot really do that until we find something better. As others have shown, the upcoming crop of free agent shortstops are as bad or worse then ours, and our minors does not offer much hope at that position either. That leaves a trade as the only real option, and we need to find a player that offers some upside, but also is someone we can acquire with our limited trade chips.

The player I would like to target is Wilson Betemit. Not exactly a big time impact name, but c'mon its not like we can get Reyes or Ramirez. Anyhow, even though Betemit has played mostly third base, he came up as a shortstop with the Braves and still plays there on occasion. Betemit currently finds himself in the Dodger Doghouse as he is batting near the mendoza line at .206. He has had 1 start since June 25th. The Dodgers currently are starting Loney, Kent, Furcal and Nomar in the infield with Martinez, Abreu and Saenz to back up, so they don't really need him. They also have Furcal long term and prospect Andy La Roche waiting in the minors to take over at third, so he really does not fit in their long term plans either. Finally, the Dodgers are in a playoff race, so would (in theory) be willing to move a guy that is just being used as a pinch hitter at this point. So this is why he could be available. Why do we want him?

Despite the low batting average, Betemit currently sports an .802 OPS (.827 vs righties) this season and last season had an OPS of .795 (.849 vs righties). These numbers are not bad for a shortstop and would far exceed Crosby's current production. Betemit is not young, but not old at 26 and still has some years of team control left. Best case scenario, we find ourselves a productive middle infielder for the future. Worst case scenario, maybe Crosby feels the pressure of having a guy brought in to take his job and actually realizes that he'd better start making some adjustments.

Anyway, what would it take to get him? This is a question I was hoping for some input from the "trade guru's" here at AN, but I do have some ideas. Seems the Dodgers have been hit with a small rash of pitching injuries lately (Schmidt, Wolf) and could possibly use another starting pitcher. If so, Kennedy might be able to nab us a guy that the Dodgers now seem to have no use for. A lefty swingman that could start or relieve is always useful to a playoff club, and the Dodgers are no exception to wanting to acquire good veteran arms for the stretch run -- just the kind of thing a Colletti ran team would want. They might also be looking for some OF depth (they have only Pierre, Gonzalez, Ethier and Kemp on their current 25 man roster). With 3 of those 4 being lefties, maybe a known lefty-mashing outfielder like Kielty could interest them? If any combination of those two players could get us Betemit, it seems like a low-risk investment.

Not sure this much text should really be devoted to a trade diary regarding Wilson Betemit, but I really want to come up with some ideas to make the roster better. Any option that is better then Crosby would make me happy right now.

Did Macha screw up last night?

AsFanInLA — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:28:32 -0000

First let me say, I am not one of these people that says Macha needs to be fired after every decision goes wrong. Having said that I was very, very upset with his decision making in last nights game and I will try and explain my thinking.

I watched the entire game, and let me say that Saarloos was awesome. He gave everything he had and only giving up 2 runs in 8 IP is more then we could have expected. Saarloos was keeping the ball down great, and when he does that he can be very successful.

What I don't understand is how I can see things that Macha can't. In the 7th inning Saarloos left a pitch up -- a big fat hanger -- that Torii Hunter just missed and fouled straight back. I saw that pitch and thought "Oh Sh**, Saarloos might be losing it". Saarloos battled back and got Hunter to ground into a DP, but still the warning light was on.

Macha at this point needs to know his pitchers. We know that as the game gets later that Saarloos can lose it -- and lose it fast. Not a knock on him, just what we have observed. However, since Saarloos was pretty much on his game up until now, I would have sent him out to start the 8th, but with Morneau due up 2nd in the inning, why not have your lefty up and loose, just in case?

On to the 8th. Saarloos facing Cuddyer and does the same thing. Throws a hanger that is up in the zone and the A's are lucky it stayed in the yard as he lines it to LF. Now the count is two straight batters -- two straight hanging mistake pitches. After watching the last two batters get big fat mistake pitches, does Macha go to the lefty to get the Twins best power hitter? No he doesn't. Why? Because he did not have the foresight to see this coming, and there is not a lefty up and ready in the pen. So Saarloos continues the trend that should be forseeable at this point and throws his 3rd straight mistake pitch during an at bat, but finally, this time, it is not missed and Morneau goes yard.

Here are my big complaints. Why can't Macha see that Saarloos is getting his pitches up? Why can't he prepare a "just in case" lefty for Morneau? I fully realize that Keisler or Flores could have given up a HR to Morneau as well (although his last 3 year stats of 208/258/345 vs lefties would seem like a good matchup).

I am not saying that Macha lost us this game with his decisions. We only scored 1 run and there is no guarantee the pen could have held the 1-0 lead. What I am saying is that the decisions made by Macha in the 8th inning of that game were quite obviously (to me) not the correct ones, and why give a big power hitter that has no track record of success against lefties a chance to tee off vs a righty that has just thrown two mistake pitches to the last two batters?

If someone can explain to me why this is good logic, I would love to hear it. Kirk had done more then his fair share, and it was time to get him out with a power hitting lefty up. I realize that after Morneau we would have had to try to matchup with the next guys, but to be honest, I think in that inning Morneau is the one guy you have to put your best matchup against, and then worry about getting out the rest of the Twins (who after Morneau were Tiffee, Batista, Kubel -- not exactly murderers row).

Okay, diatribe over. I just felt like we should have stolen a game there, and we lost the oppurtunity to with a bad decision by Macha.

Thanks for listening.

Who to call up IF Johnson is sent down to AAA

AsFanInLA — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:45:42 -0000

There has been a lot of talk about possibly sending DJ down to work out his swing due to his horrible start. I am not really arguing the merits of that move as much as I want to consider, who would we bring up in such a case?

First, I do not think we will bring up Daric Barton. BB does not want to bring him up too soon, hurt his confidence and slow his progression. Also, BB does not want to start his clock any earlier then he has to, and right now he does not HAVE to.

So who? First thing to remember for those people advocating we move Swisher to first and call up an outfielder.... we still need a back up 1Bmen. The only person on the entire roster that has played an MLB game at 1B is Thomas (and hell will freeze over before we put FT in the field) and Melhuse (a grand total of 6 games). So, unless the minor league OF can play some 1B, that is very important to consider.

The solution? Well, the easy solution is to call up a 1Bmen, but since that is Barton currently at AAA, that is not the current solution. We could buy Perez a 1Bmen glove and turn Wash loose on him, but that might be scary already into the season. Here is what I would like to do (and I have not heard it mentioned yet). Lets call up a 3rd catcher and let Melhuse get some at bats at first base. We can see what Melhuse would do with some semi-regular time (maybe some sort of time split with Payton), and not have to worry about not having a backup catcher. Also, on days we play Payton, we would have 2 catchers on the bench, maybe making it more possible to pinch hit for certain DP machines (you know who you are). It would seem that Brown would be the likely person to call up to fill that role, and it would be nice to get him a taste of the bigs, even if it is just for long enough for DJ to get his groove back.

Again, not advocating sending DJ down persay, but if we do I think this would be the best way to do it. Thoughts?

(By the way, this is my first AN diary so be kind -- or if not kind at least funny. Also, even if just for pity, please at least one response or I might have to send myself back to the AN minor leagues -- would that be the espn chats, or <gasp> Halo Heaven?)