A's 2010 line-up

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Last night Tommy Everidge went 4-6 with 2 home runs to raise his average to .377.  Seems like he should get a shot with Oakland soon.  With the addition of Wallace to the Rivercats the line-up in Sacramento is very strong.  Everidge has only struck out 26 times in 141 abs, with 9 hrs and an OPS of 1.059.  As a 10th rounder he doesn't have the prestige of some other prospects, but he's producing.

Ironically, the A's might have the best hitting AAA team and worst hitting MLB club at this point. 

Hindsight  can be unfair, but when evaluating Beane's many TRADES  the past couple years it's hard to ignore the roster mis-management.  Let's erase his trades going back to Eithier for Bradley.  I might miss a couple. 

Outfield/dh could include: Eithier, Swisher, Buck, Cust, Kotsay

Pitching staff would include: Haren, Harden, Blanton, Cahill, Mazzarro, Braden, Street, Duscher.  Plenty of pitching talent to fill holes as needed in infield with good trades for major league-ready players.

Problem I have is A's not trying to win now and making poor choices (Weeks over Wallace?). Trading 24-year-olds for 20-year-olds for that Fremont Park? Oops. I'd rather have Haren, Harden, Swisher, Eithier, Street than Sweeney, Gio, 1 year of Holliday, all those minor leaguers that may or may not make it. 

Welcome to Pittsburg Pirates of the West -- only with worse talent evaluation.

It's time to bring the fences in.  Time to squeeze foul territory down to nothing.  Overall, this ballpark makes good hitters look average. Average hitters look poor. Etc. It is not an attractive place for free agent hitters.  Making the park less attractive to pitchers is fine since the plan is to grow your own pitchers and then maybe add free agent hitters when time is right. Even if a guy like Holliday liked the A's he wouldn't be very excited about being a .280/20hr hitter for years.

With limited resources we all know the A's will have a good 3 years then a real bad rebuilding 3 years . . . and on and on.  At least more offense would make losing more entertaining.  The Cubs at Wrigley has been a great ticket no matter how bad the team is.

On top of it all, some of the best seats in house are currently foul territory.  I suppose I'm bringing this up because the A's going through one of those bad years.  At least they could make it entertaining.

No inside sources have suggested this aquisition, but now would be a great time to trade for Garrett Atkins.  A's would be buying low, he's hitting .195, but is a .290 lifetime hitter.  Another rh power bat for A's line-up.  Colorado's other 3b Stewart has 11 HRS and Colorado is buried in the standings so Atkins is expendable. 

The A's unexpected improvement the past 7days creates the decision of do the A's try to win now or just develop for the future?  Hiring Giambi, Cabrea, Garciappara and Holilday suggests Beane wants to win this year.  Now that starting pitching suddenly looks good, it makes sense to fill the glaring hole at 3b.  Not just a 1-year fix --  Atkins is signed, 29, and durable.  Some package of involving a pitcher(s) Gio, Gallager, Simmons and maybe a 2b?  Beane should do this before Atkins starts hitting and his price goes up. It would also make Holliday happy.

Trade for AAA prospects: Holliday, Cust, Cabrea, Ellis or Kennedy

Cut from roster: Nomar, Crosby, Hannahan, R.Davis, Chavez, E.Gonzalez, Springer

Clearly, the A's are not competitive this year.  It's time to stop wasting at-bats on guys with no future in MLB.  Time to trade the few veterans that have any value. Buy out the old injured guys.

I will turn on the TV to see Cahill pitch because he has a future -- I can accept poor outings.  But, I can't watch Edgar Gonzalez.  Can't watch Crosby play 1st base (couldn't hit well enough to hold onto ss, now gets playing time at power position?)

Maybe Cust has some trade value after hitting 30 HRs last year.  This guy plays DH or learns to play 1b on any decent team.  If I'm building a team for the future I'm dumping non-athletes. 

Cunningham should play every day.  Maybe give Baisley a shot at 3rd.  Not  worried about rushing guys.  Maybe give Mazzarro, Gray, Cardenas, Dolittle legitimate playing time.  The cream will rise to the top.

The A's really do need to develop/aquire power hitters at the infield and outfield corners to be any good.

Giambi's punishment for leaving the A's for the Yankees is is to hit .200 and be a cheerleader in 2009.

No power, low average, nice hair, injury-prone, can't even bunt.

What is all the fuss about this guy?  What's wrong about making him prove himself at AAA?  Buck-lovers are probably the same who were Barton-lovers last year.  Barton is now hitting .200 with no power at Sacramento.  What is the facination with corner infieleders and corner outfielders with zero power?

For hitters with potential , power doesn't develop when facing good major league pitchers.  For some guys power-hitting comes with the confidence of abusing lesser hurlers.  McGwire hit most of his HRs against no-name middle relievers, inexperienced young starters and old retreads.  Let young guys practice at AAA and bring them up when they are ready.  I get no pleasure watching impotent performance.  There is no place for limp bats in the majors. 

I hate to be negative but, the hope that the A's would contend with a slugging line-up is crumbing so fast it's pretty much dust. 

Giambi, Chavez, Holiday, Cust, Nomar, Cabrera, etc. have not injected life into 2008's worst offensive team -- they've actually made it worse.  The A's rank last (30th) in HRs (8), hits, runs, doubles and 29th in average. This is not fun to watch. Now here come the injuries on top of it all -- Giambi, Nomar, Chavez, Ellis. 

There's not even much hitting at AAA Sacramnto -- Barton is hitting .150, Cunningham out injured.  Dolittle only guy hitting at all.

The pitching staff's ERA is actually ranked 5th in MLB.  This was supposed to be the weak link, but they are actually getting it done.  Mazzaro, Gio and Gallager at Sacramento add promise.

Still, at the teams's current rate of play Holliday will be traded by the All-star break.  Coliseum attendance could sink.  Even good teams in good stadiums are experiencing lower numbers due to the economy.  In a league that has $200 million payrolls competing against $30 million dollar payrolls this could be a very long summer -- and it's still spring. 

Here come the Angels -- I hate those motherfockers!

Would anybody else like to see the A's send Eveland and Outman to the pen? Both guys have a better chance to be excellent throwing just 2-3 innings.  The A's need LH relievers.  I've seen enough of them starting games.  Better options Mazzaro, Gio, Gallager, Duchsecher hopefully soon . . .somebody with a future as a starter or even an old vet like Pedro. 

Sucks that Angels are off to slow start and A's can't capitalize at plate or mound.

I've been reading post after post on this blog about what a poor baseball player Bobby Crosby is.  I kind of thought that 38 doubles last year and his Rookie Of The Year season showed he must have some use to the A's.  I was wrong.

I doesn't matter how many hours he spent working out with McGwire and Holliday in the off-season -- the dude still stands 4 feet from the plate and can't handle outside pitches for some reason.

As far as contributing as a utilityman he's worse with a glove than a bat.  It's too bad because he seems like a good guy.  He even stopped warming up before a game last year to sign autographs for my daughter and her girlfriend -- then again, maybe that was because they are super attractive 19-year-old females?