Has this been done before?  Probably.  Do I care?  Probably...NOT.  No way!  In fact, I think I did something very similar to this 4 years ago on here.  

It's mid-February, my least favorite time of the offseason.  After losing seasons I welcome the months off, and after winning seasons I can use the months off to appreciate the good season that was just had, and appreciate the local sports.  Go Oklahoma State!  But, Ok. State basketball sucks this year, so I'm ready to lump all my hopes into A's baseball.  Every year, though, just about this time optimism springs eternal.  We're going to ROCK.   But, it also a time period with little to no baseball news, and I get antsy, and I want to write about the A's, and I don't want to study for my American Military History test that's on Thursday.  

So, let's get to talking about your first memory of the A's (for us who were fans from childhood) or what moment your A's fandom just "clicked" (for those of us who became fans later in life).  

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Emmett89.  That's me.  I'm a seldom seen sometimes poster (SSSP is the new term for lurker), but it's my time to bust out of the shadows and become a full fledged Athleticsnation.com super poster.  I had plans for my coming out party (not like that, 'not that there is anything wrong with that '© Seinfeld 1993, get used to some funny pop culture reference in my posts, BTW) last season, but I wasn't mature enough for it.  I didn't have the confidence to assert myself into the game threads with the panache I needed to have.  

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I'd feel insensitive for not saying something about Adenhart here, since he's obviously a guy that should have had more playing time in the grand scheme of things.  Watching him pitch Wednesday night, looking back, is one of the more surreal things I remember.

 I figured, however, to write something I'd planned on writing for a while this afternoon since my Psychology class got canceled. 

All righty.

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I've got nothing to do all day, except work (ha!), and watch the draft tracker.  So, let's take a gander at who the A's got on the 2nd day of the draft:

Round 7

P Brett Hunter, Pepperdine U. R/R 6'4, 215, 6.27.87

Injured this year, made 4 starts.  3.38 ERA in 18.2 innings, 19/8 K/BB ratio. 

Last year 6-5 3.94 ERA in 82.1. 76/46 K/BB ratio. 

Was a potential 1st round pick after his Sophomore year, before hurting himself.  Could be a candidate to go back to school for his Senior year to raise his draft stock?  Watched his scout video, and I know nothing about scouting.  But his fastball was consistently 92-95, topping out at 97.  Threw one really nice curveball in the video, and the rest was just okay from my untrained eye.  Has a weird delivery where he drives real low kind of like Hudson does.  Out of the stretch it just looked odd.

Round 8

OF Jeremy Barfield, San Jacinto (TX) JUCO, R/L, 6'5, 240 7.12.88

Couldn't find any stats on the guy, but he is the son of former MLB outfielder Jesse Barfield.  And brother of current infielder Josh Barfield.  Jeremy was drafted in the 9th round in '06 by the Mets.  And also Jeremy received a misdemeanor in August of 2006 for PUSHING HIS DAD DOWN THE STAIRS!

Well, he's a big guy anyway, and bloodlines and all that.

Round 9

C Mitchell LeVier, Fullerton College (CA), L/L, 5'11, 185, 1.12.1988

Hit .406/.459/.711 with 11 homeruns and 50 RBI's.  Had a 17/22 BB/K ratio.  Made just one error all year.   I don't know if it is just a myth or what, but being left handed does that not prevent him from being a catcher in the pros?   In his video he made some throws from the outfield, but it was impossible to tell arm strength from those.

Has a weird habit when he takes a pitch.  The second the ball crosses the plate and he's not swinging he takes his bottom hand off of the bat. 

Interesting player if he sticks at catcher.  If not, who knows?

With Gonzalez, Denorfia, Sweeney, Buck, Cunningham, Cust, and whoever else I'm forgetting to mention manning the outfield positions for the future, it has made me wonder about the future of the middle infield.

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Now, before I get into all this, I must tell everyone:  I might be a little biased, being that I'm a staunch Oklahoma State fan, and a staunch Corey Brown fan.  And I live in Oklahoma City, which is less than one hundred miles from the Oklahoma State campus.  And by being an A's fan, I'm estatic the A's drafted Brown.

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I haven't posted here since last summer, and I thought I'd bring up some points that I need to get out!

1.  God, I love to beat the Angels.  I love even more to see K-Rod give up the hit that beats him.  It's just soooo...wonderful.  Especially with how excited he gets when he does get a save.  It also seems that his overexuberance has trickled down through the bullpen into the starting rotation.

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All right here goes, now that the playoffs are firmly in hand, let's see who I, you, we would choose to send to the ALDS.

Okay.

Catcher:
1.Jason Kendall
2.Adam Melhuse

Obvious.  Melhuse and Perez have about the same chance as playing.

1st Basemen/DH
3.Nick Swisher
4.Frank Thomas

Pretty simple.

2nd Basemen
5.Mark Ellis

Hoping for some of that 2002 playoff magic.

3rd Basemen
6.Eric Chavez

Hoping for some of that...2001 July Magic?

Shortstops
7.Marco Scutaro
8.Antonio Perez

I'd like Crosby to be healthy, but I've given up hope on that one.

Outfielders
9.Milton Bradley
10.Mark Kotsay
11.Jay Payton
12.Bobby Kielty

In game 7 of the world series, the A's face Tom Glavine.  Would Macha start Kiely over Kotsay?  As much as I love Ronnie Mac, I sure hope not.

Pitchers
13.Barry Zito
14.Danny Haren
15.Rich Harden
16.Esteban Loaiza
17.Joe Blanton
18.Kiko Calero
19.Chad Gaudin
20.Justin Duchscherer
21.Huston Street
22.Kirk Saarloos
23.Joe Kennedy

I like our bullpen a lot.  Especially if Street was a set up guy, and the Duke was the closer.

Wildcards:
Dan Johnson
D'Angelo Jimenez
Brad Halsey
Jay Witasick
Ron Flores

Tough to pick these last 2.  I'll take 24. Johnson just because I like him at 1st more than Kotsay in an emergency that Swisher has to leave 1st, due to being injured or have to move to the outfield.

25. Ron Flores, yeah, I hope they take him over Halsey. But some of that has to do with me not trusting Halsey at all, and him letting up that homer to Bonds.  With Gaudin and Saarloos, the A's don't really need another long man.  And it allows him to be the situational lefty, and make Kennedy a set up man.

The search for a 6 game lead is on.

Eaton vs Lackey

Izturis
Cabrera
Vlad
Anderson
Rivera
Kennedy
Kendrick
Napoli
Figgins

is what Sciosciopaths send out

Matthews
M. Young
Teixiera
Lee
Blalock
DeRosa
E. Young (old)
La(i)rd
Cruz

is what the Rangers take the field with.  You know, veteran presence blah-de-blah.  Why is Eric Young, who is a releasee this year.  Over Kinsler, who at home is smoking the ball?

Oh well.

Go Rangahs!

Ah! This is no good! I'm hoping Macha's just getting a case of the dumbass, and is resting him for whatever reason, and Mr. Monopoly's not hurt.  If you're going to give a guy a day off, Macha, make it Big Hurt.  Not that I want him out of the lineup, just he's played a lot of games in a row.  

Oh please don't be hurt Milty! Please don't!

With Mark Ellis' pending return to the Big league club, one of three infielders will be demoted, Marco Scutaro, Mike Rouse or Antonio Perez.  We can just scratch out Scutaro, since there is no way he'll be demoted.

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