SB Nation User Blog: Flashfire

On the DL (and I don't mean the Down Low), plus a big trade

Flashfire — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:35:41 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

From Old English to pinstripes, and he knows how to play in a big center field. Plus he rocks the high socks.

While skimming through posts on the Hot Stove Blog for more winter meeting rumblings I came across an interesting post by an A's fan from back in August, talking about the Disabled List. Around that time was when Crosby and Giambi went on the DL (and Crosby's father whined about it), but while I think we generally know how the DL works in most cases there were still a few tidbits in the post that provided a little extra info the average fan might not know about. There's also a copy of the "Standard Form of Diagnosis" (SFD) that has to be filed with the Commissioner's Office.

Read about it here.

Among the stories swirling today that involve one-time A's (in the Majors or the farm system):

* The Milwaukee Brewers may be interested in Mark Mulder

* Mark Teahen signs a 3-year contract with the Chicago White Sox

* Rumors indicate the Pittsburgh Pirates are still very serious about Bobby Crosby. If so, good luck!

The big story is the New York Yankees getting Curtis Granderson in a three-team deal (pending medical clearance). The way it breaks down:

- DET gets OF Austin Jackson & RP Phil Coke from NYY, plus SP Max Scherzer & RP Daniel Schlereth from ARI
- ARI gets SP Ian Kennedy from NYY & SP Edwin Jackson from DET
- NYY gets OF Curtis Granderson from DET

Clearly, the Yankees get stronger again right away as Granderson is easily the best player of the seven involved and all they gave up was a reliever, a young starter and a minor leaguer who may or may not ever reach Granderson's level.

The Tigers also come out pretty well in this one, especially if Austin Jackson even comes close to Granderson eventually. Scherzer likely projects better than Edwin Jackson and they get some relief help as well. Of course, they don't have to pay Granderson's contract either and Scherzer is cost-controlled for a while, I believe.

The Diamondbacks have to hope Kennedy and Edwin Jackson benefit from playing in the NL West (and that Kennedy has no further arm problems). Of the three teams they come out the worst in the deal as far as I can tell.

The Boys of Summer documentary

Flashfire — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:51:10 -0000

This is something I think a lot of us would love the chance to do. Most of us probably can't for one reason or another (money, jobs, etc.) but for those who get to see all of the MLB ballparks in a single season, it's like the holy grail for a baseball fan. Well, barring getting to see your team win it all, I guess. From what I actually saw in the trailer it looks like the majority of this trip was managed with various donations, including tickets. I could be wrong.

Anyway, since I don't have much to say and haven't lately I'll let AN user "princemilo" do the talking for me below, as he and his father did that baseball trip a few years ago and they have a DVD coming out documenting it. Read on if you're interested in getting one, and I think I may just do so myself because I like a good baseball story and the whole father/son side of it. With all the crap I've wasted some of my money on over the years, this seems like a decent way to spend a few bucks and the proceeds do go to a very good cause.

Hey ANers,

As some of you may remember, my dad (who has Parkinson's Disease) and I went on the 20,000 mile road trip to all 30 MLB parks over two months in the summer of '04. The journey the ensuing award-winning documentary, "Boys of Summer", has been on has felt much longer. However, it is finally getting a limited release.

100% of the proceeds from the film are going to the Michael J Fox Foundation. For those of you who aren't familiar with the film, please take a look at the site: http://www.bosmovie.com. You'll find all the info, letters of recommendation, news articles a trailer and how to order it there.

Thank you all for your support. Here's to a productive A's off season and a +.500 2010 (yeah, I'm tempering these days -- I'll happily take that much improvement and allow myself to be pleasantly surprised by anything better).

My best to you,

Robert Cochrane (a.k.a. princemilo)
Director, Writer, Producer "Boys of Summer"

He also gave us his phone number but I didn't want to stick that in there myself. I'll let him comment and do so if he wishes.

Billy Ball, Revisited

Flashfire — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:33:11 -0000

Chris Jaffe over at The Hardball Times has a book coming out soon titled "Evaluating Baseball's Managers" that stretches back into baseball's history for what looks like a comprehensive look at managing over about a 130-year period.

(Harry Pavlidis also has a piece up today on Andrew Bailey, but this post is going to be about Billy Martin.)

In the excerpt Jaffe shares today he summarizes all of what made Martin the manager he was, detailing the ways he got each of his teams to play along with the short life span he had with each of them. If there was ever a manager who ran things his own way, Martin was that guy.

Highlights of the excerpt include making an immediate impact with the Minnesota Twins in aggressively stealing home to not only instill a specific mentality in his team, but also to make his opponents play wondering what they'd do next. In one game, both Cesar Tovar and Rod Carew stole home in the same inning and Martin had a penchant for trying the triple steal. At one point they basically made the A's look silly in an early July series that moved the Twins into first place to stay, his style helping cause the A's to also beat themselves with mistakes. Jaffe compares Martin to Hernan Cortes.

There's mention made of the complete games Martin's starters threw, including Rick Langford finishing 23 of 24 starts at one point in 1980 and missing the one by a single out, but while it led to some short-term success the pitchers quickly burned out within a year or two. Ever a manager who lived in the "now," it shows Martin did not look down the line to see how it would affect them later. Though his starters often worked a lot, he also tended to overuse some of his relief pitchers to the point of them frequently pitching on consecutive days more than they should have.

Looking back on Martin, it's easy to see where he was both good and bad as a manager. Everywhere he went, his teams performed well. There are some statistics in the excerpt that also further show this. The downside was his time with each team was very brief and his style led to a lot of immediate wins followed by rougher years once he was gone.

His Detroit teams finished first and third then averaged 96 losses the first two years after his departure, finishing last both times. They were already headed downward in Oakland in 1982 and didn't begin to recover until Tony LaRussa arrived in 1986. Still, his track record speaks for itself. In only three years did his teams play below .500 and just one of those (1982 in Oakland) was a full season. The others were partial years in Texas sandwiched around one full season.

Jaffe seems to do an excellent job of summarizing who Martin was as a manager and if this excerpt is any indication the book itself should be an interesting read, especially for anyone who likes to get deeper into the managing side of baseball.

Final tally for the ex-A's

Flashfire — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:18:06 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

At least another likable former Athletic won something, right?

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Elsewhere an A's fan and friend once spoke of the Giambi Curse, something like "No championship, either brother, ever" after both had moved on from their time in Oakland.

What happens the year after the Yankees move on from Jason Giambi? World Series win. Hey, after failing to buy one for the better part of the decade, they finally did the inevitable again. It was only a matter of time but it's nothing I'm impressed by.

Following in the cupcakey steps of Joe Blanton and future (and maybe current already) beer-leaguer Matt Stairs last year, two more former A's can lay claim to their first World Series win: Nick Swisher and, of all people, Chad Gaudin. He did pitch an inning in the ALCS! Swisher even matched Blanton's tally last year with a World Series home run. The bad news for him is he had about as much success at the plate otherwise as Blanton would be expected to. Thanks to people named Rodriguez, Jeter, Sabathia, Posada, Matsui, Damon, Rivera and so on, there's a ring he's going to get to wear.

Here's a recap of the ex-A's in the World Series, to be followed by their overall playoff totals.

New York Yankees

Nick Swisher: 2-for-15 (.133), .316 OBP, .400 SLG, .716 OPS, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 4 SO

Johnny Damon: 8-for-22 (.364), .440 OBP, .455 SLG, .895 OPS, 6 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 3 SB, 3 BB, 3 SO

Chad Gaudin: Did not pitch, did get to celebrate with the others

Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Stairs: 1-for-8 (.125), .125 OBP, .125 SLG, .250 OPS, 1 RBI, 2 SO

Joe Blanton: 0-0, 6.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 7 SO

And, their final totals:

New York Yankees

Nick Swisher: 6-for-47 (.128), .255 OBP, .234 SLG, .489 OPS, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 7 BB, 15 SO

Johnny Damon: 18-for-64 (.281), .333 OBP, .422 SLG, .755 OPS, 10 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 3 SB, 5 BB, 9 SO

Chad Gaudin: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 SO

Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Stairs: 1-for-10 (.100), .250 OBP, .100 SLG, .350 OPS, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 3 SO

Joe Blanton: 0-0, 5.17 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 15 2/3 IP, 15 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 2 HR, 4 BB, 10 SO

(Note: There were other, better pictures I saw of Swisher celebrating but I think most of them are Getty. This is the best I can pull up on SBN)

Another update on ex-A's in the playoffs

Flashfire — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:03:03 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

"No Johnny, I don't want to hear about how you hit two homers in the ALCS and I didn't and blah blah blibbedy blah. Maybe I'll just be the World Series hero, okay?"

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Some are still playing, some aren't. The way the World Series schedule breaks down there won't be a game on a Tuesday so I'll drop some stats on you like I did two weeks ago. I'll do the same once we have a winner and give the full totals for everyone at that point as well.

Rumor has it Matt Holliday, Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street were about to turn to O.J. Simpson to be their fourth golfing buddy but the Juice is busy looking for the killers from a prison cell in Nevada right now instead of on the links. They were able to find Orlando Cabrera after all with Jason Giambi playing the role of caddy.

First, the NLCS:

Los Angeles Dodgers

Andre Ethier: 5-for-19 (.263), .474 SLG, .333 OBP, .807 OPS, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 4 SO

Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Stairs: 0-for-1 (.000), .000 SLG, .500 OBP, .500 OPS, 1 BB

Joe Blanton: 0-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR

Now, the ALCS:

New York Yankees

Johnny Damon: 9-for-30 (.300), .533 SLG, .323 OBP, .856 OPS, 4 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SO

Nick Swisher: 3-for-20 (.150), .150 SLG, .292 OBP, .442 OPS, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 SO

Chad Gaudin: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR

Open Thread - ALCS Game 4

Flashfire — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:24:38 -0000

More photos » by Chris Pizzello - AP

Someone ought to let Jerry Hairston know there are easier ways to join the Southern California Automobile Club than this.

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I hear yesterday's game between the Yankees and Angels was pretty exciting. So was the one between the Dodgers and Phillies.

Too bad I missed both of them while in the midst of sleeping the better part of 18 hours following some dental work. Since I'm still pretty loopy from it (a combination of conscious sedation and removing three wisdom teeth will do that) there's a good chance I'll be sleeping during most of this one as well.

The National League is off today so we've just got one game on the schedule, starting at 4:57 down in Anaheim. As a sidenote, I've never understood why the start times for these playoff games are like that. Does it really make a difference?

CC Sabathia gets the start against Scott Kazmir. Sabathia is working on three days' rest after dominating in Game 1 while Kazmir's last outing was a struggle in the ALDS clincher in Boston on the 11th. A New York win puts them in control of the series while the Angels try to even it up.

Lineup

New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels

10/20/09 4:57 PM PDT

New York Yankees	Los Angeles Angels
Derek Jeter - SS	Chone Figgins - 3B
Johnny Damon - LF	Bobby Abreu - RF
Mark Teixeira - 1B	Torii Hunter - CF
Alex Rodriguez - 3B	Vladimir Guerrero - DH
Jorge Posada - C	Juan Rivera - LF
Hideki Matsui - DH	Howie Kendrick - 2B
Robinson Cano - 2B	Kendry Morales - 1B
Nick Swisher - RF	Mike Napoli - C
Melky Cabrera - CF	Erick Aybar - SS

Ex-A's are everywhere, both good and bad

Flashfire — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:05:54 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

"Carlos may have had this many hits but I did a pretty good job too, AND we swept our series!"

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Matt Holliday drops what would have won Game 2 for the Cardinals.

Carlos Gonzalez gets ten hits in four games.

Andre Ethier comes up big.

Jason Giambi gets a clutch pinch-hit.

Huston Street crashes and burns, twice.

These are just a few things people who have either worn the green and gold or been in the Oakland organization did in the Division Series. To recap first:

Dodgers vs. Cardinals: Dodgers in 3

Phillies vs. Rockies: Phillies in 4

Yankees vs. Twins: Yankees in 3

Angels vs. Red Sox: Angels in 3

While three of the four series ended in sweeps, most of the games were close and competitive. Of the thirteen that were played, seven were decided by one or two runs. Since each series ended before my day of the week, I'll take this time to summarize what former A's did in their performances. Read on.

New York Yankees

Nick Swisher: 1-for-12 (.083), .167 SLG, .083 OBP, .250 OPS, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 4 SO

Johnny Damon: 1-for-12 (.083), .083 SLG, .154 OBP, .237 OPS, 1 BB, 4 SO

Minnesota Twins

Orlando Cabrera: 2-for-13 (.154), .154 SLG, .267 OBP, .421 OPS, 1 R, 1 SB, 2 BB, 3 SO

Ron Mahay: 0-0, 5.40 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 0 H, 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

St. Louis Cardinals

Matt Holliday: 2-for-12 (.167), .417 SLG, .231 OBP, .647 OPS, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 SO, 1 E

Los Angeles Dodgers

Andre Ethier: 6-for-12 (.500), 1.333 SLG, .571 OBP, 1.905 OPS, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SO

Philadelphia Phillies

Joe Blanton: 0-0, 4.91 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR

Colorado Rockies

Carlos Gonzalez: 10-for-17 (.588), .882 SLG, .632 OBP, 1.514 OPS, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SO, 2 SB

Jason Giambi: 1-for-3 (.333), .333 SLG, .333 OBP, 667 OPS, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SO

Huston Street: 0-2, 1 SV, 1 BS, 13.50 ERA, 3.38 WHIP, 2.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO

Of those, Swisher, Damon, Ethier and Blanton advance with their respective teams. Gonzalez had a coming out party and Ethier was the only other hitter who did a whole lot. Fortunately for the Yankees, they weren't hurt by the poor games by Swisher or Damon. Street's meltdowns were absolute killers.

A's clinch! A's clinch! Okay, so it's just for last place and under .500...

Flashfire — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:56:35 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

Trevor Cahill tips his cap to the 2009 A's season. We're #4! We're #4! Woohoo!!

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For most of the night this game had that playing-out-the-string feeling to it. Trevor Cahill was having another one of those Houdini-like outings until Ken Griffey Jr. touched him up for a three-run homer in the fifth that gave the Mariners a comfortable 6-1 cushion behind another solid outing by Felix Hernandez, though Oakland would make it interesting late by having chances to tie the game in each of the last two innings before falling by a count of 6-4.

In doing so the A's dropped to 75-82, thus ending their unlikely but entertaining quest to somehow reach .500 by the end of the season, and it assured a last-place finish for the first time since 1998. If the current standings of LAA-TEX-SEA-OAK stays the same (TEX and SEA could still switch places), it will be the first time that has happened since going to the three-division format.

If it's any consolation, the A's DO have the best record of any last-place team and trail their division leader by the least games in comparison to the rest. Put it this way: it took them until game 157 to be assured of last place after how bad things looked earlier in the year. Hey, it's SOMEthing. In spite of that it doesn't seem as bad as that looks as they've played solid baseball in the latter half of the season. The important thing will be seeing how much of it carries over into 2010.

Cahill was unable to get through the fifth tonight, allowing five earned runs on eight hits and two walks with just one strikeout. In comparison, Hernandez threw a season-high 120 pitches and nearly got through eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with four walks, plus he hit two batters. He wasn't his usual overpowering self, evidenced by only four strikeouts. Sometimes he gets that in two innings. He needed Mark Lowe to bail him out of trouble in the eighth and David Aardsma gave up a couple runs in the ninth on a Kurt Suzuki double before retiring Daric Barton on a fly ball to Ichiro Suzuki that, for the briefest of moments, looked like it might just have a chance to tie things up. Somehow Eric Patterson went 3-for-3 with a walk against Hernandez. I won't try to figure that one out and I suggest you don't either.

A few more things:

* Travis Buck got into the game, had two ABs, AND singled and scored a run.

* we expect full details soon from Chez Nico. It's not Vegas, so what happens there shall be known by all.

* the game threads are not safe for anyone except those of strong composition and/or questionable mental states. Wade in at your own peril. Now, those ARE Vegas as far as we're concerned.

* we've learned what a few of the A's rookies wound up in during this year's hazing ritual. Photos must exist somewhere. They will be found by someone.

* this is my last game thread of the season. It was fun. In the words of Denis Leary, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, and..." Wait. Not the game thread. My bad. Go A's in 2010!

Open Thread: Game 157 - A's at Mariners (cont)

Flashfire — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:43:12 -0000

Griffey just got all of one. Kennedy has no future as a third baseman. Patterson has no future involving throwing the ball in any way.

6-1 Sea...ttle. On to the sixth.

Open Thread: Game 157 - A's at Mariners (cont)

Flashfire — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:59:48 -0000

1-0 M's after three and I think most of us are focused on other more interesting conversations.