Just thought I’d drop a post kicking off the first day of MLB’s international siging period. If anyone has any knowledge of the players listed below, please add your thoughts.

Wilfredo Jesus Solano (switch-hitting shortstop), Wilman Jose "Junior" Martinez (3rd baseman), and outfielder Alfred Alejandro Sosa.

The three players, all listed at 6-foot-1, are not eligible to play in the Dominican Summer League but are scheduled to work out in La Victoria -- the A's training complex in the Dominican Republic -- once they sign with the club this week.

Of the four Tagg Bozied is the most significant.  He could compete for the 1st base job in spring training and may even alter the consensus on Zonis's Community Depth Chart of recent weeks.

The arrival of the Phillies and Jimmy Rollins this week led to an interesting discussion last night between my wife and I about local athletes.  She's a good baseball fan but occasionally she'll one of those cute, semi-ignorant questions (sorry honey), which at first make me smile, give her a pat on the head let her know that’s just how it works in pro sports these days.  Upon further thought, however, it does merit some discussion:

She asked me this:  If Rollins grew up in Alameda, and was an A's fan throughout childhood, then why doesn't he just play for the A's?

It seems like a silly question on the surface, but when you think about the history of the game and how were first created, is it really that absurd to think that players should play for "their" team?  Professional baseball has it's roots in leagues that aren't all that different from the softball or little leagues we play in recreationally:  a bunch of athletes from one geographic area getting together to form a team with the intent to play other teams from another geographic area. Once a player graduated from high school, if he was good enough, more often than not he would tryout for the local team.

So my question is this:  If the A's could take their pick of active players from the Bay Area, would we have an arsenal that could dominate any other major population hub in the country?    I knew San Diego and L.A would give us a run for our money due to population density and good year round weather, but how would we match up when all is said and done? I decided to set out to find an answer. (For purposes of simplicity, we'll say a player is from an area if he played high-school baseball there.  He qualifies if he is currently on a MLB 40 man roster)

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I believe the A's think that Blanton is better than the rest of baseball thinks he is.  Trading him now would be breaking the cardinal rule in business:  Buy Low, Sell High.

The A's see Blanton as a top of the rotation guy who is durable, and is getting better and better every year.   He completed 7 innings in the 2nd half of the season 8 times compared to Haren's 2.   For this reason they will be asking for a return much like the return we got on Haren, which is why we are seeing reports that our demands are too high for him.

 Haren, on the other hand , was just the opposite.  The A's didn't think he was as good as the rest of the industry thought he was.   He was slightly over-rated having started the All-star game and some of his peripheral stats indicated that he was lucky in his success.  This belief was supported by the fact that he came down to earth in the second half.

Blanton will be an Athletic as long as he continues to be under valued.  Its very possible that Blanton has an excellent year and if the A's aren't in contention he could be traded at the deadline, but not until then.

We all know that Billy Beane and the A's are constantly seeking new ways to exploit inefficiencies in the market for baseball players.  In the beginning it was OBP, Slugging %, pitches per plate appearance, etc.  Then Moneyball was written and they had to mix it up a little.  Not only that but they had to CONSTANLY be mixing it up.  In other words, they had to have a new inefficiency to exploit every year.  We've seen them go strong on defensive players, beef up the bullpen, and even sign players who are injury prone.  This year they are exploiting over-aged Minor Leaguers.

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