SB Nation User Blog: Hang Man

Oakland grabs Breslow from waiver wire

Hang Man — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:42:20 -0000

I was surprised this has not be posted yet. Oakland picked up left-handed Yale grad Craig Breslow of the waiver wire.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090520&content_id=4837230&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

Breslow was good last year posting a 1.63 era with Minn.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/B/Craig-Breslow.shtml

He got off to a poor start this year, 6.28 era in 14.1 innings, and was placed on the waiver wire. It seems many of the Minn fans are surprised by the move. Mark Ellis was placed on the 60-day DL.

Dodgers sign Rafael Furcal

Hang Man — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 04:47:20 -0000

Hot off of the press!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-spw-dodgers4dec04,1,3257611.story?coll=la-head lines-sports

Free agent Rafael Furcal has agreed in principle to a three-year contract with the Dodgers that would make him one of the highest paid shortstops ever, a source close to the negotiations said Saturday. The deal would guarantee Furcal, 28, nearly $40 million.

How does this impact the A's trade possibilities with the Cubs?

A's pitching. How good?

Hang Man — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 04:12:06 -0000

How do you measure pitching? There was some controversy when the Cy Young went to Colon. Some felt just because of his W-L record. since the pitcher has no control over the amount of runs his team scores, it makes sense to rate pitchers by what they can (to a degree) control. The runs the opposition scores. aka ERA.

I will just try to make the analysis simple. There are 14 AL teams. (I elimiated the NL teams because of the DH) It makes a fair argument to say that the top 14 pitchers in the AL according to ERA are indeed the top 14 pitchers. It stands to reason then that the next 14 pitchers are the second best.

The following is a listing of the AL starting pitchers (not just a reliever who got a few starts) ranked according to ERA, and separated into groups of 14.

Halladay Tor 2.41
Harden Oak 2.53
Hernandez Sea
Chacon NYY
Millwood Cle
Santana Minn
Buehrle CHW
Washburn LAA
Baker Minn
Silva Minn
Lackey LAA
Rodgers Tex
Colon LAA
Garland CHW

Blanton Oak 3.53
Contreras CHW
Towers Tor
Chacin Tor
Haren Oak 3.73
Byrd LAA
Kazmir TB
Lee Cle
Johnson NYY
Chen Bal
Zito Oak 3.86
Garcia CHW
Badard Bal
Wang NYY

Sabathia Cle
McCarthy CHW
Radke Minn
Wakefield Bos
Saarloos Oak 4.17
Lohse Minn
Young Tex
Moyer Sea
Mussina NYY
Wells Bos
Robertson Det
Westbrook Cle
Bush Tor
Arroyo Bos

Cabrera Bal
Johnson Det
Clement Bos
Bonderman Det
Elarton Cle
Santana LAA
Maroth Det
Pavano NYY
Carrasco KC
Lopez Bal
Fossum TB
Miller Bos
Meche Sea
Franklin Sea

Hernandez CHW
Leither NYY
Hernandez KC
Rodriquez Tex
Lilly Tor
Douglass Det
Waechter TB
Pinero Sea
Mays Minn
Park Tex
Sele Sea
Schilling Bos
Greinke KC
Hendrickson TB 5.90

Oakland ends up with the 4th best rotation.

In order:

Minn- three #1 (Santana, Baker, Silva), zero #2, two #3 (Radke, Lohse), zero #4, one #5 (Mays, but he is a FA now) How did this team miss the playoffs!?

LAA- three #1 (Washburn, Lackey, Colon), one #2 (Byrd), zero #3, one #4 (Santana), zero #5

CHW- two #1 (Buehrle, Garland), two #2 (Contreras, Garcia), one #3 (McCarthy), zero #4, one #5 (Hernandez)

Oak- one Ace (Harden), three #2 starters (Blanton, Haren and Zito) and one #3 (Saarloos)

Cle- One #1 (Millwood), one #2 (Lee), two #3 (Sabathia, Westbrook), one #4 (Elarton) zero #5

Tor- one #1 (Halladay), two #2 (Towers, Chacin), one #3 (Bush), zero #4, one #5 (Lilly)

NYY- One #1 (Chacon), two #2 (Johnson and Wang), one #3 (Mussina), one #4 (Pavano), one #5 (Leiter, now with FL, thats six starting pitchers under contract through 2006 when you include Wright.)

Bos- Zero Aces, Zero #2, three #3 (Wakefield, Wells, Arroyo) one #4 (Clement), one #5 (Schilling)

Sea- One #1 Hernandez, zero #2, one #3 (Moyer, but he is a FA now), two #4 (Meche, Franklin), two #5 (Pinero, Sele) Plus they have Foppert

Tex- one #1 (Rodgers), zero #2, one #3 (Young), zero #4, two #5 (Rodriquez, Park)

Det- zero #1, zero #2, one #3 (Robertson), three #4 (Johnson, Bonderman, Maroth), one #5 (Douglass)

TB- zero #1, one #2 (Kazmir), zero #3, one #4 (Fossum), two #5 (Waechter, Hendrickson)

Bal- zero #1, two #2 (Chen, Bedard), zero #3, two #4 (Cabrera, Lopez), plus Ponson 7.11 ERA

KC- zero #1, zero #2, zero #3, one #4 (Carrasco), two #5 (Hernandez, Greinke) Plus lots of AAA players.

So? Can we afford to trade the 25th best pitcher (per ERA) in the AL. If so, what is the 25th best pitcher worth? A bat and two prospects?

If not, can we afford to resign him? What is a 27 year old, former Cy Young winning, left handed SP worth? Three years/$30 million? Five years/$63 million?

Right handed DH for 2006

Hang Man — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 22:07:48 -0000

While blockbuster trades are fun to work on, for some of us extremely fun, they are less likely to occur.

The 2005 version of the A's were very close to the playoffs. Outside of a few injuries and the lack of a DH we would have been there. I think I found a solution that would keep the team intact, and correct the main deficiency without giving away the future.

The right-handed player for DH, Craig Wilson.
2005 .264/.387/.412

I know what you are thinking. That's the right-handed power bat that is the final piece to the A's puzzle? But hear me out.

Argument for Wilson:
First-he had an off year. He hurt his hand twice last year, which lost him aprox 400 AB. The injuries are not serious. Like Chavez he broke his hand by getting hit by a pitch. No long-term problems. This would be a clasic Beane buying low trade. The Pirates were hoping for a great year out of him in 2005 prior to trading him. This is because in 2004, at the age of 27 he hit .264/.354/.499 with 35 doubles, 5 triples, and 29 Home Runs.

Second-he has a high OBP. Last year .387 Career .363 Sure he has a high SO rate as well, but at least he wont be hitting into double plays.

Third-he is from CA (we all know how Beane likes his Californians)

Fourth-he is available. The Pirates just released a press release trying to sell the fans on season tickets for 2006 they focused on the "direction they are going, the pitching, and the great core of young players." The same young players who played well while replacing people like Wilson. Conspicuously missing was any mention of Wilson. Wilson is entering his last year of arbitration. The Pirates must trade him or watch him walk at the end of the year with nothing in return. A team like the Pirates with a payroll of $38 million can't afford to lose talent w/o getting something back.

Fifth-he is affordable. The Pirates would not ask for the moon, unlike trades for Carlos Lee, Sheffield, Manny ect. In his last year of arb he might go for as little as 3.8 million.

Sixth-he can play catcher. Many of us wanted more flexibility to pinch hit using Melhuse or to be able to use him as a left handed DH. The danger of doing that was that we were exposed if Kendall got hurt during the game. With Wilson we would have that third catcher for emergencies. And if you wanted to get creative, it would even allow you to trade Melhuse since Wilson could be enough to cover the 10-15 times that Kendall doesn't catch.

Seventh-he is only 28. He should have a good power year. If he does we get draft picks for him, if not he just walks.

I believe that all Wilson would cost us is a player like Ginter. I know, I can hear some of you already, "You can't get some one for no one." But here is why the Pirates would benefit. Their second baseman is Jose Castillo. Last year Castillo missed half of the season with four different aliments. First he pulled his oblique. (Like that is not an issue) second he lost time due to Asthma. Then he pulled a hamstring. Finally he tore his MCL, which put him on the 60 day DL. That happened on August 22. They wont know if he will be fully healthy until spring training. The only replacement for Castillo is Sanchez who is favored at 3B. Ginter is healthy, he is familiar the NL, he should be able to replace the pop lost be Wilson. But best of all from the Pirates point of view is that Ginter can be controlled for three years.

Beane has said the one thing missing from the 2005 team was power. Wilson should produce that power. He will be 29, the peak age for power. He will be in the last year of arbitration, the walk year. His presence in the lineup will allow Macha to produce the R/L lineup he prefers. Next year:
Kendall (R)
Kotsay (L)
Crosby (R)
Chavez (L)
Wilson (R)
Johnson (L)
Payton (R)
Swisher (L)
Ellis (R)

Now some believe that Beane only picked up Payton for his trade value. I agree. The Diamondbacks and Nationals are two likely trade partners. But, should he not find a trade partner for Payton, the default is an outfield made up of web gems. The A's pitchers had the best BAA in the majors in part because of the defense. At the end of 2006 Payton walks and Ethier is ready to take over LF. The future is not mortgaged by trading budding prospects. 2007 Payton and Wilson walk. Either and Barton enter. The low salary allows Beane to sign Zito to a three-year extension now. Long-term plan. Starting pitchers and lineup set for three very strong years.

Oakland / Arizona trade proposal

Hang Man — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 23:51:13 -0000

Baseball Prospectus put out a good article on the Arizona Diamondbacks. The article provides facts that support my idea that a trade between Oakland and Arizona could help both teams.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4515

The highlights of the article are that Arizona will trade one if not two bats this winter. Author Dave Haller makes the argument that the Diamondbacks are rich in outfielders and poor in pitching. The pitching was described as hideous, and the stats support that assessment.

Arizona used 25 pitchers for their 12 pitching spots. Of the 25, only 7 pitchers had an ERA under 4.50 and only 2 of their starters had an ERA under 4.50. 14 pitchers had a WHIP of over 1.50 Their fifth starter (by committee) had a combined win - loss record of 6-14 covering 30 starts. They are faced with free agency of four of the 25 including, unfortunately for them two of their "best", starter Shawn Estes (7-8 4.80 ERA) and RHR Tim Worrell (1-1 2.27 ERA). Their number two starter, Vasquez (11-15 4.42 ERA) can force a trade, a right he gained last winter when he was dealt in the middle of a multi-year contract. THIS TEAM NEEDS PITCHING.

On the offensive side, Arizona just extended 1B Tony Clark for two years with a no trade clause for the first 1 ½ years.

Crowded Outfield: Louis Gonzalez, Chad Tracy, Shawn Green Scott Hairston, Connor Jackson, Carlos Quentin.

Trading Gonzalez and his $10 million dollar salary would be difficult at best, and Shawn Green has a no trade clause. Quentin (.301/.400/.520/920) has done all he can do in AAA and is expected to start in 2006.

Hairston might be moved to 2B (his natural position) moving Counsell from second to SS, after the departure of Royce Clayton via free agency. If they have Gonzalez in LF, Quentin in CF, Green in RF, and with no DH and with 1B played by Clark, it blocks Tracy, and Connor.

Now naturally having Tracy (3B/1B/LF/RF) and Connor on the bench would please any team. However, Tracy (.308/.359/.553/.911) is much more than a bench player and Connor (.354/.467/.553/1020) is just not a versatile enough to be a bench player. In fact his play at 1B is suspect. He seems to be destined for a DH roll. Unfortunately for AZ, the NL does not use the DH.

Ok here is the proposal. First - Joe Kennedy: he will have a salary of $3 million plus via his last yr of arbitration, far too much for a LRP, and that is all he would be for us. Kennedy is really a starter. In fact he was Colorado's opening day starter just last year. It just so happens that AZ is losing their LSP (Estes) to free agency. Second - Juan Cruz: His arbitration figure would be close to a million, which is a lot of money for pitching in AAA when AZ would find him an improvement over most of their starting pitchers. Last - (and here is the zinger, you can't get without giving) Justin Duchscherer: he is an All Star with a 2.21 ERA who can start, go long relief, and close. He also has a bad back that has forced him to miss some time each year for the last few years. Billy loves to trade at the peak of value. This could be Justin's peak.

Arizona gets a Left handed starting pitcher in Kennedy, a potential starter in Cruz, and an inning eating pitcher that can start, go long relief, or close. That should be enough to give up a late blooming Tracy (.324 vs. RHP) who, by the way, would make a perfect platoon complement with Kielty, and a former number one round draft pick in Jackson.

The trade would give us a lineup that could cause lots of damage:
C - Kendall
CF - Kotsay
SS - Crosby
3B - Chavy
LF - Tracy
1B - Johnson
RF - Swisher
DH - Jackson
2B - Ellis

It would also allow Payton to backup at all outfield positions and decrease payroll by about $4 million, which would allow us to sign Dotel to an incentive laden contract to replace some of the innings lost by the departure of Duchscherer. I personally would like to see John Rheinecker cover the rest of the innings lost.

So AN are you with me?

Value: OPS, Center fielders, and Left handed SP

Hang Man — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 05:54:00 -0000

Earlier this year (May) Billy Beane learned a lot about the value of center fielders and starting left handed pitchers when quite a few teams made offers for Kotsay and Zito.

The first action that Billy took was to go out and trade for a center fielder (Payton) and a starting left handed pitcher. (Kennedy)

While the trade threads are fun, it seems as if we are throwing darts in the dark. We know who we like, but we don't know what the other GM's would want for them.
Billy knows.

The question now, were the trades that Billy made to be used as chips at the trading deadline or for during the off-season?

While we don't know what was offered for Kotsay and Zito, we can compile a monetary valuation for OPS.

The top ten players with the highest OPS, salary & age:

D. Lee OPS 1.163 $7.7 million 30 yrs
A. Pujols 1.039 11.0 25
M. Cabrera 1.018 .370 22
A. Rodriquez 1.017 24.7 30
T. Hafner 0.995 .377 28
M. Ensberg 0.976 .450 30
A. Dunn 0.973 4.6 25
J. Giambi 0.973 13.4 34
A. Ramirez 0.972 8.2 27
A. Jones 0.970 13.0 28

I was surprised to see Giambi up there. I knew he was doing better, but not that good.

As you can see the real steals are Cabrera, Hafner and Ensberg. Dunn falls into a singular middle tier. While the big bucks fill out the rest of the list.

Gammons suggested a trade of Suziki, Branden, Cruz and Kennedy for Dunn. At first I thought "No Way!" but now think that it would work out for us. We would have him for at least two more years. This would allow Barton to be groomed without rushing him. It would also allow us to control him for the years closer to his prime. 22-28 rather than 20-26 yr of age. And if I were the Reds GM I would do the trade as well. Small market, needs pitching, loaded with offense, four players for one.

Someone else mentioned that the Marlins need pitching as well. What would it take to pry Cabrera from them?

Either trade would be an A trade.

The last bit of news is that Arizona pulled up Connor Jackson to play first. They dropped Cruz Jr. moved their 25 yr old first baseman Chad Tracy to left and moved Green to center. Man that team needs a center fielder. Cough Payton Cough Is Jackson being showcased before the trade deadline?

Ok, your the manager, what do you do for offense?

Hang Man — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 02:00:55 -0000

Come on, everyone is whining, but what about a solution. We might be winning tonight but we have had only 4 hits against a nothing pitcher. Everyone agrees our offense is offensive. What action should be taken to improve the situation? What would you do if you were manager for the day?

Would you pat the players on the bottom and say get out there and do what you are capable of doing?

Would you sit Chavez, Byrnes, and Durazo, and play Ginter, Thomas, and Melhuse?

Would you bat Kotsay, Scutaro, and Ellis, 1-2-3 and drop Chavez, Byrnes, and Durazo to 7-9-8?

Something has to be done. As I remember, back in '02 or '03 the A's got off to a slow start and they actually called up some players from the AAA squad to put a shock into the team. It worked then, what would work now?

Just back from Phoenix...Wow!

Hang Man — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:24:15 -0000

I just got back from Phoenix and can't wait to tell everyone what a great time I had. But most importantly I want to share with you my observations and impressions.

Before I get to my impressions of the players I have to let you all in on what was probably the most exciting thing that happened while we were in AZ. The first night in town my family went to a "Greeting" dinner sponsored by the tour service I used, Spring Training Tours. The dinner included a talk by Mike Thalblum of the A's. Mike has worked for the A's for 24 years, the last 11 as the Visiting Clubhouse Manager.

Part of the activities planed for the evening was a raffle. Most of the items were T-shirts, posters, and Bobble Heads purchased by the tour group. Mike wanted to add a personal prize to that list and therefore included a tour of the A's AZ clubhouse. There were about eighty people in attendance, 90% of which were senior citizens. But as luck would have it my ten-year old son Austin had the winning ticket!

Mike had us show up the next day at 9:30 in the morning during the A's batting practice. I went down near the dugout and caught Byrnes attention. Byrnes was great, you could tell he didn't necessarily want to be a messenger boy, but he headed up the tunnel yelling for "Mikey!" About five minutes later Mike came out and took Austin into the clubhouse. There were about 6 young autograph seekers who had shown up early and were lined up near the A's dugout when Austin climbed over the railing and went into the clubhouse with Mike. You should have seen the look on their faces.

After the hour-long tour Mike and Austin came out of the clubhouse where they sat together in the dugout watching BP. Not long afterwards the A's players were starting to wrap up batting practice and started packing for the bus trip to Maryvale for the Brewers game. It was at this point that Mike approached me and asked if it would be all right if Austin could ride in the team bus to the game. (Like I was going to tell him that my son couldn't live my dream!) Mike told me just to come down to the visitor's dugout before the game and pick him up.

Upon arriving at the Maryvale ballpark we spotted Austin right there in the dugout with the whole team, leaning against the railing and spitting sunflower seeds. When I went down to get him Mike said that, if it was all right with me, Austin could watch the game from the dugout. Not only did he get to watch the game from the dugout, the batboy let Austin replace him for two innings.

In summary, a personal tour of the A's Phoenix clubhouse, a ride to the game in the team bus, a seat in the dugout during the game, bat boy for two innings, and autographed balls for both him and his sister. Its going to be hard keeping down on the farm after all that!

On to the games. The following plays and players jump out at me.

I got to Phoenix just in time for the third inning on Thursday March the 17th. While the A's were already down 4-0 in the third by the time I arrived, from that point on they could do no wrong! Outside of the first three innings on Thursday, and the Colorado split squad game, which I did not attend, the A's outscored the competition to 37 to 10!

Huston Street interacting with my daughter while giving her his autograph. I felt like I was watching a screen test for the Natural. Street really took his time with her. He was kind and interested in who she was as a person and a fan.

I also loved seeing him mow down the Brewers on Friday. He struck out the side in the Sixth. I think it was the second batter that he got with three pitches. Good morning, good afternoon, good night. After swinging and missing the last pitch, and looking very silly doing it, the batter just stood there looking back at Street as if to say, "What the heck was that!"

Keiichi Yabu pitching. While he did not seem to have the control he is credited with, a lot of his pitches seemed to be very high in the strike zone, he might have just been working on a few different techniques. He did seem to have a wicked curve. One curve ball he threw came in straight, about letter high, but just as it reached the plate it seemed to stop and dive down and away from the batter. If I had seen it on TV I would have thought it was a camera trick.

Justin Duchscherer looked good. Confident and in control.

Keith Ginter looked good at the plate. His double on Friday was deep in the gap and almost cleared the fence. His fielding is something else entirely. On one play on Thursday he was on second for a routine roller straight at him. He simply pulled his glove early allowing the ball to skip through his legs for an error. The next day, while playing third, he backed up to take a three-hopper hit to his right. When he looked up he realized he had to hurry the throw and threw so wide at first Hatteberg couldn't even get a glove on it. My wife wanted me to point out that he had many chances after that play and handled all of them adroitly. (Adroitly, her word, she is a physical therapist)

Dan Haren looked great. I tried to keep track of any pitches up in the zone, and I bet he only had three pitches that were at or above the letters. Haren spoke at a barbeque I went to on Saturday. The first thing I noticed was how big he is. They always joke about how skinny pitchers are, not this guy, he has the shoulders of a linebacker. He admitted that he was disappointed and shocked when he was told of the trade, but is happy and excited now. He never came right out and said it, but it seems as if things were a little tight in the St Louis clubhouse, and he feels quite at home in the A's clubhouse.

Rich Harden was also at the barbeque. Rich it seems has a lead foot. He wrecked his truck over the break. So what does he do but go out and get a black Corvette. Ray Fosse was giving him grief about being a speed demon. The same thing could be said about Rich's physique. While he did not have the shoulders of Haren, you could tell by his arms he spends a lot of time with the weights. I don't know if I just never got close enough to notice before or if he just always wore long sleeve shirts.

In addition to Ray Fosse, Haren, and Harden, Brad Fisher (outfield coach) also gave a talk. He stressed that they are not worried about the slow start that Nick Swisher is having. He referenced his recent surgery on his thumb and the fact that this is only spring training. He then went on to point out that the A's were very patient with Crosby at the beginning of last year, stating that they should be just as patient with Swisher this year.

Speaking about Swisher, I watched two separate sessions of batting practice while in Phoenix and the one thing that jumped out at me during those sessions was the power of Swisher. To qualify that statement I will admit that Durazo and Chavez did not bat in either of those two sessions. However, Dan Johnson did, as well as Byrnes and Crosby. Nobody drove the ball as far and as consistently far as Swisher did. Another interesting tidbit is that in both sessions Swisher practiced from the right side of the box.

Another interesting story about Swisher came from Mike Thalblum. Mike said he observed some of the autographs that Swisher was making for the fans and felt like they were crap! Mike pulled him aside and told him that if a fan was going to spend the time waiting to get his signature that the least he could do was to make it legible. Swish must have taken the story to heart because my daughter got his autograph the next day, along with about 15 others, and it is the most legible signature of them all.

Jason Kendal was fun to watch bat. Kendall would just stand in the box with the bat on his shoulder and watch the first pitch go by no matter where it was thrown. He ever watched the second pitch on a few occasions, sometimes right down the middle for a called strike two. Then on the next pitch he would softly serve the ball into the opposite field for an easy single. I saw him do this three or four times. The other thing I noticed is that he had four of five pitches get past him. I just hope he was breaking in a new glove.

I got to see a little of Daric Barton. He was mostly a late inning replacement. What I saw I liked. The descriptions given of Barton were fairly accurate. While not heavy he is thick. By no means does he have a big waist, but his thighs and hips are seemingly disproportionately large. Maybe that is where his power comes from, and it sure doesn't seem to slow him down. I saw him hit an opposite field line drive down the left field line. Barton sprinted around the bases and rounded second fast before heading back for an easy stand up double.

Blez you will be pleased to know that the AN T-shirts were a big hit. I can't tell you how many people came up to me to ask where they could get one. I had mine on while going back to my room one night while sharing the elevator with Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg was with an older couple that I thought might have been his parents, and since he was out of uniform I didn't bother him with questions. He did however take notice of the shirt and gave me a chin wave and a knowing smile while nodding toward the shirt.

Bobby Kielty started to swing a good bat. His ability to run is suspect. He hit a long fly to left that was lost by the left fielder. Kielty had been dogging it to first and did not seem to put much effort into his run down to second just barely beating the throw. After the play he had his head down and seemed to favor the leg. I was watching closely after that but he either walked or hit an easy single or a homerun all of which never caused him to turn on the speed. I suppose if he's going to hit home runs he won't have to worry about his leg.

It was a great trip, I'm excited about the season ahead. I'll definitely go to spring training next year, we had a blast.