Welcome to your final Buancast-free weekend!

Buster Olney says the A's have interest in Nomar Garciaparra:

Oakland's interest in him is presumably to help them balance their lineup: The right-handed hitting Garciaparra hammered lefties last season, going 19-for-56, with four homers and a 1.067 OPS. The Athletics are heavy in left-handed hitters, with left fielder Jack Cust, designated hitter Jason Giambi, first baseman Daric Barton and third baseman Eric Chavez, among others.

Garciaparra, 35, batted .264 in 55 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, as he battled injuries.

Oakland has maintained an interest in free agent shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who would appear to have very few options with spring training now started and with most teams tapped out for money.

From across the bay comes a touching and feel-good story about one Giant Bocock:

You might remember Brian Bocock’s plight last summer. The Triple-A shortstop prospect developed a circulation disorder that caused three fingers to turn blue on his right hand. The injury forced him out of action in mid-June and he missed the rest of the season. [...]

"The doctors had me on baby aspirin, anti-inflammatories, blood thinners, and, well … Viagra," Bocock said, sheepishly. [...]

But it was worth any embarrassment. The Viagra did what it was supposed to do – and then some.

"Let’s just put it this way," Bocock said. "I can’t imagine what 100 milligrams does to you."

100 milligrams gets you traded to Kansas City where you become a Royal Bocock.

Apologies for the abbreviated dump. I mostly just wanted to type "one Giant Bocock."

What else is goin' on?

Sunday Morning Update - SuSlu has more on Nomar and Cabrera:

Nomar Garciaparra is in serious talks with the A's about a backup third base/first base role. Garciaparra is also believed to be weighing an offer from the Phillies.

Any deal with Garciaparra, 35, would not keep Oakland from signing free-agent shortstop Orlando Cabrera, a source said, but there is still a significant gap between the A's and Cabrera. While Cabrera has dropped his salary demands from $9 million-plus to around $5.5 million, that is still too pricey for the A's.

She also notes that we're still in the running for bullpen lefties Dennys Reyes and Andrew Sisco.

Poll

Would you rather have Nomar playing shortstop than Bobby Crosby?

27%

Yes

78 votes

56%

No

159 votes

15%

I still want Cabrera

45 votes

282 votes | Poll has closed

Sorry for the short post, but I figured this warranted its own sad little place on AN. Slusser:

I've just arrived in Toronto to a bombshell: Rich Harden has been scratched from his start tomorrow night.

No further info was given, but he was held to 86 pitches his last time out after having thrown 95 the time before that. He was bothered by biceps tendinitis this offseason, but hasn't had any other issues since the end of last season.

Chad Gaudin will start tomorrow night, which means the A's will have to be a [sic] roster move.

We're. All. Gonna. Die.

MINOR UPDATE: Slusser added one strange sentence to her blog post:

He is now expected to start Saturday at Cleveland, according to an e-mail from the team's P.R. department.

I have no idea what's going on here. That sentence makes it seem as though a trade isn't imminent, which has been speculated in the comments. It also doesn't make it sound too bad, if it is an iunjury. Flu? Rest? SARS? I guess we'll know more in the morning.

MORNING UPDATE: One start. Not serious. Yet. Blah blah blah:

The A's have scratched Rich Harden for tonight's game in Toronto with back soreness, specifically in the lat area.

The injury is believed to be minor and it might have been the aftereffects of the long flights to and from Japan last month. Harden is now expected to start at Cleveland on Saturday.

Gaudin will make the start Tuesday. Slusser also writes that a source tells her Greg Smith will be called up to start Wednesday.

First, let me apologize: this is going to be something of a hit and run diary Fanpost. Also, it's going to be a copy/pasted Fanpost from Athletics Nation, where I originally posted it.

You see, I'm an A's fan. You're not. But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's this: Major League Baseball's MLB.TV blackout policy is ludicrous, and needs to end now.

I've created an online petition directed at Commissioner Bud Selig (whose office is responsible for such things) asking him to reconsider, re-work, revoke, and/or otherwise abolish the tyranny that is MLB.TV blackouts.

Below is the text of the petition. You can help get the word out by sending the link to the petition to friends and family and posting a link on your blogs and favorite forums. Oh, and sign it!

Continue reading this post »

First, let me apologize: this is going to be something of a hit and run diary Fanpost. Also, it's going to be a copy/pasted Fanpost from Athletics Nation, where I originally posted it.

You see, I'm an A's fan. You're not. But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's this: Major League Baseball's MLB.TV blackout policy is ludicrous, and needs to end now.

I've created an online petition directed at Commissioner Bud Selig (whose office is responsible for such things) asking him to reconsider, re-work, revoke, and/or otherwise abolish the tyranny that is MLB.TV blackouts.

Below is the text of the petition. You can help get the word out by sending the link to the petition to friends and family and posting a link on your blogs and favorite forums. Oh, and sign it!

Continue reading this post »

First, let me apologize: this is going to be something of a hit and run diary Fanpost. Also, it's going to be a copy/pasted Fanpost from Athletics Nation, where I originally posted it.

You see, I'm an A's fan. You're not. But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's this: Major League Baseball's MLB.TV blackout policy is ludicrous, and needs to end now.

I've created an online petition directed at Commissioner Bud Selig (whose office is responsible for such things) asking him to reconsider, re-work, revoke, and/or otherwise abolish the tyranny that is MLB.TV blackouts.

Below is the text of the petition. You can help get the word out by sending the link to the petition to friends and family and posting a link on your blogs and favorite forums. Oh, and sign it!

Continue reading this post »

Unfortunately, I'm not here to give you (what would be) great news about MLB finally ending it's blackout policy for games streamed on MLB.TV. But maybe we can do a something to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

I've created an online petition directed at Commissioner Bud Selig (whose office is responsible for such things) asking him to reconsider, re-work, revoke, and/or otherwise abolish the tyranny that is MLB.TV blackouts.

Below is the text of the petition. Please suggest improvements on the petition's text, send the link to the petition to friends and family, and post a link on your blogs and favorite forums. Oh, and sign it!

Continue reading this post »

My first dump!

First up, Mike Sweeney is officially an Oakland A, and some new kid might not be Sacto-bound as we all thought:

Mike Sweeney is officially on the A's Opening Night roster, and the team's ineligible list for Tuesday's game might be pretty interesting, too. [...]

[Carlos] Gonzalez, who was obtained in the Dan Haren deal with Arizona, remained in Phoenix because of a hamstring strain, but he has begun playing in minor-league games. Considering that the A's center-field situation remains uncertain, there is an excellent chance that the team will want to keep Gonzalez in the mix at least through the Bay Bridge Series against the Giants this weekend. And because neither Chris Denorfia nor Ryan Sweeney conclusively has grabbed the starting job, Gonzalez might have a realistic shot at being in center for the home opener.

The A's wont have to deal with The Mayor in Japan:

The 18-hour flight that brought the Boston Red Sox to Tokyo claimed one victim when Sean Casey developed a stiff neck that is expected to keep him out of the first two games of the season against the Oakland Athletics.

And finally, Joe Blanton is clearly pumped for the series, as demonstrated by this AP photo taken during Monday's workout at the Tokyo Dome:



In less than 24 hours, the A's will be 1-0 in 2008! Commence Opening Day Eve dumpage, friends. But first, answer me this: if I go to the Coliseum box office to buy tickets, do I still have to pay the ridiculous $4.50/ticket "convenience fee" that gets charged when buying online?

UPDATE: It's been about 24 hours since I posted this diary. We've done a hell of a job showing the strength and persistence (and charming obsessiveness) of AN. We currently lead by nearly as large a margin as we were trailing by yesterday. 24 hours also means most of you can now vote again. Get to it!

Alright, folks. Time to stop reloading ESPN's MLB page looking for trade news and time to start heading over to The Weblog Awards to vote for Athletics Nation for Best Sports Blog.

You can vote once per day through December 15th. Get to work!

The contenders are:
Baseball Crank
23 Yards
The Phog Blog
Independent Thinking
Dead Spin
FanBlogs
He Is Man Pundit
The Hater Nation
Red Leg Nation
Burnt Orange Nation
Fast Machines
College Football Resource
The Black Hole
Blue Gray Sky

There are some excellent blogs on that list, but we all know who should take the cake.

Make Blez, Nico and all of us Blog MVPs. Vote!

Poll

Blez will...

17%

Deleriously cry "You love me! You really love me!" while accepting his award.

21 votes

16%

Have a Native American decline the award for him to raise awareness.

20 votes

27%

Shamelessly vote for his own blog.

34 votes

22%

More than one of the above.

27 votes

2%

Graciously vote for another blog.

3 votes

13%

Vote for his own blog, but not tell anyone he did.

17 votes

122 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

The kid's been amazing, including tonight:

Complete game (9 IP), 5 Hits, 1 ER, 11 Ks, 1 BB. The run was a solo homer. He's 6-0 with a 2.68 ERA for the Ports. Unreal. Keep it up, Dallas!

And as a side note, Marty Lurie was on Larry Kruger's (sp?) show on KNBR tonight and said that if he were BB, Hat would be sitting and DJ would be called up and starting. We shall see...

I wrote this on the message board on my Fantasy League page, and I thought the rest of AN might be interested as well. I hope the stat guys and gals among us might be able to add a few things, or rip my essay to shreads if it deserves it. Please keep in mind that most of the readers at my fantasy league have never read Moneyball and don't know DIPS from a hole in Ruby's swing.

Hope you enjoy:

Continue reading this post »