http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080401/WIRE/804010322/1010/SPORT01

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Yay! Great deal for A's! We stole (or bought) Devine from Atlanta. I've seen Devine rated within the top 10 of the Braves prospects. I was hoping just to dump Kotsay's salary - but to get a top 10 prospect and still getting some payroll flexibility back is great. Nice trade.

Lets hope Kotsay passes his physical tomorrow...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...

Looks like we signed him to a 1.45 million dollar deal (can make .05 million in performance bonuses).

Is the deal worth it?

I think signing Brown allows us to keep some of new prospects in AAA if needed...don't want to start that arbitration clock too early.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...

It is important to note the loss of our prospect Robertson. Arizona's GM said today something along the lines that they were reluctant to complete the deal because of the talent they were loosing, however the other trades they made today helped to recover that loss. My guess is that Robertson was included to help Arizona's GM get some type of prospect back in the deal. What concerns me is that Robertson has potential. In 4 minor league seasons, he totaled 234 innings, with a 2.81 ERA, 199 H, 93BB, and 311 SO. While minor league success obviously does not guarantee major league success, it is a bummer to give up a solid prospect when we are trying to rebuild. Yet it seems like other teams are not so high on him. Am I missing something? Thoughts?

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/playe...

Any thoughts on why every year Beane arrives late to the winter meetings and leaves early?

I would not be surprised if he left the meetings early again this year. Maybe he is simply there just to begin negotiations with other teams? Maybe he becomes more interesting to other GM's if he is nowhere to be found. Forst is really running this team...

Two interesting reads about Beane -

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Before someone says "he's too valuable as a relief pitcher"(echoing what either Beane or Macha once said...i do forget) - think about it. Duke was a starter throughout the minors, and I'm guessing he would like the chance to start again. With starting pitching overvalued this offseason, we could potentially give Duke 5th starter role and then trade him next season.

What do you think? Personally, I'd rather have Duke pitch over Kennedy.

A note about Kennedy - i think he should really remain a lefty specialist. I think that Kennedy will fail as a starter due to his lack of success vs. right handed batters. Over the course of the last 3 years, right handed batters are hitting .297 against him, with an OBP of .367 and a .462 SLG. (this is compared to .237/.302/.361 vs lefties). (source: ESPN)

It is interesting to note, however, that Kennedy reversed this trend in 2006, with righties posting 220/.304/.275 against him and lefties hitting .326/.370/.465. - this of course in only 35 innings.

Either way, its a gamble for both pitchers.

~Will

I bet the A's were just trying to drive Soriano's price up for other contenders.

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Just thought I'd point out that good old Andre Ethier is hitting .313, has a .382 OBP, and slugging .537.

We got Antonio Perez who can't hit and Milton Bradley who is grounded.

I'm not saying that this was a bad trade, but in hindsight it is a bit sad. I think Ethier will slump eventually, bradley will produce once off the DL, and Perez will likely come round - but until then...

:(

After Barry Bond decided to drop out of WBC (probably due to drug testing), I decided to look into his stats a bit.

I calculated all of his homeruns per year, and determined that his 73 homers in 2001 is considered a statistical outlier by both 3 standard deviations away and by multipling 1.5 times the IQR (interquartile range). This can only show that something else had to be going on that year (at age 37!). He should be thrown out of the game today for all the drugs he was on in the past few years. His stupid idea of playing ignorant goes to show that he has limited mental capacity and that he does not deserve to enter a baseball statium again.

Sorry - I have to bash Bonds every so often.

~W

Okay, so when the deal happened last week I thought that it might be a good deal depending on what happens afterwards.

While this has still yet to be determined, the  more and more unlikely that Zito will be traded (source: OaklandAthletics.com) makes me really question the FA signing of Loaiza. We are paying him 21 mil over the 3 years - a guy who's opposing OBP is .336 and opposing SLG is .442 (over his career). His flashes of brilliance makes him seem real inconsistent.

I can still think of ways that this deal may help us. But if Zito is not traded and Loaiza plays out his contract here in Oakland - I have to go on the record now saying that I may disagree with the signing. I think it is 21 million that could have been better spent elsewhere.

It will be quite interesting to see what happens specifically with Loaiza over the next weeks, months, and years. The owners may be telling Beane that they are willing to spend more - but I sure hope that doesn't mean we become cocky. I trust that Beane won't, but how things are currently looking makes me wonder.

I look forward to subsequent events. Thoughts?

~W

I have mixed feelings about this latest pickup. Not quite sure the plan right now, but I am guessing it will be quite clear in a few weeks. We lost our first round pick in next year's draft which is interesting - didn't think a small market team like us would give something like that up. Though I understand that by this signing we will be trading Zito for hopefully some strong prospects. Then, next year, we trade Loazia for more prospects.

I can see how this may work out. I think the A's have to be careful - but I have an idea on how a plan may work out to benefit the A's.

What do you think?

~W

Note - about trading Loazia for prospects. The reason I say this is because what happened to Delgado. Flordia signed him last year, had him play one year on a heavey backloaded contract, and then they traded him away for good solid prospects. Do you think Beane may be doing the same thing, but actually meaning to do it?

Excluding Kennedy (who is kind of a prospect), I personally would like to see the A's pick up some more prospects to help fuel a strong team beyond the 05 season. I think a high level second base prospect would be awesome to pick up. I realize that they are hard to find...everyone talks about Upton, but he is terrible defensively (from what i understand). The goal, from my understanding, is that we are going to try to make an effort to stay in the race for the 05 season, but we are going to press for a stronger team in 06, 07 with more developed players. This was along the lines of what Beane said when he made the Mulder/Hudson trades. Why not try to work on more of the 06/07 team now with trades today? Who? I honestly don't know. I heard a rumor that when there were Kotsay rumors that it was possible the A's would acquire Eric Duncan (3B Yanks). Maybe he could become our 2nd basement with some time in AAA?

Any ideas on some strong up & coming 2nd base prospects? Does anyone agree that we should concentrate more on the 06/07 season?

~Will

Joe Kennedy is amazing against left handed batters:

Over the last 3 years (at home and away) against left handed batters:

AB: 439
H: 102
BB:34
AVG:.232
OBP:.298
SLG:.387

Kennedy makes 2.2 million, and we may be trying to get him to put into the bullpen. Then we may try to trade Rincon, and move Kennedy into the lefy specialist role. Rincon makes 1.9 million.

~Will

Okay, we are the statistically orintended Oakland Athletics. How can the nationals have a 35 W, 26 L (.574) record when they've only scored 3 more runs then their opponents (255 RS/ 252 RA). Now, I know practically how it works, but what do you think makes it so that that some teams with 255 RS and 252 RA will have a .500 record while others hae a .574 record? Is it how good the coaching is? Maybe it is just pure luck. If it is luck, then I would expect the nationals to start losing soon.

Comments? Any ideas?

~Will

Byrnes hit .406 OBP and .599 SLG last year against left-handed pitchers (.362 OBP, .542 SLG over the last 3).

Against right-handed pitchers, last year he hit .324 OBP and .417 SLG, with a 29/90 BB/K ratio (.324 OBP .422 SLG over the last 3).

I think we should play Byrnes against left-handed pitchers but put in Charles Thomas or Jack Cust (if he makes the team) against right-handed pitchers.

Any thoughts?