The A's season is over. The minor league season is over. The AFL is over. This is a sad time for baseball fans, and with Beane's recent comments that the A's likely will not make a big splash (or even a little tiny splash) in the free agent market this year, it looks like it will be a long winter with very little news for A's fans. 

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Something I’ve never understood, as a baseball fan—or even a sports fan in general—is why fans are so quick to turn around after a failure and go for the throat. Even in the playoffs, fans are so quick to mutiny against the people that got them that far in the first place.

Here at AN, there has been a whole bunch of Beane hating lately, and it’s all nonsense. I’ve heard people attack him and try to hold him responsible for the team’s shortcomings in the playoffs, as if it was Beane himself that failed to slide in that all-too-infamous play.

I am not a member of the In Billy We Trust club, but I’ll be damned if he isn’t one of the best GMs in the game today, and I can defend nearly every move he’s made in the past several years. I’m going to start by defending the trades that everybody points to when they’re trying to prove their “Beane Sucks!!!” theories.

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Obviously this website is for MiLB players, but there are plenty of posts regarding prospects that recently reached the majors, and how they are faring. If you guys don't think this is the right place for this post, let me know and I'll take it down. Hopefully though it will generate some discussion and maybe even get rec'd and move Daaron's ridiculous Mazzaro posts.

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I love watching A's games, and I love dissecting box scores afterward. And while I do pay quite a bit of attention to some of the more intricate statistics, I rarely check up on season statistics. Today, I did just that. I was quite shocked to see Jack Cust sporting a lowly .760 OPS - well, lowly for him anyway.

So, what's the deal with Cust?

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Taking a page out of last year's draft's book, the A's took several talented players in the later rounds and went over the recommended slot bonus to sign them. That's why we have Brett Hunter, Rashun Dixon, and Dusty Coleman in the system right now.

This year, as many of you know, the A's did the same thing. The A's will almost certainly have to go above the recommended bonus to sign Green, a Boras client, who is rumored to be asking for $4MM. Since the A's shortstop cupboard is all but bare, save for Coleman in Kane County, the A's would be foolish not to sign a talent like Green.

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In the third installment of my Oakland Trade Bait series, I'm going to be doing something a little differently. Instead of looking at who Oakland has to trade, I'm going to be looking at who Oakland wants. With last night's news that Eric Chavez's career is all but over, Oakland's problem at third base has changed from a big hole to a vast, gaping chasm.

The Carter experiment was a big failure. Other than that, it was been basically fill-ins at the hot corner for A's affiliates. Cardenas could eventually make the move, but only if Ellis is healthy and not traded, and then after that, if Jemile Weeks stays healthy and gets something out of his potential. Jason Christian and Christian Vitters are doing alright in the low minors, but neither could help Oakland right now, and neither project to be stars.

Today I will be looking at almost every 3B prospect in the National League. As a reference, I mainly used John Sickels' blog, which is a tremendous site which you should check out if you aren't already a member. I'll be looking at 3B prospects team by team, comparing their holes with our strengths, and looking at possible win/win deals.

The A's strength is obviously pitching up and down. And I mean all kinds of pitching: safe bets like Outman and Simmons, wild cards like H-Rod and Leon, and high-risk, high-reward types like Hunter and Ross. Oakland also has quite a bit of strength at 1B, with Doolittle, Carter and Barton. Second base is also a strong point, with strong prospects like Weeks and Cardenas and high quality replacement level players like Pennington and Petit.

In looking at different prospects, I'll be including where Sickels ranked them in his top 20 by team (on his website, not his book), his grade (in this case A through C, where all grades take into account risk, potential, etc.), whatever little blurbs he wrote about them on his website, and how they're doing this year.

By the way, you are forewarned. This post is a doozy.

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The Unicorn is an interesting case when it comes to Oakland's trade bait. He's injured right now and it's a leg injury which, if it ends up affecting him when he comes back, could hurt his range an awful lot. He is expected to come back early-to-mid June.

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