Yes, the Gnats are playing some interleague game tonight (go Rangers) against the next coming of Orel Hershieser (go Cliff!). But we A's fans are not haters, we still support local Bay Area teams (go Warriors!). With that in mind, here comes a couple of links/posts to demonstrate our "support":

Hicks: A's fans, it's OK to (sort of) enjoy the Giants' run

And from a VP of my company who had the cajones to send this out via email to everyone:

All this delicious non sequitur-ing just to wish the San Francisco Giants my best wishes for their quest for their elusive title (dare I say their white elephant?) in the 2010 World Series, which begins tonight here in San Francisco. Hey Giants fans, only three more titles after this one if you guys happen to win it this year to catch up with the A’s.

Good luck Gnats (go Ronny!), make the Bay Area proud (Rangers in 6)! :X

Interesting interview with BB from the Mercury News' Tim Kawakami . There is also a follow up column from TK in the Merc as well. In a nutshell, by the tone of Beane's answers, he sounds exhausted by the whole stadium/venue/move ordeal. You can tell he's not happy (especially trying to lure or maintain good players to the A's), but at the same time trying to be diplomatic and assuring to the fanbase as any GM/owner should be.

Some other interesting excerpts:

Are we rebuilding? No, but I think we’re building right now and I think we’re heading in a good direction.

If we’re playing in this stadium in five years, a lot of these players won’t be here. Fact. Shouldn’t surprise anybody. There’s no other way to operate here without doing that.

You’re not going to make anybody happy. Right now, nobody’s happy. And that’s why some direction one way or the other is going to help everyone. Not just the people who follow the team but the people who run the team.

This is my 21st year, 22nd year in the organization, so I’ve been through cycles where we couldn’t develop pitchers. Now we can’t develop position players.

Preface: Let's please refrain from the Oakland vs. SJ banter here and instead focus on what may happen from the Giants side if the Blue Ribbon Panel appointed by Selig recommends a move dispelling the territorial rights for SJ.

I'm about 5000 miles away from my beloved Bay Area at the tail end of a 5 week whirlwind busin ess trip through Vietnam, HK, and mainland China en route to Shanghai. Usually on these types of flights, they offer beautiful flight attendants, "unique" Chinese food which you'll need some Peptol Bismol later for, and some local propaganda material often called "periodicals" to read aboard to pass time away. So for the next 3 hours, i get my usual dosage of the Financial Times, The China South Seas Daily, and the International Herald (which is the global edition of the NY Times). 

As i peruse through the articles, between reading about a Chinese tourist group was berated for being cheap in HK and how to choose a proper Chinese penis dish, suddenly one jumps out at me: an interview with A's public enemy #1, Bill "Duke" Neukum. They detail a man who was lucky to be assigned to Microsoft early on (through Bill Gate's father) and ascended to the top to be MIckeysoft's general counsel advising on all legal matters, especially that of the US governments attempts on anti-trust. With the previous Gnats owner, Peter McGowan, departing, the #1 business issue on the Gnat's radar was the A's pending move. So, is it no wonder that the GoG (Gnat's ownership Group) selected Duke as the new general managing partner during this transitional period: if he can give the middle finger to Uncle Sam, he definitely do the same to Selig and the A's!

Turning back to the rest of the article, they directly approach upon the territorial rights issue of the SJ  and he was very, very adamant on the matter: All your base are belong to us! Furthermore, if MLB does recommend rescinding these rights, DUke would pull out his lawyer-whoop-ass-Neukom-BFG5000 and slap MLB and the city of SJ silly with a lawsuit the size of the Windows source code. Would you expect anything less out of a lawyer, especially in the state of California?!

Before we can make some logical conclusions on these statements, we must delve into the legal and historical side of things a bit. Established in 1922, Base ball was given the Antitrust Exemption (AE) clause to have unconditional authority on matters related to their league w/o respect to laws that prevent monopolistic tendencies and also to make sure Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio would stop dating Congressman's wives. At the time, Supreme Court judges were not required to take Geography in school and made this decision on the notion that was MLB was a "local" matter and would be exempt from federal commerce regulation even though the league was interstate.

This was challenged a couple of times in MLB's history: 1) 1953 when something people don't know or cared happened 2) again in 1972 when Curt Flood wanted to change his last name, but was rejected by MLB owners. This escalated to the Supreme court who were scared that baseball players would date their wives and ruled that it was a congressional matter and not judicial. With this in mind, after the 1994-1995 labor dispute, it was agreed by the owners and MLBPA to not date congressional wives and instead actors, movie stars, and singers (see A.Roid) and also request an appeal of some of the AE to Congress. This brought forth the 1998 Curt Flood Act which gave the MLBPA rights as a union consistent with other major sports to date those actors, movie stars, and singers. It also reaffirmed that the AE (and more specifically MLB and its owners) governs what, where, how, and who MLB can date including those in the minor leagues, broadcasting booths, and ownership circles. Oh, they also put in a little FYI. at the end that also says they can also tell you where a team can RELOCATE to take care of the last W! And just to be clear, they also put a P.S. at the very end again reconfirming their dating exclusion deal with Congress so that the Supreme Court could not change any part of their wtf-was-i thinking-when-i-signed this deal. 

So now where does this lead us? Let's stroll down memory lane and pretend we've been listening to too much KNBR back in 1992 and mimicing Roger Craig's "Hmmm Baby" matra. At the time, the Gnats owner, Bob Lurie, wanted to sell the team and relocate to Tampa Bay hoping to rename it the Giant Manta Rays. But other MLB owners refused to permit the sale because they were pissed off they couldn't watch new episodes of Steve Irwin! This eventually forced Lurie to sell to a local owner Peter Magowan with the A's blessing to SJ because the organization was run by real angels (RIP Haas). The 1998 Curt Flood act added this aspect of relocation clause in case there were any questions about the authority over relocation from this event. In other words, the Gnats did this on purpose knowing the A's were going to try to move in SJ 25 years later - omgwtfbbq!

As we all know, the Blue Ribbon Panel assigned by Selig is in its 16 month now of burning MLBs money of this so called "investigation". It took much less time to publish the MLB steroid findings, have Shanghai build the SWFC skyscraper, or the FBI to figure we have stupid Russian agents on US soil. So what's taking them so long? I think there are several clues to this starting with the Open Letter from Larry Stone to Duke which states: "Duke, don't be so 1998. Remember your father Duke. Use the Force." or something like that. I'm pretty confident that after MLB officals were schmoozing with SJ, they were confident they can get enough owners to get on board. However, after discussion with Duke, he wanted more and threatened to use the only things he knows and loves to do: more litigation. However, this would be futile since the MLB constitution prohibits owners to go all suicide on each other, well unless he can challenge the supreme guidance of the AE. With Duke having intimate knowledge of the government judicial system as well as knowing vast amounts of lawyers coast to coast, and having the funding to back it up (he is one of the world's richest man after all),  I'm sure Selig is trying to come to some compromise with Duke as well as prepare his own team for defense. The last thing that Selig wants to do is to wipe away the AE over Oakland, which would be a small pawn in Duke's overall strategy to checkmate Selig and the AE. If Duke were ever to effectively challenge the AE, and make it a judicial matter again, Wolff and SJ could face years upon years of litigation to stall any move to SJ (and this is on top of the years to challenge the AE). I'm no lawyer, but this is the end game as I see it.

Credits: 

Baseball Prospectus: Ending Baseball's Antitrust Exemption 

Beyond the Boxscore: he History of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption

I've been here a while at AN (probably one of the first 250 or so to sign up) and lived through most of the trials and tribulations here through the Oaktoon days, when Urban was actually popular, and through the various stages of A's ownership and venue search, but i had forgotten all about the jewel of a site that our own vertig0 has created:

http://newballpark.org/

Only the recent discussion of a Mr. Jorge Leon and his "interpretations" of his encounter with Lew in the owner's suite (lucky bastard!) did it draw my attention to the site again. In there you can see some first hand actual accounts of Mr. Wolff in his suite (i guess being an "Oaklander", one can't fathom leaving the nice confines of a suite for a "regular" seat):

Now, I’ve been in the owner’s suite twice. I’ve also talked to Wolff about how he likes to attend ballgames. The fact is that he doesn’t like being in the suite unless he has to be there. He only goes there to entertain guests. He shows up in the 2nd or 3rd inning and leaves in the 7th, bidding the guests adieu and allowing the guests (who are generally there to party, game being secondary) to finish eating the free food and drink. I distinctly remember yelling out the suite window at Sean Gallagher, cursing his inability to throw strikes. At the other end, Wolff looked at me and smiled, surprised. I guess he doesn’t see too many bleacher creatures up in the hermetically sealed confines.....Anyway, Wolff would much rather sit behind the A’s dugout, though at times he might be in the Diamond Level or linger behind those seats. He may also head down to the clubhouse if he chooses. 

While this is good anecdotal evidence on the this "event", that is not the heart of the site. After perusing through the headlines, I glanced on the newest development in favor of the SJ stadium: Neukom's hardball tactics to block SJ via lawsuit (a very good read). It also has indepth reporting of other teams that are going through similar transition (i.e. Tampa Bay). It even has a line by line first hand account of the SJ City Council vote to certify the revised EIR:

7:18 PM – After a few ceremonial items, Council is mercifully doing item 11.6 first.

 

7:24 PM – Public speaker time. Two appellants: Stand for San Jose and Marc Morris (who tool issue with the traffic analysis from the original ballpark EIR).

I would highly recommend this site if you're as concerned about the A's future as I am. Thanks again to vertig0 for a great site!

The California Dept. of Finance just released their annual report on population estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State from period of Jan. 1 2009 - 2010. Some interesting highlights include:

10 Largest Cities

1. Los Angeles 4,094,764 +1.1%

2. San Diego 1,376,173 +1.3%

3. San Jose 1,023,083 +1.6%

4. San Francisco 856,095 +1.1%

5. Fresno 502,303 +1.4%

6. Long Beach 494,709 +0.8%

7. Sacramento 486,189 +1.0%

8. Oakland 430,666 +1.2%

9. Santa Ana 357,754 +0.7%

10. Anaheim 353,643 +1.6%

- Fremont 218,128 +1.1%

Alameda County 1,574,857 +1.1%

Contra Costa County 1,073,055 +1.1%

Santa Clara County 1,880,876 +1.3%

California added 393,000 new residents in 2009, putting the state’s January 1st population total at 38,648,000 according to the latest population report released today by the California Department of Finance.

This is an interesting time for Oakland. For decades, the city has been home to three Tier 1 professional teams: the Warriors, the A's, and the Raiders. Recently, there was some noise about the Oakland possibly suing the A's of an alleged move out of the city (see: Oakland A's Stadium News: MLB to reject Oakland for San Jose).

Now, as everyone knows, the W's are for sale (ding, dong, the witch will  be dead, at last), but it seems that all the interested ownership parties are interested in moving out also (see: Voros: Record price for Warriors could send team to S.F.).

To top it off, the Oakland-Alameda Country board is starting exploratory talks with the Raiders on a new stadium (see: Could a new football stadium be in Oakland's future?). This is because the Raiders Coliseum lease expires in 2013 and we know how much Al Davis loves Oakland! :X 

In a worst case scenario, all three teams could bolt out by 2020 (Warrios lease is through 2027 but they have a provision is buyout the lease for $60 million). This has given pro-Oakland city backers and City Hall attorney sharks a fit (see: Golden State Warriors to SF just media chatter). 

I think we're going to see more and more fervent Oakland support in the coming years (if not months or days) from residents, sympathizers, and Oakland attorneys as this scenario becomes more and more of a reality. For Oakland city A's fan, i understand how this could cause you to be more vocal, but please don't take this city vendetta out on us that may support other cities as well.

P.S. - For the record, I am an A's, W's, and Niners fan (yea WTF huh?) 

Just when you thought you heard enough propaganda from the Gnats camp on the A's impending move to SJ, here comes a new twist on things. Apparently, Andrew B., a Krukow Koolaid drinking Gnats blogger / fanboi believes one of the real motives to the Gnats challenging Lincecum's arb figures is that there is some backroom brown-nosing happening to dissuade other owners from keeping the A's moving down south: 

On Tim Lincecum’s 2010 salary, and one Giant motivation to hold it down

There's no mention why the Giants chose a ridiculously low figure of $8million (because they could of just matched RyHo's $10 million and be done with it). Or why they didn't go the Longoria path and sign a long term deal (without insulting Lincecum). Rather, the explanation is to blame it on the A's. 

I guess if the A's stayed in Oakland or the moved to only Fremont, then the Giants would of signed him to a Zito-like contract then? /facepalm

By now, it's been well-established that Ray Ratto is 1) an A's hater, 2) originated from Harris County, Texas and 3) likes to go to A's game to remind himself of said place. But once in a great while, the sun, moon, and the celestial stars align itself so that all those known truths are suddenly reversed. Case in point is the recent SF Chronicle column by Ratto discussing Bill King:

It's time to give announcer King his due Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/02/SPUN1BRG4J.DTL#ixzz0eRuupWK3

I'm guilty as anyone else of lambasting Ratto's old school style (as well as his physique - my bad), but I will give him credit for being one of (if not the only) columnist to point out the travesty that is occurring by omitting Bill King's place in the HoF. To me, this is the kind of style that really befits Ratto: more qualitative, more subjective, and more nostalgic in flavor. As an engineer in RL, it is sometimes hard to grasp these aspects, especially amongst the Athletics nation where most swear by wOBA, UZR/150, and WAR. But, once in a while, I can understand such simple but moving arguments. Here's to you Ray, giving you credit where credit is due... cheers!

    First off, I'll admit, I was a strong proponent to DFA Mr. Radio (thanks Embree!) during the course of the first half of the season. At the plate, he was overmatched often swinging and whiffing air on a regular basis. In the field, he never had good reads on hits, ran strange routes at times, and didn't seem to exhibit the communication skills necessary for good CFs. However, his recent play had me questioning my original position on him and even rooting for the guy! So I went to look at his stats breakdown:

His .285 / .357 / .411 line even trumps my man, Spartacust and is second on the team in OPS to only AK (well also Holliday, but he was he really ever here?). The OBP is a bit higher than his historical .325 clip in 631 PA due in part to a somewhat higher walk rate (did he stop using DJs old sunscreen lotion?), but mostly because his better BA. A more in depth look at his plate discipline shows that the most dramatic improvement he has had is in recognizing when a pitch is outside the zone (reduced from 36% to 29%) and swinging at it (reduced from 65% to 58% this year), otherwise all his PD stats are about the same.  He still has surprisingly high strikeout rate which is even worse than last years, but this is mostly skewed by his first half suckitude. Looking closer at BA component, we see that his BABIP is at a very high .339 rate, which means that either he is 1) getting very lucky (league avg. BABIP is around .290-.300) 2) utilizing his speed to beat out hits (since he does have a 44% GB to FB/LD split) or C) a little of both. He probably won't be able to sustain these rates, but a line of .275 / .335 / .385 rate more in line with his majors track record, which means he's still really a 4th outfielder at best, which his OPS+ of 109 shows.

Since concluding that he is really a 4th outfielder (in offensive capabilities), we’ll concentrate on his defensive capabilities. I still think he gets really bad reads on balls which would coincide with his funky routes (let’s hope he’s not another Burns in disguise!), but luckily his speed makes up for most of this shortcoming. Fortunately, he hasn’t made many errors (2) and his UZR is still pretty good at 6.7, but so is Sweeney’s! If comparing the two, Sweeney has the better arm with the same range (yes, seriously, see fangraphs)! Rajai really needs to work on his reads, so that it will cut down on his circuitous routes, lessen the effect of his lack of arm strength, increase his overall range, and make him a standout defender in the outfield instead of just above average.   

With all of this in mind, if you are a believer in WAR, it tells you that he is about 1.5 wins better than league average, good for 4th on the team in offensive/defensive value. For the casual fans, they’ll tell you that his intangibles such as speed in the outifeld, base stealing (yes really even with a 71% success rate), and clutch hitting of late (inciting echoes of Scutaro everywhere) are an essential component to future success. While many still have serious doubts on his “grits” by looking closer at his stats, we should enjoy it while we can. It may be a sign of things to come for a new era of Moneyball players, but that is for another fanpost! ;) 

Since no one wants to post one up, and i was looking to add a nice little link i found, here it goes...

Coliseum holds fond memories for Tulowitzki

Hmm Tulowitzki is from the Bay Area and rooted for the A's as a kid. He plays a position known to cause black holes in the Coliseum, has power, bats right, and is cost controlled for several years to come. 

Just fantasizing, but what would you think it would take to land him?

Dump away....

Interesting read from Forbes:

Forbes: Baseball's Most Valuable Teams 2009

including some of the economics of baseball.

From this comprehensive assessment, it's interesting to see each team's business models: 

- Yankess rely on lucrative television network deals (YES!) while subtracting the new debt and operating costs associated with its new 1.5 Billion (!!!!) stadium to curtail revenue sharing from its player's salaries for a meager loss of -$3million in an off year of sorts

- Contrastingly, the Florida Marlins have the lowest revenue stream in baseball, but yet reap the highest operating income due to the handouts from such teams as the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. No wonder they are content with the once a decade MLB King, then garage sale after...

- On the other end of the spectrum are the Detroit Tigers with a net loss of $26.3 million dollars and nothing to show for it! I predict a firesale of epic proportions to shed the high player salaries soon. Are the looking soon for bailout money like their local auto companies?

- As for our Athletics, due to major costs cutting in salaries last year and even with the declining attendance figures, the A's raked in a $26.2 million dollar profit most likely helped by the charities of richer ballclubs. The organizational valuation didn't change that much year over year (-1%), but how long will that last staying at a bastard of a stadium?

Just read this excellent report from the Mercury News:

Rickey won't be unanimous to Hall

In a nutshell, some offbeat writer, Corky Simpson,  for a small town Tucson newspaper intentionally omitted  Rickey off the HoF ballot because he  "wasn't a Rickey guy and that he would vote for him next time". So instead of including one of the best (if not the best) basestealers leadoff outfielders baseball player ever, who did he select instead? How about the likes of fringe players Matt Williams and (to a lesser degree) Tim Raines. This columnist even had the audacity to cite that  "Nobody ever played the game with more intensity, nor with more reverence for the sport" than Matt Williams! At 70 years old, I would have thought that he had the enjoyment of seeing Rickey's intensity in his prime years.

Luckily for us, Rob Neyer of ESPN calls him out on it :

No Hall of Fame vote for Rickey … why?

To Simpson's credit, he did express regret about voting that way. However, the damage has been done and the vote can't be retracted. It's retarded how these HoF ballots are casted by the most irrelevant and stupidest of folks (that same Tempe sportswriter also made a mockery out of McGwire's inclusion due to the steroid scandal, yet never once cited the that Williams was a part of the infamous Mitchell report - no Diamondback bias there alright). 

Anyhow, I encourage you to show your displeasure with these asinine voters by contacting the Baseball Hall Of Fame themselves to stop this mockery of the HoF:

Baseball Hall Of Fame 

As sort of an offshoot of the possible San Jose A's being reintroduced thread, I thought it would be interesting to see what folks think who the majority of the fan base down here root for (i will publish a similar thread at McCovey Cove).

Territorial rights BS aside and having first hand knowledge, I feel that A's fans are a vocal, yet small minority here, especially with the minor league SJ Giants right in the heart of the city. However, I am seeing more and more folks open to the prospect of the A's and their "Moneyball" philosophies since we are the heart of Silicon Valley after all. One of my close colleagues here at work (an avid Giants fan and season-ticket holder nonetheless) has recently entertained the thought of going to A's games with me due primarily to 1) The Bondless futility of the team (and the whole scandal surrounding it beforehand),  2) the Zito-fallout, and 3) the luster of Pac-Bell/SBC/ATT Park wearing off.

So what are your thoughts on San Jose?

Interesting read from the Merc:

http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_11123589

As it relates to the A's,  the most intersting tidbit was:

Could there be more down the road? Notably, Jamison referred to Wolff and John Fisher as the A's ownership group.

"From our standpoint, we're open to anything," Jamison said. "We've talked on different issues and different things."

Now whether that opens a possible window into the Southbay, if the Fremont deal folds, remains to be seen. However, I can see some future marketing impact with the Sharks splashing the Quakes / A's tidbits here and there and doing co-promotional events.

Go Shark's / A's!

Interesting that SD is already starting the bidding war on him. I've always like Peavy and think of him as a real front line #1 Ace. Considering that the Padres only want "at least two young pitchers in return, along with someone who can become the team's everyday center fielder sometime in the immediate to near future", which fits exactly the strength of the A's presently: depth of outfields and pitching. Would it make sense to deal for him and his salary (see below)? I wouldn't mind a deal of Eveland / Smith + Duke / Casillas + Mazarro / Gio + Sweeny / Cunningham for him. Play him until 2011/2012 (and when the newlook A's start maturing) then unload him when he gets really expensive for more picks or someone in trades. A front line rotation of:

- Peavy

- Gallagher

- Cahill

- Anderson

- Simmons / Mazarro

Espn: Padres start to gauge interest in Peavy

Peavy, 27, will make $8 million in 2009, $15 million in 2010, $16 million in 2011 and $17 million in 2012, and he has a 2013 option for $22 million, with a $4 million buyout.

I think that there has been a huge division in the A's fanbase on the Harden trade as many have blasted Beane for trading a seemingly healthy Harden. However, all is not golden in the land of flameouts:

Sep. 2	News: 9:37 AM Harden, whose velocity has slipped a little, will have his next start skipped, however he insists that there is no problem with his arm, the Chicago Tribune reports.

This sort of "developement" on Harden is something that we A's fans are very familiar with: slipping velocity, denial of problems, then the inevitible DL trip. I am not here to say, I told you so.....but as many have said all along: this trade was advantageous to BOTH the Cub's and the A's. The Cubs get a very short term front end elite pitcher for the playoffs, while the A's continuing restocking their farm system. I still think Harden is a very special player...when healthy, and i hope the Cubs take special care of the glass cannon so he can step up during their WS run.

edit: found the original Chicago Tribune article but seems to indicate that this was planned, albeit skipping 2 starts was somewhat unexpected.

update: Rotoworld comments from Harden

"I’ve been feeling pretty good, but I guess I’ve had a little bit of discomfort you could call it. But nothing serious," he said. It's always serious when it comes to Harden. He'll go 11 days without pitching before attempting to return to the mound next week.

15 Day DL...here we come!

Yes, it's 2am in the morning, thus necessitating a 08/19/08 DLD....well not really but oh well....so some news from around A's land:

 Yes the A's won yesterday! However, Duke got hurt but SuSlu reports that it might just be inflammation continuing from previous start (why am i not surprised he was hurt earlier?). Duke is supposed to take a trip to see an A's doctor, which means he's going on the 60-day DL soon. This in turn prompts our QOTM nominee from "the Babbler" :

The A's don't need to build a new ball park, they need to build a hospital.

With the win, Oakland is in #11 position for the 2009 MLB Draft, .5 games out from Cleveland at #10 and 13.5 games back on the Nats for #1 position (see we're not that pitiful....yet).

In other A's news, St. Paul native Jack Banaharan had Minnesota fans equal to ~500X his batting average show up at the game.

In a sign of the evolution of Moneyball, the A's have found a new market inefficiency hence on Sept. 6, they decided they would rather lose 2X in one day then one time over 2 days (Take that Theo E.).

The A's also expressed their confidence in Daric Louganis aka Staplehead. At only 23 years of age, Beane likes Daric's experience which will set him up to eventually take over Larry Davis' fanny pack.

From the A's / Twins game, caption this:

Dump away while i try to figure out how to get to sleep with a Euro con-call in 4 hours =(

With our beloved A's doing well now, I want to turn back the clock on a prediction someone made earlier during the turbulent trying times of the offseason (and that I've made as my signature since then):  "This is NOT rebuilding. Billy Beane reloaded."

There is a detailed analysis of the Dan Haren trade over at the subscriber-driven Baseball Prospectus, and for Angel fans, it is not a pretty picture.

In short, don't pop the division crown corks any time too soon, especially you pre-2009-11 AL West crown revelers.

The gist of the article is that the 6 prospects that the A's received from Arizona are SO good, that Fremont's pre-trade #11 prospect is now it's #16 prospect - and BP doesn't rate players over 25 as prospects, thus eliminating former-D-Back minor league pitcher Dana Eveland from it's consideration.

The analysis adds four of the players acquired in the Haren trade as firmly entrenched in the Joakland Top Ten prospects. Many pundits have given Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez a Carlos Beltran ceiling, and author Kevin Goldstein (the John Sickels of subscriber shakedown baseball websites) slots him as the #2 prospect for the She-Wolffs, implying that there is more than just an outside chance that Gonzalez will be the opening day centerfielder under Mount Davis. He calls lefty Brett Anderson the best teenage pitching prospect in baseball. Position players Chris Carter and Aaron Cunningham are #5 and #7 prospects respectively in Goldstein's very educated guesstimation.

This is NOT rebuilding. Billy Beane reloaded.

Before you point out all of the trouble facing Tarp Town, what with its proclivity for injuries and/or Kotsay/Krosby deadweight, consider that if Billy Beane is within 5 games of first place in July, he can take on two months of payroll for just about any star rental, and could trade a host of these glamorous prospects for serious pennant race mojo.

The Dan Haren trade should give Angel fans the queasy tension that early season games against the Athletics are of double import - Billy Beane's team cannot be allowed to sniff first place in midsummer. Complicating matters even more is the pathetic state of the Mariners and Rangers. Talk about the Green and Gold cakewalk - we all know that had the Mariners simply played .500 ball against Choakland in 2006 that the division crown would have comfortably rested in L.A. of Anaheim. With these two gelded inbred franchises being allowed on the field, there is no end to what the Connie Mack Attack can achieve in the A.L. West standings in 2008.

In other words, pop that bottle on New Year's Eve for the new year, not October.

Who "woulda!" predicted that this was brought to you by the the ringleader of the Huntington Beach Rat Lovers of Anaheim, Rev of Halo's Heaven! See http://www.halosheaven.com/2007/12/16/161215/74 

Whatever happens in the months ahead, our overachieving A's are doing what no one expected and hopefully this is the dawn of very good things to come! :)

哎哟 - 对不起， 我不知道英文 :(

Unfortunately i won't be able to make it out tonight and neither will my friends, so I have one free Field Level ticket for any fans out there. It is a field level ticket and has a complimentary free parking as well. The only catch is that you have to pick it up from my office near San Jose Airport.

Email stranx44@yahoo.com if you're intersted.

With the recent slew of trades left and right by the A's for (insert player / cash to be determined later), I was curious of the league mandates for such strange ambiguous stipulations in a trade. I mean, typically you have your straight player x for player y trade. But in scenarios where it is (insert player / cash to be determined later), how is it dertemined that Jack Cust is worth only cash considerations, and not say a Daric Barton? Or how is Denforia (who hasn't played one bit), worth someone like McBeth, a wonder prospect in the minors. Does MLB / MLBPA have any stipulations as to who/what amount/etc. has to be settled by what date? Just curious how it works out.

I was about shopping last night and ventured to the new Pacific Commons retail site constructed at the Automall Parkway off of I880. The site presently houses retail and of course the automall car dealership section, but there is a huge empty lot adjacent by that is vacant. Further research into this site reveils the following:

http://acerider.org/maps/pacific_commons/Catellus_Pacific_Commons_Site_Plan.GIF

It looks as if it is going to be zoned for a corporate campus, but with lots of available space available throughout the valley because of the economy, this might be a stretch.

Further thought on this turned today when I read upon Blez's interview with Lew Wolff who mentioned:

Blez:  "You mentioned Fremont.  Is that a realistic option right now?"

Wolff:  "We're hoping it is.  They have sent out welcoming signals.  If we can't stay in Oakland, we want to stay in Alameda County and if we're going to stay in Alameda County, that area would be very good for us.  It's close to our existing fan base, it has BART and it's close to San Jose as well as the freeways."

This would be a great place IF the stagnant negotiations with the Oakland JPA goes nil. Although it doesn't have readily accessible BART port at the present, it can be extended with the corporate help of one of Fremont's largest employer: NUMMI (Toyota and GM) who are just right across the freeway. Now for those familiar with this area, it has heavy congested during traffic hours, though fortunately it is in the midst of a badly-needed widening effort.

Fremont would appease Lewis' desire for the south bay interest, but at the same time satisfy the Contra Costa / Alameda baseball "territorial" rights he has. The Pacific common site has the commercial aspect he is acquainted with as a developer, and opportune transportation system in place.

I know the geographical composition of AN is tremendous varying from local Bay Area to national visitors. I wanted do a poll though of the demographics of this site, especially those that are from Oakland/Alameda themselves. I know this is not an accurate cross section of the A's fanbase, but I think it's suffice to say, other than the season ticket holders, AN does represent one of the more vocal and exuberant fans that follow the A's. So let's see you vote!

I just saw in a recent column Mike Piazza's desire to play both on 1) on a California team and 2) the American League (see http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2305550).

While I know AN in general has been gaga over Frank Thomas, I am still a bit weary about his track record with recent injuries and the log jams it will introduce in terms of OF / 1B / DH. I would like to discuss the merits of signing Mike Piazza instead, which seems less risky.

Here are the stat break downs:

Mike Piazza:

SPLIT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG
Season 113 398 41 100 23 0 19 62 0 .251 .326 .452
Career 1703 6203 976 1929 308 6 397 1223 17 .311 .382 .555

Frank Thomas:

SPLIT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG
Season 34 105 19 23 3 0 12 26 0 .219 .315 .590
Career 1959 6956 1327 2136 447 11 448 1465 32 .307 .427 .568

It is true that FT's OBPS is dramatically higher, but we aren't losing too much from a power standpoint (our main reason for getting players of these caliber in the first place). Secondarily, Mike can be the 3rd catcher on our roster so Macha can have more choices in terms of substitutions / lineup with Kendall and Melhouse.

Your thoughts?

Sorry if this is old news, but:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/baseball/mlb/oakland_athletics/13617094.htm

Having gone through seperation myself, I hope for the best for Milton going into the new season. It could be a really tumultuous season if he isn't strong psychologically (big ? here!) and doesn't have a good supporting cast of family and friends.

On the other hand, baseball may be the outlet he needs to take his mind off of personal matters. Let's just hope it's in a productive instead of destructive manner. Personally, I made work my priority afterwards and it helped somewhat, but for the most part I didn't care much about business.

Although AN, Moneyball, and the A's generally are about objectivity with quantifiable stats, there are also emotional and subjective things to keep in mind with the mental aspect of the game. Keep your head up Milton!

Let's recall some of this offseason's unprecedented transactions:

• Toronot Blue Jays under J.P. Ricciardi acquires not only A.J. Burnett, but B.J. Ryan AND Lyle Overbay for top $$ mind you.
• Billy Beane acquires Esteban Loaiza AND Milton Bradley (with maybe Franky Thomas in the wings!)
• What makes it more interesting is the inactivity of the usual big spenders:
• Yankess acquire Farnsworth, yes just a RP! Steinbrenner money shy at last??!!!
  
• Red Sox lose out on Theo Epstein, won't win another world series for another 100years due to Curse of Lambda Lambda Lambda (NERDS)!
  
• Perenial losers N.Y. Mets spend lavishly and predictably will lose again to the Braves in the East.
  
• Dodgers lose Paul Depodesto, hire ned Colleti only to trade their best bait (Bradley) for an unproven minor leaguer (although its Andre Either).
• I think Billy and J.P. (as well as Theo and Paul), are laughing away all the way to the bank this season. They saw the market inefficiencies this year with the large amount of money lost this past season (see yankees $85million) and knew it was time to finally be able to compete, since they would win on 2 fronts: Money (uninflated) and actual competition (stagnant).

Thus my AN friends, i predict 2006 as the Year of the Moneyballers, who have been waiting for a moment like this where it makes fiscal as well as competitive sense to finally, gulp....spend! :p

San Jose to buy land for potential A's ballpark

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As reported on ESPN.COM:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2189283

It looks like Mel is out. This would be the opportune time for Beane to hire someone with such a high repoire, yet should be cheap, because he is dwarfed in Torre's shadow. It has many benefits including:

• Understanding what it takes to "turn on" in September (see: 04' / 05' A's)
• Understanding postseason nuances (see 01' - 03' A's)
• Establish A's as a viable "complete" club, with credible authority (yes somewhat of a Joe Morganism)
• piss of "the Boss" George Steiny
• I think we are through the days of Moneyball, where we have so-so managers just "working" for Billy. Let's turn it to Hardball, where they are managing to Billy's farm system / players (the A's strength). Mel seems that kind of guy, imho a much better fit than Orel Hershiezer and more crediblity than Wash (although a great teacher) and Geren (Beane's buddy).

Snapshot from preview for today's:

"The Royals went 0-7 and were outscored 54-31 on their road trip to Tampa Bay and Boston. They return to Kauffman Stadium for a nine-game homestand beginning with the As, who are the hottest team in baseball.

Oakland has caught fire the last two months, winning 34 of their last 42 contests to take over the lead in the American League wild card race."

So if Oakland wins 70% of their remaining games, are the press going to say, "They are the hottest team in 2005?". Seriously, when will they wake up and realize this is just an overall good team, period that had a bad month.

For this diary, i'd like to ask ANers to give some facetious terms highlighting the "hot" A's.

I'll go first:

The Oakland A's, too good to know they're "hot", too "cool" to know when they weren't!