Well, now that JJ Hardy is all-but-certainly not becoming an Oakland Athletic anytime soon and Billy Beane has all-but-dismissed any intention of signing veteran free agents this winter, it seems like I can now officially move past my admittedly half-baked, crackpot off-season plan and re-evaluate my hopes/thoughts concering these Oakland A's as they prepare for the 2010 season.

At this point, it certainly looks like the organization is not motivated at all to contend next season, and I guess that's a realization that's better accepted now than sometime later in the off-season/beginning of Spring after a winter of nervous/excited rosterbating and rumor-mongering. With that in mind, I'm starting to "come around" on a few ideas that I've seen posted here at AN or other sites in regards to our Green and Gold of 2010 and beyond:

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I just got through perusing the Bill James 2010 projections that have been posted on the Fangraphs player pages.  Some have suggested that James' projections are fairly optimistic...that may be true generally, but it doesn't seem to be the case with his projections for the 2010 A's position players. Even so, there seems to be a few reasons for optimism next season, if you're a believer in James' method of evaluation. Here are some of the highlights:

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Now that my disappointment from this past season has somewhat subsided and I've gathered my thoughts as to what I think this team needs going into the winter, I'm going to attempt to put down on (virtual) paper my plan for making the A's more competitive in 2010 than they were in 2009.

First off, I'm going to admit that some of my plan involves a bit of "wishful thinking" and "sentimentality". From my perspective, 2010 will be the last time that we as fans will likely see life-long A's Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis wear the Oakland uniform (at least as players). Both guys have been class-acts both on and off the field, have represented the organization extremely well and have played instrumental roles on the field over the past decade in creating some of the best memories us fans have of this team. While I don't think that the future should be mortgaged or tens of million should be spent just to ensure that the last year of Ellis and Chavez in Oakland is a memorable one, I do think that some efforts should be made to give this team some hope of contention in 2010 before a full wave of youth overruns this organization and ushers in a totally new era of A's baseball.

In short...I think a component of the 2010 season will be the symbolic "passing of the torch" from the Big 3/Chavez/Ellis era to the Suzuki/Wallace/Carter/Anderson era, and the construction of the roster should reflect that gradual transition through the season. I would like to give these guys one last chance to win in an Oakland uniform, while still keeping the door open for the guys that should comprise the next great A's team once they prove they are fully major league ready.

Without further ado...

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Wow...it's truly a wonder what a week or two of "not-awful" baseball will do for my energy level and willingness to share my thoughts with AN. A few weeks ago, even if I had something remotely interesting to say, I'd just say "Eff it, this team is going to suck no matter what I say..." But anyways, here's a few things that have been on my mind:

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The latest blog post from Susan Slusser really highlights a worrying off-the-field trend I'm seeing with this organization...namely the inexplicable lack of available information related to player news and the general lack of transperancy in general with this club. The Slusser article seems almost laughable:

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Despite a continuation of the team's season-long losing ways, the past few days have seen some renewed hope around these parts. Personally, I'm getting really excited for the near-term future for the first time since the first series of this season. Even so, I think there are still several things that I've been concerned about/thinking about as this organization runs full steam ahead towards preparing for the 2010 season:

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Last night's loss was tough, but I've gotten used to it with this outfit. I don't want to really re-hash any of the "lack of passion/lack of intensity/lack of focus" debates that we've had here on this site several times already this season, but I need to vent on a few topics regarding this team and hope to just get some constructive conservation going:

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From Jayson Stark's ESPN "Rumbling & Grumblings" column, 5/21/2009:

Clubs that have spoken to the A's report that Billy Beane "has had it" with his scuffling outfit. But it figures to be at least a month before he starts unloading Matt Holliday or anyone of significance.

"If he could do something right now, he'd do it," said one front-office man. "But I don't think clubs have enough feel for what they've got on that club. So I'd say late June, early July is more likely."

So maybe Beane isn't as clueless to this "scuffling outfit" as we've made him out to be...at least we can hope. The timeframe Stark lays out seems about right to me. Give this team one more month to snap out of it's funk and one more month for the rest of the teams out there to decide between "buying" and "selling" and then start wheeling and dealing if it's the latter for these A's.

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Although I planned to launch into a profanity-laced tirade following the team's 18th embarrassing loss of the season yesterday, I've calmed my jets over the past 12 hours or so and only have a few gripes to get to this early afternoon:

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1) I've been fairly mum on the possibility that Eric Chavez is truly, without-a-doubt, start-digging-the-grave "done" with being a productive player...well, I'm pretty close to making that concession after watching him play the past few weeks. I understand that Chavez indicated he would need a month or so to get his timing back to where he used to be at the plate, but I don't understand how he's supposed to get that timing back when he can't stay on the field for any lasting amount of time. His recent quip that he's "day to day, probably for the whole year" is classic Chavez...and I'm kind of annoyed by it now.

Nomar has been okay as a platoon partner for Chavez, but he's got his own issues and is clearly just a one-year stop-gap. I'd really like for the team to go out this coming off-season and get someone reliable to, at the very least, play 3rd against EVERY left-handed starter out there, since Chavez is completely useless against lefties at this point. Maybe Beane can swing a deal for Kevin Kouzmanoff (hacktastic/no patience, but good pop against lefties and decent fielder) or could convince Miguel Tejada to come back to be a utility infielder.

Long-term, I'm glad that Adrian Cardenas has gotten off to a fast start at Midland. By most accounts, he won't be a major league-caliber shortstop, but many scouts seem to think he could handle 3rd base defensively and while he likely won't be a really big-time slugger, he seems to hit a lot of doubles and hit for a high-average against both righties and lefties. I'd take someone like that at 3rd base any day of the week for the next few years, please...

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