From mlb.com:

Arizona Fall League sensation Grant Desme, former Angels third baseman Dallas McPherson and ex-Reds reliever Marcus McBeth are among 19 players extended invitations to Spring Training on Monday by the A's.

McPherson, 29, missed all of the 2009 season with back problems, but he has the most extensive Major League experience of the six free agents among the 19 signed to Minor League contracts by Oakland.

Read the full story here.

Hey folks -- how about a diversion? Anyone know where I can find the number of grand slams hit by each team in 2008 (especially the A's)?

I looked on a number of different sites, but I can't seems to find any breakdown of home runs for a team by number of runs. I did a pretty extensive Google search, but so far I haven't had any luck. Your help is most appreciated!

Thanks, and go A's!

I'm actually surprised there isn't another post on this topic already, but my cursory search of the site didn't turn up anything, nor did Google.

Actually, my Googling brought me to a pretty interesting (albeit highly nerdy) SABR article from 1981called "Where Spectators Sit to Catch Baseballs", so it wasn't a total washout.

That being said, my 8 year-old son is dying to catch or receive a real live, honest- to-goodness Oakland A's game ball, so I'm doing my fatherly duty and asking my friends here on AN to enlighten me. Where have you had the best luck getting game balls at the Coliseum?

Thanks in advance for your contributions. I hope to put your advice to the test Saturday night.

Let's go Oakland! Clap, clap; clap-clap-clap!

I'm certainly no Flashfire, but I took the camera and a borrowed zoom lens out to the Ports game today to get some shots of the kids as they took on the "Little Giants" of San Jose. All in all, it was a pretty poor outing from the young squad, as they lost 8-2 with three errors. Here is the official recap from the Ports site.

On a positive note, my kid was picked out of the crowd to say "Play Ball" so all was not lost :-)

On to the photos!

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Hey folks,

I know it's not until March, but anyone have any good Spring Training tips? Like how far in advance do you have to buy tickets, which parks are better,  where to get close to the players (my son would love to hang with Kurt Suzuki, for example) nearby hotels, etc?

I see that the A's boosters organize a trip each year, but since I'm not retired, I can probably only make it to two games max. Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

Folks -- please bear with me as I'm an A's newbie.

I just saw a Stockton Ports v. SJ Giants game this weekend (Chris Carter grand slam) and man what a little palace of baseball that park is. This week I'm heading up to see the RiverCats for the first time since last year. I've read some scouting news, but I'm curious to see who I should be paying attention to while I'm there.

Please enlighten me...

P.S. Down with the halos!