SB Nation User Blog: ZeroIndulgence

Slusser's latest on Stassi

ZeroIndulgence — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:17:32 -0000

Slusser's latest on Stassi

Dunno if anyone else caught this, or if its been posted elsewhere, but Slusser gives us the lastest on what she's hearing about the negotiations with Stassi.

Apparently the A's ahve budgeted 1st round money for him, but Stassi is still posturing about going to UCLA. If he is indeed going to get 1st round money, it would seem silly to risk that on going to UCLA, where he could get hurt or hurt his draft stock.

Thoughts? Will he sign with the A's?

Who's going to the All Star Game?

ZeroIndulgence — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:10:36 -0000

I haven't seen if this is posted anywhere else, and if it is, well, shoot me. I could use some of my own time on the DL. Anyways, anyone gonna be at AT&T on Tuesday night for the game?

Going to the All Star Game has always been one of the items on my life's "to-do" list (along with go to a Super Bowl, go to a World Series Game, go to Game 7 of the NHL Finals, play Pebble Beach, etc.) The ASG may be hokey and just an exhibition that players don't really want to play in; but for me, the chance to see, in person, a collection of the greatest players in the game would totally be worth it. The All Star Game is an event worth watching, at least for me...and I've always wished I could get to one.

When I realized they were holding the game here this year, I had entered the raffle to try and get selected for the chance to get tickets to the game...and I failed there, which sucked. I was bummed, but quickly put it out of my mind. Then I got a call yesterday from my former roomie. He says his mom got tickets to the game because she's a season ticket holder for the team across the bay, and she was unable to sell them, would I like to go? HELLS YES I WOULD! So I'll be at the game, sitting in section 305, row 1. Its basically along the first base line in the OF for those who are not AT&T Park educated, so it should be pretty rad.

So, now that I've found out that I will be attending the Mid-Summer Classic, I'm wondering if there will be any other AN folk at the game, pimped out in their Green and Gold to support the AL's starting pitcher for the game...

Italiano signs...

ZeroIndulgence — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 03:28:44 -0000

Dunno if this has been posted, but I don't see a diary on it, so here you go.

"The A's announced that they have signed their second-round selection from the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, right-handed pitcher Craig Italiano.

Italiano, who attended Flower Mound High School in Texas, was selected with the second round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers as compensation for the loss of free agent Damian Miller. Italiano, whom A's scouting director Eric Kubota said had "maybe the best high school arm in the country this year," will report to rookie ball in Arizona.

The A's have signed 29 of their first 33 selections from the draft."

Good news. Now, if we can just convince Smoak to join our new crowd...

Who's going this weekend?

ZeroIndulgence — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 01:57:42 -0000

I'm not going to the game tonight, but I'll be there cheering my boys on both Saturday and Sunday. I will probably be sitting in the LF bleachers (where i usually sit), but if some ANers are going to be there, maybe I'll come visit (or come find me...I'm big and not hard to find...Just look for the backwards A's cap and Hudson jersey).

So, who's gonna be there? Which days? And where you gonna be? (Oh, and whats ur credit card numbers, bank accounts, and address with times no one is home ;) ).

Who's going this weekend?

ZeroIndulgence — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 05:48:43 -0000

Well, I'll actually get to go to another A's game this weekend now that my finals are done, and I want to know who else is going to see teh A's crush the Phillies this weekend. I'm going on Saturday, and will probably be in the LF bleachers (its cheap, its fun). Just wondering if any ANers will be there Saturday afternoon.

If so, where you planning on sitting. If not, why not? What's better than a Saturday afternoon at the park?

Monday's Game...

ZeroIndulgence — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:07:58 -0000

Anyone going to the game on Monday? I'll be there (my first game of the season, sadly), decked out in my AN shirt and Hudson jersey (yeah, I love him still). I dunno if I'll be in the bleachers or Upper reserved...depends on what I get when we get to the park. It'd be good to see any other ANers if y'all will be there...

Some positives after another sad loss

ZeroIndulgence — Sat, 28 May 2005 03:12:59 -0000

OK, I'm tired of the negativity. After every loss it's "well, here's who screwed up tonight." How about some love. You guys are fans, right?

Zito threw very well tonight. Especially for the tight strike zone being called and the two rain delays (which could have really screwed with his rhythm and arm). Nice to see Z doing better again tonight.
DJ, despite not getting a hit, had great poise in the batters box, and looked very comfortable against ML pitching. He almost cranked one out in the 2nd, and should have had an RBI walk in the 9th. We'll see how he does the rest of his stay, but it's not a bad start.

Even on a night of no hitting and another sad loss, there's still some bright points.

Time to sell? no!

ZeroIndulgence — Wed, 25 May 2005 08:43:32 -0000

I disagree with all the people thinking that since we won't contend, the time to sell is now. That we should make moves now to get rid of some players and build towards next year. I'm not going to debate the "can we still contend this year" issue. We've done that enough. However, let's assume that we won't contend this year, why would we start dumping players in May? That's stupid.

If the A's are going to be sellers this year, they should wait until the trade deadline approaches, and contender and bubble teams are looking for that one piece they need to get to the playoffs now. Durazo may not look good to teams now, but a lefty with some pop (who hit .320 last year, btw) would look very good to a team who needs one more bat to shore up their lineup. Zito would be worth a fortune to a team who wants to beef up its rotation for the playoff drive. Byrnes could provide the spark for a bubble team to roll into the playoffs.

If the A's are gonna get rid of all these guys (plus Dotel), now is not the time to do so. We need to rape the market when teams are getting desperate near the deadline to make a move. Then they will be willing to give up a bit more. Our young guys would still get half a season of big league experience under their belt before they take the reins next year, and we would get more key pieces to keeping us as contenders for years to come.

So, for all of you out there who think this season is lost as far as contention goes, you should be hoping for maximum value in return for our players we plan to get rid of...and that will happen if we sell later rather than earlier.

What would you like to see happen with Dotel?

ZeroIndulgence — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:49:27 -0000

We're obviously all upset after back to back blown saves. Our judgement will be skewed and driven by emotion. We're all angry as heck with Dotel and wish him the worst right now. Which is precisely why I've decided to post this now. What do we do? Trade him? Keep him? I've provided some interesting choices, so vote below...

Poll

What should we do with Dotel?

nothing...literally.

2 votes

keep him and let him continue to "close" games.

19 votes

put him in a set up role in favor of Street

11 votes

trade him to Philly for a cheesesteak (mmmmmmm...)

6 votes

trade him to Chicago for a piece of the broken Wrigley Field

0 votes

send him to Kane County and make him work his way back up

1 votes

trade him to KC for Sweeney, since we own them in the trade market

16 votes

lock him in a room with the best of AN

3 votes

add 20 million on to his salary and trade him to the Yankees for Bellamy Road

2 votes

60 votes | Poll has closed

In Billy We Trust: right AN?

ZeroIndulgence — Mon, 09 May 2005 09:00:41 -0000

OK, I've been browsing through the threads tonight, and I'm absolutely appalled by the Billy-bashing I've seen going on. I'm not a big fan of senseless bashing of the A's players and personnel to begin with, but Beane is the single reason for the A's success over the last few years. All of a sudden, he's doing horrible and is to blame for everything wrong with the A's? I find that hard to believe.

Our offense sucks right now, anyone can see that. I guarantee you this is not Billy's fault though. He's put together what should be a very solid team. When I saw the pre-season projected lineup for the A's after Beane's moves this winter, I was excited. It looked to me to be a much better offense than we've had in the past. What's wrong now? Well...

We're not taking a good approach at the plate. In an earlier thread we talked about the philosophy of taking the first pitch vs. zone hitting. We're getting behind in the count too often and are being forced to hit a "pitcher's pitch" rather than a "hitter's pitch." Any hits we happen to get off of these "pitcher's pitches" will most likely be singles as a result. If the A's looked for pitches to drive earlier in the count, we may have more success. That's not Billy's fault, that's coaching and player mentality.
Almost every player in our lineup is underperforming. Chavez, Kendall, Durazo, Hatteberg, Byrnes...all these players are traditionally much better hitters than they are showing. Should Billy flip out and start trading away everyone because they are slumping. Probably not...that would be irrational, and Billy's not. Now yes, we may need to make a trade here to solidify the offense, but we can't do much until everyone turns around and gain some trade value back. When all your players are underperforming, that's not the GM's fault, and there's not much you can do except wait for them to snap out of it or make one move to spark things (which I'm sure he's working on).
Swisher and Crosby are injured. They were supposed to be key parts to the lineup this year, and now we'll have to wait for them to get better. Once again, not Billy's fault for players getting hurt.

So, please, Billy has done a good job putting a team together who should be able to compete with our payroll once again. And, I'm sure he's working on a multitude of possible moves...one of which will help solidify the offense once he decides it time. It's May, we're slumping at the plate, and we're still in contention. Let's not freak out everyone, everything considered, we're doing fairly well!

AN's motto has been "In Billy We Trust," and I still believe this to be true. So, let's all put our faith back in Billy and see what he comes up with. He hasn't led us astray before, so there's reason to believe he'll be able to fix this ship as well! So, stop the senseless Billy bashing and lets get back to cheering for our beloved A's!