SB Nation User Blog: athleticsBB4life

Denorfia Outrighted

athleticsBB4life — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:33:08 -0000

In a move that we all expected, the A's outrighted Chris Denorfia to Sacramento and freed up another spot on the 40-man roster.

Official Release:

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland A's outrighted outfielder Chris Denorfia to Triple-A Sacramento, the club announced today.
Denorfia spent most of the 2009 season at Sacramento where he batted .271 with nine home runs and 49 RBI in 107 games. He also went 0 for 2 with a run scored and RBI during a four-game stint with Oakland from June 9 to 17. Denorfia is a .279 career hitter with three home runs and 19 RBI in 100 games with the A's (2008-09) and Cincinnati (2005-06).

via media.scout.com

A's Outright Four

athleticsBB4life — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:37:11 -0000

Bill Beane and staff got right to work on the off season today by removing Edgar Gonzalez, Kevin Cameron, Dan Giese and Eric Munson from the 40-man roster. No big surprises here. Of the group, I could see Munson returning on a minor league deal. After all, he is Eric Chavez' BFF.

Official Release

Scout.com Article:

In the first of what is likely to be many moves this off-season, the Oakland A's have outrighted four players off of the 40-man roster: right-handers Edgar Gonzalez, Kevin Cameron and Dan Giese and catcher Eric Munson. The moves leave the A's with 37 players on the active 40-man roster.

Farhan Zaidi: Dispelling Some AN Rumors?

athleticsBB4life — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:55:34 -0000

I noticed this interview with Farhan Zaidi on Scout.com yesterday. Melissa Lockard and Zaidi discuss many issues that we've all debated over the past year. I just wanted to pass it along and see what AN thinks. Here are some of the key points:

on Travis Buck being in the doghouse:

Lockard: Turning to the outfield situation, which is as crowded at the starting rotation situation, I thought it has been an interesting year. There have been guys like Rajai Davis who have really stepped forward, while guys like Travis Buck and Aaron Cunningham have gone back-and-forth between Triple-A and the big leagues.

Zaidi: I think that there is this conception that certain guys have fallen out of favor with the organization, but the fact is that there were guys who were simply playing better than those players. We still really like Travis and really like Aaron, but we couldn’t justify playing them over guys like Raj and guys like Ryan Sweeney who were producing at the major league level.

later:

Zaidi: There is nobody in that group that we are down on as an organization. If we had a guy who was in Triple-A who was hitting .400 with an .800 slugging percentage and we didn’t call him up, then I could understand someone saying that there was a rift between that player and the organization. But ultimately it is the best players who give us the best chances to win who are playing.

on Jack Cust's swing being messed with:

Lockard: Is there a concern that his numbers are down this year? It seemed like he changed his approach a little bit, maybe in an attempt to cut down on his strike-outs, and perhaps that deflated some of his numbers, especially early in the season.

Zaidi: You hear this from players all of the time, but baseball is obviously a constant game of adjustment. He didn’t look that different to me early in the year. Maybe he was pitched to a little differently because of some of the other guys we had in the line-up, but I think the talk about him really changing his approach is a little bit exaggerated. He has always been a streaky guy. He has cold streaks and he has streaks where he can carry your team. He has shown some of those hot streaks coming down the stretch. He has been one of the reasons that we have played so well over the last month-and-a-half or so.

He has been working with [A’s hitting coach] Jim Skaalen and he has added a toe-tap to improve his timing and that is one of the things that he attributes to him being able to get back on-track this year. That is something that is always going to be the case with all of these guys. When things aren’t going well, guys are going to make adjustments and you hope that those adjustments work and that their production jumps from there. I credit him for doing that. I think early in the season, he had some struggles, but I don’t think it was because of any huge change in his approach and it certainly wasn’t something that we asked him to do.

Poll

Buck's role in 2010

Starting OF for the A's

15 votes

Bench player for the A's

56 votes

Still in Sacramento

24 votes

In another MLB organization

89 votes

Other

5 votes

189 votes | Poll has closed

A's recall Blevins and Eveland; Select Kilby from Sacramento

athleticsBB4life — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:51:04 -0000

Official Release

The Oakland A's recalled left-handed pitchers Jerry Blevins and Dana Eveland and selected left-handed pitcher Brad Kilby from Triple-A Sacramento, the club announced today.

Eveland, oh boy - check out his last 5 starts! Congrats to Kilby, well-deserved - 77 K's in 63.1 innings! I think one or two positon players would've have given the A's some flexibility. I wanted the A's to purchase Munson's contract, so Powell could get some ABs at DH and 1B. Once the River Cats finish their title run, it's possible we'll see him, Buck and Petit. I know he's not a prospect, but Carson's had a helluva year for Sacramento. It would be nice to throw the guy a bone and give him a September call-up.

Blevins

Blevins joins the A's for the third time this year and he has compiled a 12.46 ERA in five relief appearances over his first two stints. He was on the A's Opening Day roster and allowed four runs in 0.2 innings over his first two outings before being optioned to Sacramento on April 18. Blevins posted a 4.91 ERA in three appearances during his second stint from May 4 to 14. The 25-year old left-hander was 5-3 with two saves and a 3.84 ERA in 45 relief appearances with Sacramento. He struck out 62 batters in 63.1 innings and allowed a .271 opponents batting average.

Eveland

Eveland is also in his third stint with Oakland in 2009 and is 1-3 with an 8.00 ERA in seven games, six starts. He began the season in the A's starting rotation and was 1-2 with a 7.40 ERA in six games, five starts, before he was optioned to Sacramento on May 5. Eveland was recalled a second time July 6 and started and lost the next night at Boston. He allowed four runs on six hits and three walks in 2.2 innings and was sent back to Sacramento following the game. The 25-year old left-hander was 8-6 with a 4.94 ERA and .273 opponents batting average in 21 starts with the River Cats. He went 0-4 with a 7.88 ERA over his final five starts.

Kilby

Kilby will be making his Major League debut after five seasons in the minors. He was 4-2 with two saves, a 2.13 ERA and .179 opponents batting average in 45 relief appearances with Sacramento this year. The 26-year old left-hander from Elk Grove struck out 77 in 63.1 innings and now has 339 strikeouts in 295.2 career minor league innings, an average of 10.3 per nine innings. Kilby was drafted by the A's in the 29th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of San Jose State University.

MT. Everidge Down; Patterson Recalled

athleticsBB4life — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:25:43 -0000

Official Release

The Oakland A's recalled outfielder Eric Patterson from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned infielder Tommy Everidge to Sacramento, the club announced today.

It's about time the A's brought up some bench reinforcement. Having two 1B and one backup catcher on the bench left a lot to be desired in the roster management department. Patterson probably will be riding some pine, because that's what the A's do with their young guys, which will be unfortunate because the River Cats could definitely use the player that has done the most for them during the '09 campaign for the PCL playoffs. This will be Patterson's third stint with Oakland this season.

The 26-year-old Patterson was hitting .307 with 56 RBIs and 43 stolen bases in 110 total starts at Sacramento this year. He was batting .336 (108-for-321) with 37 RBIs against right-handed pitchers and .241 (35-for-145) against lefties. His 43 stolen bases set a new River Cats' franchise record (previous, Bo Porter, 39 sb in 2000) and he is just the second player in River Cats' history to have at least 10 home runs, triples, doubles and steals in a season (also, Mark Bellhorn in 2000). As of today, Patterson ranked second in the Pacific Coast League with 11 triples and 43 stolen bases, fourth with 91 runs scored and fifth with 143 hits. He went 20 for 89 (.225) with 17 RBI in 20 games with Sacramento since being optioned on August 5.

Everidge, well, was very average. However, it was nice to see him get a shot at the "show." It remains to be seen if he gets recalled September 1 or when Sacramento finishes its tittle run.

He complied a .224 average (19 for 85) with seven RBI and 17 strikeouts in 24 total appearances for the A's, starting 22 of those game (19 at first base and three as designated hitter). He was batting .146 (6 for 41) with one RBI over his last 12 games, after hitting .295 with six RBI over his first 12 contests.

A's Sign 1st Round Pick Grant Green; Come to Terms with Ian Krol

athleticsBB4life — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:34:33 -0000

Official Release

The A's have now signed or agreed to terms with 29 of their 49 selections from the draft, including each of the first eight and 15 of the first 18.

According to Slusser, the Oakland A's and the 13th pick in the 2009 amateur draft, SS Grant Green, agreed to terms. Kevin Goldstein reports that Green will receive a $2.75 million straight bonus.

According to the baseballamerica.com, the team also came to terms with pitcher Ian Krol, who was drafted in the 7th round.

Illinois prep lefthander Ian Krol has agreed to terms with the Athletics, who drafted him in the seventh round. Krol missed his senior season due to a suspension and was committed to Arizona. He signed for $925,000.

As for another notable pick, Sam Dyson, it was previously reported that he would be attending college.

With the signing of Max Stassi earlier in the day, it appears as though the A's had a relatively successful draft. The organization was able to come to terms with their first eight draft picks.

via www.capecodbaseball.org

Grant Green

via riveraveblues.com

Ian Krol

via cdn.picapp.com

Max Stassi

A's Recall Gray; Demote Reineke

athleticsBB4life — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:50:17 -0000

Official Press Release

Gray joins the A's for the fourth time this year and has appeared in one game in each of his first three stints.

Giambi still not activated; A's carrying 13 pitchers, leaving the bench short.

Gray's had a nice season in Sacramento:

Gray is 2-2 with 16 saves and a 1.54 ERA in 37 relief appearances. He had just one blown save for a save percentage of 94.1% and his 16 saves are tied for the most in the A's organization and were sixth most in the Pacific Coast League. Gray allowed a .200 opponents batting average, which included a .189 (18 for 95) mark against right-handed hitters and .218 (12 for 55) against left-handers.

It's time to give him a long look - he's got to be a better option than Casilla at this point.

Poll

Who would you rather see coming out of the pen?

Casilla

14 votes

Gray

104 votes

118 votes | Poll has closed

A's Sign Four '09 Picks

athleticsBB4life — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:56:14 -0000

A's Sign Four '09 Picks

06/19/09 Oakland Athletics signed Stephen Parker.
06/19/09 Oakland Athletics signed 3B Michael Spina.
06/19/09 Oakland Athletics signed OF Myrio Richard.
06/19/09 Oakland Athletics signed OF Anthione Shaw

A's Agree to Terms with 14 '09 Picks

athleticsBB4life — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:16:26 -0000

A's Agree to Terms with 14 '09 Picks

The Oakland A's have agreed to terms with 14 players from the 2009 First-Year Player Draft held last week, the club announced today. The players are RHP Murphy Smith (13th round, Binghamton), LHP Max Peterson (18th, San Jose State), RHP Daniel Tenholder (19th, Austin Peay State), LHP Ryan Quigley (22nd, Northeastern), CF Kent Walton (23rd, Brigham Young), RHP Daniel Straily (24th, Marshall), RHP Nathan Long (26th, Texas-Arlington), 2B Michael Gilmartin (27th, Wofford), OF Connor Crumbliss (28th, Emporia State), RHP Paul Smyth (35th, Kansas), 2B Jeremy Wells (36th, Patten), 1B Blake Crosby (42nd, Sacramento State), LHP A.J. Huttenlocker (44th, Missouri Western State) and IF Joel Eusebio (46th, Northeastern State).

A's Bonus Baby Out: Ynoa Has Elbow Issue

athleticsBB4life — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:12:09 -0000

Link

Slusser Reports:

Now top pitching prospect Michael Ynoa, the 17-year-old sensation from the Dominican Republic, is out of action because of elbow soreness.

According to assistant general manager David Forst, Ynoa had an MRI exam last week that will be reviewed by Drs.

Ynoa had been doing a throwing program at the A's minor-league complex in Phoenix and there was hope he would pitch in the Arizona Rookie League this summer.

"We're in the process of determining how severe it is," Forst said.