SB Nation User Blog: bjk15

Dan O’Dowd ≥ Tom Hicks

bjk15 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:42:19 -0000

The salary contract demands of young players have reached the national media’s attention, which will ultimately exacerbate the situation for teams. Quite honestly, I hold O’Dowd to blame to a large extent. The precedent that he set with Troy Tulowitzki was reckless and will likely do more damage to the sport than Alex Rodriguez’ contract. I had been talking about it with my friends lately and it really has me cringing at the ramifications.

I mean, look, the ‘superstars’ will always get their money when they are a free agent. But O’Dowd has effectively minimized the ‘control’ a team has over their players, which has a far more reaching impact than A-Rod’s ridiculous contract. When players like Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels, Nick Markakis, and Jonathan Papelbon publicly complain about their salaries prior to their arbitration years, then that is outright crippling to small and mid-market teams.

Where this affects the A’s should be obvious; they have just traded for a bucket load of prospects and being that they are high-end ones at that, then means that they will also feel a sense of undue entitlement.

If this epidemic does not get addressed very soon, then I really believe that the contract infrastructure will be irreparable truly leading to only large-market teams being in control of all players like they are now with more expensive players. My opinion is, is that now is the time to institute a salary cap like there are in the other major sports and I know that it makes baseball different and I like that about it, but I do not see any other alternative.

Please enlighten me or… at least mock me…

Reds sign veteran starter Fogg - A's Impact

bjk15 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:24:09 -0000

So, I guess that means that it is very likely that Blanton stays with the A's until at least the trading deadline. Sure, Josh Fogg and Jeremy Affeldt are not any good, but I would have to believe that that is the notion going through Wayne Krivsky's mind.

That is good for the players, and Blanton in particular, as they will not have to fight through anywhere near as many rumors now that the Reds and Dodgers are not viable options. At least that is what I think...

Baseball-related "iPod" Question:

bjk15 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:33:29 -0000

Just out of curiosity because I remember the Rockies doing something like this a couple of years ago and presumably they still do:

Will any team, but more specifically the A's, be using portable video players to show players what their previous PA looked like, but with a Pitch F/x theme to it this year?

I ask because while I would like to think that the A's are using the Pitch F/x data to analyze how certain players are pitched to so that they can work on better pitch recognition for those types of pitches and similarly how effective certain pitchers are with their assortment of pitches; I do not know if they do, but would like to know if they do... I agree that too much information during the game would be bad, but I wonder how much is too much and I wonder if the prep beforehand is sufficient.

I mean for example: let us say that the A's are facing Brandon Webb and let's say that the in-game Pitch F/x data is showing that Webb's sinker is not sinking effectively. I'd like to think that that information, while it may be obvious to each hitter may be communicated to the rest of the players as confirmation. Maybe we are to that point and maybe we are not. I am quite interested in it all though.

San Jose A's (again)

bjk15 — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:19:57 -0000

I should say that I am not from the bay area, but at the very least I do find this Ratto article to be interesting if not hopeful for the A's should they not be able to work out a deal with Fremont.

Thus, Selig is now in a position to:

-- Punish the Giants for their role in the Anderson/Barry Bonds mess.

-- Keep Congress off his back.

-- Do his good pal Lew Wolff, the A's owner who just jump-started Selig's latest contract extension and raise, a badly needed solid by pushing a finger into the eye of Magowan, who is not all that beloved in BudWorld these days.

Whether this is true or not, it is interesting.

Is baseball considering such a notion? Not that anyone can tell. But it is a solution that has several benefits to it, not the least of which is hitting the Giants where Magowan thinks they live. San Francisco's strategy for long-term health has been to drive the A's into the sea, and it galls the Giants that their annual contributions to the revenue sharing plan almost exactly match Oakland's take-home check.

That is frustrating.

But we digress. The issue here is Santa Clara County, which is still trying to figure out if it has the money and political will to build the 49ers a $900 million stadium (up from the original $600-odd million). If the football plan collapses, a ballpark is cheaper, gets the county a baseball team and alleviates its loss of civic self-esteem.

So, let me get this straight: the obstacles that have to be overcome are 1) Bud hating on the Giants and Magowan and 2) not just hating on them, but punishing them for the hate by equalizing the bay area and finally 3) the A's have to hope that the 49ers stadium deal fails...

With that being said, what has to be done to take out the 49ers deal?

Anyway, being that I have never liked the Giants or 49ers this pipe dream would make me very happy... and I just wish there was something that I could do to make it happen...

Joe Blanton Trade Ideas (and Rumors)

bjk15 — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:39:30 -0000

So as Nico has hinted at in an earlier post about Blanton and why it appears he has not held the value in the market as BB considers him to have. But what should his value be in the market? And remove the notion that you do not want him to be traded and consider what would parameters would make a successful trade for both sides. What I am going to discuss starts with the premise that the A's should get a highly-rated SS in the deal.

So, in that regard here are the only teams rumored to be interested in Blanton (as far as I have seen):

Dodgers
Mets
Mariners

So, in that regard here are the only teams rumored to be interested in Blanton (as far as I have seen):

Dodgers
Mets
Mariners

Conventional trade theory says that you don't trade inside the division... I don't think that has to be followed, but the deal would have to include Carlos Triunfel and I would think that the only other high prospect pitcher who is ~2 years away is Chris Tillman and if the Mariners would accept that deal (which I doubt they would), then that would be acceptable for the A's and I would imagine the A's would want three prospects, but with those two you wouldn't get anyone of else, but to get a career minor leaguer... something that shouldn't go understated, but nonetheless nothing most fans care about.

So, there was the earlier rumor of Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, and Kevin Mulvey for Blanton from the Mets, but quite honestly imo, that is not a great deal for the A's now that they have a lot of OF in tow now and Gomez would be the biggest piece in that deal. The Mets may want to be involved in a deal for Blanton, but they just don't have the pieces that make sense for both sides. Other than Gomez and Fernando Martinez, they largely only have pitching prospects. It is not a good fit for the A's.

It has been said that the Dodgers and Blanton are not a good fit anymore because they have the following in their SP rotation at the moment:

Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, Schmidt, Kuroda, and Loaiza

(and that doesn't include Kuo who, if healthy, could still crack that rotation if someone else is unhealthy).

I'm not sure that the Dodgers would want to trade Hu with Furcal only under contract through 2008. That seems to me that Hu won't be available as Hu will be much cheaper and maybe not that much worse, if at all than Furcal.

Any deal for Hu should include a pitcher and another IF who could be available and with Blake Dewitt that gets that although with Travis Denker being traded as the PTBNL in the Giants-Sweeney deal, they don't have another 2B within 2 years of the majors in their pipeline, but maybe Colletti doesn't think about that... And James McDonald is like the Dodgers 3rd or 4th (or maybe 5th by some) best rated P prospect, yet still had phenomenal numbers last year and could be ready by 2009 as well.

As far as other SS to consider that you have not mentioned and I would because I would want to get a potential SS and 2B and another P in a deal for Blanton, while considering a team who could use a SP and wants to contend... and imo, the Rockies fit that mold:

Chris Nelson from the Rox would be a player that the BB should consider. There are two reasons why he should be available: Troy Tulowitzki and Hector Gomez (the other Rox SS prospect). Nelson was in High A last year and flashed power potential and good speed:

289/356/503
19 HR, 42 2B, 7 3B, 27 SB (84% SB%)

BB could also consider in a deal for him (in order of highest value): Greg Reynolds (SP in AA), Ian Stewart (3B in AAA), Brandon Hynick (SP in High A), Daniel Mayora (2B in Low A), Eric Young, Jr (2B in High A), and Bruce Billings (SP in SS).

I say Stewart because the Rox are trying him out at 2B this off-season and he obviously can play 3B. I say Reynolds even though he was injured this year because he is highly rated. I consider Hynick even though he is more of a control pitcher because he had really good High A California League numbers and seems to project nicely in Oakland. Then, I just threw in some 2B from their system and a short-season prospect who was awesome in SS and only a 30th rd pick.

I personally would try to get Nelson, Hynick and Stewart if Stewart looks like he can play 2B adequately and if he cannot, then I would try to get Nelson, Hynick, Young Jr., and another low-level prospect like Billings, if not he.

Out of all of these deals, I would think that a trade with the Rockies makes the most sense for both teams, followed by the Mariners, Mets, and Dodgers.