Justin Duchscherer's season started yesterday with 2 perfect innings in A ball.  It' very encouraging  to say the least.

The Twins and A's aren't close on a Cabrera deal.  Apparently the Twins players really want O-Cab.

This is just my own speculation, but would the Phillies trade Jason Donald for Dallas Braden?  If so, would it be a good deal for the A's?  Perhaps Weurtz would net Donald.

Dump...  dump.... dump away...

There are some interesting rumors floating around about the A's right now.

The Brewers are scouting Duke's rehab start tonight.  

The Twins are in "deep talks" with the A's about Cabrera.

An interesting non-A's development.  The Dodgers are considering sending Loney, Kershaw or Billingsly, and prospects to the Indians for Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee.

 

Personally, I don't think the Brewers will trade much of anything for Duke.  My guess would be that Duke would clear waivers and could be traded sometime in August if he actually pitches well and looks healthy.  

The Twins could very well get Cabrera, but I think that AN will be disappointed in the return.  The Twins NEVER trade prospects of value (maybe besides the Delmon Young trade, but that would be considered prospect for prospect) so I'm guess anything the A's would get in return would be a fringe prospect unless Cabrera goes to a different team.  The Twins are rightfully stingy with their prospects.

I also don't see the Dodgers trading Loney and one of their young stud pitchers.  The Dodgers are rumored every year to give their young talent away but rarely do.  Is Martinez that much better than Loney?  Is Lee that much better than Kershaw or Billingsly?

As for the A's, I think the chances of Duke getting traded are slim, no chance of Giambi, and less than a 50/50 shot of Cabrera going to the Twins.

Interesting..

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4191562

 

 

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This post will hopefully give AN users a chance to put in their final predictions for the season.  With that, here are mine:

 

AL EAST

1. Red Sox
   
2. Rays
   
3. Yankees
   
4. Orioles
   
5. Blue Jays
   

AL Central

1. Twins
   
2. Indians
   
3. White Sox
   
4. Tigers
   
5. Royals
   

AL West

1. Angels
   
2. A's
   
3. Rangers
   
4. Mariners
   

NL East

1. Mets
2. Phillies
3. Braves
4. Marlins
5. Nationals

NL Central

1. Cubs
2. Cardinals
3. Brewers
4. Reds
5. Astros
6. Pirates

NL West

1. Dodgers
2. D'Backs
3. Rockies
4. Giants
5. Padres

• AL Wildcard - Rays
  
• NL Wildcard - Phillies
  

• AL Champion - Red Sox
  
• NL Champion - Mets
  

• World Champion - Red Sox
  

• AL MVP - Justin Morneau
  
• NL MVP - Carlos Beltran
  

• AL Cy Young - CC Sabathia
  
• NL Cy Young - Chris Carpenter
  

• AL Rookie of the Year - Brett Anderson
  
• NL Rookie of the Year - Cameron Maybin
  

Analysis: As much as I hate to admit it, the Angels are just a bit better than the A's.  Both teams will start the season with an inexperienced rotation.  The difference is that the Angels will get Lackey, Escobar, and Santana back (presumably) and the A's would get Duch back.  I don't think the A's improved lineup will prove to make the difference.  Of course, injuries can change everything.  At this point, the A's are every bit as talented, but I just don't see the A's winning the division as things sit right now.  Let's hope I'm wrong!

According to Buster Olney, Joey Devine's season may be over. LINK

To review: The Angels will be without Ervin Santana and John Lackey until May, barring any setbacks, and they won't have Kelvim Escobar back until May at the earliest, barring any setbacks. Plus, Joe Saunders struggled badly in his last outing spring. And the Athletics are loading up their rotation with 21-year-olds because Justin Duchscherer is hurt and because some of the older candidates haven't gotten the job done. It seems likely that Joey Devine -- the presumed closer when spring training began -- might be lost for the season.

 

Also, according to Olney, the A's young pitchers will be tested early.  

The Athletics are fielding some young starters, like Trevor Cahill, Brett Andersonand Josh Outman, and they will immediately be thrown into the deep end of the pool. Of Oakland's first 20 games, 13 are against the Angels, Red Sox, Yankees and Rays. If the Athletics come through that stretch with a .500 record, it would be a major plus.

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Last night, someone pointed out that Keith Law twittered that he may prefer Anderson over Haren by the end of this year.

http://twitter.com/keithlaw

I find that hard to believe.  Not that Anderson is bad or will be bad by the end of the year, it's just that Dan Haren is so good.  He pitches over 200 innings, he strikesout hitters (around 200 per year), doesn't walk hitters (55 and 40 the last 2 years), and has a great splitter.

I commented that I hoped Law would elaborate a little bit.  This morning he did.

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Maybe I'm overreacting a little bit, but it's troublesome that several of the A's players have some major health concerns.  These players are also expected to contribute a great deal this year.

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Today I took my first glance at the A's regular season schedule.  Something stuck out to me: the A's will probably need a 5th starter from the get-go. 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/teams/schedule?team=oak

 

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It was -44 below 0 on my way to work this morning in Bismarck, ND.  As I'm letting my car warm up before going to lunch I thought I'd start today's DLD.

I guess the big "news" of the day is Oakland's apparent interest in Nick Johnson.  

 

 

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I was just going to post about Heyman's report that the A's are interested in Orlanda Cabrera but didn't think it was enough.  So why not have a dump?!?!

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Assuming Giambi is signed, the lineup is pretty well set in terms of positions.  It's not necessarily set in terms of batting order.  The glaring problem I see with most batting order scenarios is the fact that there are too many lefties.  Perhaps it's not that there are too many lefties; rather, there are too many hitters who can't hit left-handed pitching.

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I've been an AN frequent for several years now.  I love the website.  I live in Bismarck, ND, stuck in the middle of thousands of Twins fans.  There just aren't a lot of A's fans to talk baseball with.  That's why AN appeals to me so much because not only does everyone here genuinely like the A's, but the discussion that take place a lot of the time are above a 3rd grade level.   

Poll

How old are you?

9%

10-18

41 votes

27%

19-25

123 votes

27%

26-32

121 votes

19%

33-40

85 votes

10%

41-50

47 votes

6%

50+

28 votes

445 votes | Poll has closed

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I DO!!!  

I just have a couple links to share today.

First, Buster Olney has an article up today about how more teams are turning towards sabermetrics.  It looks like that Billy Beane was on to something...

 

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http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8889016/A's-still-after-Furcal,-but-may-chase-Big-Unit-too?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49

According to Rosenthal, the A's are targeting Randy Johnson to be their 5th starter.

Really?  5th?  I bet he'd start opening day!  

 

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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3740201

I think this is a good trade for the Sox...

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I just read at mlbtraderumors that Aaron Heilman told the Mets he wants to start or be traded.  For whatever reasons, the Mets don't seem to want to give him a shot.  The following is a list of reasons why i think the A's should (FINALLY) get him.

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This sucks.  I was hoping that Street and Duch. would be traded for top of the line prospects.  Obviously, other teams didn't think that it was worth it.  I'm totally guessing here but i think that it had more to do with Beane asking for too much, but i guess we'll never know.

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I need trade rumors.  Websites aren't updating fast enough!!!  Nothing is happening!!!  I want Duke to St. Louis rumors...  Duke to Colorado rumors... Duke to LAD rumors...  Embree to LAA rumors...  Street to Det. rumors...

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This is an interesting tid-bit from the Rocky Mountain News. 

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/27/chacon-wade-both-to-blame/

 

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One of the great things about A's fans (at least A's fans on this site) is the fact that we see things differently than most other fans do.  Most fans enjoy watching the Phillies and their zillions of HRs.  Most other fans like to watch the Angels because they "play the game right" by attempting steals and running from first to third on a single.  In other words, most fans like the Joe Morgan type of baseball. 

Not A's fans.  We like some of the finer things.  We like OPS... we like defensive metrics.  We like mixing and matching has-beens and, in the case of Emil Brown, never-wases. 

I don't mind it.  Why?  Because that's the way the A's have to do it... and because... well... it works.  Since Beane took over as GM, the A's are known as winners. 

A stats-based approach to winning baseball games is what separates good small-market teams from bad ones.  Which brings me to Bobby Crosby. 

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Blake Dewitt has suprised everyone with his play this year.  Andy Laroche was supposed to be the starting 3B for the Dodgers and was their future at that position.  Since Laroche went down with an injury and Nomar was hurt, the Dodgers smartly decided to promote from within instead of trying to trade for a veteran bum.  Much to their surprise, Dewitt has hit for an OPS of .894.  His career minor league OPS is only .777, which means that he's clearly overachieving right now.  But, I think he's quickly becoming sort of a fan favorite and probably a favorite of Torre.  He's smart, works hard, and is hitting well... all when he was supposed to be filling Laroche's spot in AAA.   Does

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Jason Stark wrote that the A's are among a couple other clubs mildly interested in Sweeney.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3225433

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Beane called Kotsay to notify him that the A's and Braves are discussing a deal.  The A's would receive a mid-level prospect.

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/sha...

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Edison Volquez was traded by the Rangers to the Reds for Josh Hamilton.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/1...

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Here's an angle that no one here has talked about yet.  Most people have concluded that Beane saw the injury progress in Az and wasn't confident in what he saw.  I'm not saying I think this, but is it possible Beane was so impressed with Harden that he decided it was worth the risk to trade Haren?

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The following is a novice's attempt to show how Beane can "rebuild" the team by shipping off parts that can still keep the team competitive next year or the year after.

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I have to say nothing more about the A's offense than it stinks.  Case closed.  It's time to think about next year and think about how the A's improve their offense relatively cheap.  

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This is lovely.

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A newspaper in Seattle is suggesting that Jeremy Reed is on the trade block and stands a decent chance of getting traded.  Apparently, the M's want Ichiro to play center, which makes Reed expendable.  

According to MLBtradrumors, baseball prospectus has him at a .732 OPS this year with excellent defense.  He's basically a younger and healthier version of Mark Kotsay.  

What would it take to get him?  I bet Brad Halsey or Joe Kennedy (and his bigger salary).  He could be the starting CF for a couple years and bridge the gap between our current OF and the guys in A and AA.  

There would probably be two possible fatal problems if the A's are interested.  A team like the Marlins (in the market for a CF) would be able to offer more, and I don't know if the M's would trade in their division.  

What does everyone else think?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/02/ms_could_trade_.html

[editor's note, by brenarlo] I typed my comments wrong. I meant to say that I'm sure this is possible.

According to Roto Authority, the A's rotation will have an ERA of 4.06.  I'm not sure how this is possible.  Here are my guesses for ERAs and innings pitched:

Harden:  110 innings; ERA 3.19; 39 ERs
Haren:  215 innings; ERA 3.64; 87 ERs
Loizia:  170 innings; ERA 3.81; 72 ERs
Blanton:  200 inning; ERA 4.50; 100 ERs
Kennedy/Windsor/etc:  250 innings; ERA 4.82; 134  

Keep in mind that Kennedy/etc... has so many innings because they'll have to eat up innings from inevitable injuries.  

This combined ERA is 4.11, which is pretty close to their predictions.  The innings totals are based on slightly less than six innings per start.  

Rotoauthority also predicts that the A's 4.06 ERA is good enough for 4th in the American League.  This is encouraging.

Now we just need to score a few more runs...

http://www.rotoauthority.com/2007/01/best_starting_r_1.html