SB Nation User Blog: brenarlo

Peavy to White Sox?

brenarlo — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:27:21 -0000

Interesting..

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

A move like this certainly shakes up the AL Central. I'm anxious to see what the prospects were. THe article indicates that it's not Beckham.

I'm wondering which prospects the Sox have to get this thing done. Or maybe the Padres were just in pure salary dump mode. I guess we'll see.

It's interesting to note that the White Sox are 5.5 games out and are adding major pieces to their team. The A's are 7 games out and we're all talking about dumping anything of value that we have.

What does everyone think?

Final Predictions

brenarlo — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:45:36 -0000

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

Red Sox
Rays
Yankees
Orioles
Blue Jays

AL Central

Twins
Indians
White Sox
Tigers
Royals

AL West

Angels
A's
Rangers
Mariners

NL East

Mets
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Nationals

NL Central

Cubs
Cardinals
Brewers
Reds
Astros
Pirates

NL West

Dodgers
D'Backs
Rockies
Giants
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!

DLD - 4/2/09 - Devine done?

brenarlo — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:29:57 -0000

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.

Uh-oh!

Collectively, the A's starting five has only 18 wins. They have combined for 63 starts, and 59 of those belong to Braden and Eveland.

Anderson and Cahill made the team out of their first major league spring training.

Braden, who draws the opening-night assignment Monday against the Los Angeles Angels, is the oldest of the group at 25 years, 7 months. Also of note, the A's are going with four left-handers and one right-hander (Cahill).

Could be another long year in Oakland.

Dump away!

Law: Anderson's stuff and polish are big league ready

brenarlo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:07:17 -0000

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.

Oakland's trade of Dan Haren looked at the time like a bid for quantity over quality, but the rapid progression of left-hander Brett Anderson has changed that.
Anderson, the 20th-best prospect in baseball and the third-best left-handed prospect, showed great command of a four-pitch mix on Sunday along with excellent feel for pitching. Anderson was 91-93 mph with good life on the pitch, and mixed in a sharp two-plane curve from 76-81 mph, an above-average changeup with great arm speed from 82-84 mph and a short cutter/slider in the same range as the changeup. He threw everything for strikes and showed uncanny feel for a pitcher his age, setting hitters up, changing speeds, and changing eye levels.
He's a quick worker with an aggressive approach and a clean delivery that he repeats well. Anderson only has six starts above A-ball, but he's never been challenged in pro ball, and both his stuff and polish are big-league ready.

I don't think anyone is surprised that Anderson is close to major league ready. People at AN have been raving about this guy and I think we all known that Anderson is like Mulder (great polish, great mechanics, etc...), while Cahill is like Hudson (dynamite splitter).

I am really surprised that Law complimented Anderson so much, as he generally does not like the A's.

Of course, after the nice words about Anderson he ripped Ross and Hunter.

A's STILL fighting injury bug

brenarlo — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:48:03 -0000

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.

Duke - elbow problem and hasn't pitched (always battles injuries)
Devine - elbow problem (always battles injuries)
Chavez - still hasn't played in the field and we've been hearing he's ready for a week now (always battles injuries)
Ellis - was supposed to be ready by now but still isn't throwing
Barton - leg problem

Throw those on top of the fact that...

Giambi is always battling injuries
Nomar is always battling injuries
Buck is always battling injuries
Gallagher seems to be frequently injured

I'm getting nervous. Am I overreacting?

Early Schedule and Pitching Staff Issues

brenarlo — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:23:32 -0000

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

Let's assume that this is the starting rotation:

Duke
Eveland
Gallahger
Braden
Gonzalez

Here's how the season would probably go:
4/6 - Duke 4/7 - Eveland 4/8 - Gallahger 4/9 - Braden 4/10 - Gonzalez 4/11 - Duke 4/12 - Eveland 4/13 - Gallahger 4/14 - Braden 4/15 - Gonzalez 4/16 - OFF 4/17 - Duke 4/18 - Eveland 4/19 - Gallahger 4/20 - Braden 4/21 - Gonzalez 4/22 - Duke 4/23 - OFF
With the young pitching staff, which tends to throw a lot of pitches, and an unfavorable schedule, it looks like they'll have to carry 12 pitchers. Would 13 even be out of the question? I'd suggest having Duke go on 4 days rest after his first start, but he's so injury-prone.

Jan 15 DLD - It's c-c-c-cold here!

brenarlo — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:52:13 -0000

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.

I don't buy it. The only way I see Beane entering into these negotiations is if acquiring Nick Johnson means that Crosby and Barton are being shipped somewhere else to bring in a SS. Johnson isn't needed and if he was he'd be hurt.

My hands are freezing up... so I'll let everyone dump away! It's supposed to be 28 degrees here tomorrow which is a 72 degree swing (and it's still not above freezing!)

DLD 1/8/09

brenarlo — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:03:41 -0000

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?!?!

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/38941

If Cabrera can be signed for 2 years and $15-18 million I think I'd be on board. From the discussion already held on AN it seems as though he'd be a marginal upgrade over Crosby, but if the A's plan on contending then any upgrade is welcome... especially if it's at a position where there's no young long-term solution.

Rosterbation: Can't hit lefties

brenarlo — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:23:37 -0000

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.

Here is my projected lineup with their last year's OPS against lefties:

1) Buck LH (.546) - RF

2) Ellis RH (.535) - 2B

3) Giambi LH (.842) - 1B

4) Holliday RH (.896) - LF

5) Cust LH (.822) - DH

6) Chavez LH (.749) - 3B (2005)

7) Suzuki RH (.652) - C

8) Sweeney LH (.517) - CF

9) Crosby RH (.641) - SS

There were 3 hitters that had an OPS of over .800. Two of them hit left-handed strangely enough. What's troubling is that 1/3 of the lineup had an OPS un .600 against LHPs.

I'm not sure how many lefties the A's face per year, but it's safe to say they'll see their fair share in the late innings of games.

The weakest hitters against lefties in this lineup also play positions with no immediate "better" option. Ellis has to play 2B. Suzuki has to catch. Sweeney or Buck have to play CF.

How do we solve this dilema. Are their any low cost FAs available that can hit lefties we could get to bring in off the bench?

How old are you?

brenarlo — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:29:26 -0000

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.

As I become more and more familiar with everyone's views I have begun to "like" certain users more than others. That could be because they're thoughts are more in line with mine or because they're articulate. There are a lot of other reasons too.

It dawned on me this morning. I don't know what the age is of any of the users. Obviously, some people remember taking their kids to the 1989 World Series, so we get an idea of how old they are... but by and large I don't know anyone's age.

Who knows... maybe I'll be blown away that the users I trust most on AN are 14 years old. Maybe they're 55. I don't know....

With that being said... let's have an age poll.

How old are you?

I'm 26 by the way.

Poll

How old are you?

10-18

41 votes

19-25

123 votes

26-32

121 votes

33-40

85 votes

41-50

47 votes

50+

28 votes

445 votes | Poll has closed