SB Nation User Blog: johnjahafanclub

Rays to Get Burrell at 2 yrs/16 mil?

johnjahafanclub — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:58:42 -0000

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/01/rays-close-to-s.html

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Rays are close to signing Pat Burrell to a two-year, $16MM deal. It'd be a solid move, as the Rays can increase his value by not using him in the field. The '08 Rays struggled against lefties (.726 OPS) and Burrell crushes them (.952 OPS in '08).

Wow!

#1: This should significantly bring Giambi's/Dunn's/John Jaha's price down for us.

#2: We should try to outbid the Rays for Burrell at that price!

Eck the Broadcaster (interview)

johnjahafanclub — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:23:26 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Dennis-Eckersley-hates-when-you-call-his-hairsty;_ylt=AsweQiJ_sigWoawRDKUOMSwRvLYF?urn=mlb,113578

Dennis Eckersley hates when you call his hairstyle a mullet

Dennis Eckersley still has a closer's mentality. When you sit down and talk to him it's easy to see why TBS hired the Hall of Fame pitcher to be an analyst. Eck had no fear on the mound and now he has no fear when it comes to offering up an opinion — from the Rays to his long hair — as I found out last Friday during my behind-the-scenes look at TBS' Inside MLB studios in Atlanta.

This is the first interview in a set of Q & A's with the show's personalities.

Gallagher Injury Vent Thread

johnjahafanclub — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:53:05 -0000

Word on the street is Gallagher is hurt. Are the A's just running into a string of bad luck (trading hudson for meyer, record DL uses two seasons in a row, and now trading major injury risk Harden for supposedly solid Gallagher) or are they not checking out players enough before the trade for them? I personally think it's just bad luck but it's news like this that makes me second guess myself...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/05/SPK7125IO5.DTL

"Potentially more bad news for the A's, who have lost 17 of 19: Starter Sean Gallagher, obtained in the Rich Harden deal last month, is likely to go on the disabled list today to make room for Gonzalez. Gallagher has had some shoulder soreness, which might account for his four walks and two hit batters in three innings Monday. Dan Meyer is expected to take Gallagher's spot in the rotation, at least initially."

"The A's have not announced that Gallagher will be placed on the DL, but after Tuesday's game, manager Bob Geren confirmed that the right-hander has some shoulder discomfort. Earlier in the day, he had mentioned that Gallagher's next start might be pushed back but he did not explain why that might be."

*** UPDATE *** A'sfaninNC points to some rotoworld news: "Sean Gallagher is expected to go on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. That explains the wildness Monday. A source told the San Francisco Chronicle that Gallagher felt a “pop” in the shoulder in his July 25 start against Texas."

Why the hell would he go out and start again 5 days later after feeling a pop? I'm going to give the medical staff the benefit of the doubt and assume that he did not tell them about the pop. Geren needs to sit the team down and tell them if they are hurt they need to tell the training staff (hint, hint huston street) and that hiding it always makes it worse.

Ziggy Pitch Trajectory Breakdown

johnjahafanclub — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:43:50 -0000

Interesting Breakdown of Ziggy's mechanics over at Hardball Times...

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/brad-ziegler-al-rookie-of-the-year/

"The vertical difference between the straight-line trajectory and the actual trajectory is 11.5 inches, almost an entire foot! A batter used to adjusting his swing down by four or five inches for a Blanton fastball will swing right over the top of a Ziegler fastball."

Obviously opposing batters know by now that Ziggy throws a lot lower than normal pitchers. I assume that they are trying to adjust their swings downward. Even with them getting second and third looks at him it will probably still be hard to fully adjust because of all the built up muscle memory etc. It will be interesting to see how things go these next two months.

On a sidenote, question: will Ziggy break Hersheiser's record this season or next season? Follow-up question: will ESPN give him 15 seconds of coverage or 20 seconds of coverage after he breaks said record?

Street or Blanton to Philly Rumors

johnjahafanclub — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:14:41 -0000

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/SPHC11PNK3.DTL

" The Harden deal increases the chances that the A's could make more moves before July 31, with Street and starter Joe Blanton potentially on the block. Rumors about Blanton and Philadelphia gained speed Tuesday, and there were also rumblings that teams have interest in Duchscherer. There's still a chance, even with Oakland six games behind the Angels in the AL West, that the A's will move to pick up a big right-handed bat, a need they have this year and beyond."

What does everyone make of this?

Philly has pat burrell but no way are they trading him slash no way can we afford his salary. Is beane going for jayson werth? He seems kind of old at 29 and not a good power bat, just a mediocre one, but good obp.

Not many righty power prospects in philly's system. Dominic brown is a lefty. I'd be stoked on getting adrian cardenas, a future mark ellis replacement, but he bats lefty. Lou Marson has good obp but is a catcher which we don't really need.

A's Sign Rajai Davis, Demote Saarloos

johnjahafanclub — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:42:33 -0000

Am I just really tired and out of it or does espn have an article up titled "A's claim OF Davis off waivers, designate Saarloos for assignment"???

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3364298

I guess I'm not surprised we demoted Saarloos because we have good ol' Lenny D (ps: lenny d haters can go to hell... dude is my hero for outpitching the bosox's 100 million dollar pitcher June 5th last year). But obviously with all the reports about Big Hurt one would have figured we would be replacing Saarloos with Hurt, not Rajai Davis. Rajai is a nice player but is very anti-moneyball... pure speed and no slugging... although he does have a decent obp. I am extremely shocked we claimed Rajai.

pps: BB: dump rajai asap and sign Hurt!

ppps: Hurt detractors: you can't use Mike Sweeney's first home run of the season today as an excuse for not needing to sign a better power hitting DH. One homer doesn't mean Sweeney all of a sudden developed .540 slg% pop (Hurt, 2006), or even .480 slg% pop (Hurt, 2007) for that matter. We need Hurt asap.

pppps: "Meanwhile, Oakland right-hander Rich Harden threw off the mound for the first time since going on the disabled list April 3 with a strained throwing shoulder. He is slated to pitch in a simulated game Saturday in Seattle as his next step."... what is the over/under on whether harden hurts himself saturday and doesn't resume throwing for 3 months???

A's Should Trade Ellis

johnjahafanclub — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:02:58 -0000

I think the A's should trade Ellis to the Rockies for Ian Stewart. Ellis is in his prime and may be in decline by the time we are ready to compete in 2009/2010. Ian Stewart can flat out mash... but he's blocked in Colorado by another young 3b - Garret Atkins. Perfect opportunity for us to swoop in and trade for him. The Rockies have been using Jayson Nix at 2b and he is terrible. They really need a 2b. They also need starting pitching so maybe Beane should offer one of our 12 or so young starters or Joe Blanton for Ian Stewart.

From yahoo:

"Stewart, the Rockies' No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, is on a roll for Triple-A Colorado Springs, hitting .318 with three home runs, 12 RBIs, 10 runs and two steals through 11 games. His path to Denver is complicated by the fact that he plays the same position as Garrett Atkins. He auditioned at second base this spring, but Colorado opted for the better defensive option in Jayson Nix. If Nix continues his sub-Mendoza Line ways, perhaps the Rockies will decide that Stewart's bat could win them more games than his glove would lose. If not, he, or Atkins, will need to be dealt to open up playing time."

We need a 3b to replace Chavez. Hanahan and Murphy are not long term solutions at 3b. I say the time is ripe for Beane to jump into the trade market! Stewart is blocked similar to Carlos Gonzalez at Arizona. Great opportunity here.