SB Nation User Blog: mrfox

How Billy got his Holliday...

mrfox — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:32:24 -0000

Just when I was thinking about whether or not to continue producing my graphics, Billy appears to have completed another "A-trade"...

...and I guessed it was time to try to give a visual perspective of how the A's got here:

Note: Just to say that I know this (almost) breaks the rules on word count but fanshots don't allow a high enough resolution for anyone to be able to see any of the detail...

The unicorn to stay?

mrfox — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:04:35 -0000

According to Susan Slusser Mark Ellis is to re-sign!

Unlike many of the team's prominent free agents in recent years, Mark Ellis will be staying in Oakland. The second baseman is set to sign a multiyear deal with the A's, and an announcement is expected in the next day or two.

It will be interesting to see the size/length of the contract and the impact it might have on the A's prospects particularly Cardenas

Your 2008 Oakland Athletics - A Visual History

mrfox — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:05 -0000

This is my attempt to keep track of the revolving door franchise that is the 2008 Oakland A's and provide a visual guide to who's who and how they came to play for the A's...

June 1984 - Drafting Mark McGwire eventually led to Jack Hannahan...

July 1986 - Signing Mike Bordick introduced Keith Foulke who returned in 2008...

June 1987 - Drafting Scott Brosius produced Joey Devine...

June 1992 - Drafting Jason Giambi gave us Joe Blanton who brought in Josh Outman...

June 1994 - Drafting Ben Grieve produced Mark Ellis, Ryan Sweeney, Travis Buck and Gio Gonzalez...

...whilst we also drafted Emil Brown who later returned to the fold in 2008...

December 1994 - Signing Luis Vizcaino gave us Justin Duchscherer...

June 1996 - We drafted Eric Chavez...

June 1997 - Drafting Tim Hudson brought in Dan Meyer...

...and drafting Chad Harville introduced Kirk Saarloos who came back this year...

July 1997 - Signing Miguel Tejada gave us Huston Street...

June 1998 - Drafting Mark Mulder led us to Kiko Calero, Daric Barton, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham...

January 2000 - We signed Jairo Garcia a.k.a. Santiago Casilla...

June 2000 - We drafted Rich Harden, who along with Chad Gaudin, became Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton and Eric Patterson...

June 2001 - We drafted Bobby Crosby,...

Dan Johnson,...

and Marcus McBeth who gave us Chris Denorfia,...

July 2001 - We signed Gregorio Petit...

June 2002 - Drafting Bill Murphy gave us Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins...

June 2003 - We drafted Andre Ethier who "became" Andrew Brown...

June 2004 - Saw us draft Kurt Suzuki...

and Dallas Braden...

and Jeff Gray...

and pick up Brad Ziegler...

November 2004 - We sign Jack Cust who returned in 2007...

June 2005 - Oakland draft Cliff Pennington...

and Jeff Baisley...

January 2006 - We sign Frank Thomas for the first time, and do it again for 2008...

November 2006 - We purchase Donnie Murphy...

December 2006 - Alan Embree joins us...

February 2007 - We grab Lenny DiNardo....

November 2007 - We acquired Wes Bankston off waivers from the Royals...

December 2007 - We take Fernando Hernandez (briefly) from the White Sox...

...and sign free agent Brooks Conrad...

January 2008 - We grab Jeff Fiorentino...

February 2008 - We sign Mike Sweeney...

and in April 2008 - We take Rajai Davis from across the Bay...

Billy's Transactions - A Visual History

mrfox — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:10:53 -0000

I've been toying with the idea of documenting some of Billy's trades for a while and having found nothing like this elsewhere on-line I thought I'd start posting a few of the "trading routes" that I've pulled together.

I'm just experimenting with a visual way of representing the "blood lines" involved in some of Billy's bigger moves - any feedback welcome...

First up is Mark Mulder's legacy, which is fairly topical as Greg Smith makes his first start in the Majors tonight...

A question or two about transactions...

mrfox — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:38:27 -0000

Having looked at various MLB sites I'm struggling to piece together a solid understanding of how baseball contracts work and in particular the details of intra-club transactions. I've put together a brief summary of how I think things work but if anyone can validate the meaning of the following types of transaction I'd be very grateful?

"player A has been selected" = added to 40 man roster for the first time having been signed/drafted by the Major League team

"purchased the contract of player B from AAA-Sacramento" = added to 40 man roster for the first time having been signed to a minor league contract

"player C has been optioned to AAA" - removed from active roster but retains place on 40 man roster

"player D has been recalled" - added to active roster, having already been on 40 man roster

"player E has been outrighted to AAA" - removed from both active and 40 man roster, but remains under club control

"player F has been sent down" - same as player E?

"player G has been called up" - same as player D?

Also, what is a "conditional deal"?