Hey guys and gals. I don't usually do fanposts but I found something interesting after a thought I had last night. Is Wallace a better bet going forward than Barton?

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I just looked at the score of the Angels game on yahoo! and it says that Howie Kendrick left the game due to a jammed finger and Francisco Rodriguez left the game due to an ankle injury. It seems to me that the Angels may have gotten the injury hex that the A's had the last few years. Lackey, Escobar, Shields, and now these two! Next thing you know Vlad's car is going to get broken into and his passport, IPod and hand moisturizer will get stolen leaving him useless for two months. The division seems as wide open as it's been in years and I believe it's time for the Gonzalezeses to play and win!

What a good PR move that would be. There have been rumors around for a while now that Tejada is available. He has 2 years left on his contract for 13 million a year.

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Ok this probably has as least as much to do with Beane as Geren but he's the one publicly making the decision.

Giving Haren the opening day start is good because he's the resident ace still around based on last year's performance. The decision to give Harden the 3rd spot rather than the second is the part that I like the best. Telling everybody that it's because he'll get the home opener is perfect. This seems fair to everyone involved and makes great baseball sense as well because of the injury risk that Harden presents.

Harden was put in the #3 hole because of the importance of the starters to provide consistency for the bullpen. I think many teams with poor rotations have a sort of domino effect when the starters come out of the game early a few days in a row and the bullpen gets taxed.

In my opinion Haren and then Blanton can be counted on for the most conistent innings on the staff. Loaiza has been an innings eater for a number of years but missed time last year. Before spring training started I wondered how they would line up the pitching staff and hoped they would do it the way they did.

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While I was reading http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/pinch-hitting-specialists-a-history/ this interesting history of the use of pinch hitting  I got back to my thinking about how we can use Frank Thomas most efficiently. My thinking was that if he's a huge injury risk / good hitter when in, then getting him the most at-bats at crucial points in the game would be a benefit.

But Niall, having him hit behind Chavez will get Chavvy better pitches to hit!

Niall: Oh ya, well having him on the bench will prevent the other team from using left handed relievers in late innings.

But Niall having him in the everyday lineup will get him in the batters box the most while leaving him on the bench is a waste.

Niall: We can make the playoffs without him, so why not try and keep him healthy for the playoffs when we'll need him most!

from mlb.com

SBC Park's unique right-field configuration -- the long, narrow arcade where fans have craned their necks watching Barry Bonds' historic blasts fly into McCovey Cove -- is about to get a facelift.
The Giants announced an agreement Friday on a five-year partnership with San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. to sponsor the right-field section, which will be renamed Levi's Landing.

The philosophies of the A's and Giants couldn't get any more different even more so now that the Giants are in jean selling business.

Did nobody else notice this? I'll be much more inclined to watch Diamonbacks games now. How many balls will be hit directly over him and he'll stand there not knowing whats going on, only to make a diving miss for a triple or inside the park hr? Should be good to watch and I hope he has a great season. [editor's note, by niallmack]He was a perfect 1 for 0 in SB attempts on turf last year.

After a turbulent yet successful first year of starting from Haren and Blanton I wanted to look at their stats vs. Hudson and Mulder's. I'll throw in Zito and Harden's numbers for fun. Here's the minor league totals according to thebaseballcube.com and the ages are their first season with 10+ starts.

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Now that the A's offseason plans seem to be coming together I wanted to take a look at their chances of beating the team they finished second to in their division the last two years.

According to the Zips projections made available by Dan Szymborski at www.baseballthinkfactory.org we have the advantage at many offensive positions most notably at SS, and 3B. The Angels RF covered for now and haven't made any major offseason moves thus far but here are the projections for these three spots.

Name      Avg     OBP    SLG
Crosby    .270    .353   .448   
Cabrera   .264    .317   .379
AVG AL SS .276    .331   .412   

Chavez    .278    .361   .493
McPherson .249    .316   .493
AVG AL 3B .266    .329   .428

Bradley   .291    .378   .462   
Vlad      .327    .400   .571
AVG AL RF .270    .332   .451

As it stands right now the Angels will put Mathis or a younger Molina in at catcher who both project to have a disappointing year and by disappointing I mean terrible. They can't get Bengie back and both catchers have a projected OBP of .281 while Kendall's is .364.

The Angels also have Hector Corrasco slated to be their number 5 starter even though he has started 6 games in his career and didn't play in the MLB in 2004...

Looks like they gotta trade some of that "amazing" farm system or wait until after next year to see the playoffs.