SB Nation User Blog: solotar

Giambi: One Out Away From .199

solotar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:37:25 -0000

I love the facial hair, and man those were some good times. But, uh, Giambi can't really hit any more. i know with Crosby and Hannahan and Davis and so forth in the lineup, Giambi doesn't really stand out. But it's kind of interesting that G seems to get a free pass. Yeah, he walks and he'll hit a home run now and then. But he plays a pretty lousy first base and he's about to be hitting .199. Would it make sense for the A's to simply cut him and put Barton there every day? You know the defense would improve tremendously, and it's hard to believe Barton wouldn't hit, I don't know, .220 but without the walks.

What To Do With Zito ...

solotar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:19:04 -0000

Be realistic for a moment: what should the Giants do with Zito? He got killed again today: lots of walks, lots of hits, 5 runs in 2 innings. He isn't just bad any more. He isn't just really bad. He's the worst pitcher in all of baseball. What should the Giants do?

I tend to think they should send him down to AAA, but what do I know?

Here's what I do know: the Giants are actually a reasonably interesting, reasonably likable, reasonably competititve team. Without Zito, they might actually have a decent shot at getting to .500.

I like Sabean, too. Whenever you hear the guy on KNBR he always seems like a kind and decent human being. But on the same day I sent Zito down, I'd fire Sabean. You just can't sign a contract like that to Barry Zito and keep your job. No way.

Worst Game Ever?

solotar — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:19:13 -0000

Hard to argue with that game Lidle pitched, game 4 of the ALCS against the Yankees. Hard to argue with the A's going 0 for 13 (was it?) with RISP in game 1 of the ALCS against the Tigers.

But then there was tonight. I made the first 7 innings and just couldn't take it any more and had to come home. Now they're going to the 10th and I can't bring myself to watch. 20 walks, horrible situational hitting (hey, Bobby, runners on first and third, the pitcher has walked everybody in sight ... no check swings into DPs, OK?) and, above all, a personal commitment never to pay money to watch another game started by Eveland. That guy just hates throwing strikes. Chad Gaudin, please!

I've never seen a guy look at horrible at Willis looked tonight give up no runs. The A's couldn't catch up with his 84 mph fastball. Ug.

Chavvy Prediction Time ...

solotar — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:49:56 -0000

With Chavvy set to come back soon, and apparently fully healthy, I'd be curious to know what ANers think he will do this year. Yeah, it will probably take him some time to adjust to big league pitching again, etc., but what you do you think Chavvy will do over the course of the rest of the season?

Here's my prediction: Chavvy will play a fabulous, glorious third base and you'll again shake your head in wonder that 'he got that ball'. You'll be reminded what a joy it is just to watch Chavvy play third. (And with Barton at first, Ellis at second, BoCro at short, Suzuzi behind the plate and sometimes Rajai Davis in center, you'll see a lot of clubs get discouraged when the A's defense wins a good number of games ...)

Offense from Chavvy will be more of a challenge. Chavvy will hit about .265, with so-so power and so-so run production (equivalent to 20 HRs and 85 RBIs over a full season.) He'll be a complete disaster with runners in scoring position in close games, especially in later innings when he'll see lots of left-handed relief pitchers. Left handers that throw him curve balls will eat him up, and he'll swing at a lot of pitches 8 inches outside, and take a lot of pitches right down the middle. Looking back, you'll note that most of his home runs will come in games and ABs in which the A's are either well ahead or well behind, and his HR did nothing to change the outcome of the game.

In summary, and in short, I predict that the injury-free Chavvy of 2008 will play a lot like the injury-plagued Chavvy of 2006 and 2007: great glove, frustrating offense.

Dollar Off Per Hit? Help, Please...

solotar — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:35:27 -0000

Although I go to about 20 A's games a year I never actually buy tickets at the box office. I always buy them from the scalpers on the bridge from BART. So what's this about $1 off Sunday tickets for every A's hit tonight? Do I buy these tickets on line somewhere by entering some special code? Pick them up at willcall? Help, please. Daddy's little girl wants a chocolate malt. (Good advice: If your kids are learning to sit through a whole ball game, tell them they can have the ice cream or the cotton candy in the 5th inning. My daughter has learn the 3 outs per inning, 2 halves to an inning think very, very quickly ...)

Competing with the Yankees

solotar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:21:57 -0000

Nice to see our small market club in first place, and I was just going to enjoy it for a while. Then I saw this on the internet today:

A friend called last week to tell me he'd been offered 4 season tickets at the new Yankee stadium. 4th row behind home plate. Wider seats with covers. Food is free.

Cost -$850. per seat, per game.
81 game season.
$68,850. for one seat.
$275,400. for 4.

Can you imagine what the Yankees payroll can be if they can get $275,000 for 4 season tickets? Ug ...

Is Crosby Dumb?

solotar — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:02:35 -0000

Like most on AN, I know I spend too much time following the A's.

But did you read what Crosby said to the Chron this morning?:

Crosby got the MLB TV package so he could follow the A's while away from the team, but he wasn't entirely up to date.

"I was kind of embarrassed today," Crosby said. "I came in and I didn't know Adam Melhuse was with us again. I was like, 'OK, the Rangers were just here... did Adam stay back after they were here?' For 15 seconds, I was totally flustered."

Not to be unkind, because the guy has always seemed like a good guy, but ... is Crosby stupid?

Remember the time when the A's were hoping to get Crosby back for a playoff series but his back tightened up when he walked a shopping mall all day the day before Game 1?

Wasn't that, um, stupid?

Not making an argument. Truly. Just wondering.

Mark Ellis Bobblehead

solotar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:36:20 -0000

ANers know I have a long-time and exaggerated sense of the worth and contribution of Mark Ellis. I'm 43 years old and actually have the Ellis name on an A's jersey - how pathetic is that?

Anyway, I see that the A's have a Mark Ellis bobblehead game on August 28, but I'm going to be out of town that day.

If an ANer picks up an extra one, I'd sure appreciate the opportunity to take it off your hands.

Just let me know, and thanks,

Solotar.

AN Goes to All Star Game at ATT Park

solotar — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:35:27 -0000

I lucked into amazing tickets at the last minute for last night's All Star Game. I've been to 4 All Star Games now (the last 3 Bay Area games plus 1979's in Seattle) and this was the most interesting game of the four. I particularly like the sensation of hesitating, for one night, to consider what it would be like to have Vladdy on my team (the A's) in right field and Jeter at short and so forth. Probably about as useful as scanning Sports Illustrated and wondering it would be like to be dating Petra Nemcova. It was still nice to boo Lackey - lustily.

As much fun as I had once the game began, what struck me was how poorly the festivities were presented. For the hour before the game the scoreboard blared awful music at volumes much, much too loud. Interspersed with that were lame clips from the All Star parade from the day before. Gee, David Ortiz's 3-year old son had a birthday. I came to the Park early to watch boring TV?

We knew in advance there was going to be a Mays tribute, but it was astonishingly tame and lame. Virtually no information about his career was presented. There were few photo clips. There were no video clips. He wandered in from center field, and so even from my seats (which were great) he spent most of his time about 400 feet away from the crowd. He stayed close to Barry the whole time, so it was impossible to keep a smile on your face for long. And they kept playing this faux-inspirational John Tesh-style crappy music at outrageous volumes. It was like an endless loop of dot racing. Shup up already. Finally Mays got into a car and attempted to throw balls to the crowd, except that half of them went into the backstop netting. How hard would it have been to have Mays sign 100 balls and have the players throw them into the crowd? The whole thing was extremely disappointing. When the music stopped briefly as he left the field ... dead silence. Indeed, whenever the music stopped, even during the game, it was amazing how quiet the crowd was.

Finally the game began and you got that awful, awful, awful, awful, awful Giants PA announcer. I mean she is just incredible. What could she possibly do worse to get fired? I recognize San Francisco is the capital of political correctness, and I suppose as a black woman she's a two-fer, but for crying out loud: Jessye Norman would be just fine, thanks. She makes even the best names sound like fingers-on-a-blackboard schreeches.

Thankfully, the game itself. Long-time ANers know I have a pathetic weakness for Ichiro. I just love that guy - everything he does. It's kind of amazing to watch a game of All Stars, though, and realize how superior the guy looks - not counting Jose Reyes. Like Tony Dorsett, he doesn't run; he glides. Can't wait to tell my grandchildren I saw him at the All Star Game. After the game he joked that he could hit 40 HRs if the Mariners would let him bat .220, "but no one wants that," he said. Wouldn't it be nice to be a fly on Jimmy Sexton's wall when that comment gets read?

If you ever have the chance - go to the All Star Game. It's terrific fun. Just bring your ear plugs.

Critical Two Weeks For the A's...

solotar — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:19:34 -0000

For my money, this whole Bradley thing make me sick, and I think him being gone clearly makes the team worse on both offense and defense going into the most important two weeks of their schedule. But enough about Milton. Look at the next couple of weeks:
.

The Angels play 6 at home against Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Then they play 3 at Baltimore. Then 3 at Texas.

Consider the timing: Pittsburgh sucks, and just got shut out for the second time in a row by the M's. KC is KC. Baltimore has no manager and no Miggy. Texas is Texas. What's a realistic worst case scenario for the Halos? 7-5? What's a realistic best case? 11-1?

As for the A's ... they play the next 10 on the road - against the first place Mets, the first place Indians, the surging Yankees, and then they come home to play Toronto. It looks like the A's might miss Halladay, but still, what's a realistic best case for the A's? 6-4? Worst case? 2-8?

Not trying to predict the future with any precision, but let's face it: if last place clubs play like last place clubs and first place clubs play like first place clubs, the chances of the A's being 10 out in two weeks and heading to the All Star break looking real bad are very, very good. Would love to write at that time that I was dead, flat wrong ... but I'm just looking at the numbers