I thought Channel 89 was supposed to start for bay area comcast people in early March.  It still doesn't work for me.  Is this the right channel for Comcast California?  Help?  I'm both a big Kings and A's fan and I was looking forward to this channel.  Is it actually starting in April?  I know that the Kings are in the tank, but I want to see every A's game this year for sure!

I hate when people compare new players to Hall-Of-Famers.  Yet I am going to do it here more to complete my argument than to say "Kurt Suzuki is going to be the next Craig Biggio." 

Basically I'm saying we should at least tinker with the idea of moving Kurt to 2B.  Especially as Donaldson moves up the system.  And now that Bowen is showing he can play. My reason is simple: At this point, it looks like Zook's bat is too important to not have in every game.  But the opposition of that is we cannot afford to wear him down at catcher 140 games a season.

The reason i chose Biggio is obvious, his bat meant too much to the Astros to keep behind the plate.  And at age 24 (Kurt's age going into this season), Kurt actually has better "slash" stats.  (Kurt: .300/.354/.399/.753; Biggio in 1990: .276/.342/.348/.690).  That was the year that Biggio played 150 games because they couldn't keep his bat out of the lineup.  So they gave him "days off" by playing him in the outfield.  Obviously Biggio has more a penchant for stealing bases than Kurt (Biggio had 25 SBs in 1990 and 11 CS, where as Kurt has 2 SBs and 2 CSs) which made him a more prototypical leadoff hitter, but nevertheless Kurt should be hitting first or second with our current lineup. 

So with Ellis likely to leave after this year, i say have Crosby/Pennington/Petit fight it out for the starting SS and 2B spots, but begin to have Kurt try out 2B and outfield.  Look, our team is offensively deprived.  And we can't keep Kurt's bat out of the lineup.  But we also can't have him behind the plate EVERY SINGLE GAME. 

So lets at least take a look at what he can do at other positions.  It worked for Biggio.  What do you guys think?

Ok, so I've been playing MLB 2k8.  And it's pretty depressing being the A's in that game. Aside from the fact that Carlos Gonzalez, Ziggy, and Greg Smith do not exist, Zook is horribly slow, the team doesn't even have Mike Sweeney or Frank Thomas, and Ryan Sweeney sucks, there's the fact that Harden and Chavez are by far the best players. 

So I did what any A's fan would do, i stole the best prospects from teams we traded with (usually with names of non-existent players), and re-named them.  For example, the Diamondbacks have a latin 22-year old and white 23-year old pitcher.  I stole them and named them Gio Gonzalez and Greg Smith.

I also created Carlos Gonzalez and adjust his and Swooney's ratings to the 77 & 78.  It got me thinking, why don't I just create the A's of the future team and name them the players in our system that (at this time) look like the favorites to be on that club? 

Now obviously, some of the guys that are on the current team that aren't on the roster I put together will be traded for some more prospects, but this is what I think our 2010 roster looks like including just players in the organization currently:

Starting with the Batting Order:

1. 2B Jemile Weeks - the first pick of the 2008 draft looks like the eventual replacement for Ellis long-term, and is the best defender among the three possible current 2B prospects I have on this roster.

2. RF Ryan Sweeney - By 2010 I expect these two will be nearing their all-star potential.  I think Sweeney will be a .300+/.450+/.400 guy.

3. CF Carlos Gonzalez - See Sweeney, add power.

4. DH Chris Carter - I know it's pushing it a little to have a guy in the lineup who's only currently in Stockton, but we need power.  Badly.  And if there's anything he can do, it's be Jack Cust.

5. LF Jack Cust - Speak of the devil.  Yes, you can hit .220 and still start for us when we're trying to compete if a.) you can hit the tar out of the ball and b.) you can OBP .400 in the process.  And with, essentially, 2 CF's out there he has less ground to cover.

6. C Kurt Suzuki - I have my doubts about him staying behind the plate.  I'm wondering if his bat and speed becomes too important to what we do to risk losing him to injury.  But we only have Donaldson as a legit prospect in the pipeline, so I'm sticking him here.

7. 1B Sean Doolittle - More power is good.

8. 3B Adrian Cardenas - I think he'll eventually move to third.  And though he can't field like Chavez in his prime, neither can Chavez.

9. SS Gregorio Petit - He's really here for his defense.  If not you we can plug Pennington in here.  But even at the plate, he seemed pretty impressive.  I'm surprised he hasn't gotten more chances.

Dugout Guys:

SS Cliff Pennington - He pretty much platoons with Petit, depending if we need offense or defense more.

OF Aaron Cunningham - He's our fourth outfielder, when we can throw Cust at DH or Carter at 1B to give someone the day off. 

OF/IF Jack Hannahan - I don't think he's a starting quality player, but he can be very valuable in a Scuataro-like role, only with more versatility.

C Rob Bowen - He continues to backup Zook until Donaldson is ready.

OF/IF Eric Patterson - Utility guy #2, he can play 2B or any of the outfiled positions.

3B/1B Wes Bankston - Like his power too.

Pitching Rotation:

1. RHP Trevor Cahill - I think the top three could end up in any order

2. LHP Brett Anderson - We'll stick him here, though it might be nice to have a rotation that went lefty-righty-lefty-righty-lefty.

3. LHP Gio Gonzalez - He finishes out what what may be referred to as "the NEW Big 3."

4. LHP Greg Smith - Eveland can go, but I like Smith and his pickoff move. 

5. RHP Sean Gallagher - He's probably a legit top 3 starter by 2010, which makes him that much more impressive as our fifth starter.

Bullpen:

Long Relief:
LHP Josh Outman - I think he's essentially our sixth starter, playing the role of DiNardo.  Only better.  And lefty too. 

Middle Relivers:

RHP Andrew Carnigan - Currently a closer, I don't know if he has the stuff that Devine or H-Rod does.  But he could be perfectly fine as a Middle guy.

RHP Sam Demel - I think he ends up in a similar role to Carnigan, but might end up out-playing him. 

RHP Joey Devine - Always a threat to go on the DL.  He's sort of what Andrew Brown is now.  Great when he's in there.  But it's those last four words that are important.

Set Up Guys:

LHP Jerry Blevins - Blevins works as the Lefty-specialist.  But also as a set up guy to give our other 2 set up guys a day off.

RHP Brad Ziegler - Even if the league ever gets a run on him, I could see him being the guy who works the seventh every night, so our young arms don't get worn down.

RHP Santiago Casilla - Before his injury he was already becoming what Okajima was to Boston.  I just see that continuing as he gets completely healthy.  He's our top set-up guy, and works the eighth every night.

Closer:

RHP Henry Rodriguez - He's had setbacks because he hasn't quite developed his change to compliment his 100 mph fastball.  But assuming he does, that's all he needs to blow hitters away in the ninth.  This could make him a VERY dangerous closer.  And watching the Future's Game, I couldn't help but notice how much he looks like Shawty Lo (the guy who did "Dey Know (L-O)"...google it). 

And under these circumstances we'd still have a pretty loaded AAA squad with:

whoever we get for letting Chavy, Ellis, Croz, Street, Duke, Eveland, and Frank go, plus:

RHP James Simmons

RHP Michael Inoa

RHP Craig Italiano

& C Donaldson

Plus, we'd get Mike Sweeney to be our hitting coach.

So there you go.....what do you guys think of my 2010 A's Roster?

With today's day-off, i wanted to see what was up with some of the Minors players we have.  So if anyone has something to respond, please feel free...

1. Why is Craig Italiano still in Kane County?  I know we have a TON of young pitchers, but the guy has a 0.8 ERA!  He's completely dominant.  Can we at least plug him into Stockton and see how he does?  We just brought up H-Rod to Midland a couple weeks ago.  I'm sure we could slide him into the rotation there.

2. Is there anything you've heard as to why Gio Gonzalez has struggled in AAA (the other night not withstanding)?  He had like 4 straight clunkers.  It would be nice to have him set in the Oakland rotation by the end of the year.  A rotation of (assuming we trade Blanton) Duke, Harden, Eveland, Smith, and Gonzalez would be fun to watch heading into next season.  Plus we always have Gaudin and DiNardo there in case he fails.

3. If H-Rod throws a 97 fastball and 84-85 change, what's his problem?  Is it just that he needs a third pitch?  Location?  Delivery?

4. When are we gonna finally see CarGon in the bigs?  Is it gonna take another injury?  I mean, we're going to have MORE OF's soon when Denorfia comes back.  It seems that injury would have been a good time to give the kid a look. 

5. What does everyone think of Petit's stay with the big-club so far?  I like his bat, though he could stand to draw more walks (Man i sound like an A's scout).

6. How's James Simmons doing in AA?

Oh One more....

7. Has Jesus Guzman cooled off?  Or was he just playing over his head before?

This is my first AN Post.  But my question is:  What does anyone know about this Jesus Guzman kid who's tearing things up in the Texas League.  He's hitting .535 with 14 RBIs! 

I know the A's are a loaded at the top of the farm system with 5 2B's ahead of him, but is he at least worth keeping an eye on? 

Actually, with all the attention on Sacramento (with all the call-ups) and Stockton (with that pitching), Midland has quietly gone 9-1.