There’s quite a few surprise teams here in the first week of the MLB season, like the Orioles and Royals, but let’s focus on the negatives here. There are four teams that are playing downright ugly baseball to start the season. It’s not hard for us A’s fans, since we’ve had the privilege of witnessing 10 errors in the team’s first 4 games. Fortunately they were able to scrape out a 2-1 victory today to pull back up to 2-4. The Giants were able to do the same by beating the Padres pretty handily, though Brian Wilson had a shaky debut. 2-4 ain’t pretty, but to me, it’s a whole lot better than 1-5, or even worse, 0-6…. No one expected the Rays to be contenders this year, but no one thought they’d be this bad. Even fewer people thought the Red Sox would be this bad. I’m loving it of course, but I’ll hold back from piling it on until the season’s over and they DIDN’T make an improbable run into the playoffs. Obviously they’re off to the most disappointing start, but which team here has the most reason to panic early on?….
Oh man, here we go some more… Don’t get me wrong, I love the media noticing the A’s, but too much hype can spell doom for a professional baseball team – just ask the Mets. I’m all for the sleeper picks to win the AL West, and even homers like Chappy picking them to win the World Series, but now ESPN’s tagged Jerry Crasnick’s awesome new piece with “AL Favorites?” I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard writers call them the “Giants of 2011.” All this hype just makes me worry more and wish the season would hurry up and get here. Whew… three more days. Trevor Cahill vs. Felix Hernandez on Friday night. Can’t wait!
For every sport, we make our predictions on how they will play out for the season. Last year By nailed it picking the Giants to win the World Series. We all got some right here and there last season making us feel like our predictions should hold some weight. Even if some of them seem laughable, just remember we did get a lot of stuff right last year!
AL East Winner
Chappy picks Boston Red Sox. If they aren’t the favorite in the AL, I don’t know who is. No need to rattle off their acquisitions because all of them were frontline news with each 9 or 10 figure contract that was signed. This team could set some records on offense. I hope the Rays somehow beat them out, but I’m less than confident that will happen.
By picks Boston Red Sox. Not sure how I feel about the BoSox after this past off-season. Although the Red Sox have never shied away from spending a boat load of money on their players, they have always been second fiddle to the Yanks in the “shoving dollars down a free-agent’s throat” department. But not this time. Chappy won’t mention the names, but I will. Carl “Freakin'” Crawford and Adrian “God Damn” Gonzalez. You don’t need much else to say here. Bahstan takes the AL East.
MCeezy picks New York Yankees. I know Boston looks sexy on paper with Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez in tow, but I see huge question marks in their pitching staff and that’s what may very well kill them. Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon had pretty demoralizing seasons last year. The Yankees on the other hand added the AL leader in Saves last year as their setup man.
AL Central Winner
Chappy picks Chicago White Sox. Chicago came on strong at the end of the year, but their sluggish start killed them. I don’t see that happening this year with basically the same team in tact, and an addition of Adam Dunn to the middle of the order. I picked them last year, and think they got better than they were last year over the off-season, so no reason not to pick them again.
By picks Minnesota Twins. I have to go with Minnesota here. Joe Mauer and the Playstation guy are at it again, and when those two get together (and are both healthy) the Twins are tough to beat. All jokes aside, remember, if Justin Morneau doesn’t suffer a season ending injury just prior to the post-season, the Twins could have very well beaten the Yanks in the ALDS last season. O.K. maybe not.
MCeezy picks Cleveland Indians. Yes, I’m dead serious. Research shows that 1 in 7 division winning teams were not very good the year before. This year, that team will be the Indians. Everybody knows that owner Rachel Phelps just wants the team to tank so they can move to Anaheim with the Kings. But in 2011, the year of winning, how can the Tribe not win the whole f***in thing? Charlie Sheen is going to come back as Ricky Vaughn, whether producers allow him in Major League 3 or not. Since they most likely won’t, we may be lucky enough to see Sheen run onto the field with the Wild Thing hairdo just cause he feels like it.
I’ve tried to avoid watching/paying attention to any of the Bonds perjury case, but low and behold we are subjected to updates regularly on ESPN, so there’s no way to avoid noticing what’s going on with it. I don’t think it really matters what the outcome of the trial is. If he’s convicted eight years after his testimony for what he said he didn’t knowingly do, will that really send a message to the MLB or current players? Proving he was a liar in court and trying to make him the poster boy for the steroid era earns a big, whoopitte-de-do-da since there were so many guys taking PED’s. Many fans are still calling Henry Aaron the home run king whether it was the PED’s or the difference in the way the two men carried themselves. We all know Barry isn’t exactly the perfect human or really that nice of a guy in general, but does the ruling in this trial make any kind of difference? I think we can all agree Barry took some type of PED’s (outside a Giants fan or two), and if he didn’t take steroids, then Jimmer is an All-American defender. If Bonds ends up in jail, would I argue? Doubtful. If he gets off with nothing happening, I can see myself caring to the extent of a serious exhale and shoulder shrug combo. I think the public court of opinion is all that matters to him or baseball fans.His legacy amongst baseball fans and HOF voters is more important than the outcome of this trial, which makes me feel that this is a giant waste of time and money for our court system.
This guy doesn't believe Barry would take PED's!
While watching an update yesterday on how the jury selection was going I couldn’t help but think of an article I read in Rolling Stone Magazine a week or two ago on the financial collapse a few short years ago. The article was talking about the executives for AIG, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, etc., and how nobody went to jail! I’m far from an expert on what happened during that collapse, but I know that those executives that were pulling in billions of dollars out of their companies for themselves, set our economy back as much as the tsunami/earthquake will in Japan, yet one person (Bernie Madoff) is the only one that went to jail. Here’s the article if you’re interested, it’s a pretty solid idiots guide for the financial collapse for people like myself that didn’t quite understand everything that went down. The executives paid minimal fines for these egregious crimes, and the government bailed them out in the end. How is that justice!?! It’s not, and there never really will be as long as those execs have the money to hand over to people deciding their fate. For some reason instead of the government spending the time and effort to chase down the guys that ruined our economy four years ago, they’ve spent the past eight years forming what sounds like a very beatable perjury case against one of baseball’s most hated super stars. Really boggles the mind…
Bonds may have lied to a grand jury, but you could argue that nearly every other player lied as well in their testimonies, yet they still go after Bonds because nobody likes him. I don’t condone lying in federal court, but it feels like there’s about a million other things they should be worrying about. I’m guessing they hate the guy like much of America does, so they are trying to prove some lame point. Maybe that’s why they seem care about Clemens as well, because he’s a big name that is a jackass. The Clemens case seems a little more solid than the one against Bonds, after he keeps changing his statements, so why not drop the weak case and carry on with the solid one if your trying to make some kind of example out of a baseball superstar. I guess the theme for this post is caring or not caring in this instance. Why should anyone care as much as the government does about whether Bonds lied or not. Why do we care more about Bonds putting a needle in his ass more than we care about executives tearing apart the country’s economy? Probably because our country as a whole reminds me of a functioning addict.
I was reading this Rob Neyer article, and he was talking about how great Bo Jackson was. To this day he is one of my favorite all time Raiders. I loved his Tiger handheld game as well. He dominated Deion in the battle of the best two-sport athlete by a long shot. Unfortunately for Bo, and for us, his career ended far too early. It got me wondering why there aren’t more two sport athletes these days, but if you look at the salaries back then he wasn’t making close to what guys are today. Granted it was the early 90’s, and with inflation money was worth a little more than it is now, but his final year in Oakland he earned $1.6M, and in Kansas City he pulled in $2.6M. I’m not saying this is chump change, but the crappy players weren’t quite to the point of getting paid ridiculous amounts of money during Bo’s days, and even the best players weren’t completely paid. So my thinking was that as contracts rose in EVERY sport the need to play more than one sport lessened. The last guy I can even think of that stood out in two sports was Charlie Ward being the general for Florida State’s offense in football and basketball, but even he didn’t play two sports professionally, which I think proves my point that athlete’s don’t need to play two sports anymore because the money is so ridiculously good in whichever one they choose. The closest thing we’ve had recently is a Nike commercial with Lebron blocking a field goal for the Cleveland Browns. With the very real possibility of a lockout for two of our sports (NFL and NBA), I wanted to throw out some ideas for guys and types of players that I think would try to make the jump to another sport either out of boredom or the need to support the $500,000 a month spending lifestyle. Continue reading
Arte better not expect the second coming of Vlad with Vernon....
Did Arte Moreno ever really buy the Angels from the Disney Corporation? Are the Angels are spending all their money on outfielders in an attempt to bring back the classicly bad movie Angels in the Outfield? At the time the movie came out it was laughable that the Angels would ever win a pennant, and after a head scratching offseason it seems just as laughable right now spending more on their 30+ year old outfield than the movie grossed at the box office. Moreno is making Al Davis look sane these days.
You may or may not have heard they traded for Vernon Wells giving up Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli to the Blue Jays. Wells is a slight upgrade over Rivera, but not a $15M upgrade. Wells had a pretty good season last year, but if you look at his career numbers you will see he has one pretty good year, then a bad one, and the worst part about him is he has continually declined from his career highs he set in 04-06. I’m not saying he’ll be terrible this year, but he will never live up to his contract. Rivera was supposed to make $5M this upcoming season, while Wells is due to make $23M in 2011 with three more years of $21M left on his contract. Both Rivera and Wells are 32 years old, and without PED’s we know that their production will dwindle as time rolls along, unless some crazy undetectable strengthening drug comes along.
The Angels struck out on landing Carl Crawford, and decide to trade for a guy that the Blue Jays have been trying to get rid of for years!?! I even put him on my list of worst contracts in the MLB back in August of 2009. This move makes no sense at all, especially when the reason for them not wanting to sign Crawford was that he wanted too many years. He wanted seven, and that would’ve put him at 35 years old when his contract ran out, coincidentally that is the same age that Wells will be when his contract is done. I’ve got nothing against Vernon, but in two years which player would you rather have? Not a tough choice there right?
With their current outfield alignment, they weren’t especially bad out there, nor were they all that good, but having this be their major upgrade of the offseason seems like a joke. They are still paying for the final year of Gary Matthews Jr.’s ridiculous contract ($11.5M this year), and he’s not even playing anymore. They are spending $63M on the outfield including Matthews Jr. Yup, $63M is not a typo for (Matthews Jr, Wells, Hunter, and Abreu). That’s more than the A’s entire payroll, ok, maybe that was an exaggeration, but it’s close, and they still don’t look like a great team. I know Vernon won’t be labeled as the most overpaid fourth outfielder like Matthews Jr. was, but he could be in four years during the final year of his contract! Was it Torii Hunter’s contract working out that made them pull the trigger? I’ll be the first to admit that I thought Hunter was overpaid when they signed him, but this seems like a twice as risky scenario, since Wells hasn’t had an all-star worthy season since 2006, and Torii is known for his hard work ethic, not the same with Wells. Why wouldn’t they put in a better offer for Beltre since he obviously would’ve come to LA if the price was right since all Boras clients ever want is the most money. It would’ve sured up their worst infield position, and they wouldn’t be stuck with quite as large of a contract. They needed an upgrade at 3B much more than in the outfield. Whatever their reasons, I’m glad they are going to stick with Brandon the .200 hitter Wood at third base, and even happier they have Vernon for the next four years keeping a lot of salary tied up. Just so you know Brandon Wood makes the A’s Kevin Kouzmanoff look like a shoe in All-Star.
I can’t contain my excitement anymore. This is by far the most excited I’ve been about baseball during the offseason in at least three or four years. The A’s have made a lot of moves that made sense this offseason after last year’s overachieving team went 81-81 showing that sometimes less is more. We had less recognizable names playing for us, but did better than we have for a couple of years. I still can’t quite figure out how they won as many games as they did, but we found out what needed to be addressed, and all knew going into this season that they would finally have some money to spend with expiring contracts. I was skeptical that they would in fact spend that money, but they have shown so far they aren’t scared to make some moves. If they didn’t make the moves they did, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could give them the full on support that I have over the years. Yes, I understand they need a new stadium, and would love nothing more than for them to have a billion dollar state of the art park to call home, but there’s no way that will happen when they aren’t a competitive team. As MCeezy keeps saying build a winner then build a new stadium. Another point I’ll give him credit for, is they needed even more so than years past to make some moves this year since their across the bay counterpart just won the World Series. I mean really how tough decision is it for the fair-weather fans in the bay to make? Go to the ghetto Oakland Coliseum and watch a 2nd place team, or head across the bay bridge to the amazing AT&T Park watching the defending world champs? If I was one of the transplants that overtake the area, I’d be heading to SF. Of course the devil’s advocate would say, Lew Wolffe wants to move this team, and what better way to show the need than to tank in attendance. Thankfully it’s not the latter.
Okay enough ranting and onto the real reason for this post was why I can’t wait for this MLB season to start. First off another reason I’m looking forward to it is because there won’t be a lockout, so it might be the only sport to follow unless you love the financials of CBA’s. The A’s started the offseason by trading for David Dejesus, which shouldn’t be mistaken for a huge trade, but was an upgrade in the outfield getting a career .318 hitter, and a guy that usually stays healthy. Can’t say the same for any of the other 15 outfielders we have on the roster.
Our second signing will probably get some of the Asian demographic on board getting Hideki Matsui for a reasonable price. He’s not the most exciting signing in the world, but he does bring something that we clearly lacked, a player that can hit 20+ homers without striking out 300 times a season. He’s been a workhorse throughout his career, and is the opposite of the constantly complaining Jack Cust. He’s also not completely falling apart like some of the guys we’ve signed over the years with the exception of Frank Thomas during his resurrection.
Just days after the Matsui signing we picked up Josh Willingham in a trade. I loved this move as I’ve always liked Willingham. He’s a powerful guy when he gets the atbats, and with two powerful bats in the lineup, maybe they will produce enough to avoid those 1-0 2-1 losses they seemed to frequently have last year. It also gives us a little hope in those extra inning games of a walkoff homer instead of waiting for three singles to get that run. For an A’s fan, it felt like we signed Carl Crawford and David Ortiz this offseason. Not because we think they are THAT good of players, but because they never sign or trade for guys that aren’t over the hill (sans the Holiday deal). We still have some big holes in the lineup, and I’d like to see an upgrade at SS or 3B, but if this is all we do, I’m still happy with it.
The second wave of signings were all for the bullpen, which was a great idea backing up the awesome starting pitching they already have, and possibly one of them will end up being their 5th starter. When you lead the AL in ERA, you think there must not be much that needs to be changed. That could be the farthest thing from the truth, as their bullpen wasn’t actually that strong last season. The first addition was the return of Rich Harden. A’s fans have always had a soft spot for him, and it’s really the only place he’s had any success. This time around he’s going to be in the bullpen though hopefully keeping him off of the DL. They also signed Brandon McCarthy, who I’m not sure if they are trying him out for the 5th spot in the rotation or a long reliever.
They officially signed Grant Balfour yesterday, and I thought this was a GREAT signing. No longer will we have to rely on Michael Wuertz’s roller coaster rides to set up the end of the game for Bailey. I’ve never heard a bad thing about the guy, so no reason to not like the move. He also said of the team that they remind him a lot of the 2008 Rays, hopefully he’s right about that! He struck out the most hitters of any reliever last year against the AL East, so there’s no reason to think he can’t do it against the AL West. I have a feeling that Braden and Balfour are going to get this pitching staff fired up regularly.
Today they signed lefty Brian Fuentes. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like Fuentes. I loved it when he was on the Angels, and every time he came in the game there was a chance they’d lose. I’m okay with Fuentes in a set up role, let’s just hope he’s our lefty specialist and not pitching full innings, because I don’t want to be on that roller-coaster regularly.
All in all, this has been a great offseason, and there’s still a few months left to make some more moves. Do you see these moves making the A’s take over the AL West? I sure do, but I’m bias as hell…
Wall Street is closed on the weekends, but there were some major trades being made in the sports world over the weekend. The two biggest trades were undoubtedly the Magic getting Gilbert (a long time favorite of mine) from the Wizards, as well as Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, and Earl Clark from the Suns. My first reaction to the trade when I saw it flash up on the bottom line on TV was, what an upgrade! They got rid of Rashard, Pietrus and Vince, which is a win my book regardless of who came in. Nothing against Vince or Rashard, but if the Magic really want to be serious contenders they needed to get rid of both of them for the simple reason that they always choke in the playoffs. Here’s a reminder of how they felt last year about the Hedoless team. (NJ and Toronto fans nodding in agreement) Second, they got rid of Michael (I step out of bounds twice a game) Pietrus. I’m not positive how Air France has done this year since I really don’t follow the Magic that closely, but Pietrus is a guy that frustrated me when he was in a Warriors uniform. I can only assume that those are the same type of sentiments that Magic fans have about him, but maybe not. All in all it was like the how the A’s finally rid themselves of Jack Cust. Addition by subtraction.
How will this new look Eastern Conference beast be with all the new parts? I really can’t say for sure that they will be better than the old group, but since they are taking in veterans that have played in multiple systems, I’m sure integrating them into the game plan won’t take as long as many expect. I also believe that Hedo and Arenas want to prove that they are good again, and will have plenty of reasons now that they will be playing for a winning team. I’m sure both want to revive their image, and winning cures that quickly just look at Vick! A lot of people seemed shocked that they’d blow up their team like this with only a quarter of the season gone by, but my thinking is that all of this seeming panic goes back to the summer of Lebron. The Magic are about to find themselves in a similar situation that Cleveland faced last year with Dwight’s contract expiring in 2012. Feels like a do or die move to try and get a championship. If you are the Magic, you definitely should be scared that if they don’t get a championship in the next two years then their chances to re-sign Dwight will be nearly impossible as he looks to take his talents away from central Florida. They already have experience losing a once in a lifetime center seeing Shaq flee to LA. Centers don’t grow on trees as we’ve seen with guys like Oden and Bynum never really making it to their potential level or staying healthy for that matter. The Magic are now deep into the luxury tax, but it will only be worth it if they can appease their big man to stay, and a championship might be the only way to do that. I hope it works out for them, unless of course Dwight has an aching to come to Golden State! Then I wouldn’t mind watching his “Decision” from the Epcot Center.
Zack Greinke was the other big trade of the weekend. I love reading how the Royals got a good deal out of it. Really!?! You can already tell?!? They traded away their best player and have improved greatly?!? I guess they are like the A’s, but simply never win. The Royals have one of the youngest roster known to man. Aside from Vin Mazzaro who the A’s just traded to them, I don’t really recognize many names. I guess they could be like the Padres and sneak up on everyone, but that’s a laughable statement in itself. If they are a contender in two years I will gladly eat those words. I’d put the chances of them getting a Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Grady Seizmore type haul at 1%. Personally, I thought the best part about this trade was that the Rangers didn’t end up with Greinke. He was supposedly their second target after they failed to get Cliff Lee. Now it looks like the A’s are still the only team that’s really improved in the AL West, which makes me that much happier. The Brewers get what they were desperately missing with Greinke’s consistent pitching, even if last year he wasn’t as great. Can you blame him? I’d have a hard time getting fired up for starts if I was on the Royals. I think he’s going to tear through the NL lineups and might be somewhat like Halladay was last year for the Phillies, although there’s a huge difference between the AL East and the AL Central. I actually picked the Brewers to win the NL Central last year, maybe I just picked them one year too early! Now that they’ll have Yorvani Gallardo and hopefully a healthy Chris Capuano, so there’s no reason to count this team out. Their young core can put up runs, but now they some pitching to match that powerful lineup. If they can find a way to bridge the gap between their new starters and the Axeman I will be saying I told you so 8 months from now when they are in the playoffs!
This post isn’t really about Jayson Werth, but his signing did trigger a chain of events that caused me to take notice of the Washington Nationals. In regards to his huge contract, Werth said something to the effect of it shows that the Nats are ready to win. He and Ryan Zimmerman make a solid nucleus. I immediately got curious to see where the Nationals were at in terms of talent on their roster. So I checked out their depth chart, and I’m not impressed. I like to think I’m a pretty big sports fan, but I literally have not heard of half of their roster. Half of the guys I do know are probably just the result of scouring the fantasy waiver wire. I mean, I’ve heard of Nyjer Morgan and Ian Desmond, but I couldn’t really tell you much about them. They have a pitching rotation full of marginal number five starters and I couldn’t tell any of the guys in the bullpen from a group of sales reps at my local Lowe’s. Then today, they dealt one of the few remaining familiar faces, Josh Willingham, to Oakland. Are they really ready to win now, like Werth believes? Hell, if my employer gave me $18mil a year, I’d be unjustifiably optimistic as well. But this brings me to another topic….. the A’s.
We try to not to overdo it with A’s coverage, but Chappy and I are diehards. With the exception of Athleticsnation, there’s not a lot of A’s blogs out there, no matter what Rob Neyer tells us. (Seriously, a blog that’s been around less than two months?) Anyway, people are starting to take notice of the moves the A’s have made this offseason. None are worthy of Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee type press, but Billy Beane is quietly putting together a team that many feel may be able to contend – especially while the Angels, Rangers, and Mariners seem to be hibernating for the winter. So far, they’ve added David Dejesus, Hideki Matsui, Josh Willingham, Rich Harden (pending a physical – never a sure thing with Harden), and Brandon McCarthy. The only notable prospects given up were Vin Mazzaro and Henry Rodriguez. I liked both of them, but neither were a sure thing in the big leagues. Besides, in typical A’s fashion, there are plenty of young arms in the farm system. I can’t help but wonder if the Giants’ World Series victory has forced the A’s hand a bit. They’ve maintained that they’re waiting for a new stadium before they try to contend again, but clearly they’re getting tired of waiting. While I don’t really expect them to make any more major moves (not that I’d call any of the aforementioned moves major), I’m curious to see what happens with Adrian Beltre. He spurned the A’s original offer, which I’m not really complaining about because it was a lot of money and I’m not sure he’s worth it. But it doesn’t seem like anyone else is really making a play for him. Combine that with the bats they’ve added this offseason, and maybe Beltre is warming up to the idea of playing in Oakland. He may not have any choice, unless he wants to take less money to stay in Boston or go somewhere else. While I don’t think Beltre would single-handedly put the A’s over the hump, his addition would give the team a legitimate big-league lineup, as opposed to the AAA roster they’ve been trotting out for the last two seasons. Perhaps it’s time to take part in a favorite pasttime over at AN, and pleasure myself with a little rosterbation. Let’s say the A’s do manage to acquire Beltre. Here’s what the 2011 lineup would look like…..
CF – Coco Crisp
LF – Josh Willingham
RF – David Dejesus
DH – Hideki Matsui
3B – Adrian Beltre
C – Kurt Suzuki
1B – Daric Barton
2B – Mark Ellis
SS – Cliff Pennington
Rotation: Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy (or Josh Outman, or Tyson Ross, or Bobby Cramer, or Rich Harden)
The A’s are finally starting to make some moves this offseason. Patience is a virtue I’m told, but I wanted to see waves crashing in the free agent pool early and often with the money they had available to spend. We barely missed out on the Crawford and Lee sweepstakes, and according to my insider information, they were in the running for both players, until someone else put in their first offer that we couldn’t quite match. Oh well, today we got a Japanese guy, but not the one I originally thought we would. Initially it looked like Hisashi Iwakuma would be joining the A’s pitching rotation next year, but the talks hit a stalemate, and he decided to stay in Japan or maybe the A’s were just blocking their division opponents from getting him. Today we found our DH for the upcoming season though in Hideki Matsui or as most know him Godzilla. We paid Matsui just under $5M for the up coming season, which is about double what Cust was making last year as our DH. I can tell you for sure that I’d much rather see Godzilla striking out with runners on base than Cust. Maybe the Asian bias comes in a little, but he is a big upgrade over Cust, which MCeezy already expressed. Who knows since the A’s never say anything that was said behind closed doors. It already feels like a much better buy than last year’s acquisition of Ben Sheets who never really saw the mound that much. Matsui at least has a better health track record, and since DH isn’t exactly a strenuous spot I’m not worried. Am I super excited about this signing? Not to the point of writing 1,000 words, but it’s a step in a direction filling a spot that we really needed filled. If he hits 21 homers again like he did last year, he will easily lead the team in that department. Also, I’ve been reading about his signing a lot today, and found out that Matsui has been a longtime A’s fan, and even had their cap back in the 80’s while he was living in Japan. He was really into the Bash Brothers growing up, and that alone just gave me a million extra reasons to like him. Nihon Gambare Godzilla! (Long live Godzilla in Japanese)
We’re still waiting for our first big free agent signing of the offseason out here in Oakland. Though the biggest move to date may be addition by subtraction, as another MLB club has finally taken Jack Cust of our hands. The A’s have been seemingly trying to get rid of Cust for a few seasons now, and today the Seattle Mariners took a chance on the slugger/walker/striker-outer. At the beginning of last season, the A’s designated Cust for assignment, hoping another team would claim him. After he cleared waivers, he reported to AAA-Sacramento until injuries on the big league roster would force him up. He played uninspired ball the rest of the season and helped the A’s to another underwhelming offensive campaign. Cust made popular the “three true outcome player.” Each of his at-bats would surely end in one of three outcomes: a home run, walk, or strikeout. Problem is, two out of every three ended in a strikeout. His homers never seem to come when they counted, and his walks were mostly the result of resting the bat on his shoulders for 6 or 7 pitches. Throw a breaking ball, and you’ll surely strike him out. I know what the Mariners were thinking, he’s a guaranteed 20 HRs a year, but does this mean they’ve been sitting there for the last three years thinking, “where can we find a left-handed Richie Sexson?” Seriously, Mariner fans, that’s what you should be thinking right now.
Cust has got to be my most loathed player on the A’s in the last decade. There aren’t many, since the A’s have a knack for having blue-collar hustle guys. Pitching, defense, and basically fundamentals reigned supreme. Cust is none of these. Instead, he occupied the fat, lazy designated hitter spot and led the league in strikeouts three consecutive years. His 197 in 2008 were particularly impressive. I won’t even get into his defensive shortcomings. The good news is this opens up a spot for a power hitter the A’s so desperately need. I share Chappy’s sentiment in that I don’t want them to break the bank on an older player who’s best days are behind them, but that may be our only option. And, if you give me a choice, I’ll take anybody over Cust. Right now it’s looking like Hideki Matsui, but I’d be happy with Doris Matsui at this point. Alright, so Cust isn’t that bad; I’m just happy for a change.
“You want to go where you’re wanted,” Cust said. “In Oakland, even though I always did pretty well there…I’m sure they’d say I struggled in spring and what I did the three years before wasn’t good enough to make that team, I guess…..When I talk about Oakland last year especially, it’s definitely not a very positive experience for me. So I’m trying to block that out a little.”
Probably the most exciting time of the MLB offseason is seeing the hundreds of millions of dollars flying around. The winter meetings always produce plenty of rumors, and usually end with at least a few big names traded or signed to new teams. I was especially excited about this year, since I wrote a while back that the A’s actually have some money to spend on some free agents this year. It has just made me follow the winter meetings all that much closer! Here’s a few thoughts on the things I thought that were interesting that have taken place so far.
Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox seems like a solid deal for both sides. The Padres lost their best player and fan favorite, but got prospects that they are very familiar with since Jed Hoyer (Padres GM) used to work in Boston’s front office. We won’t know if the trade was all that even until the prospects hit the majors for a couple of years, but if they somehow pulled a Hanley Ramierez type player out of the deal it might not be as lopsided as everyone thinks right now. The Padres knew they couldn’t afford him next year, and I thought that they would give it a run this year after last year’s solid season. I thought they’d wait and see where they were at the All-Star break, but it’s probably better to trade a healthy Gonzalez now, instead of risking that he’ll be injured with diminished value later. Adrian just shot up my draft board for fantasy baseball. Just look how good Beltre did last year moving from the unfriendly hitting confines of Seattle to the playing pepper with the Green Monster.
Jayson Werth’s megadeal of 7 years and $126M seems like a horrible signing to me. Boras gets money for his clients though, and his clients are always happy with the deal. Does Werth have Carlos Beltran written all over it? Don’t get me wrong, I love the way Jayson plays, but for this much money after only two productive years in a hitters park is a head scratcher to me. Why are the Nats bogging down their payroll when they suck? It feels like the same kind of deal Gary Matthews got with the Angels. Just ask them how much they like that guy! Doesn’t signing Adam Dunn seem like a more reasonable option? I’d rather keep Dunn with less years, and maybe struggle for a year or two. When Bryce Harper and Steven Strasburg are playing at the level we all think they will, then would be the time to figure out what you need most and spend all your money. Not now, when you aren’t positive of what your team needs really are. I guess they might have a real plan if they really do throw “huge” money at Cliff Lee, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Tiger, Frank, and Jaime can all get a good laugh about this divorce stuff!
McCourt Vs. McCourt in court. Jaime and Frank finished up their first trial as they were competing for the rights to own the Dodgers in what has been a very messy divorce. The court ruled that Frank’s document stating he was the sole owner of the team will be thrown out because it was illegally made after the original prenup, so the team is still 50% hers and 50% his. If one of the two can’t buy the team outright, it’s been assumed that they will sell the team, which would make a lot of Dodger fans happy. Unfortunately though that won’t happen soon, and there will be another trial trying to prove that Frank’s original company was the reason they were able to purchase the Dodgers, so he will try to prove that he should have sole ownership. Looks like the Dodgers are going to be battling with Arizona for last place in the division this year.
The A’s offseason started with a bang as they made a couple trades and pickups with David Dejesus and Edwin Encarnacion. They won the rights to talk to Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma as well. We already dumped Encarnacion, and never really came close to signing Iwakuma, so I guess all that was smoke and mirrors. We may have just been blocking the Rangers and Mariners from Iwakuma since they were the two teams we outbid to have the rights to negotiate with him. It never really felt like a deal was getting done for him, especially for the money he was asking for to be our 5th starter.
I do want the A’s to spend this year, and they have the money to do so, but I think I’m more encouraged on what they haven’t spent their money on! They were rumored to be talking to Lance Berkman, which sounded like bringing back Giambi, Sweeney, or Piazza type in. I’m not a fan of that method anymore, because we’ve only gotten one Frank Thomas, and the rest looked washed up like they were. Now Berkman’s the Cardinals problem, and I still don’t understand why they got him when he has to play in the outfield, unless they want to slot him in instead of Pujols. Another guy they were rumored going after was Adrian Beltre. I was just as happy to see that they withdrew their contract offer to him, because he only plays good in contract years. I hope the Angels end up with him, and he turns into Seattle Beltre that didn’t care. I’d much rather go for a guy like Josh Willingham at a highly discounted price…
This is a first for Doin Work as we have never really revisited our predictions. I was reading through them last night, and since we do them for pretty much every sport before the season gets too far along I wanted to check out how we did. We made our MLB predictions one day after the season started, and we made some good calls, and some funny ones that didn’t pan out that well. Now that the season is long over and all the hardware has been handed out it was a good time to look back in our first ever Reviewin Predictions! If you wanted to see all our predictions click here.
AL Central Winner
By: Minnesota Twins – Why? Because Joe Mauer went to Cabo with the Playstation guy!
Dyslecix: Minnesota Twins – Not sold on the White Sox or Detroit the Twins are always there.
AL West Winner
Chappy: Texas Rangers – I don’t want to jinx the A’s before the season even starts, so I’m taking the Rangers rallying behind their drug attic coach and best hitter. I hope Mceezy just picked the Angels to jinx them, but I’m scared he’s probably right…
Mceezy: Anaheim Angels – Because I want to see any other team win this division, the Angels will.
By: Anaheim Angels – For jinxing purposes. Why does the AL West have 4 teams & NL Central have 6?
I was trying to put into words what I’ve been feeling for the greater part of the last twenty-four hours, but I can’t. As cliché as it sounds, there aren’t any words to describe this feeling.
So as I wait to gather myself from this high, I simply just want to thank the boys. I want to thank the loveable cast of misfits that is our San Francisco Giants. After the curse of the game ball that was handed out to Russ Ortiz by Dusty Baker in 2002, I honestly felt that I wouldn’t live to see the day San Francisco wins its first World Series pennant.
Last night, the short-lived curse was put to rest. But for the fans who’ve been waiting decades for this moment, it was more than that. History was made. Life is good. Thank you boys.
It was a bittersweet victory for me tonight. Although I rep Northern California like nobody’s business, I’m still an A’s fan, so it’s tough to see the other team win it all. The way I looked at it, there were four World Series trophies in Oakland, why do we need any on the other side of the Bay? But the fact remains, San Francisco is my home. I spent 7 of the greatest years of my life there, but I’ll admit I’m a little bitter they did it now, but couldn’t come through back in 2002 when I resided there. Nonetheless, I love this group of players they put together over there in the City. How can you not be happy they won?
Despite all the NorCal love on Doin Work, there’s only one true Giants fan on board here. Congrats to By on seeing his team win the hardware. And even though Chappy and I bleed Green and Gold, it’s GREAT to see Northern California bring home its first major pro sports championship since 1994.
By
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Doin Work 