The Oakland A's- MLB's ACTUAL AAA team

#51
#51
Okay Bill, I've ponied up for the MLB Extra Innings package, so I anticipate sitting here after midnight this year watching a lot of west coast games finish up. Should the A's be my go-to team, when they're on? What kind of a team do they have this year?

I'm not looking for a second team or anything, because I don't believe in sports bigamy; I just want to know who's playing the most interesting baseball out on the west coast. I'm an NL guy but am fairly bored by the Padres, Giants and Dodgers. Do the A's have anything to offer the casual viewer?
 
#52
#52
Vercingetorix said:
Okay Bill, I've ponied up for the MLB Extra Innings package, so I anticipate sitting here after midnight this year watching a lot of west coast games finish up. Should the A's be my go-to team, when they're on? What kind of a team do they have this year?

I'm not looking for a second team or anything, because I don't believe in sports bigamy; I just want to know who's playing the most interesting baseball out on the west coast. I'm an NL guy but am fairly bored by the Padres, Giants and Dodgers. Do the A's have anything to offer the casual viewer?
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The A's will be a fun team to watch. I'm expecting a just below .500 finish, but they're a young team who might beat the Angels 13-2 one night only to lose 9-1 the next. The Angels are the class of the AL West, and while all the analysts seem to love Seattle, I really don't see them making a serious run at the Halos unless LAAAAAAAAAA gets wrecked with injuries. The Rangers are the Rangers and they'll be horrible in July, August and September.

Keep an eye on Jack Cust and see if he can continue at last year's pace or even improve. Daric Barton is a work in progress at first base and while he'll get plenty of chances to prove himself, Mike Sweeney might see some good PT there.

A .500 season rests on the shoulders of Jack Hannahan (Eric Chavez' successor), Travis Buck, and Emil Brown. From what KCvollaw told me, Brown is essentially a younger version of Eric Byrnes. Dives for everything and goes into some serious batting slumps. I'm fine with the A's bullpen, Embree, Dinardo, Foulke (back from retirement), Casilla and Huston Street to be the closer. The big question mark is starting pitching believe it or not. Joe Blanton is probably the most experienced due to all of Harden's injuries. Harden is also nothing more than trade bait. If he has a good season, expect to see him in pinstripes by the All Star Break.
 
#53
#53
however vercin, I gotta think the DBacks will be the most fun team to watch this year out West. They've got two potential Cy Young winners for this year, Randy Johnson isn't far from rejoining them and they've got Justin Upton in RF.
 
#54
#54
Funny you should say that; I'm sitting here watching Arizona pound on the Dodgers right now. They wouldn't be a bad team to watch, sure, but one problem is that I don't like them much -- I don't know that I want to spend the last 45 minutes before I go to bed rooting against someone every night. Probably more soothing to watch teams that I don't care about one way or the other.

I figure should watch an AL team, since I usually only see AL teams on Sunday nights. The A's are more immediately interesting to a Bill James devotee such as myself because of Billy Beane, but the pipeline seems to have dried up a little for Beane of late. As an outsider, it seems to me that other teams are catching up to the A's in terms of scouting and player evaluation, meaning that Beane's got a lot more competition coming up with these players than he used to. Plus the A's were killed by injuries last year, of course. It looks like they have a few young, interesting players -- at least judging from the stat sheet -- and that's enough.

I don't know; maybe I should just watch whichever games are closest on a given night. I just somehow think I'll learn more by watching one team semi-regularly than watching a couple of random innings here and there of everybody.

It may come down to whose announcers suck the least, actually. This one Arizona guy is particularly annoying.
 
#55
#55
If Billy is successful with the moves he made this offseason, he should go down as one of the most successful GMs of all time. I'm very thankful that he didn't take the Boston job a few years ago and I have full faith he knows what he's doing. I wasn't as surprised with losing Haren as I was Swisher, but from all reports these moves will have Oakland contending again by as early as next year. If he can get something valuable out of Harden, I'm definitely all for it. It's tough being an Oakland fan with how Beane operates because you can't really get attached to any players, but it's obvious his system is the best the A's can ask for given their financial situation. He has definitely taken James' sabermetrics approach to a whole new level and teams like the Brewers, Twins, Rangers etc are just trying to keep up.

As for the A's announcers, with the loss of Bill King a little over 2 years ago, no one has stepped up to be that guy. All the different ones I've heard (there's 3-4 different ones) all seem to be boring and dry. That could be good, that could be bad.
 
#56
#56
and Rich Harden is already hurt. How.......







completely expected. He was just going to be trade bait, but he's hurting his chances for something good. I was really hoping he could stay healthy just long enough for the yanks to take the bait and give us something good in return. Eh well.
 
#57
#57
Vercingetorix said:
Funny you should say that; I'm sitting here watching Arizona pound on the Dodgers right now. They wouldn't be a bad team to watch, sure, but one problem is that I don't like them much -- I don't know that I want to spend the last 45 minutes before I go to bed rooting against someone every night. Probably more soothing to watch teams that I don't care about one way or the other.

I figure should watch an AL team, since I usually only see AL teams on Sunday nights. The A's are more immediately interesting to a Bill James devotee such as myself because of Billy Beane, but the pipeline seems to have dried up a little for Beane of late. As an outsider, it seems to me that other teams are catching up to the A's in terms of scouting and player evaluation, meaning that Beane's got a lot more competition coming up with these players than he used to. Plus the A's were killed by injuries last year, of course. It looks like they have a few young, interesting players -- at least judging from the stat sheet -- and that's enough.

I don't know; maybe I should just watch whichever games are closest on a given night. I just somehow think I'll learn more by watching one team semi-regularly than watching a couple of random innings here and there of everybody.

It may come down to whose announcers suck the least, actually. This one Arizona guy is particularly annoying.
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Billy Beane's "genius" was a mirage built primarily on the Big Three. Now that they, as well as the best talent they got in return for them, are gone, his inadequacies will be exposed.
 
#58
#58
hatvol96 said:
Billy Beane's "genius" was a mirage built primarily on the Big Three. Now that they, as well as the best talent they got in return for them, are gone, his inadequacies will be exposed.
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Funny that the big three have been SOOOOO successful since their departure from Oakland. Also funny that he did it once before trading the big three. His only inadequacy is that this philosophy can only yield short term results.
 
#59
#59
hatvol96 said:
Billy Beane's "genius" was a mirage built primarily on the Big Three. Now that they, as well as the best talent they got in return for them, are gone, his inadequacies will be exposed.
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also funny that most scouts are saying Beane has gotten much better prospects than he did off the sale of the big three. They are still reaping the benfits of the Tim Hudson trade. Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer and Juan Cruz proved invaluable to the organization.
 
#60
#60
volfanbill said:
also funny that most scouts are saying Beane has gotten much better prospects than he did off the sale of the big three. They are still reaping the benfits of the Tim Hudson trade. Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer and Juan Cruz proved invaluable to the organization.
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You have got to be kidding. Yeah, those three are well on their way to Cooperstown.
 
#61
#61
volfanbill said:
also funny that most scouts are saying Beane has gotten much better prospects than he did off the sale of the big three. They are still reaping the benfits of the Tim Hudson trade. Charles Thomas, Dan Meyer and Juan Cruz proved invaluable to the organization.
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Dan Haren is infinitely better than the sum of anything they got back.
 
#62
#62
volfanbill said:
Funny that the big three have been SOOOOO successful since their departure from Oakland. Also funny that he did it once before trading the big three. His only inadequacy is that this philosophy can only yield short term results.
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Hudson's been fine in Atlanta. Mulder got a World Series ring. Zito got about a trillion dollars. That's success. Sitting around praying guys like China Doll Hardin and Lenn Di Nardo are going to carry a franchise is no way to win.
 
#63
#63
hatvol96 said:
Hudson's been fine in Atlanta. Mulder got a World Series ring. Zito got about a trillion dollars. That's success. Sitting around praying guys like China Doll Hardin and Lenn Di Nardo are going to carry a franchise is no way to win.
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seeing all we're hoping for is to get a trade for Harden and Blanton is considered (and is) the ace shows how little you know. Also, who cares about the ring and Zito's money. They wouldn't have done squat to get the A's anywhere. That was the whole point of letting go of the Big Three. If you like 14 win seasons, Hudson is your man. Congrats.
 
#64
#64
hatvol96 said:
Dan Haren is infinitely better than the sum of anything they got back.
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One pitcher for all the prospects that you have no idea how will turn out. It's exactly the type of tradeoff the A's have to make. According to all the reports they will be very good. I'll take those chances.
 
#65
#65
hatvol96 said:
You have got to be kidding. Yeah, those three are well on their way to Cooperstown.
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um yes, that was all sarcasm. I assumed with your vast knowledge you would know that. The Hudson trade gave Oakland nothing. The Swisher and Haren trades should be much more valuable than the Hudson trade.
 
#66
#66
volfanbill said:
seeing all we're hoping for is to get a trade for Harden and Blanton is considered (and is) the ace shows how little you know. Also, who cares about the ring and Zito's money. They wouldn't have done squat to get the A's anywhere. That was the whole point of letting go of the Big Three. If you like 14 win seasons, Hudson is your man. Congrats.
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If he's considered the ace, why did Beane spend all winter trying to peddle him?
 
#67
#67
hatvol96 said:
If he's considered the ace, why did Beane spend all winter trying to peddle him?
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Because everyone knows the A's are officially throwing this season in the tank? Also he didn't try Billy Beane hard to trade him away.

Chavez and Harden would have been gone in the offseason if injuries didn't have all of MLB scared of picking them up (and for good reason).
 
#68
#68
volfanbill said:
According to all the reports they will be very good. I'll take those chances.
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The guys they got fo Hudson were supposed to "be very good." How'd that turn out? Maybe if Beane had burned all that cash over the years on the likes of Jermaine Dye and Jason Kendall, you might be able to keep some quality pitchers.
 
#70
#70
hatvol96 said:
The guys they got fo Hudson were supposed to "be very good." How'd that turn out? Maybe if Beane had burned all that cash over the years on the likes of Jermaine Dye and Jason Kendall, you might be able to keep some quality pitchers.
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yeah, Jermaine Dye didn't help the team at all. I mean he carried them to the playoffs after his trade and then struggled through some injuries. Also Kendall proved invaluable in helping Haren, Blanton and Harden when they were still green. Someone who claims to be as baseball savvy as you should know catchers are about far more than what do offensively.
 
#71
#71
hatvol96 said:
The guys they got fo Hudson were supposed to "be very good." How'd that turn out? Maybe if Beane had burned all that cash over the years on the likes of Jermaine Dye and Jason Kendall, you might be able to keep some quality pitchers.
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The above post should read "hadn't burned."
 
#72
#72
hatvol96 said:
You were the one asking what success they had after leaving Oakland. I simply answered your question.
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you know full well I meant actual on the field success. What they have done statistically compared to what the A's got in return is a no brainer as to which side won those deals.

I'm sure the Giants are just tickled they are paying Zito so much money, as are the Cards with Mulder.
 
#74
#74
volfanbill said:
yeah, Jermaine Dye didn't help the team at all. I mean he carried them to the playoffs after his trade and then struggled through some injuries. Also Kendall proved invaluable in helping Haren, Blanton and Harden when they were still green. Someone who claims to be as baseball savvy as you should know catchers are about far more than what do offensively.
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There are plenty of catchers in the game who can nurture a pitching staff for about 1/10th of what Kendall was being payed. Beane was silly enough to buy Pittsburgh's folly and it ended up costing him. Dye was always injury prone. Keeping him around for big money was almost as silly as counting on Mike Piazza to replace Frank Thomas last season.
 
#75
#75
hatvol96 said:
There are plenty of catchers in the game who can nurture a pitching staff for about 1/10th of what Kendall was being payed. Beane was silly enough to buy Pittsburgh's folly and it ended up costing him. Dye was always injury prone. Keeping him around for big money was almost as silly as counting on Mike Piazza to replace Frank Thomas last season.
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Yeah, because a finally healthy Jermaine Dye has just ruined the White Sox.
 
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