2009 Oakland A's thread

A's signed a couple of veteran minor league C.

C seems to be pretty deep within the org depth chart with Suzuki and probably Powell at the major league level, possibly Gallaragga at AAA, Recker at AA, Paramore at A+...and who knows where Donaldson will be...maybe switch him to another position where playing C won't tax him as much.

The dude can hit, dream case scenario would for Donaldson to make the move to 3B and become anywhere near a long term solution at maybe the thinest positon in the A's org.

I'd like to take tihs space to reiterate: Fck Bud Selig!!!

I'm listening to tonights pre game. Duke out 6 weeks with elbow surgery. NO WAI. Our inept training staff couldn't have suggested this a month ago?

Let's see how our offense does tonight, we're sporting what will probly be our opening day line up.

Also, they said Cahill will get about 85 pitches. Hope he throws a good outing, cause it looks like he and Anderson are gonna start the year in the rotation =/

Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

How are we suppose to be good if our pitching sucks? f**k you billy beane...

I don't know what Beane realistically could do this offseason really. He built up the farm system to being one of the best now but has to build a team to win this season.

There were many very reliable veteran SP FAs out there and those who had some veteran experience signed elsewhere to contracts that were too much out of the A's price range and or wasn't better than what they had potentially with a Gallagher, Eveland, Braden...guys who could win you 10-12 games with mid to high ERAs in the 4s.

Remember, it wasn't Beane's idea to win NOW this season. Wolff pushed Beane to make moves to win this season, as most think 2010 or 2011 are the years when the A's were supposed to contend.

This was I'm guessing a year where Gallagher, Eveland, Braden, Gio would've gained experience and maybe an Anderson, Cahill, Mazzaro, Simmons would be called up but now not only will they have to learn on the fly, they're being counted on to be pitching well enough for this team to make the playoffs.

True getting all the offensive help will take some pressure off but this was a young rotation no matter what happened and boom, now they see the veteran and "ace" of the staff gone for the first month probably.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

yeah I really think Cahill needs to start the year in the minors. I don't want to mess him up by rushing him the the majors when he's not ready. I think we're better off struggling througha Jerome Williams or a Gonzalez than potentially damaging the future.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

That has to be the worst starting rotation in the majors. Wow.. long season ahead for the A's

Between Gonzalez and Williams, I'd rather put Williams out there for the first month and see what he can do.

If I had to choose between those two and somehow turning their careers around to be at least contributors to a MLB rotation, I'd choose Williams. When he was on and that was very very very early in his MLB career what 4-5 years ago, he was a solid MLB pitcher. I don't think Gonzalez has ever been that albeit some felt he was rushed. Williams at least in the minors last season did very well within the Dodgers system.

If either turns it around, it'll be similar to a Gaudin situation where he too was rushed to the bigs, 20 I believe when TB called him up, he struggled was dealt to TOR before Beane plucked him away and he turned into a solid MLB caliber arm now with the Cubs.

At this point, just grasping for something. A's lose again SAT, what is it their 10th straight ST loss. WTF...

Sweeney-CF
Cabrera-SS
Holliday-LF
Giambi-1B
Chavez-3B
Cust-DH
Suzuki-C
Buck-RF
Ellis-2B

...that seems like the A's potential starting lineup to start the season, as it was speculated when the A's faced Peavy a few days ago by many.

Chavez ahead of Cust?

Surprised that Buck is 8th and have always thought Suzuki at 9. Course if Buck/Ellis are healthy, could see them move up in the order.

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

That has to be the worst starting rotation in the majors. Wow.. long season ahead for the A's

Get over your hate of the A's. It's not the worst. It's not very good and not really a playoff caliber rotation but it's not the worst. Their is a lot of youth in the rotation and it could turn out to be a good rotation if everything comes together but I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little scared about it.

But the worst? Get out.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Sweeney-CF
Cabrera-SS
Holliday-LF
Giambi-1B
Chavez-3B
Cust-DH
Suzuki-C
Buck-RF
Ellis-2B

...that seems like the A's potential starting lineup to start the season, as it was speculated when the A's faced Peavy a few days ago by many.

Chavez ahead of Cust?

Surprised that Buck is 8th and have always thought Suzuki at 9. Course if Buck/Ellis are healthy, could see them move up in the order.

I would like to see Barton get another shot as he's having a good spring but there really is no room so I think he's better off going down to AAA and dominate at that level (if he really has it in him to be a good major leageu first baseman). I think he was always rushed witout ever really showing mastery of the level and that hurt him.

Barton had that great one or one and a half month in AAA during the 07 minor league season. Then came back to earth a bit and then had a great playoffs for Sac before his call up against SEA, remember all too well as it was the Monday night opener for the Niners that same night against ARZ at home.

Then he had that great SEP run and we all know what happened last season. Barton is still only 23, certainly not old or too young to still be in AAA. Agreed though he most likely will start the year in AAA getting full time ABs and the A's already have a option to be a backup 1B with Nomar and he's a RH too.

Who knows what the future is with Barton, I'd still love to keep him and think he'll still end up being a very good hitter in the bigs. But by the start of 2010, you could see Doolittle who had a very good AFL and ST and even maybe Carter right on Barton's heel.

I guess it's a very good "problem" to have if those three are neck and neck by the end of this upcoming baseball season.

Originally posted by AllTimeGreat:

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

That has to be the worst starting rotation in the majors. Wow.. long season ahead for the A's

Get over your hate of the A's. It's not the worst. It's not very good and not really a playoff caliber rotation but it's not the worst. Their is a lot of youth in the rotation and it could turn out to be a good rotation if everything comes together but I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little scared about it.

But the worst? Get out.

LOL. I would really only hate it if the A's were good and a contender. I dont hate them now. Seriously, they have to have one of the bottom 5 rotations anyway.

Washington
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Texas
Oakland

Just my opinion.. dont need to get upset about it. I really think they are hurting badly and better hope they score a lot of runs.

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by AllTimeGreat:

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Cahill got beat up today, did pitch the first three innings scoreless but had to fight thru trouble in those until he got blasted in the 4th. I think Cahill like Mazzaro should start the year in AAA and Anderson in the big league rotation as I mentioned because he's the most polished.

Braden
Eveland
Gallagher
Anderson

...s**t after that, don't know who fills the 5th spot. E.Gonzalez, Outman, who?

Yep, not looking good at all starting the season.

Braden as the opening night pitcher? Wow...

That has to be the worst starting rotation in the majors. Wow.. long season ahead for the A's

Get over your hate of the A's. It's not the worst. It's not very good and not really a playoff caliber rotation but it's not the worst. Their is a lot of youth in the rotation and it could turn out to be a good rotation if everything comes together but I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little scared about it.

But the worst? Get out.

LOL. I would really only hate it if the A's were good and a contender. I dont hate them now. Seriously, they have to have one of the bottom 5 rotations anyway.

Washington
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Texas
Oakland

Just my opinion.. dont need to get upset about it. I really think they are hurting badly and better hope they score a lot of runs.

@your comparisons. REALLY??