Official 2010 Oakland A's Thread

Originally posted by Jigga:
This team is toying with our emotions, man. Our Pitching is lights out...then the bats fade.

The bats heat up, and our pitchers don't bring it. We need to take a long look at the waiver wire over the next couple of weeks if we wanna attempt to hang with Wash and his boys.

If only we had a couple of consistent bats we'd be right in it

We are gettin perfect gamed right now... I don't f**king understand beane... If u think we can contend get us a f**king bat if not get us prospects.

The last two games of each series on this road trip yet another reason why Geren should be fired.

TEX series when it was IMO a must win in what was even the slimmest of chances to get back into the race only 6 or so games out with a win. What did he do, he put all RHs in there and took out two of his best hitters in Barton and Cust.

Cust before that finale against TEX since the all star break was hitting .294 with 4 HRs/11 RBIs including .273 against LHs this season.

Barton since the all star break was hitting .297 and against LHs this .295.

Yet Geren plays his stupid match ups and even then he should've saw that both of the top hitters in recent weeks does well against LHs and hits better against LHs than they do overall.


Then today, really that's the best lineup he could throw out there against one of the best teams in baseball at home in the ChiSox. Might as well thrown out the white flag because the A's weren't gonna win with that lineup even with Gio pitching one of his better games with CG where he had 11 Ks and 0 BBs, if it weren't for a Carson blunder in the field, maybe he gives up only a couple of runs as he was dealing for the most part of this game other than one inning.

Again the argument used for Geren is that he doesn't have the talent to compete seriously but IMO the awful in game managing the past 3.5 years shows that if you're observant of the A's for a while, you know Geren is way over his head as a manager. Still can't believe his non double switch against the Cubs last month. Just freakin awful.

Some blame has to go to Beane, forget about him hiring Geren and keeping him for this long and no doubt about it, Geren's option for 2011 will get retained even though he'll be the first manager in A's history whether that's PHI, KC, and Oakland where after 4 possible below .500 seasons...will be brought back for a 5th. YOU KNOW that he'll bring brought back if the A's finish above .500.

I don't know why Beane hasn't called up Taylor or Carter. In July...

Taylor-.324/.418/.448 with 2 HRs/24 RBIs with 15 BBs/20 Ks in 105 ABs

Carter-.318/.430/.645 with 9 HRs/22 RBIs and 20 BBs/26 Ks in 107 ABs

...Taylor still isn't showing the HR power but he's driving guys in with a sick .361 AVG with RISP and .322 AVG with runners on.

Still AAA but it'd sure be nice to have guys who have the ability to either hit HRs as Carter shown he can do for much of his minor league career or drive runners in as both guys have shown the past month or two.

Really is having a Carson or Watson better than having Carter/Taylor up here? Which two are gonna be or hopefully be the foundation of the middle of your lineup for the next 6-7 seasons? Certainly isn't the first pair. The second pair has done as well as you could expect this past month and sooner or later they need to be called up. I don't know why right now, the start of AUG shouldn't be the best time to do so.

I'd personally rather see these two have two months in the bigs in what I guess some would still say are "meaningful games" rather than having just SEP.

CarGonz's GW HR last night made me

Check out Gonzalez's home/road splits this season...

Home...

-.383/.420/.729 with 44 runs, 8 2Bs, 3 2Bs, 17 HRs, 43 RBIs and 13 BBs/30 Ks in 118 ABs.

Road...

-.262/.279/.385 with 23 runs, 4 2Bs, 5 HRs, 25 RBIs and 7 BBs/32 Ks in 198 ABs.

...he's a BEAST at home in altitude and below average on the road. IMO he'd have nowhere near the #s if he were still on the A's at the coliseum for half his games in one of the worst hitter's park in the league compared to what he's doing in COL which even with the humidor is still a hitter friendly park.

Doesn't mean Gonzalez wouldn't be the A's best player right now and putting up good #s but not the sick overall #s he's producing with COL.

We'll see what Taylor can do. Still think he could be himself a very good hitter in the bigs. Be fine with Taylor puts up #s like...

.290/.400/.450 with 20 HRs/90 RBIs

...not the all around talent that Gonzalez is showing and showed a bit in his half season with the A's back in 08 but still a valuable 3-5 type hitter in the bigs.

[ Edited by ninerpride on Aug 1, 2010 at 16:55:43 ]

I'll be at the ballyard tonight (FREE PARKING TUESDAY AND 1/2 PRICE SEATING) to check out Mazzaro. I'm expecting a larger turnout than normal...something like 11,000 instead of 5,000.

[ Edited by Jigga on Aug 4, 2010 at 12:24:49 ]

The attendance for A's game at the coliseum will always remain an issue until they get a new baseball only park somewhere, pretty good chance it'll be in SJ in a 3-4 years.

This ownership has pissed off a group of A's fans, however small it was even though they averaged over 2 million per season from 01-05 and attendance was rising almost every year that they'll never come back, maybe until they get a new park and are actually committed to staying somewhere in the bay area for the next 20-30 years.

Speaking of new park. MLB and SJ agreed to put off the ballot measure NOV, most likely because Selig and his boys in the MLB offices are still working on what could be the final details of working on the TR like some sort of payment even though I think there should be NO f**kING PAYMENT made to the TR when the A's didn't get jack s**t for giving up their half nearly two decades ago.

MLB reportedly will help pay for a special spring of 2011 election when the SJ voters will decide whether they want a PRIVATELY BUILD new baseball park which all polls have a measure passing rather easily.

When they day happens and A's are finally playing in a new park and in front of big crowds, that's two things the bay area media can stop using against the A's which they've done for pretty much the past 15 years now ever since the coliseum was reconfigured.

He tagged them both. Aren't they both out?

The A's face a starting pitcher coming into a game with a 5.48 ERA, a reliever with a 4.50 ERA, and another reliever with a 5.89 ERA coming into the game and the A's can only score 2 runs on 6 hits and one measly extra base hit.

Pathetic.

I don't know what the f**k Beane is waiting for?

Bring up Carter, bring up Taylor. This team has very little shot of competing this year, why the f**k aren't those two up?

They have by far the best month of offensive production last month, what could be the holdup?

My faith in Beane is wavering. Seems as he's more interested in working on this movie Moneyball and or watching Euro soccer leagues rather than building up a team that can win.

What good is another month or god forbid into SEP for either of these two. Really every team that has had their top prospects at AAA heck maybe even AA seems to have called them up other than the A's with Taylor/Carter.

Just in general the A's haven't promoted their young talented prospects at all this season in the minors.

A ball KC...

-Stassi and Dixon IMO should've been moved out of KC which is pitcher friendly and up a level to Stockton in the summer time where the ball flies out. Don't think they're learning much with the bat at KC although Stassi maybe be still down there due to him learning how to be a C.

A+ Stockton...

-Green is just tearing the ball off the cover right now. Now there are reports he's working with coaches down there to improve his D which is pretty bad. Problem is he may not even play IF in the long run. Saw a Q&A at OC.com where it was asked where Green's position was long term? Answer was either 3B due to it probably being easier defensively for him than SS or CF. Parker and Spina, two relatively early picks in 09 are still at A+ when they're leading the team in HRs and since being collegiate picks, you'd think after doing pretty well at Stockton as 22 and 23 year olds, that they would be promoted pretty quickly to AA.

AA MID...

-Cardenas line .347/.446/.468 in 170+ ABs. .326/.392/.446 in 325 ABs last year at AA. Obviously even at the young age of 22 he's done all he could do at AA the past two seasons, why he hasn't been called back up to AAA is beyond me especially when in his last two weeks at SAC, he was hitting over .300 during that stretch. Brown an 07 college draftee has a line of .322/.411/.512, have no idea why he isn't called up especially since two AAA OFs in Carson and Watson are up here with the big league team the past week or so.

Ok, so...THIS is truly the make or break series of the season

Originally posted by Jigga:
Ok, so...THIS is truly the make or break series of the season

in order to make a statement to me that we can contend we need to sweep them this series... bring the division lead to 5 games.

A's don't have the offense to sweep a quality team like TEX especially when you have possibly one of the top 2 or 3 pitchers in all of baseball starting in the series in Lee.

Look at the lineup they put out tonight. 7 of the 9 positions taking out Suzuki at C and Kouz at 3B, very little power.

Carter tonight hit his 26th HR in the first game of a double header. The lineup again tonight taking out the two A's hitters mentioned above have 26 HRs COMBINED.

1B-Barton...5

-a lot of Barton haters going on now. Could see why. He's shown very little power this season, surely a disappointment when the rest of the team is showing very little power and at 1B, a power position you aren't getting any. Gotta wonder how the broken finger has affected him this season. His offensive #s as a whole have gotten worse each month. Is it because of the finger or has teams at least figured him out a bit. He still is 2nd in the AL in BBs and is hitting a lot of 2Bs, on pace for around 35+ which I would take but he's not driving in runs, maybe because he's hitting #2 all year long for the most part and isn't getting any chances although his numbers wit RISP and runners on aren't great.


2B-Ellis...2

-looks like it may be the end of the road with Ellis. Funny though if you look at his career #s, it's alternating good and bad/mediocre seasons. 02/05/07/09 were good years while 03/06/08 and now 10 have been relatively mediocre. He'll be 34 early next season, don't know how likely the A's pick up his option which I think is around 5 million. If history holds, he'll have a good year in 2011 but I don't know if he'll be around. He is probably Beane's least one of his favorite players of the decade. Other than Chavez, he's the longest tenure A during the "Beane era".

But his skills overall looks diminished. His range defensively isn't there and he's showing very little power. He's def on the downside of his career and at this point looks like he fits the role of a utility guy on a good team which I think he'd fit well as.


SS-Pennington...3

-he hasn't hit a HR since April 27th. He has been streaky as hell. Started off hot, then went into a deep funk. The last two months he's done pretty well, had a GREAT June and a very good July.

Quote:
Gladly take what he put up for 2+ months for an entire 6 month season which would add up to 30 2Bs/10 HRs/60 RBIs and 20+ SBs.

That's what I posted about Pennington before the season. He'll come close really otehr than HR although sure looked like he was gonna show much more power when he hit his only three HRs this season the first month in April.


LF-Davis...5

-Davis is actually one of the A's doing very well the second half, as he did last season. He'll probably steal closer to 40 bags and showing a bit more power. IMO the way he's ending 2010, looks as he has a shot to be the A's starting CF to begin 2011.

CF-Crisp...3

-stated off red hot but has cooled off and hasnt' really don't much with the bat for weeks now. I don't see how the A's could bring him back even picking up a somewhat "cheap" option ala Ellis. Just too many health issues and his slump isn't helping him IMO to be brought back.


RF-Watson...1

-why is he still here? Him and Carson shouldn't be starting for a team that has even a small of a chance of competing. Either Taylor or Carter should be here starting in the OF. I'd rather see Carter/Taylor struggling like these two Matts have done the past month. These guys in AAA are gonna be or hopefully be the future of the A's middle of the lineup.


DH-Rosales...7

-def has issues with K's but before tonight's game he's hitting .333/.367/.474 in 57 ABs since the start of July. Should be getting more time and at this time could be the frontrunner for the 2B job heading into 2011 if the A's don't bring back Ellis.




A's need bats bad. They got a couple of nice complimentary pieces in the lineup but not centerpieces especially ones that scare opposing pitchers. Hopefully Carter and Taylor, more likely the former becomes one of them but IMO the A's need to find another bat who can at least hit some HRs which they're dead last in the AL this season so far.

Pitching IMO is good enough, health is a concern with somebody like Anderson and Braden. Pen has taken a step back with only really three reliable arms in Wuertz whos looking like the Wuertz of last season the past month, Breslow and Bailey.

Pen def took a hit with health issues with Kilby, Meloan, Devine especially missing most of this season, the last two not even pitching at all.

f**k THIS TEAM DUDE... ITS OVER. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WE COULD HAVE WON THIS DIVSION AND WE GAVE IT UP. I am sorry but we could have won this division if Billy would actually act and do something... f**k.

Gonzalez is dealin'.




Game is on Fox, for those out of the area.