2011 Oakland A's Thread

Great win today by the way to bring us within 2 games of Texas and back to the .500 mark. Nice to see everyone play well today as well as run support.

Originally posted by IdentityCrisis:

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by IdentityCrisis:

Originally posted by socalfan21:

Originally posted by crzy:

Originally posted by socalfan21:

Originally posted by crzy:
Ethier, Cargo, now Brett Wallace

Billy Beane has totally lost it when it comes to evaluating hitters.

God bless our budget and having to make these choices on who stays and goes...

that's a cop-out blaming it on the budget.

All these guys were pre-arbitration when they were traded away, the A's could have afforded to keep them.

Beane just thought Michael Taylor was better than Wallace.

How is that a cop out? If we never had to worry about money we wouldn't have to trade prospects to get these average players

what does trading prospects have to do with saving money?

prospects are how you save money...

you save money by trading the prospects away before the turn into stars and hit payday. perpetually having prospects does no good to your major league success. the A's could have the best farm system in the majors by a mile, and it wouldnt do them any good unless they kept these guys and paid them to stay a while.

And what do you think you trade prospects away FOR once they turn into stars? More prospects. Either that or lock them up long-term cheap.

Having prospects means you get a guy for 3 years at the league minimum if you do things right, that goes a long way toward saving you money.

exactly! you trade guys before they command big money, get more prospects out of it, and repeat. the major flaw in that system is, while saving you money, you never field a playoff caliber team. the guys who are going to hit payday soon arent yet into their primes yet, so youre constantly fielding a team of "almost good enough" guys.

the A's are always a group of guys in their mid-20's with plenty of potential, and would probably be really fun to hang out with, but they arent experienced enough or ready to form a playoff contender. by the time theyve developed that far, theyre playing elsewhere. The A's need to change their strategy if they want to compete every year.

Originally posted by socalfan21:
We made desperate moves to keep our great run a couple of years back and we thought we could keep the fire going or start something else by obtaining guys we couldn't sign in free agency by renting them for a year then letting them walk while not giving them a proper amount of time to gel with teammates. To get these guys via trade we have to give up our best prospects... Ruins the future of what could have been.

This is very twisted nonsense.

Beane did want the draft picks that came with Matt Holliday, I'll give you that.

But the REASON he traded Carlos Gonzales, Andre Ethier, were because he thought that they sucked. Straight up. He failed to properly evaluate them.

If he had thought that Cargo or Ethier would turn out to be good players, he would not have traded them JUST for the rights to future first round draft picks. That would make absolutely no sense. Nobody trades a player they think is a good prospect for the right to future supplemental draft picks. Not when the rate of success in the MLB draft is so minimal.


Blaming the stupid trades of Ethier, Cargo on financial problems is just illogical.


It's just a cop-out. Crying poverty when those moves were simply bad management.

[ Edited by crzy on May 1, 2011 at 22:19:35 ]

The A's are at a competitive disadvantage financially when it comes to

a) retaining their talent after six years of team control
b) competing in the free agent market.


Finances have nothing to do with why the A's can't develop hitters, or why the A's traded away some very good young hitters in the past half decade.

He traded Ethier for Milton Bradley. Milton Bradley was a big part in us getting the furthest into the playoffs in anytime in the 2000's. I doubt it was simply because he thought he "sucked." Classic case of trading the future for the present.

Trading CarGo was unacceptable.

Walkoff HR by Matsui today

just 1.5 games out of the division

Originally posted by TheGoldenState:
Walkoff HR by Matsui today

just 1.5 games out of the division

in the 10th!

Originally posted by AllTimeGreat:
He traded Ethier for Milton Bradley. Milton Bradley was a big part in us getting the furthest into the playoffs in anytime in the 2000's. I doubt it was simply because he thought he "sucked." Classic case of trading the future for the present.

Trading CarGo was unacceptable.

wake me when CarGo does anything substantial away from Coors(aka an ops over .800) and maybe I'll miss him .. the only reason it looks so bad is because of string of trades that ultimately netted us a guy with a broken swing.

also .. I'm pretty sure part of the reason Ethier was traded was because Beane was also very high on Travis Buck and they were both projected to be similar players. Obviously a terrible decision in hindsight.

4 unearned runs in 6 IP... i'd be steamed if i were mccarthy, even if i made two errors. although that's a good way to make sure your ERA stays low.

[ Edited by DertyDonahue on May 3, 2011 at 13:43:33 ]

damn.. we really need Andrew Bailey back

we seriously would have at least 3 more wins if we had Bailey all season

Originally posted by TheGoldenState:
damn.. we really need Andrew Bailey back

we seriously would have at least 3 more wins if we had Bailey all season

Fuentes really does make me nervous.

balfour is throwing well.

Originally posted by DertyDonahue:
balfour is throwing well.

yeah but Fuentes at closer isn't doing well

we need our all star closer Andrew Bailey back

Originally posted by TheGoldenState:

Originally posted by DertyDonahue:
balfour is throwing well.

yeah but Fuentes at closer isn't doing well

we need our all star closer Andrew Bailey back

my fantasy teams agree

Originally posted by TheGoldenState:

Originally posted by DertyDonahue:
balfour is throwing well.

yeah but Fuentes at closer isn't doing well

we need our all star closer Andrew Bailey back

agreed. fuentes wasn't brought in to close. bailey gets it done.