2014 Oakland Athletics Thread

Billy Beane probably sobbing uncontrollably right now, but he set aside his man-crush for DARIC BARTON and his .150 avg and DFA'd him...and that's because A's have traded for Kyle Blanks from the Padres.

Don't know much about Blanks, maybe he's a supposed defensive "wizard" same as Barton? If not, then surprised they wouldn't just call up Freiman from Sacto, he's been doing very well there.


http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10937007/oakland-athletics-acquire-kyle-blanks-san-diego-padres-2-players?ex_cid=espnapi_public

The Oakland Athletics acquired a potential right-handed power bat Thursday when they picked up oft-injured first baseman-outfielder Kyle Blanks in a trade with the San Diego Padres. Blanks has 28 homers in 715 MLB at-bats but has had difficulty staying healthy.
San Diego will get minor-league outfielder Jake Goebbert and a player to be named in exchange for Blanks, who has 28 homers in 715 big-league at-bats but has had difficulty staying healthy throughout his career. Blanks has yet to appear in more than 88 games in a season with San Diego.

I'm pretty sure they want Freiman to get a full season of ABs at AAA after going from AA to platooning in MLB last season.

It's a good move, though I hope they don't take away all of Moss' ABs against lefties.

Daric was just not cutting it. Blanks is no worse than Moss at 1B defense, but the potential trade off of better RH batting for defense is worth it, IMO.

EDIT: Jane Lee ‏@JaneMLB 1m In 103 ABs against lefties last year, Blanks hit .282/.373/.456 with 5 homers.

So, yeah, I'd say he's an upgrade over Barton, even if a defensive downgrade.

Originally posted by captveg:
I'm pretty sure they want Freiman to get a full season of ABs at AAA after going from AA to platooning in MLB last season.

It's a good move, though I hope they don't take away all of Moss' ABs against lefties.

Daric was just not cutting it. Blanks is no worse than Moss at 1B defense, but the potential trade off of better RH batting for defense is worth it, IMO.

EDIT: Jane Lee ‏@JaneMLB 1m In 103 ABs against lefties last year, Blanks hit .282/.373/.456 with 5 homers.

So, yeah, I'd say he's an upgrade over Barton, even if a defensive downgrade.

That's the rub, right there...if they're going to have Blanks start at 1B vs lefties, then they better have Moss in the OF or DH, i.e. KEEP HIS BAT IN THE LINEUP. He's only had 25 ABs vs lefties, but in those he's hitting .320, .850 OPS...and even though 9 K's, no one can just "he can't hit lefties", because he's proving he can and stands to reason he'll continue to improve the more chances he gets.

Well, can't have two more opposite innings at the plate than the 1st and the 2nd.

Walk up music aside, Reddick seems to be back to at least 75-80% of his 2012 form. I hope Reddick 3.0 continues.

If this is Reddick 2012 then we, top to bottom, have the best lineup we've had in years.

Well, that was an adventurous one.



Bad enough that you call Pitch 7 Ball 4 when it's HIGHER THAN THE CALLED STRIKE 1, but then to Warn-Eject the starting pitcher within 2 seconds of each other? Whatever happened to letting the warning sink in for, I don't know, more than a second?

And Layne's strike zone was inconsistent and terrible all throughout the game. This was simply the most blatant instance.

What the hell do they put in the umps' water in Cleveland?

That was pure ridiculousness on the Umps part.

Plus again f**king up a HR call in almost the exact same part of the park as last year. We've gotten screwed so many times by this replay system it's kind of comical. If it's a borderline call it's pretty much guaranteed to go against us it seems. Luckily this time the blown call didn't end up having any significance. Except or Donaldson's statistics I guess.

I don't think I have ever disliked a relief pitcher in my entire life as much as I dislike Jim Johnson. Good god he is horrible.

I'm done with seeing Jim Johnson. He cant throw strikes, and he always gets hit hard, even when outs. Beane needs to dump him as soon as Cook comes off the DL, especially with O'Flaherty coming back shortly after that. Addition by subtraction.

Today notwithstanding, Johnson has been solid on the road...just too bad for him half his games are played in O.co where he's been a train wreck. Ultimately this is the guy they want closing games, but do not think they will give him the entire season to figure it out. My guess is they give him another month or so, up until right around the ASB...if he hasn't cleaned it up and ready to be a big-boy closer, then Mr. Beane will be trying to find JJ a new home.

And of course Freddy Krueger lives...you knew NO ONE was going to claim Barton off waivers, although I thought there was a slight chance Giants might grab him due to Belt's injury...so he's BAAAAACK, still lingering around in Sacto, just waiting for his BFF Billy to call him back up to Oakland.

D**n, top 6, bases juiced no outs, TERRIBLE AB's by Crisp and JD, sandwiched around Jaso who made contact but fly ball not deep enough to score a run...could end up being costly,.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

D**n, top 6, bases juiced no outs, TERRIBLE AB's by Crisp and JD, sandwiched around Jaso who made contact but fly ball not deep enough to score a run...could end up being costly,.

Good thing the rays are even more garbage than the Indians.

Another great pitching performance, bailed out the offense which reverted back to scoring early and then choking the rest of the game. And WTF is in the water in Oakland, the China Doll trifecta of Darren McFragile, Bogut, and now Crisp hurt AGAIN.

File this under the category of First World Problems, but just a little concerned with A's bats...they got 1-hit, but somehow still WON. That's a testament to the great pitching they're getting, but they need to get back to getting some hits.

Doolittle the closer now, as long as he can locate his fastball then not a big concern that he really doesn't have a go-to secondary pitch, but hopefully he'll keep working on the slider and maybe a change.

That was a 3-run saving catch that Reddick just made. So.... even if a streaky hitter who slumps too often still, totally worth it.