2009 Oakland A's thread

Originally posted by JR80:

Originally posted by King49er:

Originally posted by Watchutalkinbout:

Originally posted by JR80:
omg, gtfo

Sorry man, King49er is like a leech. He won't get the f**k off me or the Yankees. He's the classic instigator.

I actually came in to have a normal baseball conversation with level headed baseball fans,and found you trolling around in here



On that note,this is a close one so far,I'm impressed by Cecil and the way he's pitched so far.

Man,that was quite the shot Wells hit off Bradin's shoulder in the 1st,I'm glad he's ok.

He has struck him out twice since,but with the line-up the A's have,a 2 run lead isn't enough for me

a .01 run lead is more than enough to beat the A's...even when you score it in the first inning

You have to remember that we DON'T like scoring. We hate it.

but srsly. GTFO.

Hey I'm gone,we got 2 wins out of this series,I'm very happy,good luck to you guys until we play again

I THINK this article came out today..unless it was just updated.
Council to begin negotiations on San Jose...

The A's finally score runs and no one is here... this is an awesome game!

Originally posted by socalfan21:
The A's finally score runs and no one is here... this is an awesome game!

Originally posted by socalfan21:
The A's finally score runs and no one is here... this is an awesome game!

lmao true story. If i would have gone to the game it probably would have been 12-0 Royals though. Just haven't had that much luck when going to the games

Well I haven't posted in a while and other than tonight's game vs KC, nothing much has changed really.

Offense at least this month starting with that horrible SEA series to begin the month has been mainly all or nothing. Including tonight's game, five games with 5+ runs and in the other six games with 4 runs or less including four of them being 2 runs or less.

I guess the mainstays for the offense have been the trio of Suzuki, who at this point would be my all star choice at this time and Cust who blasted another HR tonight.

Holliday 4 HRs/20 RBIs in 28 games, on the surface you'd think he's having a good season but an .665 OPS tells otherwise although he's been doing very well the past 10 or so games so maybe he's heating up.

Giambi, has been a disappointment. Now he isn't gonna be the Giambi a decade ago, hell didn't even think he'd be the Giambi last year with the NYY who had a 30 HR/90 RBI season. Though maybe 25 HRs/80 RBIs with a .240-.250 AVG would be best case, at this point I don't know if he'd put up those #s.

Sweeney has been meh. Crosby with a .764 OPS has exceeded my expectations after a very slow start but that isn't all that to be excited about, really his low expectations and his "decent showing" is kind of telling for him. Doesn't have a HR and only 5 XBHs.

Cabrera guess you could put him with Giambi as a disappointment. Who knows, maybe he's still in ST mode, he did basically miss most of ST and maybe this slow first 4-5 weeks of the season will pass and he'll be a solid SS he's been all his career but seems as going to Oakland kills a lot of established hitter's mojo. Maybe happening to Holliday although I do think this shows Holliday is an NL guy where he can feast on fastballs and look at somebody like Damon who in 01 after being a .300 AVG hitter for KC for his career had his worst offensive season with the A's when you look at his career #s now.


Pitching, pen has been great, had a few hiccups, Ziegler going to miss the next week isn't shocking considering health which IMO was the key factor for this team this season and we've already seen DL stints by Devine whos out for the season and IMO was just a telling story to come and IMO really killed a good shot of the A's competing this year, Ellis, Nomar, Chavez, and Duke.

Bailey has really stepped up and taken that Devine mantle with an 0.61 WHIP and.083 BAA so far in his first 21.1 IP as a big leaguer.

SP? Braden has been as good as I had hoped after he stepped up huge last season. Cahill has been looking good. His last few starts including tonight where he didn't allow many BBs is gonna be key for him. In fact he's only had one horrible outing the start against SEA, other wise in his other 6 starts this season he's allowed 2 ERs or less in all of them.

Eveland has been a disappointment and his showing in AAA recently didn't make many feel he's gonna be back any time soon. I know a lot of those who followed the A's during ST thought this could be a breakout year for Eveland, guess not.

Anderson has been up and down, the blister hasn't helped him the past two starts, really last start. HIs first four starts, alternated between bad and good. I'm more surprised Cahill has pitched better than Anderson at this point, although it's not even two months into each of their rookie's season.

Outman meh, still woudl like to see him in the pen. Gallagher, I just hope the A's let him start in the rotation from now on. IMO he's been a long term fixture for this rotation since he arrived and hopefully he's given at least a month, IMO he needs a couple of months worth's starts to get into any kind of groove.

I don't think the A's will compete this season, I thought a lot of things had to happen for that to take place and so far with injuries and the offense not doing as well as I think many had hoped, this is gonna be a "transition year" and wouldn't be shocked to see the A's as a seller come deadline in the next month or not.

Giambi has been playing well the last week so who knows this could be the start... Jack Cust also, has been playing real well this year.

Holliday is Holliday... He'll get his...

Correction Cahill's poor start came against TB, he's actually dominated SEA in his two starts against them giving up only 2 ERs in 13 IP but as usual he doesn't have a win to show for either of them.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Correction Cahill's poor start came against TB, he's actually dominated SEA in his two starts against them giving up only 2 ERs in 13 IP but as usual he doesn't have a win to show for either of them.

Yeah Cahill should have a few more wins... oh well... hopefully we could start winning regularly and get over .500

As for the minors.

Cardenas since being promoted struggled bad early in AAA but has done very well in the past few days going 7/18 with 2Bs in all four of the previous games.

C.Brown, who seems to be a forgotten man this past offseason for some A's fans is ripping up AA. .367/.479/.667 with 6 2Bs/4 HRs/13 RBIs in 17 games/60 ABs. Most importantly maybe is his lack of Ks which is supposedly his weakness and still probably will be but at least he's cut that down in AA so far the first month plus with a 12/13 BB/K ratio in those 17 games. He's I guess kinda of old for AA at 23 but this was considered a first round talent back in the 07 draft but dropped because of some issues off the field.

Carter has been solid, not hitting as much HRs but he's doing well with 28 RBIs in 32 games at AA. Donaldson has been really doing well the past ten games after a very slow start in AA this season hitting .342 with 2 HRs/9 RBIs in 38 ABs in those ten games. Shocked he struggled so badly after his red hot start at A+ after being dealt in the Harden deal from the Cubbies.

Doolittle I guess is the one doing the least impressive recently in AAA. In fact he's been the opposite of a Cardenas/Donaldson recently, he started off the year in SAC red hot but has cooled off a lot. Still has a solid .811 OPS in 105 ABs but not showing as much power as you'd hope...still doing better than what he showed in AA last season after his great start of the season in A+.


Pitching, well that vaunted A's pitching staff in the minors isn't doing all that well. Mazzaro although pitched a brilliant game tonight for SAC, he's gotten hit hard his past two outings previous although in his first four starts he was pretty damn good giving up 3 ERs in 20 IP over those first four starts. Simmons has gotten absolutely DESTROYED in AAA. His #s don't look horrible but he's getting hit hard as he showed he tended to do in AA the past 1.5 seasons since being the A's first round pick in 07. At this point, you gotta think he's been a huge disappointment and considering he doesn't have elite stuff or really a plus pitch and is all about control, I would put up 50/50 he doesn't make it as a solid MLB SP. Pisses me off more that Porcello for DET is 3-3 and has shown signs of being a top end of the arm in his short MLB career while Simmons is struggling in AAA.

Last year's trio of arms drafted in Ross, Capra and Hunter, who knew that Capra who most A's fans hated the pick of would be the one dominating in the minors so far. Capra has been great at A ball 2.00 ERA in 27 IP with 32 Ks although like with most of the A's young pitching both in the majors and minors, he's struggling with control issues/BBs. Ross has been pitching bad. He's not K'ing many at A+ ball and considering his mechanics aren't the greatest, who knows. Hunter although his #s aren't great, the A's did revamp his mechanics unlike with Ross, and he's been struggling thru them although has done very well his past two starts giving up 2 ERs in 8.1 IP with 10 Ks although again has issues with BBs.

Coleman I guess is the best A's hitter so far from the 08 draft, ahem Weeks although he hasn't gotten any ABs so far because the A's have him in extended ST I guess not wanting him to play in the cold weather in KC right now at A ball. Still the injury worries are huge with him. Going back to Coleman, the suppposed cold weather at A ball hasn't effected him as he's hitting .301 with a .949 OPS with 11 2Bs/2 3Bs/5 HRs/25 HRs in 31 games/113 ABs. Last year he was projected to be a 2nd round pick without the signability issues and he was a late round pick and the A's did sign him ala with the Hunter/Dixon philosophy of paving over slot and so far it looks as it worked out well with Coleman. Still he's only in the lower minors but definitely a name to follow especially being he's a SS and the A's left side of the infield needs long term options.

Have to get a few things off my chest...

Also pretty sad to see the stadium attendance.

Looked like a ghost town and even on the weekends, the A's are drawing in the teens. Years ago, and I'm not talking about the hey day but even this decade, they would draw on the weekends on average in the mid 20Ks.

Now with the whole move situation, Wolff tarping off the 3rd deck while also dumping on the coliseum and not helping at all with PR as the whole A's org has gotten away from even from what little good PR the previous ownership of Schott-Hoffman provided, not surprsied.

You can add veteran talent to help the team win but when you do a s**tty job with PR and fan's relation and talking with some A's fans online who think the whole cheery atmosphere of the coliseum even 5 years ago has gone down with it seems as the security becoming more asses than in the past. People can't even move a couple of rows up or down without some usher asking them to see their tickets even if the whole section is empty and in most cases, it has been this year and in previous years.

No surprise the attendance has gone down in each of Wolff's first few years owning this team.

It's not fun to go to an A's game anymore and the team just isn't quite frankly, "boring". I know as an A's fan you expect to root for the fornt of the uni and not the back but sooner or later, it'll get to you as an A's fan and to combine that with the s**tty way this ownership has handle off the field matters with the fanbase and just talking down the coliseum and city of Oakland/East Bay entirely, you get the fan response you're getting now.

I don't think there has been any fanbase s**tted on as much as A's fans have been the past decade plus. Even with all the winning, the specter of the team moving away to god knows where when the owners don't wanna stay and the thought of losing big name after big name.

And again combine that with how both bay area team's ownership was settled in the past 15 or so years with SFG being saved basically with a local ownership that wanted to keep the team in SF and MLB basically saved them from moving to TB. Then the A's what 3-4 years later get a similar ownership group again as I've said many times here led by Piccinni a billionaire grocery outlet man, ala McGowen for SFG, also led by many locals here that wanted to buy into the A's were basically f**ked by MLB by a blue ribbon panel, a similar blue ribbon panel that is being used currently in finding sights in Oakland to build a park, yeah I buy that s**t right there. An ownership that was committed to Oakland long term and chosen by the city officials here over the group that MLB wanted to buy the team and again, we were screwed.

I'm not even going to get back on the ball with the media here and the complete bias they show and once again, do wannna say to get Urban off from covering the A's please from MLB.com. This guy is a hack who spends half his time, probalby more slobbering to the "Halloween" team across the bay, which happens to be the team he grew up rooting for. Anybody else seeing that an issue that a guy can have a job for two teams in the area. I don't know why the A's don't demand MLB to get rid of this worm whos horrible at both jobs if you ask me and f**k, I'd rather have somebody at AN write up on the A's on MLB.com over that idiot Urban. They'd provide just as good insight, and IMO more than that tool ever has or ever will especially since he spends half the time following another team.

f**k you Woff, f**k you Selig and your cronies in MLB, f**k you bay area media.

That is all....

Hey Pride.. you can always convert to rooting for the Giants!

I'd rather switch my fandom from the Niners to the Raiders than the other way around for the two baseball teams here. Rather be a Cowboys or Patriots fans, two teams I despise as a football fan before I do that.

I'm an A's fan first and foremost and I'd rather stop watching baseball than becoming a fan of the team across the bay.

It's not easy to be an A's fan, they are the complete underdog not only nationally along with other small-mid market teams like MIN, TB, KC...but they're probably s**tted upon more here locally.

I guess it's sort of a badge of honor be a fan of the team that's not the "in team" to root for in an area even though they're the only team to have won anything of significance in the area for the sport.

Don't know if that's a downer for the A's or shows how utterly biased and ignorant the market/media here is.

I just wanna get a new stadium for the A's, don't care where it is here in the bay area. f**k the media, they're always gonna be biased towards any team not based in SF so I'm not even gonna think they're gonna show any love towards the A's org in the future.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
I'd rather switch my fandom from the Niners to the Raiders than the other way around for the two baseball teams here. Rather be a Cowboys or Patriots fans, two teams I despise as a football fan before I do that.

I'm an A's fan first and foremost and I'd rather stop watching baseball than becoming a fan of the team across the bay.

It's not easy to be an A's fan, they are the complete underdog not only nationally along with other small-mid market teams like MIN, TB, KC...but they're probably s**tted upon more here locally.

I guess it's sort of a badge of honor be a fan of the team that's not the "in team" to root for in an area even though they're the only team to have won anything of significance in the area for the sport.

Don't know if that's a downer for the A's or shows how utterly biased and ignorant the market/media here is.

I just wanna get a new stadium for the A's, don't care where it is here in the bay area. f**k the media, they're always gonna be biased towards any team not based in SF so I'm not even gonna think they're gonna show any love towards the A's org in the future.

I understand. I actually rooted for the Dodgers over the A's in the 88 World Series and I HATE the Dodgers. Rooting for the team on the other side of the Bay is impossible.

My hatred really turned up a notch over the past decade when the media here wouldn't stop kissing the ass of them.

Really they are the only team that gets "front page" news both in print, radio, and TV when something good happens. They win a division, they'll be the head story while the A's are treated like second class citizens. Now I know there are more SF fans then there are A's fans but to have that much of a disparity, not counting KNBR but just the local newspapers and TV stations here I just don't get.

Not just with the A's too, other teams in the bay like the Raiders, W's, and Sharks don't get the amount of good PR from the tv/radio media as SFG does. W's when they made their run and the whole bay area I think was rooting for them, their playoff games don't get the head story on the news which I think a lot of other city's sports teams does.

I didn't hate SFG this much back in the 90s but the media bias and their ass kissing, I just got fed up on.

I get this s**t nationally from ESPN with NYC/BOS area teams, and I now get it locally here with really SF teams getting a huge media biased for them. You wouldn't know there is an "Oakland fanbase" or a fanbase outside of those who root for SF teams here locally if you're an outsider visiting. You don't get any A's/Raiders fans on sports radio here consistently unless something "big happens". But just a decade ago when 1050 was the "Ticket", you had a pro Oakland/East Bay sports station here that got wall to wall coverage for hosts who actually knew about and followed the A's/Raiders more than those on KNBR has ever done. But since 1050 became an afterthought, there really isn't any outlet for A's/Raiders fans to speak on a daily basis.

Now part blame should go to the A's/Raiders brass for not getting better media outlets for their fans. And why I've wondered why both teams don't get their act together and maybe at least combine their media and create an alternative to KNBR here locally and there is a huge segment of sports fans who are dying for something else here locally on sports radio.

I don't get the hate SFG fans have for A's other than A's fans shoving the 4 world titles and the 89 WS in their faces but that's probably a response to the s**t I posted above that SFG fans give towards A's fans.