2009 Oakland A's thread

Originally posted by JR80:
we're winning....but for how long?

Not long...8 unanswered runs by the tigers

Originally posted by Jigga:

Originally posted by JR80:
we're winning....but for how long?

Not long...8 unanswered runs by the tigers

we've led for all of 3 innings this entire series. Hooray!

SWEPT by the tigers... what a sight. Billy Beane was wrong. to bad if we had some decent pitching other than Dallas Braden we might have been pretty decent. Our offense shows up today and we still are losing.

Originally posted by socalfan21:
SWEPT by the tigers... what a sight. Billy Beane was wrong. to bad if we had some decent pitching other than Dallas Braden we might have been pretty decent. Our offense shows up today and we still are losing.

that's because Cahill sucks. Giese sucks. Anderson sucks. Gallagher sucks. These guys are all back end starters on other MLB teams, if not just in the minors outright.

Originally posted by JR80:

Originally posted by socalfan21:
SWEPT by the tigers... what a sight. Billy Beane was wrong. to bad if we had some decent pitching other than Dallas Braden we might have been pretty decent. Our offense shows up today and we still are losing.

that's because Cahill sucks. Giese sucks. Anderson sucks. Gallagher sucks. These guys are all back end starters on other MLB teams, if not just in the minors outright.

Agreed. Billy Beane didn't think this the whole way through. He thought he could hit lightning in a bottle twice and turn some minor leaguers into Zito, mulder and huddy in a year. That isn't how it works.

Think you're blaming the wrong guy.

This was not the year Beane was looking to compete, this was Wolff's idea to make a run out of in 09. He was the one who asked, ordered, whatever Beane to make this a playoff team.

I don't think Beane's plan was to build up the minor league system to be one of the best in baseball and then the very next offseason to compete.

Especially when fans knew, Beane knew himself this team's health would play a huge role and so far, we all lost with that.

Pitching is at least a year or two away. Cahill and Anderson, really both should be in AAA, maybe AA right now if things were done right.

Originally posted by socalfan21:

Originally posted by JR80:

Originally posted by socalfan21:
SWEPT by the tigers... what a sight. Billy Beane was wrong. to bad if we had some decent pitching other than Dallas Braden we might have been pretty decent. Our offense shows up today and we still are losing.

that's because Cahill sucks. Giese sucks. Anderson sucks. Gallagher sucks. These guys are all back end starters on other MLB teams, if not just in the minors outright.

Agreed. Billy Beane didn't think this the whole way through. He thought he could hit lightning in a bottle twice and turn some minor leaguers into Zito, mulder and huddy in a year. That isn't how it works.

I'm not so sure Beane thought these guys would ever be another Big 3, but I do think he thought they'd be more composed than this in the bigs. My guess is that he was relying on the offense to take a lot of the strain off these young guys, but when our offense has been as hit or miss as ours has been, then it doesn't really matter how composed our young pitchers are.

That was the first mistake, to think a couple of 21 year old arms would be even close to the Big 3. Although Mulder did "struggle" his first year in the bigs in 2000 when he went something like 8-9 for the season but then went down with an injury.

The other two burst onto the scene and it's rare you see any young pitcher do that, it happens, but I say the odds of them struggling are a lot more likely than they do just dominate. Now there is a middle ground and IMO, Cahill has been there for this season. Sure he got BOMBED in this outing Sunday against DET, but in his previous outings, he allowed 2 ERs or less in all but one of them so IMO he's pitched as well as you could expect somebody who doesn't have a ton of experience above AA ball.

Fact is I thought Anderson would be where Cahill is right now and Cahill would be where Anderson is, although I still don't think Anderson is all there with his thumb, again blisters who knows when they're fully okay and it won't effect the pitcher.

Yeah, the offense has been a major disappointment of this season. The offense and pen was supposed to carry this team and a suspect rotation. Pen has done their job for the most part, the offense has not.

Before the Holliday trade, I was okay sticking it thru another year of rebuilding and watching the youngsters compete. Thought 09 was gonna be similar to the 98 season where you saw that young glut of talent in positional players in a Grieve, Tejada, Chavez, and saw the development of a Giambi in the late 90s.

That's what I'd hoped to have seen with Gonzalez, Barton, Buck, Sweeney, Suzuki...and so far out of all of them, Suzuki is the only one that seems to be improving in the bigs, albeit Gonzalez is ripping up AAA right now in COL's system.


Just waiting for IMO what should be the inevitable and that's the dealing away of Holliday, if the A's are 10+ games out by the start of June, which I wouldn't be shocked if they are, well behind whoever is leading the AL West standings...that's when I'll get really interested in what the big league team does.

Until then, it's following the minors and waiting for the draft which is less than a month away.

yeah...but like you said Pride, who is going to give us good value for Holliday in a trade? The Yankees don't really have all that much to offer outside of Gardener and say like Joba, but they won't want to give either of those guys up. I dunno....maybe the Dodgers would be willing to part with some prospects but I'm not sure at this point.

I put up two teams in the past previous days.

BOS especially since Papi maybe done and Drew's health is always an uncertainty.

ATL because the Anderson signing hasn't worked out.

Those are two teams that want to compete this year and could look to add a bat. Course then there's the question of who they give up and at this point, I don't see either of those teams dealing away their top prospects, Anderson from BOS and Heywood/Hanson from ATL.

NYY? They don't have the prospects that I'd want at this point. Other than Montero, their stud C prospect supposedly, they don't have much and I doubt they'd deal him because he's probably Posada's replacement in the next few years.

Dodgers? I think they're doing just fine even without Manny with Kemp, Etheir and Pierre seems reborn. They're gonna get Manny back, hell they're probably gonna get Manny back fro 2010 since I doubt any team is gonna give Manny now any kind of short or long term deal so Manny/Boras probably will active that player option for 2010 which pays him around 20 million. And really, the LAD system is pretty bare with the type of prospects the A's need, mainly a top end hitting prospect.

Long shot could be a team like KC who has the pitching but may not have enough hitting. They could be very similar to MIL last year as they may deal if it means they make the playoffs for the first time since the mid 80s as MIL was in last season at the deadline when they traded for CC and gave up LaPorta. KC has a couple of stud hitting prospects they drafted the previous two years but I doubt they'll deal either of them especially for at best a half year rental in Holliday because you know damn well there is no way Holliday signs the kind of deal he wants to sign with a team like KC that IMO is gonna build their team like TB did.

Again that's a problem we'll face with many of the so called small-mid market teams similar to the A's...they're not gonna deal away a top prospect or two for at this point a half year rental, in the case of the A's they did that by dealing away Gonzalez for a one year at the most rental in Holliday before the season.


I honestly don't know what the A's can get back for Holliday, I doubt Beane even if the A's are out of contention will just give Holliday away. I don't know if the A's could even get back a prospect on the level on a Gonzalez at this point for a half season rental.

Who knows, A's could just hold onto Holliday and get those two picks in the 2010 draft for him.

I said this at the beginning of the season and I'll say it again, it was a massive mistake to bring all our young pitching up to the big leagues this soon. Cahill had shown definite struggles at AA and really should've been in AA or AAA working on his stuff. Anderson should've been shut down for a little bit when that blister problem surfaced instead of rushing him back. Gio and Gallagher should not have been shuttled between AAA and mlb and serving out of bullpens and such,

It really makes no sense what Billy did, and quite honestly I think he's too smart to do this without some prodding from upstairs. Hell, I don't even tink the Holliday trade would've happened either and all the signing of old washed up veterans. I was excited when Wolff was named the new owner (no more Scott and Hoffman) but with the whole stadium sh*t, tarped third deck and p*ss poor marketing strategy aimed to alienate the fan base and then this whole forcing Billy's hand thing (although this is speculation at this point) it's now tring into an endless supply of .

Posted on AN after the game today...

Quote:


Dear Mr. Beane,

Your fans don't ask for much. We are fiercely loyal to the A's, and just want a team that is either good now, interesting to watch, or has promise of being good soon, and for the third season in a row you have provided none of these.

You have "rebuilt" a team whose infield doesn't have a single player who has any bright future with the team, and doesn't have a single player who one can reasonably expect to be getting better in 2010. Chavez, Garciaparra, Cabrera, Kennedy, Crosby, Giambi, Kennedy, and an aging injured Ellis. It's an octet of filler. Your "Plan B" for the past 5 years, if an increasingly crippled Eric Chavez didn't work out, was apparently "to lose a lot of games." For your outfield, you traded away the only OFer with a high ceiling, the only OFer who could play the most important defensive position (CF) well, and kept a group of OFers whose futures range from "decent" to "bad." There is actually remarkably little to build on going forward and remarkably little reason for a fan to get excited about watching an A's game.

You have hired, as your manager, someone with the built-in problem that if he didn't turn out to be good at his job it would create an awkward situation for you as a close personal friend. The manager, who exudes the bland, overly comfortable, non-intense, "put in your time and get paid" brand of baseball the team shows on the field, pilots a team is not good at the basics and is not full of energy.

It is part of your job not to put your personal relationships with Bob Geren and Eric Chavez ahead of the best interests of the organization, and your competence has to be measured against these decisions.

But worst of all, following a great run in the early 2000s ever since you "discovered" soccer your moves make fans quite reasonably wonder if you are even fully focused on, or committed to, doing the best job you can - as you have even violated your own rules of not rebuilding halfway and not calling up pitchers before they are ready. The team looks like it is going through the motions. Are they taking their cue from their manager or from his manager?

Which brings me to a request I am surprised to be making, as I held you in such high esteem at one time. If you are no longer interested in building the best baseball team you can, if the passion for the Oakland A's is no longer there, at least do well by A's fans one more time and find someone who has that passion. Because we have it - or at least used to have, and want to have it again.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Posted on AN after the game today...

Quote:


Dear Mr. Beane,

Your fans don't ask for much. We are fiercely loyal to the A's, and just want a team that is either good now, interesting to watch, or has promise of being good soon, and for the third season in a row you have provided none of these.

You have "rebuilt" a team whose infield doesn't have a single player who has any bright future with the team, and doesn't have a single player who one can reasonably expect to be getting better in 2010. Chavez, Garciaparra, Cabrera, Kennedy, Crosby, Giambi, Kennedy, and an aging injured Ellis. It's an octet of filler. Your "Plan B" for the past 5 years, if an increasingly crippled Eric Chavez didn't work out, was apparently "to lose a lot of games." For your outfield, you traded away the only OFer with a high ceiling, the only OFer who could play the most important defensive position (CF) well, and kept a group of OFers whose futures range from "decent" to "bad." There is actually remarkably little to build on going forward and remarkably little reason for a fan to get excited about watching an A's game.

You have hired, as your manager, someone with the built-in problem that if he didn't turn out to be good at his job it would create an awkward situation for you as a close personal friend. The manager, who exudes the bland, overly comfortable, non-intense, "put in your time and get paid" brand of baseball the team shows on the field, pilots a team is not good at the basics and is not full of energy.

It is part of your job not to put your personal relationships with Bob Geren and Eric Chavez ahead of the best interests of the organization, and your competence has to be measured against these decisions.

But worst of all, following a great run in the early 2000s ever since you "discovered" soccer your moves make fans quite reasonably wonder if you are even fully focused on, or committed to, doing the best job you can - as you have even violated your own rules of not rebuilding halfway and not calling up pitchers before they are ready. The team looks like it is going through the motions. Are they taking their cue from their manager or from his manager?

Which brings me to a request I am surprised to be making, as I held you in such high esteem at one time. If you are no longer interested in building the best baseball team you can, if the passion for the Oakland A's is no longer there, at least do well by A's fans one more time and find someone who has that passion. Because we have it - or at least used to have, and want to have it again.

Originally posted by ninerpride:
Posted on AN after the game today...

Quote:


Dear Mr. Beane,

Your fans don't ask for much. We are fiercely loyal to the A's, and just want a team that is either good now, interesting to watch, or has promise of being good soon, and for the third season in a row you have provided none of these.

You have "rebuilt" a team whose infield doesn't have a single player who has any bright future with the team, and doesn't have a single player who one can reasonably expect to be getting better in 2010. Chavez, Garciaparra, Cabrera, Kennedy, Crosby, Giambi, Kennedy, and an aging injured Ellis. It's an octet of filler. Your "Plan B" for the past 5 years, if an increasingly crippled Eric Chavez didn't work out, was apparently "to lose a lot of games." For your outfield, you traded away the only OFer with a high ceiling, the only OFer who could play the most important defensive position (CF) well, and kept a group of OFers whose futures range from "decent" to "bad." There is actually remarkably little to build on going forward and remarkably little reason for a fan to get excited about watching an A's game.

You have hired, as your manager, someone with the built-in problem that if he didn't turn out to be good at his job it would create an awkward situation for you as a close personal friend. The manager, who exudes the bland, overly comfortable, non-intense, "put in your time and get paid" brand of baseball the team shows on the field, pilots a team is not good at the basics and is not full of energy.

It is part of your job not to put your personal relationships with Bob Geren and Eric Chavez ahead of the best interests of the organization, and your competence has to be measured against these decisions.

But worst of all, following a great run in the early 2000s ever since you "discovered" soccer your moves make fans quite reasonably wonder if you are even fully focused on, or committed to, doing the best job you can - as you have even violated your own rules of not rebuilding halfway and not calling up pitchers before they are ready. The team looks like it is going through the motions. Are they taking their cue from their manager or from his manager?

Which brings me to a request I am surprised to be making, as I held you in such high esteem at one time. If you are no longer interested in building the best baseball team you can, if the passion for the Oakland A's is no longer there, at least do well by A's fans one more time and find someone who has that passion. Because we have it - or at least used to have, and want to have it again.

well written...it seems sort of ironic that the Moneyball movie is being made this year at the same time that we are just tanking it up.

Wow...