Official 2010 Oakland A's Thread

Is Sheets soft-tossing? Geez...to not record a single out must mean that his velocity is WAY down. No bueno

According to those who were at the game and the interview with Sheets afterwards, he was throwing low 90s.

Slusser posted a quote from Suzuki who caught him MON that Sheets control was a bit off and CIN basically hit EVERY mistake.

First time in the modern baseball that a pitcher gave up 10 runs without getting an out.

Sheets is known to have horrid ST but this is going to the extreme right now.

Sheets pitching horribly, Duke injured, Devine injured, Crisp injured, Fox looking like a waste of money....the only good news to come out of this spring training has been Daric Barton.

What do you think the opening day roster is going to look like?

C Suzuki
1B Barton
2B Ellis
SS Pennington
3B Kouzmanoff
LF Patterson
CF Davis
RF Sweeney
DH Cust

Powell, Chavez, Rosales, Gross

Anderson
Braden
Sheets
Gonzalez
Mazzaro

Bailey
Wuertz
Zeigler
Breslow
Kilby
Jennings
? (Can't really say anyone's deserved this spot. The bullpen pitching outside of the first 4 has been abysmal).

Hopefully Crisp, Duke and Devine can be ready within a few weeks after the season starts and Sheets gets his act together. We should've just spent the money on Chapman. That guy is going to be a beast and would give us way more value over the years than 1 year of Sheets and 2 years of Crisp and a year of Duchsherer.

Oh yeah not to mention the 2 million they spent on the Fox deal. (Miles + Fox's contract). Add it all up and it's almost as much as it cost the Reds to sign Chapman.

Yep I think that not signing Chapman could bite us in the ass.

I said the day CIN outbid us but to think possibly only 4-5 million max was the difference between signing and not signing him could be a huge mistake.

Fox has struggled big time. Other than the 3 run HR he hit over the weekend, he's done basically nothing else going 1/23 the rest of ST.

Jennings who the A's signed could be that long man/spot starter to begin the year instead of maybe a Gio/Mazz, don't think the A's would use Cahill in that role if he doesn't make it to the rotation, nor should he, as he'd be better use both for the A's and for himself if he started the season in AAA.

I didn't like the Crisp signing, made that pretty know. The Duke deal was probably a bargain but again the issue is and has always been health with him even though he's said this is the best he's felt in YEARS, well we'll see about that. Devine? Well it was probably optimistic for him to be ready by the regular season.

A lot of "what ifs" for this A's team when it was constructed during the offseason and so far, the "what ifs" aren't looking good at this time.

Rememer that 16 year the A's signed out of the DR a month or so ago named Feliz?

Well he tested for PEDs and the A's voided his deal.

I read over the weekend Mateo is going to work out for the DBacks. Remember he was the one that STL voided his 2.1 million dollar signing bonus they signed him to last summer when he was one of the top hitting international prospects.

But bad vision cost him his deal and so far, he hasn't signed with anybody yet.

He's been linked to many teams previously over the winter but nothing happened. Did teams check out his eye sight and just said forget about it as it's nothing that they could fix.

If I'm the A's and voided this deal for Feliz which I believe they gave him 600K-800K, why shouldn't or haven't they looked at Mateo even with his eye issues.

Again I doubt he's gonna sign anything close to a 7 figure deal and anything under is chump change for most of these MLB owners and considering Mateo could be a high risk but maybe high reward type of talent, why not give him a chance.

Bullpenbanter with their view of the A's top prospects...

Quote:

Michael Taylor changed address twice this offseason, after first going from the Philadelphia Phillies organization to the Toronto Blue Jays as a key component in the Roy Halladay trade he was flipped to the Oakland A's for fellow prospect Brett Wallace. Taylor was drafted in the 5th in 2007 out of Stanford, signing for $131,000. The Phillies quickly worked to get rid of the "Stanford Swing" that the Cardinal teach their hitters. Taylor adapted quickly, destroying the South Atlantic(Sally) League and the Florida State League in his first full season in 2008. Promoted to Double Reading in the Eastern League to start 2009, Taylor continued his assault on opposing pitchers posting a .333/.408/.569 line over 86 games. That earned Taylor a ticket to AAA Lehigh Valley towards the end of 2009, putting a solid if unspectacular .282/.359/.491 line to close out his year. Taylor looks to start the year in AAA Sacramento but should see time in Oakland at some point this year. Taylor earns praise for his strong work ethic and has worked hard to keep his juvenile diabetes in check.



Michael Herrick: Michael Taylor is a mountain of a man at 6’6” and 250 pounds, but the size is a bit deceptive as he’s a very good athlete-he’s an above average defender in an outfield corner and has the speed to swipe 15-20 bags a year at a high success rate. He’s not the hitter you would expect based on his size either, he’s not a true “hulking slugger” but more of a well rounded hitter combining a very good hit tool with good plate discipline and 25 HR pop. He built on a breakout 2008 campaign in A ball with an excellent year in AA and a solid 30 game run in AAA. Taylor could use at least a couple of months to half a season in AAA to put the finishing touches on things, but he should be ready to contribute at some point in 2010. Taylor checks in at #23 on my list, and I might be underrating him just a bit at that.

JD Sussman: Taylor is one of the biggest outfielders (specs above) in the minor leagues and despite his athleticism, I have concerns about his body will fill out. For now, he projects to be a solid defensive outfielder with good speed on the base paths. To me, his swing appears to be get little long at times. I hope he shortens up a bit because he has the size and strength to hit a ball out without the big swing. Despite that, he has attacks the ball beautifully with a smooth direct swing that stays in the zone for a long time and doesn’t have a hitch. I like Taylor a lot, but his body type reminds me more of new A’s teammate Chris Carter, than old Phillies teammate Dominic Brown. The Blue Jays made a huge mistake in swapping him for Brett Wallace.

Quote:

Chris Carter was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 15th round of the 2005, spending two years in the ChiSox system. He was traded to Arizona for Carlos Quentin following the 2007 season but his stay with the D-Backs was brief as he was flipped to the Oakland A's as part of the Dan Haren trade. He has true plus power, takes plenty of walks and worked to cut his K rate in 2009. His ability to hit for average has been questioned, but outside of 2008 when he admittedly because too HR conscious and traded some contact to swing for the fences in most at bats, he's proven to have at least average contact ability. Carter enters 2010 looking to find a spot on the field he can handle while in AAA and waiting for a call to the major league club.

JD Sussman: Carter wins my name competition for 10-20 group because no one knows his first name is actually Vernon. There are so many Chris Carters out there, why not called yourself Vernon?

Anyway, VCC is a monster with the bat. He clearly has plus plus power but there are questions about his contact ability. Reports are that he matured coming into this year and the results were great. He didn't give up on plate appearances and saw a modest increase in his K/BB. While some correctly point to a huge jump in his AA BABIP, I'd say that was a result of his increased selectively too, and not entirely luck (though expect that number to drop obviously). His short stint in the Mexican league was abruptly ended due to illness. But, I really like that the A's sent him there to work on his ability to hit breaking balls. Carter is a case where his athleticism hasn't turned into fielding ability in either the outfield or at 1B. Personally, I see him as a 4 - 5 WAR DH.

Al Skorupa: Power and patience are two of my favorite things in a prospect and Carter has those in spades. I don't see him hitting for a high AVG but that shouldn't stop him from being an impact offensive player.

His inability to turn his athletic ability into fielding skills puzzles me as well. I could easily see left field ending up as his best position.

Quote:

Grant Green was projected to be a top 5 picks before watching his stock slip heading into the June draft. Many, as Al does below, question his power projection and range at short. The USC shortstop was plucked up by the Oakland Athletics after, as expected, he dropped to 13th in the 2009 draft. Green is a good athlete and should remain in the infield for the duration of his career. Oakland allowed him to get a brief taste of life as a professional baseball player, sending him to offense inflated California league. Expect to see him back in Stockton to start 2009.


JD Sussman: Green is easily the best AL SS prospect for me. He got a bad rap during the 2009 draft for not having enough power projection or range to stick at short. A Southern California product, Green projects to be at least average across the board and is a true five tool player. His frame could support more weight and if he decides to bulk up it could force him to second base. His worst tool is his arm so I doubt 3B or RF is a potential destination.

Al Skorupa: I don't see the power projection, JD. He's almost got a Stanford swing with a lot of inside out action and bat head trailing. I also have questions about his range. I still like him quite a bit despite that, though. I'm not sure he's an impact guy as much as a solid regular - which, admittedly, is pretty damn hard to find at SS.

Same site from above...

Quote:
Oakland Athletics

Outlook

JD Sussman: The Athletics offense was one of the worst in the league last year (-40 wRC), rating higher than just the Royals (-54) and Mariners (-81). Defensively, they were the middle of the pack due to outstanding outfield defense which made up for a below average infield. Rajai Davis and Ryan Sweeney had ridiculous fielding seasons last year, posting an overall UZR/150 of 16.2 and 27.6 respectively, but both should regress. However, that doesn't mean Oakland's defense will suffer because the team has added Coco Crisp. Together, that tandem should be devastating to opponents' fly balls. Lastly, from a pitching standpoint, the Athletics had the fourth most valuable pitchers by WAR in the American League. I don't know if there is a correlation between the fly swatters in the OF and that metric, but I bet there is.

Oakland's young rotation is full of potential and has room to further develop and exceed last season's numbers.

Michael Herrick: I should disclose up front that I've been an A's fan for over 20 years so there might be a bit more optimism here than anyone else will present. While I pick the A's to finish last, I honestly think every team in this division has a real chance to take the AL West crown. The A's should once again see strong defense from their outfield and improved defense in the infield with Kevin Kouzmanoff manning the hot corner now. Mark Ellis and Daric Barton form an above average defensive right side of the infield and Cliff Pennington is at worst an average defender at shortstop. They have one of the best young(and often underrated) catchers in baseball in Kurt Suzuki, he's excellent behind the dish and solid with the bat. Jack Cust comes back as the DH but the A's have added some pop to the bench with Jake Fox coming over in a trade with the Cubs. It would be great to see Eric Chavez be able to contribute something with his bat off the bench this year, but I'm going into the season expecting the worst from him so that anything he does provide is a pleasant surprise.

The A's signed Ben Sheets to front their rotation, with plenty of time off to heal from injury he should be healthier than he's been in years. Retaining Justin Duchscherer after his injury issues and his bout of clinical depression last year was both welcomed by the fan base for keeping a favorite player around another year as well as a good gamble for the team that he regains his form and makes a solid #2 pitcher behind Sheets. The other thing those moves do is take some pressure off of the younger pitchers in the rotation, specifically second year rising star Brett Anderson. Having two veterans around allows him to improve without having to be "the man" in the rotation. Dallas Braden proved last year he's a solid mid to back end rotation arm that can eat up innings and keep his team in every game he pitches. Ideally Gio Gonzalez gets the 5th spot in the rotation allowing both Vince Mazzaro and more importantly Trevor Cahill the opportunity to start the year in the minors. Cahill was rushed to the majors last year based on a strong spring but he had no business being there with so little upper minors experience and such glaring control issues that needed ironing out. My concern at this point is whether or not any damage was done to Cahill by essentially wasting a year of service time and developmental time. Hopefully he can get half a season in the minors to iron things out without any damage to his confidence. Josh Outman pitched well until getting hurt and undergoing Tommy John surgery. He likely won't see action in the bigs this year but does factor into the team's plans in the future I think.



The A's continually build strong bullpens both through their farm system and with castoff types from other organizations. Andrew Bailey is a converted starter who had a very good rookie year, though I expect some regression from him. A healthy Joey Devine would deepen this group even more as he and Brad Ziegler would provide an excellent pair of setup men. Brad Kilby was very good late in the season and looks to be a LOOGY at worst but capable of more.

With the young pitching already in the majors or just on the cusp to go with talent hitting prospects Michael Taylor, Chris Carter, Adrian Cardenas, and Jemile Weeks in the upper minors this could be the last year the A's aren't considered a serious contender in the West.

Al Skorupa: I picked the A's to finish 3rd. This is a team that is lacking a big bat/franchise player. The starting pitching doesn't look great on paper, but there is enough talent and depth there (combined with great defense and a favorable park for pitchers) that you have to think they'll piece together an above average staff. The pen projects as a strength. The defense should be excellent. The offense clearly is going to lack some punch, though. This team features a number of players who lack standout secondary skills and whose value relies heavily on their batting average. Ryan Sweeney, Rajai Davis, Coco Crisp, Mark Ellis and Cliff Pennington all fit that description to varying degrees. The heart of the order could also feature two players with major flaws in their skill sets. Jack Cust is very poor at making contact and Kevin Kouzmanoff exhibits very little discipline at the plate. Too bad they couldn't go back and delay the Matt Holliday trade until this year... add Holliday in here and this team would be very interesting. As is, I just can't see them hitting enough to make a real playoff push or doing anything else well enough to make up for the lack of run scoring. Sure, there are some players with upside in this lineup (Taylor and Barton come to mind) and they could always add a bat in-season... I just think the other teams have improved enough to hold the A's off.

Solid team, but still a few pieces short. Definitely within a puncher's chance distance, though.

Best Move

JD Sussman: As expected from Billy Beane, they had a few. For me, it is easily the Michael Taylor for Brett Wallace swap. The bats are arguably similar (I prefer Taylor's), but Taylor provides significantly more defensive value than Wallace. Oakland really lucked out here because with Wallace in the mix, the team would have a big log jam at 1B/DH.

Michael Herrick: I loved the Taylor deal as well, he provides a big bat to pair with Chris Carter in the heart of the lineup for(hopefully) at least 6 years while giving the A's another strong defender in the outfield. I like the gamble on Ben Sheets, even at the price he cost. The money is better spent there than on players like Orlando Cabrera or Jason Giambi the year before, and he had plenty of time to recover and be healthier than he's been in quite some time. A healthy year from Sheets and Justin Duchscherer, another move they made that I like, could have the A's in contention. Sheets could bring a prospect or two at the deadline or draft picks next year so there is some good potential for return.

Al Skorupa: While I liked the Taylor trade, I'm going to say signing Coco Crisp. He's a nice fit who has had some awful luck the last few years. I could really see him thriving in Oakland, playing gold glove defense and spraying line drives all over the Coliseum.

To be honest, last week my answer very likely would have been Ben Sheets... but yesterday he gave up 10 runs without recording an out. While he says he feels fine, his velocity is down and the reports haven't been too hot. I was already skeptical of exactly how many innings he could be counted on for since he hadn't pitched in a year. I'm not ready to turn around and call this a bad move, especially on the basis of a single spring training game where he got a little unlucky (infield hit, misplay by Jake Fox, etc...). Still, I'm no longer in the mood to praise this signing. Hopefully he can at the least put together a good stretch of innings near the trade deadline and net them a good return.

Worst Move

JD Sussman: I don't have much of an issue with anything they did. One can make the argument that they paid Sheets too much. But I like the deal, if he performs well, he could net them a few picks next season.

Michael Herrick: There isn't too much I can complain about from this offseason really. I'm not a huge fan of Kevin Kouzmanoff but he does solve a major problem at 3B and should be solid defensively if a bit lacking offensively. Taking that and the trade with San Diego last season together, we did give up an awful lot of talent for Kouzmanoff, Sogard, and a couple of poor months of Scott Hairston. I know they wouldn't have necessarily had room on the 40 man roster for Italiano, Webb, and Gallagher, but in the end the A's sort of gave them away for nothing.

Al Skorupa: I didn't like the acquisition of Jake Fox much. He's a 1B playing out of position anywhere else in my opinion. While he can hit some, he can't hit much for a 1B. He's a 27 year old replacement level 1B who can fill in a couple other spots in an emergency. I understand they non-tendered and re-signed Jack Cust afterwards, but I much prefer Cust. Jeff Gray, Ronny Morla and Matt Spencer are pretty damned unlikely to come back and haunt the A's... but I just didn't understand the thought process behind this move. They still had Brett Wallace at the time, too.

I said this in the Padres preview, but what was the great appeal of owning the rights to flawed approach Kevin Kouzmanoff during his arb years...? I would have loved to have seen the A's sign some veterans to fill these holes instead of trading assets like Aaron Cunningham for a guy who already looks like a 2011 DFA candidate to me. Yes, A's fans, the veterans (Nomar, Giambi, etc...) didn't work last year. That doesn't mean that approach never works. All it means is those particular veteran signings didn't work out this one time.

Prospects to Watch

Michael Herrick: The A's made a concerted effort to rebuild the farm a couple of years back and it started paying off well last season. Out of this crop of prospects, I'm going to narrow it down to three names: Josh Donaldson, Fautino De Los Santos, and Ian Krol. Donaldson needs to improve a few elements of his defense, with blocking pitches being at the top of the list. He does a good job of throwing out runners, has at least gap power capable of 10 HR and 40 doubles potentially, and has very good control of the strikezone. While he didn't make my Top 100 list, he does fall in the 101-150 range for me.

De Los Santos has ace upside but lost some developmental time to Tommy John surgery. Prior to surgery he possessed a low to mid 90's fastball that could touch 97, a hard biting slider, and a curve and change that both looked capable of becoming above average pitches. He turned 24 last month and how he does in the spring will likely determine how aggressive the A's are with his assignment to start the year, he could come on in a hurry and be ready to help in the bigs at some point in 2011.

Krol saw his draft stock fall after being suspended for his senior year of high school in Illinois for underage drinking. He has average velocity for a lefty right now, though the A's have had quite a bit of success the last couple of years in squeezing an extra couple of MPH's out of their pitchers with slight mechanical adjustments. Anyone who read Moneyball remembers the "put a Milo on him" part I'm sure, so the fact that the A's gambled on the talent here with a near $1 million tells me they must see something really special. He has a very good curve and a solid change up for a prep arm, so he could move quicker than your average high school kid.

Al Skorupa: RHP Fautino De Los Santos was a personal favorite of mine back with the White Sox. Susan Slusser has had some glowing reports on Twitter about him this spring. He's an exciting talent and I could still see him becoming an impact arm in the rotation, perhaps next year.

RHP Tyson Ross could really fly up prospect lists if he figures out his mechanics and command. RHP Arnold Leon is an A's fan favorite. I'm not quite as high but he's done pretty well with good ARLs. I suppose I could see mid rotation starter in there.

JD Sussman: Yeesh! You guys named half the guys I wanted to mention! This team has a ton of talent, even though they've graduated a their top prospects recently. This year, I'm excited to see major contributions from Vernon Chris Carter, Michael Taylor, and maybe even Grant Green by late summer. I love the draft they had with Ian Krol, Max Stassi, and Green, but am disappointed they didn't ink Sam Dyson, he has potential to be an impact arm.

Will this be the season we see everything we've heard about Micheal Yona? Thus far, he has been a Sidd Finch-esc, yet to pitch a professional inning. Still, if the reports are true, the Athletics have a special talent on their hands, and I, for one, am excited to see if he can live up to the hype.

Last Updated (Tuesday, 16 March 2010 20:36)

Damn we have terrible luck with injuries

A lot of that can be directly related to how the A's have built this team.

Chavez, Duke, Sheets, Crisp, heck even an Ellis...you could say all of them are huge keys to the A's success this upcoming season yet we know all of them have red flags when it deals with their health.

Seems as the only types of players the A's can sign are those with those health issues.

Look at Big Hurt and Bradley for example back in 06, both had health issues entering the season and Bradley was down for much of the first half but especially in the second half the A's got lightning in a bottle essentially with both carrying this team with their bats.

That hasn't been the case since then.

Piazza, Nomar, Giambi in particular the A's tried to catch lightning in a bottle again like they did in 06 and it didn't work out. They were either not what they were as a player or health yet again reared it's ugly head again.

Well until the A's get a more attractive stadium situation that's how it's going to have to be for us. Reclamation projects.

Agreed.

But I do think Beane likes to go after these reclamation projects either way, with a new stadium or not...not like the A's are gonna be in the top ten in terms of payroll when they get a new park and with the extra revenue. They'll have a hard time keeping their own FAs let alone going after big name ones and signing them to multiple year deals.

Course we don't know how long Beane is gonna be the GM, Forst probably is the next in line for the job, but the question is when is Beane gonna step down albeit he'll still probably keep his share of the ownership that he was offered a handful of years ago.

Add to that if the A's are gonna pay for the park themselves, they may have to do with SF did which is take account what 20 million a season for the park itself until it's fully paid off for.

Look at CLE for example, they have a new park and twice in the past dozen years they had to let go of their young homegrown star players. A new park won't solve everything for the A's even if they're doing well, they're not gonna in all likely hood resign all of their star talents from the current and maybe future crop of home grown players we see in the next year or two.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100222&content_id=8110888&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

Talk about the A's all 2000s team.

Mine?

C-Hernandez
1B-Giambi
2B-Ellis
SS-Tejada
3B-Chavez
LF-Swisher
CF-Damon
RF-Dye
DH-Thomas

BEN-Suzuki(C), Scutaro(3B/IF), Stairs(1B/OF/DH), Kotsay(OF)


SP-Hudson, Mulder, Haren, Zito, Harden

RP-Tam, Duke, Mecir, Street, Izzy, Foulke, Bailey

I remember posting that it sounded as Verizon was going to buy the naming rights to the coliseum late last year but so far, haven't heard anything since and looking around, it seems like it's not happening?

I know Verizon and AT&T have this thing going on with commercials and that Verizon may have thought hey we could have the naming rights to to a venue right across from our competition.

But does Verizon really want to associate themselves with the coliseum knowing it's an old venue that doesn't draw much either for baseball and football?

Did they possibly pull back the naming rights after somebody told them that.