2009 Oakland Athletics Season Thread:Rickey Henderson in Cooperstown...No. 24 Jersey Retired 8/1

[eagle 0n]

http://www.athleticsnation.com/
http://twitter.com/OaklandAs
http://newballpark.blogspot.com/

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Yes!!!!

Let's make this work, I would like to see this thread consistently updated with all our fellow Athletics brethren.

We can make that push for the playoffs!

EDIT: I'm worried about the cancellation with Fremont, what does that mean for the future? San Jose? Out of state? It's difficult, I couldn't standthe A's leaving.

 

[eagle 0n]

Welcome Back!

 

[eagle 0n]

Originally Posted by Th3RealF0lkBlu3s

EDIT: I'm worried about the cancellation with Fremont, what does that mean for the future? San Jose? Out of state? It's difficult, I couldn't stand the A's leaving.

That worries me too. But I also wasn't convinced that the Fremont stadium in the long run.

If they had downtown property in Oakland that would be my ideal spot to have the A's. But if we are to have any future in the Bay Area I think Bud Seligand The SF Giants need to let us move to San Jose.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Originally Posted by EAGLE 0N



That worries me too. But I also wasn't convinced that the Fremont stadium in the long run.

If they had downtown property in Oakland that would be my ideal spot to have the A's. But if we are to have any future in the Bay Area I think Bud Selig and The SF Giants need to let us move to San Jose.

Yeah, since Bud sent out that letter giving Wolff permission to "seek out other communities", I think San Jose is definitely the spot tolook at next.

Why the hell do the Giants even have those rights to begin with? They never deserved them in the first place.

 

[dland24]

^^Does it have anything to do with the fact that we have a minor league team there? (complete guess)

 

[dr 715]

Why the hell do the Giants even have those rights to begin with? They never deserved them in the first place.

..........................

The Giants played in the Bay Area long before the A's arrived from Kansas City.

 

[eagle 0n]

Yah, I think because the Giants have a minor league affiliate in SJ.

I'm not quite sure but I think that Santa Clara county accounts for the majority of Giant's season ticket holders and if the A's were to move to SJthat would threaten the Giants fan base.

 

[jpzx]

Eric Chavez

Been one of my favorite players for a while now...hopefully he has a good season and stays injury-free

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Originally Posted by Dr 715

Why the hell do the Giants even have those rights to begin with? They never deserved them in the first place.

..........................

The Giants played in the Bay Area long before the A's arrived from Kansas City.
Right, except you guys got those rights not when you first arrived, but in 1992 (pretty sure it was then, though it might vary slightly.)

And I personally don't consider ten years to be a considerably long time for a franchise to move into an area after another, especially considering theslow rate with which franchises move at all. But that's just me.

 

[dland24]

Originally Posted by EAGLE 0N

Yah, I think because the Giants have a minor league affiliate in SJ.

I'm not quite sure but I think that Santa Clara county accounts for the majority of Giant's season ticket holders and if the A's were to move to SJ that would threaten the Giants fan base.

Sorry Eagle, but there isnt much the A's could possibly do that would "threaten the Giants fan base."

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

^ I think Eagle meant the fair weather fan without serious ties to any particular team.

 

[fenixconnexion.]

Holliday going from a hitter's park to a pitcher's park... let's see how that turns out...

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by JPZx

Eric Chavez

Been one of my favorite players for a while now...hopefully he has a good season and stays injury-free

Seriously man, been too long..

 

[eagle 0n]

there isnt much the A's could possibly do that would "threaten the Giants fan base."


Definitely agree with you on that point.

I guess I was trying to respond from a Giants organizational standpoint. They might feel threatened if the A's moved to SJ. Which is one of the reasons whythey hold on to their territorial rights so dearly.

 

[dland24]

I hear you bro. But I really think that having the Giants single A team in that city which is the problem. Again, a complete guess, but that has to at leastfactor into it.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Back to our stadium/site concerns:

http://newballpark.blogspot.com/

This blog does a great job of covering the latest news in ownership's search for a new place to live, with great insight as well.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Bump for sweet mercy

 

[22 deuces 22]

After two boring years, I'm excited for A's baseball again.

And once again, we have a completely different squad.

 

[eagle 0n]

[h1]Spring Postcard: With respectable pop in lineup, A's on the rise again[/h1]
[h3]Three observations
[/h3] [table][tr][td]
[/td] [/tr][/table]
It is a tale as old as Moneyball itself -- player comes up with A's, player turns into a star with A's, player leaves A's in search of millions, player struggles away from A's, player finds that life really was a lot better with A's. Giambi is the lucky one. He returned to Oakland this offseason. But Mark Mulder is still out of a job. Barry Zito is the fourth starter in San Francisco. Tim Hudson is coming off Tommy John surgery in Atlanta. Would any of them, if they were really being honest with themselves, still say they are glad they left the A's? Something about this place -- whether it is the savvy front office or the loose clubhouse vibe -- brings out the best in players. They inevitably leave. But if they are as smart as Giambi, they will try to come back.

2) There is no way the A's will re-sign Matt Holliday, and it doesn't even matter.
This season will play out in one of two ways. 1) With Holliday in the middle of the batting order, the A's are in the division race right until the end, challenging the Angels and furthering the quest for a new stadium. After the season, Holliday leaves as a free agent, and the A's get two first-round draft picks as compensation, at a time when first-round picks have never been more valuable. 2) Even with Holliday in the middle of the batting order, the A's fall out of the race early and trade Holliday to a contender, for a package that is arguably richer than the one they sent to Colorado this winter to get him.

Either way, the A's win and they are well positioned to make a run after the season at whoever the next Holliday will be.

3) It's going to happen again for the A's.
It might not be this year. It might not even be next year. But before Billy Beane goes off to the next phase of his career (solving the world's financial problems, if we're lucky), the A's are going to make one more run. They probably won't have another Big Three. They probably won't win another 100 games. But they will stir up the established order once again. The major leagues are filled with teams that think they are going to be good, swear they are going to be good, and wind up being very mediocre. In the past two years, the A's recognized from the outset that they were going to be mediocre, and made themselves even worse. There was a purpose to their destruction. They were stripping down their major-league team in order to restock their minor-league system, planning for the day that they could be good again. That day is almost here.
[h3]Prospect creating a buzz[/h3]
Pick a pitcher, any pitcher. There is Vin Mazzaro, the power right-hander from New Jersey; Brett Anderson, the wily lefty whose father is Oklahoma State baseball coach Frank Anderson; and Trevor Cahill, the sinker-baller from San Diego who gets the most acclaim of the three. Throw in Gio Gonzalez, one of the favorites to be the No. 5 starter, and you have a future rotation. They know it, too. On a vacation to Cabo San Lucas in January, Anderson told Cahill: "We're going to be linked forever."
[h3]Not done yet[/h3]
Unlike Giambi, Eric Chavez never left Oakland, but it sure feels like he did. Chavez had surgery on his right shoulder in each of the past two years and played just 23 games last season. But he says he is finally back to full strength and his first turn in the batting cage this spring left teammates raving. Chavez, on the other hand, was steaming. "My health is fine," he said. "But my timing still needs a lot of work." With Holliday, Giambi and a healthy Chavez, the A's finally have a heart of the order that demands respect.
[h3]Team strength[/h3]
Some of the numbers put up by the A's bullpen last season border on absurd. Brad Ziegler pitched 39 straight scoreless innings. Joey Devine finished with a 0.59 ERA. Jerry Blevins held lefties to a .193 batting average. Because the A's slid from the race, their relievers did not get a lot of attention, but they helped ease the burden on the young starters and chances are they will do it again. "This year," Blevins said, "we have the feeling of being a contender."

 

[niketalker23]

I quess ill post it here too..

Mayor Johnson drops the 'A's' word -- as in Sacramento A's
ShareThis
By Ryan Lillis
[email protected]
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 - 4:34 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 - 4:58 pm

It may not have been former Mayor Joe Serna Jr. donning a green and yellow cap and boasting he would bring Major League Baseball to Sacramento, but the timing of Mayor Kevin Johnson's invitation today to the Oakland A's has people wondering.

It was the A's, after all, who declared just Tuesday that they were ditching their plans to build a stadium in Fremont. And it was A's owner Lew Wolff who said in a statement that it was his goal to keep the team "in Northern California."

Johnson said he hasn't spoken with the A's this week, and a team spokesman said Wednesday that management was "regrouping" in the wake of the Fremont plan's demise. Still, Johnson - in his first State of the City speech - said that if the Kings leave, Sacramento could look down the road for a new major league franchise.

"If they leave for some strange reason, then we need to get somebody else in Sacramento," he said. "I don't care if it's the Oakland A's, I don't care if it's the Golden State Warriors. We have to have a franchise, a top-notch, world-class franchise in our city because it helps elevate the profile of our city."

After his speech, the mayor said he has "not personally had any conversations" with the A's about moving 80 miles up the freeway.

"What I was trying to say is we're not going to sit on our hands, we're going to explore every opportunity," he said. "I don't want to be a city where after something happens we say 'Oh, we should have reacted.' We're going to anticipate, we're going to call, we're going to do everything everybody else is.

"Not that we can deliver on everything, but we're going to put ourselves into a position and let people know we're interested."

Johnson said his focus is on the Kings and a proposal to build a new arena at Cal Expo. That plan will be unveiled on Friday.

"Let's do everything that we can do to get an arena built somewhere," he said. "And if that arena can be built at Cal Expo, great."

Building a baseball stadium was the shocking moment of Serna's State of the City speech in 1996. He announced plans to start a regional stadium authority and declared, "It is time to play ball."

More than a decade later, Sacramento could now be on the short list of cities with a realistic shot of landing the A's, said Roger Noll, a Stanford sports economist.

"It seems to me that Sacramento probably is in the hunt," Noll said. "It doesn't mean they're going to win, but if the A's decide to leave the Bay Area, Sacramento could be an option."

Sacramento has one thing going for it that other cities believed to be in the hunt - cities like San Jose, Portland, San Antonio and Las Vegas - do not, Noll said: It has a baseball stadium that could be expanded to suit a major league team.

West Sacramento officials have said that the possibility - however remote - of Raley Field expanding was something that was built into stadium plans and surrounding street designs.

"The political battle of getting a stadium built has already happened and that gives you a huge leg up," Noll said.

The Sacramento region is also on par with the small market major league baseball cities in terms of its population, Noll said.

Of course, Noll also said Sacramento lacks a vital segment that attracts major league baseball: large corporations that eat up luxury boxes.

Noll doesn't expect the A's to make a decision about the organization's future until at least next year. But he likes Sacramento's chances.

"If Sacramento actually wanted the team and went after it, it would have a shot," he said.

 

[eagle 0n]

[h1]Home again, Jason Giambi is getting his renegade back on[/h1]

PHOENIX -- Jason Giambi walked into the A's spring-training complex for the first time in eight years, pulled up a stool in an otherwise empty clubhouse, pointed both index fingers at a row of lockers and pretended to fire off a couple of six-shooters in rapid succession. The gesture might have seemed a bit cryptic, but to any aficionado of the frat-house oeuvre, the message was clear. Giambi was channeling Frank the Tank -- Will Ferrell's character in Old School -- right after Frank chugs the contents of a beer bong and right before he licks the face of a coed, hops on stage with Snoop Dogg and goes streaking through the center of town. "Frank the Tank," Giambi said, with a diabolical look on his newly bearded mug. "I'm still that guy."

If Frank the Tank had spent seven years in that Old School fraternity, then moved to New York and spent the next seven working at an investment firm, only to return as Lambda Epsilon Omega's 38-year-old rush chairman, he might have felt a little like Giambi coming back to the A's. "When I was here the first time, we turned this place into a frat house," Giambi says. "I think we can do it again."

The A's have been to the playoffs only once since 2003, the same year Moneyball was published, and they've lost 86 games in each of the past two years. Last season they ranked near the bottom of the major leagues in every significant offensive category. The frat house that Giambi built was uncharacteristically quiet, mainly because a lot of the members were hitting about .230. "It wasn't what it used to be," outfielder Jack Cust says. Once a maverick franchise, Oakland had become just another small-­market club, its spirit beaten down by the unforgiving economics of baseball.

But this off-­season, when every small-­market team and most of the big ones were scared off by the economic downturn, the A's regained their renegade mojo. Ten years ago they invested in players with high on-base percentages because those players were undervalued by other teams. Five years ago, when on-base percentage was the rage but defense was not, they went after the slickest fielders. And in this most unusual winter, when most teams (the Yankees excepted, of course) were spurning marquee veterans in favor of draft picks and prospects, the famously frugal A's signed Giambi for $5.25 million and traded three disposable parts to Colorado for outfielder Matt Holliday, who is due $13.5 million this year. "Everything we do," general manager Billy Beane says, "has to be contrarian."

Starting right-hander Sean Gallagher was on the golf course in November when his father, Paul, sent him a text message that the A's had landed Holliday. "Are you kidding me?" Gallagher responded. (Viewing Oakland as a non­contender at the time, Holliday, it should be added, had the exact same reaction.) Gallagher was in the gym in January when his dad sent him another text that the A's had signed Giambi, too. "Wow," Gallagher says, "we're not messing around this year."

Warren Buffett advises investors, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful," a tip that's easy for the Yankees to follow but less so for the A's. It's hard to characterize their off-­season approach as greedy -- their payroll is still just north of $60 million -- but they did bid aggressively on free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal before he re-signed with the Dodgers and remain in the mix for Orlando Cabrera, another free-agent shortstop, and Nomar Garciaparra. "It's like buying a house right now," says A's starting lefty Dallas Braden. "It's tough to do, but if you can make it work, there are good values to be had. Billy found a piece of real estate for a low price, and he'll see it rise."

There is no place for nostalgia in Money­ball, but when Beane reunited with Giambi, he was about as sentimental as a self-­described "cyborg" can get. "I feel like I'm marrying my ex-wife," Beane said. The union between Giambi and the A's -- like the one between Ken Griffey Jr. and the ­Mariners -- ended prematurely. Giambi's seven years in New York are remembered mainly for the leaked grand jury testimony that led to a 2005 admission of steroid use, an intestinal parasite, a pituitary tumor (benign), a gold thong, a bad 'stache and some regrettable haircuts. His seven years in Oakland are remembered for an MVP award, two playoff seasons and no haircuts. "We loved New York, but when we were there, we still probably ­talked every day about the times we had in Oakland," says Bob Alejo, the A's strength and conditioning coach, who was Giambi's personal trainer with the Yankees. "Those are the kind of times you always hope to recapture. But you never can."

Or can you?

* * *

In the second week of February, Giambi attended the annual Giants-A's kickoff luncheon in San Francisco, a swanky affair hosted by Comcast SportsNet Bay Area that included a three-piece band, an open bar and ficus trees illuminated with twinkly lights. Giambi wore jeans that were ripped at both knees and a half-tucked dress shirt that revealed a silver belt buckle the size of a saucer, engraved with a skull flanked by angels' wings. As he strode into the banquet hall, he paused to rethink his look. "I didn't know if I could grow my hair out in time for this," Giambi says. "So I went with the Mohawk­ instead." (It was really more of a faux-hawk.) When he was introduced by Ray Fosse, Oakland's broadcaster, Fosse told Giambi what he already seemed to know: "Jason, you can relax now."


Despite incessant roster changes, nearly every baseball clubhouse maintains a certain identity. The Yankees have a corporate one. The Rockies have a religious one. The A's have a rollicking one. This dates back to Reggie, Catfish and Rollie in the 1970s, Rickey and the Bash Brothers in the '80s, but for today's players it is all about Giambi. "He is the definition of an Oakland A," says Gallagher, 23. "He created the whole persona." To prove his point, when Gallagher was traded from the Cubs to the A's last season, he grew his hair out, a la Giambi. And when he saw a few Cubs coaches this spring at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz., they shouted to him, "Oh, now you're doing it the Oakland way."

The A's have only one player who was with Giambi his first time around, 31-year-old third baseman Eric Chavez, but the new pledges are in place. During the past two years, while the A's were losing games and shedding veterans, they quietly amassed the most impressive collection of young pitchers west of Tampa Bay. When the A's acquired Holliday for the middle of their batting order, he did not under­stand why a non­contender would want him, since he is entering the last year of his contract. But during the first week of spring training, he watched some of Oakland's young pitchers throwing bullpen sessions and saw in them the keys to contention. "It makes sense now," Holliday says.

Coming from Colorado, Holliday may be in for a bit of culture shock. But he ingratiated himself with his teammates this winter when he texted Bobby Crosby and asked the Oakland shortstop if he wanted to work out at UC Irvine -- with former A's first baseman Mark McGwire and second baseman Mike Gallego. Crosby and Holliday took turns in the batting cage while Gallego pitched and ­McGwire critiqued their swings, reminding them to be short to the ball. It's unlikely that Holliday, the crown jewel of the 2009 free-agent class, will be persuaded to sign an extension with the A's, but he will almost certainly accomplish one of two goals for them. Either he keeps them in the hunt and leaves after the season (in which case the A's get two first-round picks as compensation, assuming they offer him arbitration) or he is traded before the deadline (in which case the A's could get prospects who are better than the players they gave up).

* * *

After the 2007 season, members of the A's front office had informal conversations about the nation's economy and whether it was headed for a downturn. Coincidentally, the A's were coming off their first losing season in nine years. To stay competitive, they had plundered their farm system and neglected Latin America, abandoning the emphasis on player development that made them the ­fourth-­winningest franchise in the previous 10 years, behind the Yankees. It was time for a massive rebuilding, the kind that many small-­market teams talk about but few have the stomach to implement.

Just as American Indians used to set fire to chaparral so the landscape would grow back stronger and healthier, the A's scorched their roster to make it more bountiful for the long run. Last winter they traded first baseman Nick Swisher to the White Sox and pitcher Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks in packages that netted nine prospects. Then the season started, and the A's still won. Heading into July, they were eight games over .500, 31D 2 back of the Angels in the American League West. Players believed they had a chance. Beane was skeptical. In July he traded pitcher Rich Harden to the Cubs and Joe Blanton to the Phillies in packages for seven more prospects. In the span of eight months, an entire minor league system was replenished. Three of the youngsters obtained in those deals are among Baseball Prospectus's top 100 prospects.

"Now you have a great farm and you have financial flexibility because you've cut payroll," Beane says. "You're in position to take advantage of the changing financial environment."

Because of their reliance on statistical analysis, Oakland's front office is often depicted as cold and calculating, but the atmosphere in the executive suite is, in fact, about as casual as the clubhouse's. Sitting in his office at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Beane fiddles with a Blackberry while his border collie, Taggart, curls up under his desk. Beane wears a baseball cap, not from the A's but from Kenyon College, where his daughter, Casey, is a freshman. In the past two years Beane has gained a great deal of attention for his keen interest in professional soccer. It was inferred that he had grown frustrated with all the losing by the A's. In fact, he says he was as energized as he had been in some time. He made three trips to the Dominican Republic last year to court 16-year-old ­Michel Inoa, a 6'7" pitcher who has touched 94 mph on the radar gun. Inoa signed with the A's in July for $4.25 million, more than double the richest signing bonus ever given to a Latin American amateur pitcher.

When Beane talks about Oakland's other top pitching prospects -- ­Trevor Cahill, a 21-year-old sinkerballer from outside San Diego; Brett Anderson, a 21-year-old lefty whose father, Frank, is Oklahoma State's baseball coach; and Vin Mazzaro, a burly 22-year-old righthander from Rutherford, N.J., who has the strongest arm of the lot -- he flashes back to former A's starter Tim Hudson in 1999, striking out 11 batters over five innings in his debut at Qualcomm Stadium against the Padres. For Beane, seeing young pitchers on the verge is almost as rewarding as seeing them in the playoffs.

The A's gave up the third-­fewest runs in the American League last season, and other than 31-year-old ace Justin Duchscherer, they do not have a starting pitcher older than 25. Cahill, Anderson and Mazzaro are probably still a year away, and the Angels remain entrenched as favorites in the American League West. But by failing to re-sign first baseman Mark Teixeira and closer Francisco Rodriguez, they have left the door open. "When the A's got Holliday, I was like, Ho-hum, he'll just be trade bait at the deadline," says new Angels closer Brian Fuentes. "But then they got ­Giambi, and I started looking at some of their young pitching. It could get interesting with them."

* * *

With Giambi around, it will at least be interesting even if Oakland falls flat. Making him the leader of 21- and 22-year-olds sounds a little risky, considering that his wife likens him to "a room full of kindergartners hopped up on Red Bull" and that he believes the only job outside of baseball for which he is qualified is "bouncer at a strip joint." But Giambi is best when surrounded by young players, whether it was Joba Chamberlain in New York or Chavez in Oakland. Even though his appetite for the nightlife is legendary, he may be happiest sitting around talking hitting. "This is a great place to be a young player, and a lot of that is because of Jason," Chavez says. "There are other teams where veterans will yell at you if you go into the wrong side of the room. When I came up, I didn't have to worry about any of that. Jason creates an atmosphere where everyone is able to relax and fulfill their potential."

The A's of the late 1990s and early 2000s were built in Giambi's image. Sure, they were wild -- a relief pitcher named Jeff Tam once burned his glove in the shower after booting a ­comebacker -- but they were also endearing. When a player tried to needle pitching coach Rick Peterson by pasting his less-than-­stellar minor league statistics on the wall, Giambi threw a beefy arm around Peter­son and said, "You O.K.? You know these guys love you."

"That was G," Peterson says. "He is the one who always wore the cape."

The goodwill that Giambi built in Oakland might have served him well when his steroid use came to light in New York. His initial attempt at a public apology was every bit as clumsy as Alex Rodriguez's, but he escaped the same level of criticism, in part because he has a quality that Rodri­guez, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and ­McGwire do not: a casual likability. Asked how he developed such a trait, Giambi said, "You're just born cool."

The last time he played for Oakland, the A's cool quotient was immeasurable. Can they re-create what they had, six years after Moneyball, in the midst of an economic crisis, with a new generation of pitchers and a familiar old slugger breaking out the cape? As Frank the Tank puts it, right after he fires those imaginary pistols, "You know it."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/lee_jenkins/02/25/athletics.giambi/index.html

 

[GreenNGold89]

Man, I haven't been this excited for baseball in a couple of years

. I'm glad we made some moves finally. I'd like for us to still addDanny Reyes, and maybe bring back Mulder. I think he could help this young staff, and it'd be cheap. What do you guys think of Nomar? I mean, if it'sat around a million, I won't mind it, but not for much more. And I'm the last dude who wants to give Crosby another shot, but honestly, I'd ratherhave him out there (with the help from Holliday and Mcgwire

) than overpay for Cabrera. I'd really only give him about 3 million and I doubt he'lltake that, unless it's right before the season, when he's out of options.

If I had to pick a division winner now, I'd still say the Angels, because I'm really nervous about how this pitching staff is going to be. But wefinally got a couple of bats (we might lead the league in K's but +*#+ it

) and now these young guys have some kind of veterans to look up to. LETS GETIT!!

 

[GreenNGold89]

Garciaparra Pondering Retirement?
By Drew Silva [February 27 at 9:47am CST]

According to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, free agent infielder Nomar Garciaparra is deciding between retirement and a one-year contract with the A's.

The Phillies have apparently moved on. The A's are also currently working on deals for shortstop Orlando Cabrera and left-hander Dennys Reyes, and Rosenthal heard from a source that the club could "increase their pursuits" of those two players "due to their uncertainty over Garciaparra."

Garciaparra, 35, hit .264/.326/.466 with eight homers and 28 RBI in 163 at-bats last season. It sounds like he needs to make a career decision fairly soon.

 

[eagle 0n]

I'm not to sold on Cabrera either.
I'd rather have Crosby for 1 more year, than Cabrera for 2 or 3 years (I'm guessing he wants something long term).

Anyways.. I think our season comes down to 2 things.

1. Pitching - A lot of uncertainty and can the staff hold up for the entire year.
2. Can the young position players produce? Right now the only player on the A's that's rated in the top 100 fantasy bball players is Holliday

Sweeney, Barton, Buck, Crosby, Suzuki - one or a few of these guys need to breakout in a major way if the A's want to be serious players in the AL West.