All Stars

by SA on Nov 27, 2004 4:36 PM PST Comment 12 comments

It now looks like the A's have 4 All Star-caliber players in their starting lineup -- Kendall, Kotsay, Chavez, and Durazo, and 4 All Star-caliber pitchers in Hudson, Mulder, Zito, and Harden. That's not counting up and coming players that could move to that level. Except for a stronger bullpen, it seems that keeping the team together would be more important to success at this point than making more deals.

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Agreed

Keeping our 4 quality starters is key to getting into and through the playoffs in 2005. nobody the A's could trade for would make up for the loss of one of the big 3.

by OaklandSi on Nov 27, 2004 4:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

especially

now that redmen is gone. Struggle as he did at home, he made all his starts and was great on the road. Our starting rotation can't handle being so thin.

by apocalyptica on Nov 27, 2004 5:39 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Defensively the entire team has...

superior position players, all star quality if you would. I knew we were good but until this holiday weekend I did not suspect how good.
For example;
DH = Durazo's Defense is as good as anyone's!
That is your humor relief for this one folks!
1B = Hatteberg you don't even need to look up if you've watched any A's games at all.
2B = Ellis dominated the categories and in 2004 Scutaro dominates. Amazing!
SS = It is actually fun to see how Tejada and Crosby rise consistently to the top 3!
3B = You already know. Noone is quicker to the ball. They may have to raise the basis
to Chavey levels.
RF = Swish is obviously too new but again, Dye is constantly among the leaders.
CF = Kotsay is lights out. I didn't look him up because you just know how good we have it in CF. The best since Hendu and easily better when you add their offense. Hey Hendu, you have the rings!
LF = Check him out. He is actually 5th & 6th in some categories, including range factor, so when you talk bad about Byrnesy next time do it softly, you could have TLong instead! He is listed also.

After reviewing how our players defense stacks up with their peers, I have a renewed respect and admiration for all of them.

I have also become very intriqued by the possibilty of Dye signing up again even for one year. He probably has much to prove to himself and should he have the offensive year always expected of him, this collection of players could prove to be the juggernaut we have been waiting for.

I am thinking Kendall is staying now, I am also looking for Beane to continue acquiring the pieces that can lead the A's to the series this year.

This team has quality everywhere and may have the up the middle defense in baseball with Kendall, Crosby, Ellis/Scutaro, and Kotsay.

Even the pitchers D is exceptional!

And if you haven't noticed, the hitting is getting better too!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding?groupId=9&season=2004&seasonType=2&split=78 &sortColumn=zoneRating

Breaking news: Kendall & Kielty traded by A's to Padres for Ramon Hernandez, Klesko, Otsuka, and Quintero, Hudson encouraged by moves, ...details at 11!

by A s Eh on Nov 27, 2004 6:04 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

OOPS!

This team has quality everywhere and may have the

BEST (Left "best" out)

up the middle defense in baseball with Kendall, Crosby, Ellis/Scutaro, and Kotsay.

Breaking news: Kendall & Kielty traded by A's to Padres for Ramon Hernandez, Klesko, Otsuka, and Quintero, Hudson encouraged by moves, ...details at 11!

by A s Eh on Nov 27, 2004 6:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Not quite ...

DH = Nothing gets through Ruby
1b = I guess we shouldn't look it up, since he is actually fairly poor.
2b = Ellis is easily the best defensive 2b in the game ... but Scooter is among the worst
3b = For once the GG winner actually deserves it!
SS = Crosby should have finished second to Miggie in the GG voting.
RF = So far he's been below average ... but he didn't get enough time at all for his numbers to actually mean anything.
CF = Kotsay, the second best, behind Cameron, who is a defensive god.
LF = Below average, great speed, terrible reads, terrible angles, terrible arm.
C = Probably about average, there haven't been any really good defensive statistics created yet, though his arm did improve tremendously last year.

Relax alright don't try to strike everyone out. Strikeouts are boring besides that they're fascist. Throw some ground balls it's more democratic.

by devo on Nov 27, 2004 6:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

scutaro

i dont think scutaro played bad defense last yr. i thought he was pretty good actually but i do agree with byrnes and his wrong angles so he has to dive everytime the ball goes near him

by AsFan4Life on Nov 27, 2004 9:34 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Nah ...

He has a good glove, makes all the plays he gets to - he just doesn't get to very many.

Relax alright don't try to strike everyone out. Strikeouts are boring besides that they're fascist. Throw some ground balls it's more democratic.

by devo on Nov 27, 2004 9:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Devo, thanks for making me aware of

ESPNs Defensive stats but you may have created a monster!

I'm probably a little radical in that the defensive stats that inhibit scoring by an opponent are the most important and all others simply nice fluff. Circus catches and web gems highlights on ESPN all add excitement to this great pasttime but it is having the most runs that wins games.

Crazy legs Byrnes may make you reach for the nitroglycerin, but his agressiveness also holds up runners, and runners that hold up need another successful batter at the plate before they can score.

Now if you consider he is our best offensive player verses lefties and has a team best 599 slugging %, and the top batting average verses lefties @ .344, and the 2nd best OBA @ 412, and the best OPS verses lefties @ 1.004. I would say the man is the most underated A's player. His offense is alright with righties too, a consistent 6th best on the A's.

I would even dare say his runs differential, if such a number existed, a number that combines the players offensive runs per game with his defensive runs per game. I would guess our man Byrnes would grade out amongst the best! He should have been our regular cleanup batter vs lefties long ago.

But hey! I liked Pete Rose too!

Beane "the architect" is busy at it again!

by A s Eh on Nov 27, 2004 9:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Outfield

CF - An excellent center fielder, but you are all right - not as good as Mike Cameron or Torii Hunter (have to give credit for all those home run saves)

LF - Seems to be that the bad angles and bad reads are a result of Byrnes's belief that he can run down every ball hit in the air, regardless of his starting location on the field.

RF - Too early to tell, but in RF there is Ichiro, and then there are the rest of the RF's in the league (that highlight of him gunning down TLong is still amazing to watch)

by jumperjh on Nov 27, 2004 8:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Torii Hunter is totally overrated

He gets way too much credit for "crawling the walls" and people forget that he isn't especially good at running down fly balls in the gap.

Ichiro is no longer the OF he was as a rookie. His arm is still spectacular, but, over the course of the season, that doesn't make much of a differnce.

Relax alright don't try to strike everyone out. Strikeouts are boring besides that they're fascist. Throw some ground balls it's more democratic.

by devo on Nov 27, 2004 9:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs