a little ESPN love (sorta)

by sourstuff on Feb 15, 2006 5:27 PM PST

According to Stark, the A's are the American League's third most improved team.

Number two under the Best Free Agents, 2 Million and under, Stark writes:
"2. A's guarantee $500,000 to Frank Thomas, a guy who got just 101 at-bats last year -- and still hit as many homers (11) as all the Oakland DHs combined."

He then rips us for signing Loaiza for three years, citing his .306 opponents batting average on the road.

Then there's this:
3. Mac Suzuki (A's): Not to suggest it's been a while since Suzuki won a game in the big leagues. But his last win was so long ago (Aug. 23, 2001), he gave up a home run to Delino DeShields in it.

Then Jerry "one of the few guys you can read for free" Crasnick redeems everything and picks the A's to win the West.

But then soils it with, "Ellis, who signed a two-year, $6 million contract two weeks ago, needs five homers to reach 33 for his career and break the record for a native South Dakotan."

Much love.

Links:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2330477
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=2331387

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Mac Suzuki (A's)?

Did I miss something?

June 19th - June 21st, 2006 ** Oakland Athletics @ Colorado Rockies ** Lets Go Oak-Land!

by Colorado Fan on Feb 15, 2006 5:49 PM PST 0 recs

dude

pedro gomez has been covering this 24/7 on espn...

A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05

by xbhaskarx on Feb 15, 2006 5:52 PM PST up 0 recs

thanks..

thanks for reading my posts, bro.

http://www.athleticsnation.com/story/2005/12/14/43250/385

YABU: You're always eating cheese. ...Is cheese good for you? . FISCHER: IT'S BETTER THAN SUSHI!!!

by ConditionOakland on Feb 15, 2006 8:09 PM PST up 0 recs

i also must say

i am very puzzled too by the a's signing of Mac. I am guessing they see a pattern. Well, I'm praying they do. Because he has gotten his clock cleaned in AAA JAPAN BALL.
I was a little overzealous at first of his signing at first, I must admit, but that came be blamed on the departure of Yabby.

YABU: You're always eating cheese. ...Is cheese good for you? . FISCHER: IT'S BETTER THAN SUSHI!!!

by ConditionOakland on Feb 15, 2006 8:11 PM PST up 0 recs

My Bad

I was out of the country for that one. Keep the Japanese League Player Updates coming, brother.

June 19th - June 21st, 2006 ** Oakland Athletics @ Colorado Rockies ** Lets Go Oak-Land!

by Colorado Fan on Feb 16, 2006 10:14 AM PST up 0 recs

it's all good

speaking of japan ball news, Shingo Takatsu is now officialy on the Yakult Swallows roster, effecively ending his MLB career.

Article Here. (JP)

I was hoping he would come to the A's-- he's an effecive closer, and would be an effecive set up man for that matter, and we coulda probably got him pretty cheaply after his semi-ok 2005 season.

YABU: You're always eating cheese. ...Is cheese good for you? . FISCHER: IT'S BETTER THAN SUSHI!!!

by ConditionOakland on Feb 16, 2006 11:14 AM PST up 0 recs

yikes...

hopefully our starters will stay healthy

Bill Stoneman is about to be offered three seasons of a right-handed version of Vladimir Guerrero - Rev Halofan

by pickinmachine on Feb 15, 2006 8:12 PM PST up 0 recs

Typical Oakland move.

They figure if he tanks, they lose next to nothing. But if he finds form (or if their coaches can find what has been going wrong with him), they get a dirt cheap piece of bullpen backup.

I like the move. Probably won't pan out, but if it does, it's genius.

by Ozzz on Feb 16, 2006 2:10 AM PST up 0 recs

This, I don't get ...

Most Important Injury Comebacks (AL)

1. Keith Foulke-Curt Schilling tag team (Red Sox)

2. Jim Thome (White Sox)

3. Frank Thomas (A's)

Is the Big Hurt's health that important to our team's overall well-being? Umm...I don't think so, and I suspect you guys feel the same way. Many of us, while holding out hope for FT in OAK, were content with the squad we'd assembled to be Angel-killers (and hopefully more). Not that we wouldn't love for him to come back from his injuries and be 100% healthy, but his comeback and its significance to the A's success just doesn't seem to warrant being called one of the "most important," IMHO.

But maybe that's just me...

Beware of the Elephant...

by rungood on Feb 16, 2006 4:46 AM PST 0 recs

A Healthy FT

A healthy FT would put us in the drivers seat.

Could you imagine getting the following from FT:

550 AB's
.400 OBP
.300 AVG
35 HR's
110 RBI's

That would be an important ingredient to winning the entire thing this season.

However, No FT doesn't keep us from winning the entire thing, either.

June 19th - June 21st, 2006 ** Oakland Athletics @ Colorado Rockies ** Lets Go Oak-Land!

by Colorado Fan on Feb 16, 2006 10:21 AM PST up 0 recs

agree/disagree

I agree that FT isn't expected to be a huge component of the A's offense (I would guess that Beane will be astonished if he gets >250 PAs from Frank).

But, I'm in the small-but-vocal contingent of folks who think our '06 offense won't be appreciably above league-average.

Are you suggesting that Joan Baez and I share a basement apartment in Milwaukee? - Poppy @('.')@

by monkeyball on Feb 16, 2006 1:10 PM PST up 0 recs

disagree

Monkeyball, I think the A's will improve on offense if they stay healthy simply because they won't have hatteberg dragging the offense down at 1st/DH and Scutaro will (hopeuflly) have his a** firmly planted on the bench except when Crosby and Ellis need a day off. Will Kendall have as bad of a year as 2005? It could happen, but I don't think he'll get any worse. Chavez should be better. The outfield should be at least as good or better offensively and defensively should be pretty darn good.

I don't think the A's offense will rank in the top three (unless Frank has a monster year). I do however think the A's will be in the top half of the AL in scoring runs.

by skwid on Feb 16, 2006 2:45 PM PST up 0 recs

agree

I don't think there's any disputing that the A's should have an improved offense in '05.

I just don't know that it's improved as much as most other folks think. I also don't know whether we should be counting on appreciable improvements at the plate from Johnson and Swisher.

(I also think that the A's are skating on thin ice with the fragility of many of their key offensive contributors, and that there's a small but not insignificant chance that the offense could end up underperforming the '05 squad. Which is sort of a separate question, I guess.)

Are you suggesting that Joan Baez and I share a basement apartment in Milwaukee? - Poppy @('.')@

by monkeyball on Feb 16, 2006 3:25 PM PST up 0 recs

agree

It's the classic risk/reward scenario. Beane doesn't have the luxury to take players that are perfect, so we have to gamble on health a little bit. If everyone stays healthy and performs to his abilities, we're money. If everyone gets hurt at the same time, well we're likely see the same results as the last few weeks of last season when we were missing BoCro, Harden and Kots.

MB (monkeyball, not Milton Bradley)- i think you're right to temper your expectations. Guys get hurt, underperform, whatever. I think what we've done, though, is put ourselves in position for success, and that's all we can ask for at this point. On paper we look great, and we're all assuming we'll look great on the field and the results will follow. Now it's just a wait and see type thing, and to assume the very very best is just unrealistic. Similarly, to assume the very worst is foolish, so somewhere in the middle seems good to me...</captain obvious>

i'll be an optimist though and hope for good luck/mojo/whatever with injuries. I think this team truly could be great if we can stay healthy. but that's a big if...

Beware of the Elephant...

by rungood on Feb 16, 2006 4:17 PM PST up 0 recs

All True

And besides it's February. What's wrong with a little over-the-top exuberance at this point in the year? I say the A's will win somewhere between 150-160 games this year! Who's with me?

(sound of crickets chirping)

by peanut gallery on Feb 17, 2006 8:39 AM PST up 0 recs

Not FT dependant

No Big Hurt didnt keep the white sox from winning it all. They got there with a great pitching staff and a fundamentally sound roster. I think the A's can claim to have both of those.

Green eyes come from yellow flecks of fatty pigment on a dark background. Some men think a green-eyed woman is exotic. The truth is she's got fat eyes.

by Furious George on Feb 16, 2006 8:56 PM PST up 0 recs