The gritty team leaders?  Okay, maybe...  we can do without the grit.  We're not the Angels.  Even Geren knows they suck.  I'm sure he thought twice before putting them ahead of Gaudin in the batting order tonight.

Sometimes events converge in such a way that they just impel me to post a diary.  Today, the bottom of our batting order and this insightful article (Stunning Study Shows: Teams Should Play Their Best Players) prompted me to do just that.

Upon reading the article, I thought about how that might apply to our A's.  Now, I know that with all of the injured players this year (especially, with Milton leap-frogging on and off the DL), this might seem an inapplicable theory for our lovable moppets.  But, upon further consideration, I think not.

Are we playing the "best available player" at catcher?  Or, are we playing him because we owe him a shitload of money this year?

Are we currently playing the "best available player" in center field?  Or, are we playing him because we owe him a shitload of money this year?

Admittedly, Kendall is, arguably, the best option on the major league roster at catcher, but that wouldn't stop me from calling up Suzuki now and seeing what happens.  He could hardly be any worse.  And, if he is...  hey, it was a short experiment.

Certainly, a healthy Milton would make this decision all the more obvious in the case of center field.  But, I'm counting each day that Snelling remains in his rehab assignment as Kotsay's batting average swirls closer to the heart of the black hole.  Really, I didn't think it was possible to suck worse than Kendall or Bocachica, but Kots is proving me wrong:

Kotsay before tonight's game (22 AB):
 AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
.091 .130  .091  .221

Kotsay after tonight's game (27 AB):
 AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
.074 .107  .074  .181

By way of comparison:
Snelling before tonight's game (20 AB):
 AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
.350 .480  .350  .830

Okay, maybe it's Kotsay's "Spring Training."  If that's your thought, then, maybe he should be down at Papago in extended Spring Training or down with Sacto until he gets right.  But, there are clearly better options now!

Is an outfield of Stewart, Swisher and Buck, with DJ at 1st and Cust at DH worse than Kotsay rehabbing in center field?  Clearly not.  How many games are the offensive black holes named Kendall and Kotsay gonna cost us this year?  Probably more than we can afford, I'm afraid.

Play your best players, Billy.  Sit the losers.