Emil Brown

I don't like the signing

The signing only makes sense if the A's are planning on using Brown to keep Gonzalez in the minors. If Cargo is ready by mid season, Brown is out. If Cargo is ready in September, well, he gets his sep call up.

Basically, Brown will serve the Kielty role, except that like Kielty, he will get most of his AB's vs RHP because managers are idiots.

Are you telling me that there was NO ONE floating around in AAA somewhere with pronounced platoon splits that couldn't put up an OPS above .650 for us?

by Zonis on Jan 11, 2008 5:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Seriously...Cargo??

Cmon.

Bring back Hammer.

by OaktownPower on Jan 11, 2008 11:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't invent it

just got tired of writing the name full out. Blame the D'backs blog.

by Zonis on Jan 12, 2008 9:46 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So when he becomes a star

will we call his fan section the CarGo Cult?

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 12, 2008 11:07 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That's a fine price

Brown should be able to fill Bobby Kielty's role from last season (playing against lefties, filling in in case of injury, and giving guys the occasional day off) for less money and with less risk of getting injured himself. And he might be a chip for a team looking for a platoon bat at the deadline.

I give this signing my Official Seal of Approval (TM).

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 11, 2008 5:59 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I'd rather find the corpse of Matt Watson

throw him out there, and pay him $300k and use that $$$ to spend on draft picks, than have Emil Brown play out there.

by Zonis on Jan 11, 2008 6:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The A's have plenty of money

to spend on draft picks... seriously, this is a non-issue at this point.

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 11, 2008 6:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

This only confirms that

the A's are trading Kotsay next Monday. The Atlanta deal is on, the A's will send $5 million to Atlanta and get a AA prospect, maybe even a AAA prospect, who knows? Clearly Brown has no long term value, but will play against lefties and give Denofria a real shot at center.

by china bob on Jan 11, 2008 6:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

KC also had the brilliant

idea of using Emil Brown as a trade chip the last several seasons.

ZIPS: Milledge: 466 HR, 485 2B, 2282 hits, 278-379-524

by rfloh on Jan 11, 2008 11:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

More like a nacho chip.

We should play Jack Cust at shortstop for a week, just so we can feel good about Crosby again.

by Ozzz on Jan 12, 2008 12:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

why not just use Putnam in this role?

If we're flushing Putnam down the crapper, we could have just kept him on the 40-man and had not much of a perf drop for 1/5 the price.

I know that a mill is chump change in the larger scheme of things, but I just don't see the point of this move.

Believe it or not, it felt wonderful when blood spurted out. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jan 11, 2008 6:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

He's left-handed

As far as I can tell, that's Brown's entire advantage-- but given the current roster status, it's not an insignificant one.

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 11, 2008 6:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Gah-- pronouns again

Putnam is left-handed, Brown is right-handed. Right now the A's would rather their backup outfielder be right-handed.

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 11, 2008 6:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

which I still don't understand

I mean, I understand your imputation of Beane's logic, but not why Beane would bother with this. Brown'll get, what, maybe 300 PAs? 200? If he plays down to his mediocre perf level, 50? I'd rather run Crosby out there in CF to see if he could develop some more trade value.

Right now the A's would rather their backup outfielder be 5x as expensive as necessary.

Billy, if you're reading this, and you have another spare million sitting around in the budget, I take PayPal. I'll even abandon the front-page post I already have written for tomorrow and post something laudatory.

Believe it or not, it felt wonderful when blood spurted out. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jan 11, 2008 6:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Here's my best guess

and it doesn't involve Crosby in the outfield. (I'm really not sure why that would increase his trade value. Defense isn't his problem.)

I think it's a bet on Brown being good enough to flip at the deadline. Judging from the attention Kotsay's getting, an iffy outfielder who's had good MLB numbers in the past can run up to a B prospect in value if the team trading him will take on most of his contract (or if he's cheap to begin with). If the bet pays off, it will end up costing the A's about $800K over the minimum (I say "about" because he might be acquired after July 31) to acquire a decent prospect.

Because I'm writing this and I want to make the math work, I'm arbitrarily assigning a value of ~$1.9M million to a B prospect with a year or two of minor league seasoning under his belt. So if the bet hits, the team gets a $1.9 million asset for $800K-- and if it misses, the team is out $1.1 million (since someone would have to play and make the $400K minimum anyway). Even-odds bet, right? So if Brown has more than a 50% chance of hitting well enough to have some value for a contender, it's a good bet to take.

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 11, 2008 7:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'll buy that for a dollar

If he finishes the season in Oakland with >300 PAs, I want my dollar back, though.

Believe it or not, it felt wonderful when blood spurted out. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jan 11, 2008 8:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Underestimating Brown

Emil Brown is not Dee Brown. Take a look at his stats. Once you throw out last April, when he batted .186, he's a .280 hitter or better over the last three seasons. He's essentially Shannon Stewart with a better arm (he's a right fielder), a slightly lower batting average, and slightly more power. He's also a hell of a lot cheaper.

A lot of things change over the course of a season. There are injuries, and players don't make it. If it turns out that Denorfia is ready and that Sweeney suddenly gets the power stroke everyone expected at the end of 2006, and Buck stays healthy all year, then Brown becomes a back-up outfielder who plays often enough to give the young guys a break.

But that probably won't happen, and Brown will wind up with over 450 AB, and people will be gushing over what a steal this signing was.

by richwol on Jan 11, 2008 6:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

who said I wanted Stewart back?

I don't see any reasons in there to prefer him over Putnam for a backup role on a rebuilding/.500-at-best team.

Believe it or not, it felt wonderful when blood spurted out. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jan 11, 2008 6:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I've seen him play more LF than RF. I've also seen him butcher a few in LF vs. the A's (2006)

by Colorado Fan on Jan 12, 2008 8:29 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Putman projects to OPS about 100 points lower

CHONE
Putnam: .231/.294/.353
Brown: .267/.331/.400

Zips
Putnam: .236/.298/.363
Brown:.268/.332/.392

by MrIncognito on Jan 11, 2008 9:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't know about CHONE

but ZIPS projections are park adjusted.

KC is a slight hitter's park, Oakland is a pretty extreme pitcher's park. Brown's Oakland projection is going to look worse than that.

ZIPS: Milledge: 466 HR, 485 2B, 2282 hits, 278-379-524

by rfloh on Jan 12, 2008 1:52 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Who says we're flushing Putnam down the crapper?

I assume this is a calculated gamble that Putnam has a decent chance to clear waivers.

By the way, if we really are unloading Kotsay soon, this DFA only makes sense if Beane is expecting to add yet another name to the 40-man roster, whether in the Kotsay trade or as a separate signing. I can't believe they couldn't postpone Emil Brown's signing a few more days so that he takes Kotsay's spot instead. The way I see it, they must have someone else in mind for Kotsay's spot; otherwise there's no reason to DFA Putnam.

"Ten times thy self were better than ten Hattebergs" -- Monkeyball, channeling Shakespeare

by iglew on Jan 12, 2008 12:43 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

One B. Lamar Bonds, perchance?

cardinalprecepts.blogspot.com

by PaulThomas on Jan 12, 2008 11:06 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

ZiPs says .268/.332/.392

Average in RF, which means he'd be bad in CF. This sounds like a rotten acquisition. Fortunately it's not likely to matter much.

by WaddellCanseco on Jan 11, 2008 6:34 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Hi all from Royals Review

I see you signed Emil Brown today. Just remember, every time he hits one out of the park, you yell, "It's not a snack. It's Emil!"

I wrote up an analysis of Emil Brown's three years in KC. Maybe it belongs on this site now:

Here is a link.

I am actually one of the few Royals fans who pretty well liked Emil and wish him well. His contract terms make him a good risk I believe.

by James Quinn on Jan 11, 2008 7:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Did Brown stay healthy last year?

Yep. Warm and fuzzy... that's me.

by grover on Jan 11, 2008 9:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, Brown was not hurt last year.

I have no idea why he did so poorly, but as far as I know his dive was not due to any injury. At least he never said he was hurt last year.

by James Quinn on Jan 11, 2008 9:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

great read

Thanks for jumping over and posting. I didn't know much about Emil before reading that, so it was quite helpful.

by Eric in Atlanta on Jan 12, 2008 9:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No problem Eric,

I'm glad you liked the breakdown.

KC never really warmed to Emil and I think very few fans will miss him. I think this is mostly due to those factors I wrote about in the linked story. If taken just on his actual on-field performance Emil was under appreciated in KC from 2005 -2006, so when he struggled in 2007 a big "drive Brown out of town" bandwagon formed pretty quickly. That said, I don't think offering him arbitration would have been a smart move. He is not a good $4M player, but I do think at $1.5M he is a very good gamble. The guy has skills.

by James Quinn on Jan 12, 2008 10:05 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Emil Brown is a scrub

PERIOD

No upside. He might get "flipped" for some magic beans!

by GrewUpAtTheColiseum on Jan 11, 2008 7:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I recommended this post

just to prove to FSU that it only takes one recommendation to make the list.

(Yeah, I know. Now someone is going to spoil the experiment by adding a second....)

"Ten times thy self were better than ten Hattebergs" -- Monkeyball, channeling Shakespeare

by iglew on Jan 12, 2008 12:50 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Is Street next?

Scary thing is they're talking about trading Kotsay for a AAA closer. Looks like Huston Street is next to go.

As Eric Byrnes said on KNBR the other day, anyone who's still buying into for the A's isn't rooting for them to win, they're rooting for them to make money.

by Alan in SF on Jan 12, 2008 4:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

do you know the other

alan in sf?

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 Jan 13, 2008 5:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs