i cast a “none of the above”.

(going by your math, Nico, although Giambi actually turns 38 in two months, unless my math is wrong)…but anyway, if that is the case, then even the one guy I would consider (Giambi) is merely a band-aid. Maybe he helps the team now, during that one last non-special season, and then he turns 39, so yeah. Or…he provides that veteran-ness during those special years.

Putting all their eggs in the Tex basket, while surely an enticing thought, is too risky, and probably is a pipedream anyway.

Oh, and enough with the mentally and verbally unstable bashing, huh? I’m NOT fucking unstable!!! I swear I just want to slap a goat every time I hear that. Thanks, I just needed to get that off my chest. Let’s go have breakfast, ’k pal?

1. Furcal if he comes on no more than a two year deal. I don’t like contracts to injury prone players, although Furcal is a really special player.

2. Dunn. Yeah, a few people on the other post and a little digging up of my own helped me realize that Dunn might be a good idea on the team (Ideas are made to be shared though). I don’t go above 4/60 though. I prefer Dunn over Furcal though.

They have plenty of outfield potential. Suzuki and Ellis are actually good. Between Barton and Chavez, 1B is (cross your fingers) covered. Ideally, they would go get a studly SS/3B FA. Trouble is, Blake, and Cabrera don’t qualify. So it’s Furcal if we can afford him. And he doesn’t light my fire either.

Teixera is great. I’m uneasy giving up on Barton so soon, and paying that much for 1B. For that much money, the As should have gotten A-Rod last year, a better player at a desperately needed position. (and I said so last year).

However, it’s this year. Obtaining a still young Teixera and then packaging a trade for SS/3B (or praying yet again for Chavvy and Crosby to play well) may be our best move.

But I have a problem with ever expecting anybody to be playing in the majors, much less playing well at age 37. And, as far as I know, age 26 performance doesn’t in any way predict if a player will still be around a decade later.

and Milton Bradley…

Someone should look at the lineup with them in there along with Cust and its seems a major upgrade if you can deal with all the baggage that they bring!!!

hey, he needs the work!

think they could do a post about “under the radar” guys that Beane could possibly target?
guys that make you say things like, “who the hell is Erubiel Durazo?”

looking at the list in this post and reading about how aggressive the big-market teams are going to be this year makes me think that the chances are mediumish to smallish the A’s will end up any of them.

he can come and play 1st/ DH….

Giambi – Sure he’s old, isn’t much of a 1st baseman and won’t be a part of any “special” A’s teams. Besides those points, he’s the ideal guy to help “take the pressure off” the young pitchers for a year or two, which are the qualities Beane has himself stated he’s seeking on the free agent market. He’s still got 30-homer pop and will likely come on a 1-year, 1+1 option or at most 2-year deal for reasonable money. He can still get on-base and hit for power (the two biggest areas of concern for this team last season) and isn’t an embarrassment against left-handed pitching (.843 OPS). With Ellis and his good range at 2nd, Giambi can play the field most of the time, keeping the DH spot open for Cust and Giambi would be a very good clubhouse presence according to Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis, who i respect and trust a lot more on these issues than any of us bloggers.

Ordonez – It seems to me like the Tigers and A’s match up well on a trade. The Tigers are desperately looking for short-term players for both the closer’s role and the shortstop position. They are also looking to shed some salary in order to address other needs (starting pitching). I have floated this idea before: the A’s trade Street and Crosby to Detroit for Ordonez. The deal addresses the Tigers’ immediate bullpen and infield needs and saves them about $8 million dollars next season and more than $40 million over the next three seasons.

As for the A’s, Ordonez brings a very well-balanced right-handed stick to the lineup that hits for power, average and an effective approach with runners-in-scoring position. He can still play the field most of the time in either outfield corner and will likely be around for the next three seasons, allowing the A’s to develop their young outfielders slowly and surely. As a respected veteran player and Venezuelan native, he could be a great influence on fellow countryman Carlos Gonzalez.

Sure, the A’s probably don’t NEED another outfielder at this point, but Ordonez is likely going to be available for exactly what the A’s have to offer and he’s a better overall hitter than any of the free agents listed above; while his contract is expensive, it will only run through 2011 (and only then if he reaches certain plate-appearance milestones that will automatically trigger the options and/or if the A’s voluntarily exercise the options in 2010 and 2011 themselves). With all the young players currently on the roster earning in the league minimum and no core players slated to reach arbitration until after 2010, the A’s can certainly afford Ordonez’s contract.

The Ordonez move is definitely a risk, but assuming the A’s can snag him for only Crosby and Street (or even one of Eveland/Smith/Braden) the team is not giving up all that much to get an elite hitter that could be still around when the team is actually expected to contend. With a solid rotation and bullpen, a deep farm system and a solid core of young players and vets (including Eric Chavez at 3rd) the A’s can compete in 2009 with this lineup:

(against righties)
RF – Sweeney
C – Suzuki (much better against right-handed pitching, breaks up the lefties)
1B – Giambi
LF – Ordonez
DH – Cust
3B – Chavez
2B – Ellis
CF – Cargon
SS – Pennington (I believe he can provide decent defense, a .350 OBP and 20 steals over a full season)

(against lefties)
2B – Mark Ellis (.350+ career OBP against lefties)
CF – Chris Denorfia
1B – Jason Giambi (still gets on base against lefties)
RF – Ordonez
3B – Eric Chavez
DH – Cust
C – Suzuki
LF – Buck (also not bad against lefties)
SS – Pennington

This would be a stunner of an off-season if it were to happen and banking on Chavez more or less full-time at 3rd and Pennington at short are pretty big gambles, but this team is in good enough financial and depth state to go for it. With a solid, young rotation, solid bullpen and solid defense, these moves could vault the A’s into immediate contention in 2009….

Alejo is back. What year is this? I’m all for nostalgia.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=21

How about Alex Gordon?

The Royals seem to be giving up on him, as they said they are moving former A’s farm hand Mike Teahen back to third, and they just traded for Mike Jacobs to play first. Also, Billy Butler is a DH/1b type just like Jacobs, so there isn’t really a spot left Gordon. I don’t know how good his defense is, but he was the top prospect in the majors a couple years back and the change of scenery might do him some good. It would also let Chavez play first, where he could rest his shoulder but still play an important role on defense. How good was J.T. Snow defensively for the Giants?

Also, I like Jesus Guzman a lot, but not for this year, let him prove he can play in AAA.

And I love the Magglio trade idea, although I wouldn’t have Denorfia playing center against lefties. Sweeney and Buck are both major league ready, but CarGon and Cunningham both could use this year in AAA. We could also pair one of the young outfielders with a pitcher for a legit shortstop, J.J. Hardy?

How about this line-up next season:

C – Suzuki
1B – Chavez (let Barton regroup in AAA to start the year)
2B – Ellis
SS – Hardy
3B – Gordon
OF – Mags
OF – Buck
OF – Sweeney
DH – Cust

That looks pretty solid to me.

instead of trading for hardy, I’d rather sign Furcal and then deal a outfielder/pitcher combo to KC for Gordon. Thoughts?

“we” traded street and crosby and maybe a kilby type or landon powell/recker (they really need a catcher) for mags and then we traded cunningham and simmons/mazzaro for gordon and signed furcal as a FA

but we don’t need OFers while 3B is a pressing need. Plus, it doesnt have to be Cunningham. I’d be fine with sweeney as well.

Last 3 years Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
 2007 KC 151 543 60 134 36 4 15 60 41 137 14 4 .247 .314 .411 .725
 2008 KC 134 493 72 128 35 1 16 59 66 120 9 2 .260 .351 .432 .783

Gordon could be a very solid third baseman for the next 5 years if not more if we get him. Hitting in an attrocious KC line-up he put up a pretty good .783 OPS in just his second year. His K:BB rate improved, as he walked 25 more times in 17 less games and he even has pretty decent speed. I could see Eric Chavez in his prime-like type numbers of about .270-30-100.

And maybe instead of a Simmons or Mazzaro it would be a Braden/Outman/Grey

And do whatever possible we can with the Brewers to get Gamel and Escobar. They need bullpen help, give them Street and anybody but Ziegler and Devine. Maybe a minor leaguer. Carignan is tearing it up right now, if I’m not mistaken.

They need some pitching… Greg Smith is a good hitter, might do well in the NL. How about Duke (sorry)?

What about Patterson? He’s versatile, fast… perfect for the NL. Whatever else they demand, why not?

If we added Gamel and Escobar, we’d have legit prospects at literally every position. It’d be a beautiful thing.

and the A’s can compete in 2009 (partly because that scenario still leaves Street and others as possible trade chips for further improvement). Signing those two would not break the bank, either. Bend it a little, but not break it long term.

guys is slim to none. Why would any of them even think about signing a short term deal as a stop gap with a team that has no chance of making the playoffs the next year or two. Giambi might be the only one but it scares me to think of having either Cust or Giambi in the field since one of them has to DH. The A’s would have to overpay them drastically and Beane isn’t about to do that.

The idea of a Tex signing being more reasonable in the later years is silly. Why not wait and sign a big money guy in 2010-11 when we need to fill a whole to make a run at the playoffs. His contract will be more reasonable in 2013-16. <-sarcasm

A better option would be to package Street and a couple of the AAAA players we have accumulated within the last year and make a trade for a 3rd/SS that has the potential to help us now and down the road (JJ Hardy, Gordon?).

Until then let the kids play and pray that Cahill, Anderson, and Simmons can make a new big three in a couple years.

You can be sure that (with our ace training staff) that he’d end up with some longterm hurt…and us footing the bill for years. Better to sign a gaggle of lesser players(but with talent) and hope some of them can survive the A’s medical ministrations.

they would sign becuase if they did so collectively, we would definitely be in the playoff run. Seriously, tell me that if we got Giambi, Mags, and Furcal, all for the price of street and a throw-in pitcher that we wouldnt be in contention?

I love the guy and I do think he can still be productive, but he does not fit what this team needs right now or for the future. I’ve written about this before, and if BB does end up signing Giambi you can all throw it back in my face. I can take it.

I really don’t think BB will sign Giambi, we already have Giambi on our team and he doesn’t cost us 10+ mill a year, which is what I think it will take for us to sign Giambi. Jack Cust is the outfield playing Jason Giambi, left handed power, doesn’t play his position well, hits for good power, gets on base a lot, and doesn’t hit for a high average. The only way Giambi doesn’t take AB’s from Cust or any of our young talented OF’s is if he plays in the field, and he is frightening terrible at 1B, I would hate to see that. AND any power we currently have in our lineup is from the left side, why would BB bring in another Lefty power hitter. We need some pop from the right hand side. I don’t know what BB is going to this off season (if anything), but I really don’t think he will bring back Giambi. BB could take that 10 million and spend so much more wisely and more productively.

He is an absolute beast. I would 100% love to have him as my closer. I think Street is really good when healthy, as evidenced by his last month of the season, but he has too many nagging injuries to be depended on as a closer. Plus, bullpen depth is one of the strengths of this team.

starting pitchers? The more I think about Giambi, I just don’t see it due to the low budget A’s…

I would not advocate the move but I bet BB would sign “Nomar” because they could platoon him at 1b, 3b, DH, and maybe SS ??? Assuming he would be healthy?

He would come cheaper than other target FA’s and could provide leadership for the frugal A’s…