Free Agency-Where do the A's go now?
Now that the pursuit of Rafael Furcal is over in Oakland, I believe the A's should and likely will pursue some other options in free agency. This is just a post to get everyones ideas on who they'd prefer and why they would prefer them. If you have another idea outside of the poll just discuss it. Have not heard much talk lately of who we would like to see come to Oakland, so lets discuss it.
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After all this time..
a plurality of people on AN are still convinced Jason Giambi is the right way to go?
"To this day and dating back 25 years, before every game he plays, Henderson stands completely naked in front of a full length locker room mirror and says, "Ricky’s the best," for several minutes."
by VORP is too nerdy on Dec 19, 2008 11:31 AM PST reply actions
He'd be my third pick on that list ...
After Randy Johnson and Other …
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
and suddenly, a caustic game of the dozens broke out
I'll send you a postcard from Space Mountain. @('.')@
I guess to actually be funny, that should have been "the ozens"
I'll send you a postcard from Space Mountain. @('.')@
I was really going with "the field" as other ...
No particular target … just playing the odds …
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
Giambi would be my 8th pick on that list
And he’s only that high because “Other” contains every MLB Free Agent.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
Kind of surprising
I think now your less likely to see a Giambi signing because they might get involved with a guy that is an OF/1B type, I think that the best option will probably be Abreu. Assuming he is going to come at a cheap price. He is a prototypical A’s player, good OBP and hits for decent power. If he comes at the right pirce I would think that he will be on Beanes radar. Rosenthal did a right up on the top Free Agents left and their likely destination he listed the A’s as the likely destination for Abreu…
Not sure if I see it
Just recognize hes a good fit…Does anyone know if he(Abreu) has ever played first or has proven any ability to play first?
I think people just really want it to be 2000 again.
by thejd44 on Dec 19, 2008 12:11 PM PST up reply actions
I think people believe he was pretty darn good in 2008
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Yes
2008 UZRs:
Giambi (1B): -2
Burrell (LF): -11
Dunn: (LF): -13
Abreu (RF): -25
Plus Giambi will probably be cheaper/require less years than the others in that group.
What's funny is that when I went to look at FanGraphs
I saw that the A’s played him at 3B some in 95/96. I had completely forgotten that.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
He came up as a 3Bman - it's the position he played
when I knew him briefly in Medford. He wasn’t a bad defensive 3Bman, either. But he was also waaaaay thinner and more mobile.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
So you're saying there's a chance
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Dec 19, 2008 6:47 PM PST up reply actions
All abord the "sign Giambi to play third" bandwagon
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
why was he thinner?
ooohhhh…….
"My group runs some frogloks down the hall to finish them off and POP! RASTER! If there was a way to scream louder than caps in EQ I was doing it. Man I am straight panicking because I know I have NO CHANCE soloing and the party has run off. I'm in my hotel room; it's like 5am, and I am straight hollering, in EQ and in real life. Bottom line is the group comes back, heals me, and kills Raster! WOOT!" -Curt Schilling on his favorite memories in the video game "EverQuest"
he was a terrible thirdbaseman and left fielder
His arm is a huge liability at first let alone third, and when they moved him to left for a couple games he couldn’t track down anything… and that was 1996/7
Some of the most violent things I’ve ever seen were at Raiders games. And I’ve been to jail. - leopold bloom
by designatedforassignment on Dec 20, 2008 2:33 PM PST up reply actions
He played leftfield, too
IIRC, he made a diving catch on a sinking liner near the leftfield line to rob the first batter the A’s faced in 1997.
Root for the Giants? Not even if they're playing al-Qaeda!
I voted Randy Johnson
I don’t really like the addition of any of the big-time offensive options (I’m a huge Dunn fan, but I don’t want him in the field and he’s not enough of an upgrade on Cust to be worth the money), so may as well make the starting pitching stronger.
by thejd44 on Dec 19, 2008 12:12 PM PST reply actions
what does Cust have to do with signing Dunn?
It’s not whether he’s an upgrade over Cust, but how much of an upgrade he’d be over Barton or Buck. (Still might not be worth it in either case, but those are the guys he’d be displacing, not Cust.)
I'll send you a postcard from Space Mountain. @('.')@
Because having Cust puts Dunn in the field.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
Fine:
Because having field puts Dunn in the Cust.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
by Nico on Dec 19, 2008 6:02 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Either way
It means there is a suck
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
A Suck?
Of course there’s a Suck; USMC.
by LowcountryJoe on Dec 19, 2008 7:48 PM PST up reply actions
I voted Randy Johnson, but I do think Beane will go hard for Abreu
He’s gonna let some things play out and see who goes where, and if he’s available in a couple weeks, I think he will make a pitch to Abreu. He’s always liked the guy, almost raded for him before.
I worry about his decline with age, but again, he is surprisingly consistent, I mean his stats are usually about the same, you can expect .290-.380-.480 year in year out
I also voted for Randy Johnson and also think BB will go for Abreu
The one stat you missed is the fact that he plays 150 games every year. We don’t see 20 HRs from him… but wouldn’t an Abreu, Holliday, Cust middle of the order be pretty good?
The way people are talking… I wouldn’t be surprised to see BB nab both Johnson and Abreu.
"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did." -Yogi Berra
Or shit...
maybe Abreu leads off.
"I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did." -Yogi Berra
I like Abreu
I could see him doing very well in Oakland. Does anyone have handy his defensive metrics or a link to UZR +/- for Abreu?
www.punditpolitics.com - Political IQ Tests, Pundit Blog, News and Opinion.
Abreu was 25 runs below average last year
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=945&position=OF#fielding
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
by WaddellCanseco on Dec 19, 2008 1:53 PM PST up reply actions
Abreu/Burrell
UZR for Abreu is 6 runs/year below average for his career, but 15 runs/year below average over the last 3 years.
Burrell is almost exactly the same: 5.5 runs/year below average for his career, 16 runs/year below average over the last 3 years.
Chone more or less agrees, projecting Abreu at -11 and Burrell at -14.
Both of them would be bad signings for just that reason: their defense is bad enough that overall they’re not significant upgrades over what we already have. Plus they’d still leave us with Barton as our only 1B.
Dunn and Giambi also have this profile (good offense, poor defense) but make a little more sense because
a) they’re a little better offensively than Burrell or Abreu
b) they can play 1B, which would give us 6 players (Holliday, Cust, Buck, Sweeney, Barton, Dunn/Giambi) for 5 positions (OF/DH/1B) with at least a semi-reasonable defensive alignment no matter which one of them is sitting out.
Thanks for tomorrow 'cause I've had enough
Johnson's going to San Fran, in all likelihood
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Making SF shockingly smart this off season.
Not, of course, that any of their moves will help that much, but still.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
Renteria's a lot better than Crosby, even with the price difference.
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
by WaddellCanseco on Dec 19, 2008 6:17 PM PST up reply actions
Maybe not defensively at this point in the two careers
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Crosby had the better year defensively in 2009.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Sure, since they were about the same defensively in 2008 that wouldn't be a
surprise at all
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
by WaddellCanseco on Dec 21, 2008 8:01 AM PST up reply actions
Randy Johnson #1
Ben Sheets #2
Other #3
I should say regarding Sheets that it all depends on what he would cost. If someone’s still willing to give him many years despite his injury history—which is a distinct possibility—he comes off my list. I’m interested if it’s a one-year deal for him to try and cash in big the following year.
None of the offensive options seem worth it to me.
"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico
Well cross Juan Rivera off your lists
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
Tejada or Dunn/Giambi
Trade for Tejada give them Crosby,Patterson and a BP arm maybe Andrew Bailey and if that dosnt work just get Dunn or Giambi
I like the trade for Tejada idea.
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
by WaddellCanseco on Dec 19, 2008 6:17 PM PST up reply actions
I think Sheets should be the #1 target
What the A’s most lack, post Harden-Blanton, is a legitimate #1-#2 starter to drop Gallagher to #3, Eveland to #4 and so on. Even Randy Johnson doesn’t accomplish this. Given the A’s payroll flexibility, signing Sheets doesn’t seem impossible – just maybe improbable in that someone may throw big money around despite the health risks.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Sheets would work
Just pray he stays in 1 piece.
Wish List
- Johnson
- Abreu
- Sheets
I’m MORE concerned about the young staff….having Johnson pitch in the 2-3-4 slot helps alleviate some of the pressure…..granted so does run support which is why I like the Abreu idea……Abreu-Holliday-Cust would be a nice runs trio…….Sheets is my wild card…..helps where Randy would….might cost more $$$$…..I guess at this point we should find out who there agents are?
"RIP: UserID: 553"
I pick Unit & other
with the other being Rocco Baldelli. I think he could be had on a 2/yr deal cheap and has the potential to be an all star type player.
"AN, Reducing Work Productivity since 2003", connie mack 11/06/08
Can he learn an infield postion, and quickly?
Because that would be way cool.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
I hear Rajai can play SS
It's not the results, it's how you look going about those results -- Tim McCarver
by WaddellCanseco on Dec 19, 2008 6:18 PM PST up reply actions
I picked
Giambi and then Sheets. If Abreu were to somehow land in our laps as well…..then that would just frosting on the cake.
Well at that point we'd REALLY be overusing the DH
Cust, Giambi, and Abreu? Eh…
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Unless one of the other young outfielders were to be traded
to acquire a SS. That would be the only way that would even remotely make sense for the ball club. Having extra bats in this lineup would not be the worse thing that ever happened……eh?
Other
Sign Brad Penny, Freddy Garcia, and Mark Mulder (to a minor league deal) and let them fill out the 2-3 starter spots. Then Sign Giambi to man 1b and solidify the lineup. Demote Barton and Gio Gonzalez and let them get some seasoning.
Or now that it looks like Andy Pettite will probably re-sign with theYanks
that means there is one less team interested in one for the guys we have been discussing going after, and perhaps another.
From mlb.com….
“No other clubs are known to be seriously courting Pettitte, and the Yankees have backed away from their earlier interest in options like Derek Lowe and Ben Sheets, believing that Pettitte will eventually be in the fold.”

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