which has now been deleted for the sake of non-redundancy

for Beane to go for it! The division is up for grabs Billy……..time to find the brass balls and make your move sir!

linky

Let’s make a WOW move.

what’s the thinking on the contract offer it will take to land Sheets? How many years is he looking for / insisting on and what annual figure goes with the number of years? I’m asking because with the Holliday/Teixeira moves having closed the offensive gap, to me the A’s are contenders now if they can add a #2 starter – which is NOT easy.

we need to see who does or doesn’t come to LAA – if Manny, or even Dunn / Burrell gets added, it’s a lot different from if the Angels go forward with their current starting 9. I’m a bit surprised they re-signed Rivera only because unlike the A’s they have a DH spot they could fill with a slugger. Now if they add any of the guys I named, at least they have to put a lame fielder out there.

“Is Anaheim Too Rodent?” talking about why free agents won’t sign with the Angels.

because they don’t want to hold the baby

but who gets custody of the kid?

I just heard today watching the Pats game that Matt Cassel was a baseball player at USC and was drafted by the A’s (36th round 2004). true story

The economy is still going to be bad then, although much more projectable, and the list is so deep. I’m thinking the A’s should stick to 1-year signings….

all suggest that geography, not money, is the driving factor for Teixeira (who will be paid a truckload no matter which offer he takes). And he, like Holliday, is a Boras client. Boras gets his clients big money, but that doesn’t always mean taking the highest offer just because.

I think 6 years is long enough. If Holliday is offered that by the A’s I don’t see them going more than 140 million which gets Holliday an average of 23.3 million per year. And for the A’s, that would be unheard of!

But, I’d still like to see them try…

what do you guys think of Andy Pettitte? He’s come off an unlucky season where his babip was .339, plus he was pitching in Yankee Stadium and in an offense heavy division, which hurt his stats a bit. He had an FIP of 3.71 He’s pretty under the radar as absolutely NOBODY has mentioned him.

SS clearly. Billy must be waiting for the remaining FA SS’s price to drop or for teams to make a few guys available. I like Hardy even after that off year in 08. If we go into the season with Crosby/Penn we’re in trouble.
I still have doubts about 1B but don’t see it mentioned as much. Is Barton going to be able to hit MLB pitching or not? What about Buck to 1B? Longshot? Jason G. could at least stand there but with such a young pitching staff it would hurt them to give away outs.
Then there is the seasoned vet for the bump – that one I think is overblown. Unless we could add a Sheets or another high quality vet we’d likely over-spend.

820 ops even after a slow start and competent at ss.

But I don’t see how we get him without bleeding prospects.

Out of all the SS’s out there right now he is at the top of my list and has been mentioned before, it might not take Anderson or Cahill to pry Hardy away from the Brew Crew.

I’ll work on a package later on when I have more time.

Furcal sez A’s offered 4/32, then upped to 4/35 “take it or leave it”

Noticed Richard Hidalgo and Armando Rios still raking in the Venezuelan Winter League. Chep upgrades. Oh and Durazo is still down there trying to find his way back to the Bigs. Only kidding but it’s fun to look at some old familiar names that continue to play ball elsewhere. Hidalgo is actually only 33 and is having a super nice season there.

what if we traded for Adrian Gonzalez?

Here’s the thinking (courtesy of Beyond the Box Score):

Pros-
1. The Padres are rebuilding, and while Peavy may be their biggest trading chip, A Gon is a pretty big one as well. Why wouldn’t they want to fully delve into rebuilding mode, rather than go half way?

2. A Gon is GOOD, and is probably a 4 WAR player currently (lets not forget that he plays half of his games in PetCo).

3. A Gon is Healthy, he played 162 games last year.

4. A Gon is cost controlled for 3 more years at 13.25mil for that entire span, and that’s his age 27-29 years.

Cons-
1. The Pads will probably want something similar to what Texas got for Texeira. So, he is going to cost some talent.

I’d rather see them spend the money on a closer than another big bat..