before it hit your tail on the way out. Me? I’m an A’s fan for life, and among the people who have the capacity to possibly change that Garret Anderson is way down on my list.

the least of our worries.

but I’d say you’re overreacting a bit …

If Beane signs him he might as well walk up to the podium and laud the newest acquisition as a great RBI man, announcing to the sabermetric world that his brain had clicked to the “OFF” position.

Would I walk away completely? No, I wouldn’t do that but I wouldn’t care as much. When the FO shows a contempt for winning I stop paying attention to the team. I don’t begrudge failure but not making the attempt is an insult to me as a fan. Signing Garret Anderson is not an attempt to win more baseball games, not when all the data says he’d a be a detriment to the team.

big hurt I was more of a “crippled vet who obviously can’t perform on a consistent basis” than big hurt II, yet you left big hurt I off the list because he did perform.

his post makes me want to say this, get over yourself. I understand that we all like to speculate and like to be “pretend” GM’s sometimes (I do too). But this is not our team, it’s BB’s team, and he does damn good job of running it. Over the years BB and the organization have made several moves I think have made all of us scratch our head, but you know what, for some weird, crazy, unexplainable reason they almost always seem to work out…I mean it’s like BB knows what he is doing or something…weird. Just relax and let the master do his thing.

it’s so blatently transparent and unconvincing, I don’t see how the “threat” of signing Anderson makes Giambi more pliable in his negotiating position. We already have a DH and several outfielders who are better than GA. Giambi will be playing 1B.

Now, maybe Beane is targeting Abreu, so it makes a little more sense in his case. That said, I doubt Abreu views Anderson as a serious alternative to himself. I know AN doesn’t. I can’t believe BB does, either.

Get a damn SS or 3rd baseman.

He’s old but still hit .293 with 84 RBI last year. He’s been on winning teams and should be an asset vs. the Angels who we have to beat if we’re ever going to win a division again.

If we sign GA that will be the tipping point as to whether or not I buy the mlb.com baseball package. NO WAY.

Do I think Beane would ever do that, no? I imagine they are interested in Abreu at 1b because he could be potentially solid at 1B. I imagine lack of range is the only thing hurting him in the OF these days because he used to be rather good out there. His defense + offense could easily be better than Giambi’s depending on the price. GA on the other hand, I imagine the A’s just name dropped him for leverage with the other FAs. They dont want any of these guys to think they are the only option.

GA is probably my least favorite of all baseball players. Symbolically, he is historically the anti-moneyball: horrible defense, over-valued offensive contribution. Add to that the fact that the Angels love(d) him and I scorn(ed) them for that. Plus, he is old and decaying, and he NEVER DIVES >> ASSHOLE.

My love for the A’s is not a blind-one based on geography, its based on philosophy. I wouldn’t root for the United States if it became a backwards dictatorship…I wouldn’t root for the A’s if they became a backwards organization. GA belongs on the GIANTS.

if they sign GA. I don’t think it’s a good move but being a true A’s fan means for better or worse. Come on, monkeyball. You’re better than that and people would dearly miss arguing with you from time to time.

Or, rather, considered it.

Thinks of offer for Sheets instead of expensive-assed FA GA-type hitters on the down-side of their bang for their bucks careers.

This one makes a little less sense to me, but I suppose my take didn’t make sense to some people, either.

the chains (holding that monkey) are made of chrome steel.

i’m away from civiliastion for five days (read, i was in upland, ca) and when i get back, harold pinter is dead and the a’s are signing gah!ret anderson?

can i not leave the world unattended for just a little bit?

I whole-heartedly concur with the consensus that this would be a stupid signing for the team. But if by some weird chance BB really did sign GA, I’d enjoy rooting for him to not suck a whole lot more than I would for pretty much all the other past-their-prime big-name free agents that have been mentioned.

If we must sign a past-his-prime big-name free agent, my first choice is Frank Thomas. Not because I think he’d be any good for the team, but just because I love him so much. Bring back the Big Hurt!

…well, whatever, I guess.

In the Beane blunder’s section: I don’t understand how turning Mark Redman and Arthur Rhodes into Jason Kendall, then turnging Kendall into Bowen and Blevins is a blunder.
I don’t think getting Kotsay and turning him into Devine is a blunder. I don’t see how Stewart hitting .290 for 1.5 millions is a blunder…

but at least you didn’t mention the Hudson trade

Two of ’em are bad.

That guy never dives for balls or shows any emotion. I don’t want any guy like that around my team.

By never diving he makes sure single are not reborn as triples.

Trying to quit eating. You can starve for awhile then you just gotta eat. Look, I survived the great abandon the ship after the 1976 season, sure I was bitter, but I still went to games, and supported the team. Granted, there were not many, but I stayed. At least we are not as bad as the 77-79 era.

…that G Anderson has degraded significantly over the last year or two, and that he is in no way the player he once was. In a physical ability sense, I mean. Is that true?

and signs him just to piss you off

Get more sleep. It’s effecting your perspective.

Beane has made this kind of signing before, many times in fact, but you’re randomly choosing to take a stand should this one take place. You made no case whatsoever about why signing Anderson would elicit this kind of strong reaction while signing, say, Emil Brown would only be a cause for minor complaint. You even admitted that the guys GA would be competing against for playing time have limited potential. Truly bizarre.

garret anderson is not a good chemistry fit here, for players or fans. it would be liek maggette for the warriors… a big, fat, easily spotted disapoitment. that’s a business direction i really hope the front office doesn’t go.

I cannot imagine personally why someone would watch it on television, but that is reality in the USA in 2008 (nearly 2009).

Given the fact that in poker you have to “play with the cards that are dealt to you”, would it not make MLB more exciting, popular, interesting, ……
….if all the players were put into one big lottery system, and teams just drew a new team every year from the pot? Require each team to contribute an equal amount to the pot for salaries ($120 million) and let the MLBPA work out their own formula as to who gets paid how much to play MLB for how long, how many seasons. You could hire your own coaches and managers, and all other staff, but all the pitchers would be assigned by lottery, all the catchers in turn, etc. We wouldn’t have to give up on our favorite team because of purposeful action any more than a poker player gives up on a hand because he draws a “three”.
If fans are “rooting for the uniform” anyway, and sportswriters act as if the Cubs team of 2008 is somehow related to the team of 1908, and all teams in between, what difference does it make if players simply get totally reshuffled among clubs every year, compared to the total reshuffle that occurs every four years (ok, 90% reshuffle, or changeover) that is the reality today??

Negotiating with Scott Boras over GA is simply “face time” and “practice” in order to do a good job on the real Scott Boras signing they want:

Matt Holliday

Kind of puzzled at the flares of apparent of GA hatred in this thread. Actually watching GA hit against the A’s shows he rakes at the coliseum. Last season was the first I can remember us ever being able to get that guy out. He also seems like a class act, a gentleman. Just because our pitching can’t stop him until recently (because of an injury), and he’s getting older, he’s valid cause for the end of an A’s allegiance? See ya. Sounds a little dramatic to me. As far as I know, he’s had one injury— why is he now vilified as being “chronically injured”? I’d actually like a guy who can hit .300 in our lineup, and I’ll be barfing if I have to watch one more season of anemic offense cloaked by an over-emphasis of the moneyball approach. Good OBP does not just mean take all your pitches, all the time. Without a few hitters actually able to put the ball in play, and a few runners actually able to steal a base (imagine that!), the picture is not complete. We need to aggressively sign one of these three FAs, and pronto. There really aren’t a lot of choices left now out there. I’d rank the three of them as follows: 1. Giambi, 2. Abreau, 3. GA. In the real world, in this market, we can’t afford to scorn 84-96 RBIS, nor guys who can do what hitters are paid for— to hit the bleeping ball when it makes sense to do so.