My apologies for posting an empty dump at first. I think I hit the enter key with my browser focus no longer in the text field and it thought I wanted to hit publish.

had this to say at MVN

Hernandez has been compared to the Minnesota Twins’ Matt Guerrier when it comes to his repertoire, which consists of an above-average curveball, average fastball and decent change-up. He’s a control guy around the zone — he won’t blow anyone away — but that doesn’t mean he’s any less effective. Without seeing him pitch, my impression of Hernandez is that he could profile as a similar pitcher to Justin Duchscherer — who he’s replacing, as Duke is moving to the rotation.

what percentage of Rule 5 draftees stick with the club that drafted them for the full season? My sense is that the percentage is very low. I'm guessing that a fairly large majority of them are offered back to their original team by the end of spring training.

Last year at this time there was a lot of discussion on this site about the role Ryan Goleski would play on the 2007 A's. Following up on Goleski, I see that he wound up having a crappy season back at AA Akron (.701 OPS).

from Slusser today:

The A's lost another prospect this week. Right-hander Angel Garcia, signed as a minor-league free agent in November, has decided not to play this season for personal reasons.

It's not a visa issue, as Garcia is from Puerto Rico.

Secret Pentagon report on climate change predicts global catastrophe by 2020. The report

warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies.

He's a FB/CB pitcher. Duke's name has already been mentioned in the thread, as well as Guerrier. Those are he two names I brought up upon seeing him, but there's one more that will surprise you, Joel Zumaya.

Maybe it was his goatee, but I thought Hernandez' delivery was very similar to Zumaya's. He's got that ball close to the ear, compact, whippy, violent (but not troublingly so) delivery like Zumaya. Foulke does the ball close to his ear as well, but he finishes in a better fielding position than Hernandez/Zumaya.

He's got fringy stuff. The CB is a plus pitch, but the FB was straight and didn't top 90. Duke and Guerrier should be viewed as his ceiling, not results to be expected immediately.

I just want to know: will his nickname be "FerHer"?

The new fAnPOst by Foolsh will not allow comments...is that a user choice or a bug? Also, I see he has photos posted using the standard img src image coding...can we do that now, without uploading pics as sbnassets? That'd be swell!

Swish:

On Tuesday, Swisher talked about dealing with the first trade of his career shortly after buying a house in Oakland, which is now being rented by former teammate Eric Chavez. He joked with reporters about the black uniform top being slimming, although he said the pinstripes also will help out.

Haren:

Come the offseason, he bought a house, and on Dec. 11, his first child, son Rhett, was born....His house-warming was followed a couple weeks later by the uprooting of his family, and his efforts (unsuccessful so far) to sell
his house.

Actually, I recall Haren writing on his blog "Haren's Heat" that he'd bought a house in Walnut Creek during last year's offseason, not this past one...

The Oakland Tribune has a chat with Chris Denorfia today. Regarding the frustration of being out for the entire '07 campaign, he says:

"It was awful, absolutely miserable having to watch (the A's play) on TV."

We feel ya, Chris.

We're all lazy, irrational, malleable lemmings.

(this definitely explains my apparently uncontrollable compulsion to buy at least four new A's hats per year, 99% of which end up stacked in a lonely, forgotten, Pisa-like leaning cap tower on a dust-covered shelf in the nether regions of my closet)

Adolescents are cursing more than ever, mainly because they can't f***ing think of anything else to say.

Daly City may buy the Cow Palace from the state, tear it down, and put in condos.

Molecular computing, human brain reverse-engineering ... better start stocking up on condensed milk and duct tape now, because in addition to the aforementioned climate catastrophe, the robot takeover begins in 2020.

this spring's version of "we're going to improve our baserunning begins here:

They might not be the Angels this year when it comes to the running game, but the A's are determined to improve their approach on the basepaths.

Slusser of course duly noted that she's heard this before, and gets a response from coach Ty Waller:

In other years, the A's have talked about better baserunning during the spring, and the emphasis has shifted once the regular season began. Not this year, Waller said.

"We're not going to back off," he said.

over/under, anyone?

here.