you better believe I'm sticking to it. I believe I further predicted that Mike Sweeney, BoCroz and a healthy Chav would lead the offense back into the swing....c'mon healthy Chav!

Starting pitching:: A's #1 Rotation

Relief pitching: A's #4 Relievers

Mark Kotsay has been good in the inferior league. I don't expect his performance, nor his health, to hold up for very long.

I promise Jason Kendall won't hit above .500 all year. Seriously. I'd put money on it.

Harang has turned into a very good pitcher, but I wonder where he'd fit in in A's rotation (I won't mention the league switch only because the half win he loses by jumping back to the AL would possibly be negated by the difference in home ballparks). Even with Harden and Duke out, the A's rotation is much better than many thought. Harang would certainly have a spot, but it's not like it's vital (plus, he's been gone for so long I think it's fair to get past that now).

Eric Byrnes is not a star. Eric Byrnes is average at best. His great, amazing, superstar breakout year last year resulted in a whoppin' 104 OPS+. And he still sucks on defense. I don't miss him. Never have, never will. He's just not very good at baseball.

I'm not depressed about those guys, and with the exception of Harang (who has been gone for 5 years anyway), I don't think any of them help the A's more than guys they already have. You can add Scutaro into that, too, who despite his "clutch" moments, hurt the team as much as he helped it.

Guy couldn't hit the side of the barn when he was with us, and now he's hitting over .500 ? Is there some sort of magic juice in the NL or is it really that inferior of a league?

that a programmer always believes the next test will work. I've found that largely true of myself, and similarly, I always believe the A's will win the next game, the next series, the next pennant. Outside of that completely irrational viewpoint, I'm not big on making predictions, but I certainly hope I'm right a lot this season!

What, no mention of Milton Bradley?

So, first you rip Kotsay unceasingly, and now you're saying that we shouldn't have traded him?

As much as I don't understand you, I'm always entertained!

Brett Anderson: 2 starts, 12IP, 13Ks, 0 runs

didn't read about regression to the mean.

You aren't a "believer"? Haha...ok.

Dana Eveland or Greg Smith?

Over under on wins for me is 84

I think that I made a couple of pre-Tokyo guesses of 82-85 wins for the A's.

I'm on record (as I am every year) that the Angels will finally suffer a rash of serious injuries/physical declines.

I've also made some disparaging comments about the overly positive estimations of the Mariners.

And the Rangers, I think we can all agree, just suck.

So, putting some numbers to my previous half-assed comments:

Angels 87-75
A's 84-78
Mariners 75-87
Rangers 73-89

Beane trades Blanton, Embree, and one position player off the active roster (depending on on-field performance and what Beane gets for Blanton) by 7/31. I remain on track to win $20 from mikeA.

seriously respond to his foolish fanposts, he has to start turning them into DLDs....

because here's the off-season opportunity of his dreams:
Medical Marijuana Reality TV Show Seeks Participants

Also: what is Dick Cheney looking at?

Pilot grounded after improper Fenway flyover

"The people around me were drunk so they just went, 'Whoaaa,' "

And hedgehog used as a weapon.

on its front page"

It can be pretty interesting to read as a snapshot from baseball history, especially the older ones. Like this article, which appeared today from Christina Kahrl's 7/26/07 "Transaction Analysis":

"Released RHP Jay Witasick. [6/7]
Placed OF-S Milton Bradley on the 15-day DL (strained calf), retroactive to 6/3; recalled INF-R Donnie Murphy from Sacramento (Triple-A). [6/8]
Sold C-S Adam Melhuse to the Rangers; recalled C-R Kurt Suzuki from Sacramento. [6/9]
Claimed RHP Ruddy Lugo off of waivers from the Devil Rays; optioned INF-R Donnie Murphy to Sacramento. [6/14]
Designated LHP Erasmo Ramirez for assignment; purchased the contract of INF-R J.J. Furmaniak from Sacramento. [6/16]
Optioned RHP Ruddy Lugo to Sacramento; recalled RHP Shane Komine from Sacramento. [6/18]
Optioned INF-R J.J. Furmaniak to Sacramento; activated OF-S Milton Bradley from the 15-day DL. [6/20]
Designated OF-S Milton Bradley for assignment; purchased the contract of 2B-L Kevin Melillo from Sacramento; optioned RHP Shane Komine to Sacramento; activated RHP Rich Harden from the 15-day DL. [6/21]
Placed RHP Kiko Calero on the 15-day DL (shoulder), retroactive to 6/17; optioned 2B-L Kevin Melillo to Sacramento; recalled LHP Dallas Braden and RHP Ruddy Lugo from Sacramento. [6/25]
Acquired RHP Jermaine Van Buren from the Nationals for a PTBNL. [6/26]
Traded OF Milton Bradley and cash to the Padres for RHP Andrew Brown; placed OF-L Travis Buck on the 15-day DL (sprained thumb), retroactive to 6/28; optioned RHP Ruddy Lugo to Sacramento; recalled 2B-R Donnie Murphy from Sacramento; purchased the contract of OF-L Dee Brown from Sacramento; transferred OF-L Chris Snelling from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [6/29]
Optioned LHP Ron Flores to Sacramento; recalled RHP Shane Komine from Sacramento. [7/3]
Optioned LHP Dallas Braden to Sacramento; activated RHP Kiko Calero from the 15-day DL. [7/6]
Designated OF-L Dee Brown for assignment; activated OF-S Bobby Kielty from the 15-day DL. [7/8]
Placed RHP Rich Harden on the 15-day DL (strained shoulder), retroactive to 7/8; placed INF-R Donnie Murphy on the Bereavement List; recalled INF-R J.J. Furmaniak from Sacramento; purchased the contract of RHP Andrew Brown from Sacramento; transferred RHP Justin Duchscherer from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [7/12]
Acquired RHP Julio Manon from the Reds in exchange for RHP Dan Denham. [7/13]
Optioned INF-R J.J. Furmaniak to Sacramento; activated OF-L Travis Buck from the 15-day DL. [7/14]
Activated INF-R Donnie Murphy from the Bereavement List, and optioned him to Sacramento. [7/17]
Optioned RHP Shane Komine to Sacramento; activated DH-R Mike Piazza from the 15-day DL. [7/20]
Designated OF-S Bobby Kielty for assignment; activated RHP Huston Street from the 15-day DL. [7/23]
Placed SS-R Bobby Crosby on the 15-day DL (fractured hand); recalled INF-R Donnie Murphy from Sacramento. [7/25]

Big Moves: Discarding one virtually limb-less scratched-up Kendall because they've wisely decided to throw something more exotic—like Suzuki—on the barbie. Jiggling and re-jiggering the bullpen. Getting Piazza back in time to hopefully showcase him as a plausible DH type for somebody who still has ambitions where contention is concerned.

Wheel-Spinning: The service time being distributed to non-Scutaro infield reserves borders on random. Melillo's having a decent season with Sacto, hitting .266/.361/.461, and .282/.373/.500 against RHPs... if someone wanted Mark Ellis instead of making a Jack Wilson-sized mistake, I guess there are possibilities for Oakland in a post-Ellis environment. Murphy's hitting an inconceivable .511/.556/.851 in more than 50 PCL at-bats against lefties, and while sample size issues and the relative quality of Triple-A southpaw filler and major league lefties both need to be taken into account, that's got the makings of an interesting platoon.

What's Busted: Any immediate sense of hope, now that we've found out that the store policy on both Harden and Crosby is "No Returns, No Refunds, and No Redemption." Sounds like something straight out of Dan O'Neill's announcement of National Bummer Week ages ago. This just ain't the year, and while seeing Jack Cust deliver might give us all an echo of that Moneyball feeling, it won't be enough. So now we have to ask, what happens when the magic's gone, and you're just another one of the smart kids? I feel like it might be 1993 all over again, and that's not a good thing.

What's Fixed: Next year's outfield looks pretty interesting—Nick Swisher, Buck, Snelling, and Chris Denorfia? There's some upside in that quartet, and if Cust is the DH, and with Daric Barton at first... it won't be a great team, but it would be an interesting one.

Somebody Besides Mom Noticed: With Kielty's DFA, another in the pantheon of Beane babies takes a fall from the performance analysis pedestal. Nevertheless, I think he'll land on his feet as some poor man's Mitch Webster type, mashing lefties, filling in at the corners, and keeping alive the question of whether or not he's one of those switch-hitters who shouldn't."

and my new boss is this guy's sister. Just thought I'd share.

And I guess that was your accomplice in the woodchipper.

(Sorry if this has already been posted, but I haven't been online much the past few days....)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball players and owners have agreed to amend their drug agreement, a decision that allows for more frequent testing and eliminates 15-day suspensions assessed in December against Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons.
The deal, reached after months of negotiations, strengthens the authority the independent administrator has over the drug program. But baseball did not heed advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency and turn drug testing over to an outside agency.

We are, in fact, all going to die ... of something.

After all:
2-3 at "home"
4-1 on foreign lands

This is kind of old, but has anyone seen this before???

Don't taze me Bro

When the pitcher "continued spitting blood and thrashing about," the officer told Reyes he was going to use his Taser, which knocked Reyes to the ground. He was shocked a second time after not complying with commands to stay down.

How is it that this guy is a pitcher, and not a Baerga-/Kent-style power-hitting middle infielder with limited range and iron hands?