Top 10 Transition A's of the New Millenium
by Hegenberger Road on Apr 24, 2008 9:26 PM PDT
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PrintOne of the great things about being a A's fan is that almost every year we pick up some completely under-the-radar guy who goes on to play pretty darn well. Sure, there are plenty who don't work out (Eric Karros and Keiichi Yabu), but enough of them play well that it is usually one of my favorite storylines of the season.
Sometimes these players are such a good fit that they end up sticking around for quite a while (like Scott Hatteberg and Marco Scutaro). Others, for a variety of reasons (like money, retirement, or the fact the weren't really that good but had a string of luck in the green and gold) go on their way after a year or two. Those guys, I call Transition A's.
In honor of Big Frank's return, I present my Top 10 rental A's from 2000-2007. It is not a list based on stats or anything attempting an objective analysis of which Transition A's performed the best over that span. It's just my favorites, and though I thought about who I might want to put in each spot, I could probably change my mind. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments.
10. John Mabry (2002): Mabry was acquired from the Phillies for Jeremy Giambi during the great Purge of 2002. I'm pretty sure Beane would have traded Jeremy for a pack of bubble gum (and at the time many accused him of doing exactly that), but instead he snagged a man who, to my mind, was the best pinch hitter we'd had in a long time. Despite only a 322 OBP, he managed to slug 523 (leading the team in SLG, I just looked it up!) and get stuck in my mind as a man who always made big hits in the great summer of '02.
8(t). Shannon Stewart (2007): For the second year in a row, Billy picks up an outfielder who can hit close to .300
8(t). Jay Payton (2006): Ditto Shannon Stewart. Except for that "second year in a row" bit, this was the first one. If forced to, I'd put Jay over Shannon because of his defense. I LOVED having 3 CF quality outfielders that year.
7. Ray Durham (2002): We picked Ray up at the trading deadline looking for a strong leadoff hitter. I don't know that Ray fulfilled that wish, but he did hit an inside-the-park homerun in the playoffs. I love inside the park homeruns. And Rental A's with standout playoff performances are big on this list.
6. Billy Koch (2002): Well his playoff performance certainly wasn't standout, but I can't overlook the fact that his overall 2002 performance really was remarkable. 11-4, 44 SV, 3.27 ERA, and nearly a strikeout an inning. And having a rubber arm, going out day after day with the A's continually in close games. I don't really like him, but I have to admit: somehow he got the job done and then some.
5. Steve Sparks (2003): Steve Sparks?? Who the heck is Steve Sparks ? Maybe the fact that he is #5 on this list means that the A's really haven't had many jems in the rental player department. Sparks is a journeyman knuckelballer who stepped up in one of the most tension filled moments for me as A's fan. 2003 playoffs, game 4 , the A's coming off a walk-off loss the night before, and we all feel the dread of another early exit from the post-season. Early in the game we are filled with despair as Tim Hudson leaves after the first inning with a mysterious injury. While I consider ritual suicide, enter Steve Sparks. His line was not remarkable (2 ER on 2 H and 3 BB in 4 IP), but then Sparks was not a remarkable pitcher. He was 0-6 that year with an ERA north of 5.00. In 12 months he would be out of baseball. He had no business being thrust into this moment. But in a game where panic ran wild, the A's managed to score 4 runs and Sparks, outmatched and outgunned against an imposing Red Sox lineup, for that day turned himself into an effective pitcher. It was vintage David vs. Goliath, and enough to earn him my #5 spot on this list.
4. Ted Lilly (2002 & 2003): Lilly, a mediocre back end starter for most of time in Oakland, turned on the gas at the end of 2003, going 7-3 with a 3.45 ERA after the break. But, like Sparks, it is his playoff performance that earns him his spot here. With the A's in their familiar 2-0 series lead, Lilly went into game 3 in Boston determined to slam the door. In a game mostly remembered for its baserunning blunders, I can't overlook Lilly's standout performance. With all of Fenway taunting him, he shut down a powerful Sox lineup that had its season on the line. 7.0 IP, 1 R (unearned), 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K. The A's lost in extras, but damn if Lilly didn't give us every chance to get over that hump.
3. Keith Foulke (2003): Here we are again in the 2003 playoffs, though Foulke did not win any kudos from me for his performance there. Much like Koch, I have to overlook the playoffs, and see the remarkable regular season effort for what it was. And unlike Koch, in Foulke's case it is probably the greatest season performance by an Oakland closer not named Eckersley or Fingers. 9-1, 2.08 ERA, 43 SV, 86.2 IP, 88 K, and a 0.89 WHIP.
2. Cory Lidle (2001 & 2002): The late Cory Lidle was an average back-of-the-rotation starter for the A's for most of 2001 and 2002. But in August 2002, Lidle turned in the greatest one month pitching performance I have ever seen. 5-0, 45 IP, 1 ER for an ERA of 0.20 and a WHIP of 0.68. All of a sudden, no one could score off this guy. His performance, likely more than any other one player at the time, propelled the A's to the 20 game win streak that is still one of my favorite fan memories.
1. Frank Thomas (2006): After a less than ideal departure from Chicago (White Sox GM Kenny Williams declared: "He's the Oakland A's problem now"), Thomas came to Oakland and after a slow April, some wondered if his career was over. They were, to put it mildly, wrong. Frank picked up his trusty on-deck circle rebar on a road trip to Chicago in May and never looked back. He was the big bat we'd been searching for all these years. In September, he hit 10 HR, had 31 RBI, slugged 602, practically willed the team into the playoffs and caused Nico to repeatedly say "I really like Frank Thomas-- a lot." At first I really didn't believe it was true that we finally had a bat that would consistently win games for us. I kept expecting him to cool off. But by the middle of that September I felt like a Bulls fan from the early 90s must have felt. It doesn't matter if the team is down a few points and the game is getting late. Chill man, Frank's got it.
Welcome back, big guy.
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great diary but...
Payton was acquired in the 2005 season from Boston for Chad Bradford to replace Byrnes when we sent Byrnes to Colorado for Witasak and Kennedy
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 Apr 24, 2008 10:06 PM PDT reply actions
Mabry
If you remember from Moneyball, Beane didn’t even want to play Mabry. He basically had had it with Mr I-don’t-need-to-slide, so he dumped him for whatever he could get.
"Evidently, a large number of people said, 'We really need more vermin at the ballpark, Artie.'" - Nick (AN), 10/7/07
yeah, now that you mention it
I remember reading in there how BB was annoyed that Mabry was taking PT from Hatteberg
The glare was not practiced. I would get into the game situations, and when that happens, there comes a level of concentration that most can only imagine but can never achieve. You become what you are doing, and that is what you see on my face. -Dave Stewart
by Hegenberger Road on Apr 25, 2008 5:00 PM PDT up reply actions
in hindsight
it might have been more the steroids than the not sliding. beane quietly got rid of all the steroid guys.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
quotes
So much for Billy Beane, Genius.So it turns out JP really was the brains behind the organization.
Beane just demonstrated that he’s not the braintrust of the A’s.
I don’t really like the term, but I think Billy Beane has officially jumped the shark.
Good thing I didn’t pony up the dough for that lifetime membership in the Billy Beane fan club.
and that’s just from the first 50 or so comments
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
There's some pretty funny commets there.
Posted 4:30 p.m., May 22, 2002 (#74) – Mrs. Beane
Mmmmmm, Jeremy.
Posted 4:57 p.m., May 22, 2002 (#146) – Dennis Eckersley
Whatever it was, it was before today and Jeremy doesn’t remember.
Posted 5:35 p.m., May 22, 2002 (#195) – Billy Beane [tomorrow]
“He was a heroin addict? Surely not. I hadn’t the slightest idea. As I said, I made the trade because Jeremy is one dimentional.”
Posted 6:24 p.m., May 22, 2002 (#244) – Ben
Or maybe Beane was sleeping with Wade’s wife?
ZIPS: Milledge: 466 HR, 485 2B, 2282 hits, 278-379-524
i limited it to beane comments
i think “WTF that’s a terrible trade” and “there must be some reason for it” were reasonable reactions, but even without hindsight (knowing about giambi’s problems and that mabry would actually hit well) it seems a bit silly to consider beane a genius and then revoke his genius status just based on that trade…
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
Billy McMillon
McMillon was a Ken Phelpser if there ever was one. He hit .313/.397/.515 in AAA over 2700 PA across 4 organizations. And it’s not as if he was a late bloomer, as he hit .352/.413 /.602 as a 24 year old in his first exposure to AAA.
The A’s rescued him in 2003 at age 31, and gave him the most AB he’d ever had in the majors. McMillon hit, as he always had, to the tune of .268/.354/.458. He hit .316/.413/.579 w/RISP, and he hit .353/.371/.676 in September as the A’s were fighting (successfully) for a playoff spot.
Most impressively, he hit .385/.448/.654 in 29 PA as a pinch hitter, while the rest of the league hit just .239/.329/.356 in that role.
McMillon was past his prime when the A’s picked him up, and his shoulder soon gave out, but I enjoyed every minute of his 2003 show.
I loved McMillon
and I always wanted him to get more PA’s while on the A’s. Instead we were treated with the flailings of Terrence Long and Chris Singleton.
yes
billy mcmillions was the man
President of the Joey Devine fan club as of 1/15/08. Accepting applications for other positions. "He has no equivalent." -Paul DePodesta on Jeremy Brown
Good List
But in partial defense of Koch and Foulke their managers were at least as much to blame for their playoff breakdowns.
In 2002—despite a history of September fall-off—Art Howe acceded to Billy Koch’s request to try to work things out in a meaningless final weekend series vs. the Rangers (I believe). Koch had been slumping, as was his pattern. he got lit up in at least two of the three games—he pitched in all 3—and then carried that over to the infamous Game Five HR to AJ that sealed our fate.
The next season featured probably the worst single in-game decision in Ken Macha’s 4 year tenure as manager. He used Foulke—who was already hurting—for 50 pitches in the extra inning classic that was Game One (Ramon!!). Fine. It worked. What was indefensible was bringing Foulke back only 18 hours later to work the ninth with a 4 run leadto preserve Zito’s Game two win. He was never the same that series, contributing to all three defeats where a) he blew onwe b) Rich Harden had to be used in an unfamiliar situation and lost another one and c) because Foulke was unavailable Bradford was not brought in to face Manny with a laboring Zito (never pitched on 3 days rest in his entire career) with that being the normal and obvious move.
just to clear up the record. Sure we lost for other reasons (Hudson’s stubborness pitching through injury and the potential “bar fight” damage; Byrnes and tejada on the bases; poor defense in the TwinkieDome; Mulder being out in 2003; Zito only pitching once in 2002) but the misuse of the two closers was way up there.
Nah dude, it goes like this:
Ramooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!
That ‘o’ is there for a reason. :)
"This must be heaven," he says.
"No. It's Oakland."
what about jose guillen
who performed well for us in the playoffs despite a broken hand?
i try to remain unemotional but lilly, lidle and frank all have a special place in the baseball part of my heart…
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
of course he does
He keeps it in a locked box buried under 50 ft of concrete though.
"Camelot sure fell apart, didn't it?"-Steve McCatty
guillen
Oooh, I’d forgotten about the broken hand, good call.
I did look at Guillen but I think I left him off initially mostly because we gave up Aaron Harang. In hindsight, that’s really not Guillen’s fault.
Also in hindsight, that trade looks worse now that it did at the time.
The glare was not practiced. I would get into the game situations, and when that happens, there comes a level of concentration that most can only imagine but can never achieve. You become what you are doing, and that is what you see on my face. -Dave Stewart
by Hegenberger Road on Apr 25, 2008 5:03 PM PDT up reply actions
Lilly's end with the A's was epic,
especially given how rough that Red Sox game was given his previous failure at Fenway and the moronic behavior of the Sox and their fans. (I’m still pissed at those umpires—violation of uniform rules, dammit!)
But I think the big thing to remember about Lilly was how his rise coincided with Mulder going down—just when we were going “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”, Lilly stepped up to take us where when everything looked lost. (side note: the way the whole team stepped up to win the game where Mulder went down was classic and will always be burned in my mind).
When he offered to take the ball on short rest at the end of the season, that was the kind of offer that stood for what Lilly was at the end of that season: he went from a guy that always looked like someone shot his puppy, to being some sort of tough-as-nails pitching miracle.
Now THAT’s 100% baseball.
"This must be heaven," he says.
"No. It's Oakland."
does anyone have a photo or video
of the red sox players with “lilly” spelled out in tape across their backs?
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
Mulder
Yes!! That was a major reason why I was so fond of Lilly, the playoff performance capped off a remarkable NO WE ARE NOT ALL GONNA DIE!!!! run in the 2nd half after Mulder went down. 100% Baseball for sho.
The glare was not practiced. I would get into the game situations, and when that happens, there comes a level of concentration that most can only imagine but can never achieve. You become what you are doing, and that is what you see on my face. -Dave Stewart
by Hegenberger Road on Apr 25, 2008 5:04 PM PDT up reply actions
Mabry
What I think was special about the 2002 team that none of our other teams have had is hitters off the bench. Seriously.
Traditionally, we think if all the guys on your bench are good hitters, then you have a good bench, but it’s not that simple. If a player is good, being on the bench is not good for him. He won’t like it, and he won’t hit as well. It also doesn’t make economic sense, because if a guy is good enough to start, it probably makes sense to trade him.
Most players hit a lot better if they’re getting regular ABs. If he’s a good hitter, then he’s not as good coming off the bench; if he’s a mediocre hitter, then he’s even worse coming off the bench. It takes a special breed of talent to sit for three days, then come off the bench and hit just as well as if you’d been playing regularly (or maybe even better).
Some guys seem to have a knack for this. A good bench player, then, is not just a good player who doesn’t fit in your starting lineup. Rather, a good bench player is a guy who isn’t good enough to start every day, but in spite of that can still manage to hit well when you put him out there only occasionally. Such guys are rare, but in 2002 we had three of them. John Mabry was one. The other two were Greg Myers and Olmedo Saenz.
formerly known as mdl
I'll never forget that Greg Myers bomb against the Angels
That was just awesome.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
too true
the AAAA player who can convert himself into a good pinch hitter is a rare breed, and though never highly sought can end up being really handy.
The glare was not practiced. I would get into the game situations, and when that happens, there comes a level of concentration that most can only imagine but can never achieve. You become what you are doing, and that is what you see on my face. -Dave Stewart
by Hegenberger Road on Apr 25, 2008 5:07 PM PDT up reply actions
i would have liked to have seen damon and durham on the list. they both produced when they were here and weren’t they both type A free agents?
by long lost bash brother on Apr 25, 2008 7:40 PM PDT reply actions
type A free agents when they left Oakland that is
by long lost bash brother on Apr 25, 2008 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Damon?
He of the .256/.324/.363/.687 line in 2001? The guy that tanked it, and bitched about not playing center field, and whined about how Oakland’s foul territory kept him from hitting better? Damon, who had a below average 69% stolen base success rate that year? C’mon, Johnny Damon was one of the most over-hyped A’s acquisitions ever. The guy did almost nothing to help the team win games.
(Formerly known as "Nebraska")
The Pastime -- A Minor Consideration -- Catfish Stew
by Ryan Armbrust on Apr 26, 2008 2:27 PM PDT up reply actions
Good list but
Sparks? WTF! The guy was awful. Pitched OK in a playoff game the A’s ended up losing.
That gets him #5? Rest of the list is ok.
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