good stuff

went 0-for-5…

...that is at times as ambiguous as “team leader”.

MVP can have many impiications. Just look at ARod for the offensive numbers that have resulted in his attaining multiple awards. Yet, as baseball glorifies the individual achievements of players from so many standpoints, A Rod would be the first to tell you he'd trade them vor the ultimate team award- signified by a WS ring.

Beane's concept of developing versatility from a pitching, hitting and fielding  concept in which the drop-off in talent doesn't diminish due to the ever looming injury is the best place to be able to try to identify any distinctive characteristics that define this team.

This team has to be broken down in terms of starting pitching and relief pitching with respect to the rest of the league, Street has not distinguished himself so much this year but if we look at the contributions of Brown/Cassilla/Embry/Foulke/ZIeggler etc the collective efforts can be considered "most valuable"

The same case could be made for our starters. Some are more heralded than others. Don't look now but while ZIto has what 11 losses for the Giants a our Blanton has 10. At face value that doesn't look good but scouts still love his stuff as his ERA gives a better picture of his value. I could make a case for Duke as MVP but that doesn't explain his run support which has potentially allowed him to pitch more comfortably than the other  starters. His 1 hit domination of the Red Sox shouldn't be forgotten. Still many other factors have contributed to his success.

Offensively, it's hard to keep track with all of the injuries that have taken place as to who could be considered in the same light as say Giambi's MVP performance several years ago. The offense reminds me of our team that displayed the mediocrity of Billy Martin's BillyBall from 1980-81 in which we saw sizzling hot performances tempered by similarly cold ones. The consistency came as the team matured. This team is young and maybe a closer analogy would be 1999. Still to quantify or qualify any one player such as Suzuki or Ryan Sweeney or CGon is just way too premature and yet this type of conjecture will continue.

The more telling question of who hs been the most vlauable player for the A's as recognized by the rest of baseball will be tied to who gets promoted to the AllStar game. Duke is by far the front runner in that category. As MVP of this team,however, let's leave this discussion until November.

I’ve been away a long time and out of the loop. But reading for the last few days, I can definitely see the similarities in style, frequency, and subject matter.

As mikeA says, good to have you back. (And mike, if you read this, could you clarify the Salon reference for me.)

As for Suzuki as the MVP and it not being close—Wow! that’s why I used to love oaktoon: the wacky point based on a momentary impulse declared definitively.

I’d say, excluding the pitchers, the A’s don’t have an MVP. They have a bunch of guys clustered together all contributing in about the same way, with Cust and Ellis at the top so far.