DLD 7/10: Rich Harden

what?!

Rich harden was traded?

Enjoy the game

by DCinWC on Jul 10, 2008 11:03 AM PDT 0 recs

Sexson Released and Bedard to DL

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3481747

A little plumbing! Got to plumb! Plumb the depths! The depths of hell! - Larry David, CYE

by Swooney's Left Foot on Jul 10, 2008 11:06 AM PDT 0 recs

and the miguel cairo era begins

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

by xbhaskarx on Jul 10, 2008 11:13 AM PDT up 0 recs

and the Joel Cairo era begins

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 11:18 AM PDT up 0 recs

You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-head you.

not you, Monkeyball, Spade!

"All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth."- Ted Williams

by Gaijin_Suketto on Jul 10, 2008 2:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

I wonder if the A's would have any interest in Sexon?

A change of scenery may do him well; he could split time with Barton and the A’s could use a RH power hitter. His .218 Batting avg. would fit right in with this team. They would be able to sign him for a pro-rated minimum salary, like the Big Hurt. Bankston is probably fine, but it would be interesting.

"just a beating heart ... plasma that we'll put into our uniform." - Billy Beane

by athleticsBB4life on Jul 10, 2008 11:23 AM PDT up 0 recs

I don't really want him

but he joins Barry Bonds and Matt Murton (and probably several other free or cheap options) on the list of available players who are pretty obviously better than Emil Brown.

"May a nit suck Cajun geese?" wonders Red. No, we see gnu Jack Cust in a yam.

by andeux on Jul 10, 2008 11:32 AM PDT up 0 recs

no thanks

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

by xbhaskarx on Jul 10, 2008 11:43 AM PDT up 0 recs

Whoa.

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 11:38 AM PDT up 0 recs

This DLD is kind of boring

It needs some pictures or something.

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 11:22 AM PDT 0 recs

That picture has too many stats

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 11:22 AM PDT up 0 recs

I wish I were going to the game today instead of being at work

Hope a few more people turn up….

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 11:24 AM PDT up 0 recs

But if you go

Just remember:

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 11:25 AM PDT up 0 recs

"There's m'fn sprinklers on the m'fn infield!'" - Ice Cream (AN), 6/13/08

by doctorK on Jul 10, 2008 11:30 AM PDT up 0 recs

why isn't the banjo guy

in any of these ads? Krazy George has one big moment – but the Banjo guy has been an institution for years….

by elhefe on Jul 10, 2008 12:11 PM PDT up 0 recs

by elhefe on Jul 10, 2008 12:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

because crazy george is elsewhere

but the banjo guy still roams the Coli…and evokes Fidel Castro, among other images.

Most fans give the banjo guy the same avoidance and absent eye-contact as they do for street-panhandlers. Not exactly “promotion magic”.

"I never predict anything, and I never will." Paul Gascoigne, English footballer

by One won lost won on Jul 10, 2008 2:11 PM PDT up 0 recs

Apparently

Banjo man invented the twirly beanie he wears. Dont know if that’s true though.

"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin

by Helloooo 1st on Jul 10, 2008 2:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

He makes them

I don’t think he invented them - I remember them in MAD magazine when I was a child - but he is a major player in the propeller-beanie industry. Whirling through the world of propeller beanies

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 3:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

damn you, evil dr. stat!

Trying to quantify what percent of dominance is baseball! (or is it that 100% of baseball is dominance?). All I need to know if whether dominance feels baseball in his gut.

by colin on Jul 10, 2008 12:17 PM PDT up 0 recs

When's this guy playing?

"just a beating heart ... plasma that we'll put into our uniform." - Billy Beane

by athleticsBB4life on Jul 10, 2008 11:29 AM PDT 0 recs

Murton's only been in the organization a couple of days,

and Ellis is letting him ride his unicorn already?

That’s awesome!

"All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth."- Ted Williams

by Gaijin_Suketto on Jul 10, 2008 2:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

...

by whiteshoes40 on Jul 10, 2008 11:29 AM PDT 0 recs

Fuck you.

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 11:39 AM PDT up 0 recs

ouch, be nice

"just a beating heart ... plasma that we'll put into our uniform." - Billy Beane

by athleticsBB4life on Jul 10, 2008 11:40 AM PDT up 0 recs

Come on!

It’s too soon, man!

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 11:41 AM PDT up 0 recs

sorry

I’m a visual person—I need pictures if there’s gonna be a RH-themed dump. (okay, that sounded weird.)

by whiteshoes40 on Jul 10, 2008 11:48 AM PDT up 0 recs

You're okay.

I was partially kidding.

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 11:51 AM PDT up 0 recs

it's the "partially" I'm worried about ;)

by whiteshoes40 on Jul 10, 2008 11:55 AM PDT up 0 recs

Rich Harden sucks

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 11:41 AM PDT up 0 recs

Slurps

Don't blame me, I voted for Ice Cream

by Englishmajor on Jul 10, 2008 1:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

Zebulon wants to know if he's going to eat all of that

"The Athletics at Fremont" is pretty bad

by ArakSOT on Jul 10, 2008 12:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

I wonder, when players get traded

do they just have to get rid of all of their ex-team’s wardrobe that’s not official uniform related? Rich looks perfect in his camouflage A’s t shirt. I hope he keeps it.

Nature's first green is gold...

by prana160 on Jul 10, 2008 12:47 PM PDT up 0 recs

{sigh}

There's no crying in baseball!

by gigglingone on Jul 10, 2008 12:49 PM PDT up 0 recs

It's going to be a long time

before this doesn’t really hurt like a samurai sword in the side.

In news of the obvious, the gals at BleedCubbieBlue quickly decided that Rich is a “hottie” and “adorable.”

Yeah, we know.

by SportySpice on Jul 10, 2008 12:57 PM PDT up 0 recs

some people might find this interesting

being owners of baseball franchises with a pack of baseball cards and you play against the machine or other people

if enough people are interested in making an AN league, I’m in.

www.baseballboss.com

article about it

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/02/baseball-boss-if-you-dont-love-baseball-yet-you-will-now/

Let's have our Piazza and eat the Cust too - SPWC

by closetasfan on Jul 10, 2008 11:33 AM PDT 0 recs

Hey sal:

Is there a statistic that measures hitter streakiness?

Seems like a difficult thing to nail down, and perhaps fundamentally arbitrary (i.e. what qualifies as a “streak”?), but … I’m skeptical of the notion that some players are inherently more streaky than others, and I’d love to be able to consult historical streakiness leaderboards (or something) to test my skepticism.

I found this, but it appears to deal more with the (non) relationship between prior streakiness and future performance; I’m more interested in streakiness as it relates to particular players or batter skill sets (if it does). I want to see if Player A was highly streaky one year, not so much the next, if high strikeout totals correlate to excessive streakiness, etc.

by 74mk on Jul 10, 2008 11:33 AM PDT 0 recs

Not that I know of.

The big issue, as you allude to, is the definition of “streak”; where do you draw the endpoints? When does a streak become a change in true talent level?

I, too, am skeptical that some players are streakier than others and haven’t seen evidence supporting this contention. To do this study, you’d need to evaluate a player’s true talent at any given moment in time (like here) and then define a metric like “rms derivative.” Way too much trouble.

Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.

by salb918 on Jul 10, 2008 11:54 AM PDT up 0 recs

I'd like to see someone do a power spectrum analysis

like I described here.

And by someone, I mean not me.

by colin on Jul 10, 2008 12:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

Figured as much

Thanks.

by 74mk on Jul 10, 2008 12:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

Corey Patterson's brother

"just a beating heart ... plasma that we'll put into our uniform." - Billy Beane

by athleticsBB4life on Jul 10, 2008 11:35 AM PDT 0 recs

Are there any other

defensively challenged 2B younger brothers of major leaguers that Billy can go get?

A little plumbing! Got to plumb! Plumb the depths! The depths of hell! - Larry David, CYE

by Swooney's Left Foot on Jul 10, 2008 11:40 AM PDT up 0 recs

the elder Barfield?

facepalm.jpg

by Zonis on Jul 10, 2008 12:06 PM PDT up 0 recs

this one?

Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.

by mrrickyg on Jul 10, 2008 1:52 PM PDT up 0 recs

sean looks weird in his roster photo....better shot

"just a beating heart ... plasma that we'll put into our uniform." - Billy Beane

by athleticsBB4life on Jul 10, 2008 11:39 AM PDT 0 recs

So... He doesn't look weird in that picture?

still Swish Fan #1.

by ChrisCEIT on Jul 10, 2008 12:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

a candid shot

What does not kill you makes you stronger.

by Pa on Jul 10, 2008 6:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 11:42 AM PDT 0 recs

How's anyone going to fix a kitchen sink or toilet?

"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico

by jeepers on Jul 10, 2008 11:49 AM PDT up 0 recs

when I was recently in Dallas

I saw the strangest billboard telling kids to pull their pants up. Looks like it’s a whole campaign.

"Don't be an ass!" --Bill King

by batgirl on Jul 10, 2008 12:21 PM PDT up 0 recs

Many municipalities

are passing laws against wearing your pants in the above fashion (Atlanta is another). That’s all I can say on the matter without risking a CGV.

"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico

by jeepers on Jul 10, 2008 12:23 PM PDT up 0 recs

where's LCJ, to tell us ...

... that government shouldn’t even mandate that we have to wear pants in the first place?

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 12:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

I still contend that covering one's genitals with mud and leaves

should count in a court of law as “pants.”

"All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth."- Ted Williams

by Gaijin_Suketto on Jul 10, 2008 2:39 PM PDT up 0 recs

I see your "strange billboard" and raise you 1000

In Africa, they’re trying to emphasize that rich people masturbate (as an anti-AIDS campaign).

Probably NSFW

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/nevermoor/masturbation.jpg

by nevermoor on Jul 10, 2008 2:09 PM PDT up 0 recs

And after we make 'em pull their pants up

we’re gonna get ‘em off my lawn!!

"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s

by Nick on Jul 10, 2008 5:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

I know!

You gotta have the butt crack theater then!

Stomper is a badass!

by lynnzgal on Jul 10, 2008 12:19 PM PDT 0 recs

I like how the URL for this diary

refers to “Rich Haren.” Which geeky programmer is trying to rub salt in the wound?

"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico

by jeepers on Jul 10, 2008 12:21 PM PDT 0 recs

good catch... very odd

"The Athletics at Fremont" is pretty bad

by ArakSOT on Jul 10, 2008 12:26 PM PDT up 0 recs

After you save or publish a diary...

the URL won’t change if you edit the title. So, either the diary was titled something different, or it’s an error by the author.

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 12:35 PM PDT up 0 recs

Well, this author never makes mistakes.

Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.

by salb918 on Jul 10, 2008 1:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

New article on A's homepage

A’s don’t want to tamper with Cust

Yeah, let’s please not change anything.

Might as well Jump! - Van Halen

by sprtsnwyn on Jul 10, 2008 12:29 PM PDT 0 recs

for all the Jane Lee H8 (I'm lookin' at you, bbg), that was a nice metaphor in the lede

Cust’s new alternate nickname: “Rochambeau”

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 12:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

That's pretty good

Or should we, instead of HR-Walk-K go Rock-Paper-Scissors during game threads?

Might as well Jump! - Van Halen

by sprtsnwyn on Jul 10, 2008 12:35 PM PDT up 0 recs

Yeah but she blows it shortly later

Trying to show Cust as a Three True Outcome hitter yet using AB instead of PA to get a whopping 70% TTO.

by TimLincecumIsGod on Jul 10, 2008 1:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

ouch

Three true outcomes writer

... arousing men to burst the chains under which monkeyish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves ... @('.')@

by monkeyball on Jul 10, 2008 2:14 PM PDT up 0 recs

Any verification...

to yesterday’s telecast where they said Harden was going to be shutdown until post ASG?

"Twenty minutes," says Jack Sr. "Thank god for Billy Beane."

by ST on Jul 10, 2008 1:54 PM PDT 0 recs

nope

everyone is saying Saturday now.

There's no crying in baseball!

by gigglingone on Jul 10, 2008 6:24 PM PDT up 0 recs

Some minor league transactions

Eric Patterson is now on the Sacramento roster. Matt Murton isn’t, which could mean a number of things (he’s coming to Oakland, he’s part of another trade) or could mean nothing at all.

Josh Donaldson, also obtained in the Harden trade, who was hitting poorly for Chicago’s low-A team, has been placed on the high-A Stockton roster.

And Corey Brown has also been promoted to Stockton. Brown was hitting .270/.358/.483 which is excellent in a very tough league for hitters, but was also striking out in nearly a third of his at-bats, which is not.

"May a nit suck Cajun geese?" wonders Red. No, we see gnu Jack Cust in a yam.

by andeux on Jul 10, 2008 2:49 PM PDT 0 recs

I think sending Donaldson to Stockton is a good move

It’s a tougher league, but it’s also a hitter’s league (so he might end up putting up similar numbers with similar play) and perhaps even more importantly, just a DIFFERENT league (as opposed to a different Midwest League team). And he needs to make progress if he’s going to stay any kind of prospect.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Jul 10, 2008 4:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

+1

by BlameChannel53 on Jul 10, 2008 4:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

Also, it's just the right timing for someone with his expectations.

Sometimes you just have to ignore results—What better way to boost a kid’s confidence than to let him know that even though he’s had a rough two months, you still fully believe in his pedigree and go ahead and promote him. It’s not like he’s going to bigs or AAA or something. Just because he’s not hitting doesn’t mean he hasn’t made progress, etc.

Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.

by mrrickyg on Jul 10, 2008 5:17 PM PDT up 0 recs

Sean Doolittle is now in Midland, and is 2-4 in his first game

by theblackpearl on Jul 10, 2008 8:07 PM PDT up 0 recs

The game thread is too big for it to work on my computer.

WOOOOOOO!!! Kurt!!!

Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows

by Jennifer on Jul 10, 2008 3:30 PM PDT 0 recs

Found this on the Cub's MLB homepage:

Acquired Tuesday from Oakland along with reliever Chad Gaudin for four players, Harden will make his Cubs debut on Saturday in the second game of a three-game series against the Giants. The right-hander already has a win over San Francisco during Interleague Play this season. On June 14, he gave up one hit and walked two while striking out nine over six innings in the Athletics’ 4-0 win.