I very much hope we’re looking to make more deals, but I don’t know if anyone has a sure ticket out of town. For some reason, Beane seems to want to keep Street around, even though he’s basically a young, team-controlled version of Billy Koch. Every time he comes out I have to cross my fingers. Ellis seems like a Beane favorite, most likely for his defense. He’s walking a buttload, but is having major issues hitting the ball this year. That said, the defense factor probably keeps him around…he’s a big part of our league-leading defense this year. I could see Embree heading to whoever doesn’t get Fuentes for a minor prospect, but besides that I really don’t see Beane making any more moves (which is disappointing). I would love to see Street on his way elsewhere, and I wouldn’t mind Ellis being traded if we were getting a very good return for him. Here’s hoping we can convince someone to give us a good left-side infield prospect and pitcher for Street.

I think they’re looking for right handed relievers, so I doubt they’d be keen on Embree.

Since we have had a little recent success pulling "AAAA" out of the minors (see: Jack Cust), what about taking a flyer on Andy Marte? Yes, he hasn’t been so great in 300+ at bats in the majors, but his minor league numbers aren’t bad, and he does fill a position of need. Plus, the fact that his MLB record isn’t that good means he’s cheap, but 300 at bats isn’t enough to really judge him. Plus, he’s still only 24, so it’s not like he’s all that old…

It seems that many of the contending teams’ closers are injured, experiencing discomfort, or not pitching particularly well. The market for Street is heating up because the number of buyers for a closer is increasing (see Saito and Wagner from yesterday). If the Rays hang around and Percival can’t return to form, that’s another team that would need to make a move.

During the Cards/Brewers game on ESPN last night, I was cheering for the Cards to score off Torres, which happened. Based on the Brewers trade for Sabathia, they can’t sit back and feel comfortable that Torres is their answer.

Hopefully the injury stars align for the A’s instead of against them.

to me than Ellis to the Cardinals, given Kent’s suckiness and Kennedy’s 2009 contract. Also Aaron Miles seems to be channeling postseason Tom Lawless now.

The Mets might also be a contender given Castillo’s…er…struggles.

Dan ( Boston): HEY BUSTER!!! How about taking a Red Sox question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huston Street rumors are floating around boston, but do we really want to trade with Beane- seems like everyone who does loses, is Bowden gonna be part of any deal- or will someone take Delcarmen or Hansen off our hands? Thanks Buster!! Buster Olney: (1:30 PM ET ) Dan: Street scared a lot of evaluators last Saturday with his outing in Yankee Stadium—diminished velocity, lowered arm angle, and that will make it tough for him against lefties. It’ll be interesting to see if somebody gets aggressive and overlooks his recent outings, or if Oakland decides to hang onto him and put him out on the market this winter, which they are very comfortable doing…

For the people out there who know a lot about prospects, which one would you prefer if the A’s made a deal with the Dodgers? I understand they play different positions and the comparison is not clear cut, but would be fun to hear your opinions.

at minor league ball about the A’s minor league prosepects and how they compare to other organizations

of that group could be elite MLBr’s?? Well lets start out by asking who behind Price the Rays have that YOU think can be and elite MLB’r?? It all depends on what you consider elite. I think Price is the best prospect out of either organization, but behind that i’ll take the A’s system. More depth, and more consistency. IMO any of Cahill/Gio/Anderson/Simmons/Mazzaro could be future all-stars. And yes, we will mention Inoa because he’s legit. He could be pitching in the big leagues by the time he is 19-20, and many scouts say that at 16, he would have went in the top 5 in this years draft. The A’s have more pitching then that worth noting, but I am short on time. Doolittle/Cardenas/Carter/Cunningham and more have the potential to be above average MLB hitters, and Beane likely isn’t even done trading yet.

by JPShark on Jul 17, 2008 9:19 PM EDT

Dodgers - Kuo Hong-chih
Twins - Tyler Robertson, Ben Revere, Wilson Ramos
Rays - Reid Brignac, Jacob McGee!
Rangers! - Michael Main, Max Ramirez

... but what about Street to the Angels?

... that “shortstops of old” didn’t hit particularly well prior to the steroid era.

The turnover just the last season-and-a-half has been pretty astonishing. The players Beane has gotten in return for some of these past few trades have left me giving voice to a Szyslakian “whaaaa?”, and I expect more of the same in the near future. I officially give up any notion of being able to predict what this organization will do next.

...so how about Street and BoCro for Andy Laroche?

It’s like picking 1 of 3 frost bitten and dying fingers to amputate, and hoping the other two will hold up.

i don’t think he has any trade value now. His current performance doesn’t even justify an “average offense” label. H’e looking like Neifi Perez at the plate right now.

Rotoworld Link

Dodgers need a counter move now, huh?

He is a 19 year old 3B in LAD’s low-A. Maybe a possible piece in a Dodger deal? If nothing else, Gallagher could be the new Brown and Sweeney.

Briefly: Near-daily Huston Street trade rumor: The Reds apparently have some interest in the A’s closer, according to sources, and the Mets also might make a run at trying to get him. ... Working in a non-save situation after the A’s scored five runs in the last two innings, Street pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. He has had a rough month, but Street said that his arm feels great and his stuff and his velocity are the same as usual.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers “don’t appear to be interested” in Huston Street or Bobby Crosby.
The San Francisco Chronicle speculated Tuesday that the Dodgers had been scouting the A’s recently and could be interested in both players.

The Angels and the Oakland Athletics are among the teams being scouted by the Dodgers as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline nears. The Angels appear to be unlikely trade partners and the Dodgers don’t appear to be interested in A’s closer Huston Street and shortstop Bobby Crosby.

This is very interesting. Lets assume that the Dodgers are not scouting the Angels here, but are scouting the A’s. And lets say that they are not interested in Crosby or Street at the moment. Does that mean that another deal is going to take place? Duke should be starting in that series, so maybe he is the pitcher of interest? Or perhaps they are scouting Alan Embree? I think we can rule out Email Brown.

even though it will probably never see the light of day…..........oh well.

Lets do a little exercise… what would our roster look like next year w/o any more trades. What holes do we need to fill?

C1: Kurt Suzuki
1B: Daric Barton?
2B:
3B: Eric Chavez?
SS: Bobby Crosby?
LF:
RF: Carlos Gonzalez
CF: Ryan Sweeney
DH: Jack Cust

SP: Justin Duchscherer?
SP: Sean Gallagher
SP: Dana Eveland
SP: Greg Smith
SP:

The way I see it, next year we will have immidiate holes at 2B, Corner Outfield and 5th Starter. The 5th Starter problem can be fixed by promoting Gio Gonzalez, but if Duchscherer is traded, it then becomes a question of who takes his place on the roster. Will Cahill, Anderson, Simmons or Mazzaro be ready by then?

For Second Base, will they plug Eric Patterson in there? Or will they go with Gregorio Petit? Cliff Pennington? Perhaps two of the three if they deal Bobby Crosby.

The Corner Outfield spot is another question mark. It can easily be filled if Travis Buck ever remembers how to hit. It can also be filled by Aaron Cunningham if he is either promoted from AA, or gets called up to AAA soon and then start next year as the teams starting Center Fielder. Or, the A’s could try and either resign Thomas, or sign another DH and sitck Cust in the outfield again. Or the A’s could try Chavez at DH for a year and trade for a 3B such as LaRoche. Or they could trade for a 1B, stick Barton at DH and put Cust in the Outfield. Or they could call up Eric Patterson and play him in the Oufield if he doesn’t get the 2B job.

In any case, the lineup doesn’t look like it will recover next year. It might really be 2010 till we have a truley good team again, assuming we get a little luck and Doolittle, Carter and Cardenas are ready.

Chavez (shoulder) will resume baseball activities on Friday, the Associated Press reports.

Spin: Oakland still hasn’t released an expected return date for Chavez, but early August is our best estimate at this point. Of course, that hinges on how well his shoulder responds once Chavez ratchets up his rehab efforts on Friday.

Thomas (quad) feels that he might be able to return by the end of the month without needing a minor-league rehab assignment according to the team’s web site.

Spin: Thomas is expected to begin a running progran on Friday, but could be back in the A’s lineup by early next week if things continue to progress well.

Street stuff: With a week left before the trading deadline, rumors involving Huston Street have intensified, with the Dodgers, Brewers, Mets, White Sox, Rays and Reds all believed to have interest. Los Angeles had two scouts at the series against Tampa Bay, including Bill Lajoie, who is a special adviser to general manager Ned Coletti.

If Street is traded, Joey Devine is likely to step into the closer role when he is healthy. Devine (elbow strain) will throw a simulated game Friday and report to Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday. He hopes to be activated early next week.

per DRays Bay

I don’t know what the WhiteSox have that we’d want for Street, and I didn’t know the RedSox would actually need Street…

1 inning pitched as a part of a double header where they probably needed him to go as long as possible?

I find this highly suspect. We’ll be seeing him soon.

I’m not sold on him, especially since he’s repeating AAA this year after losing the starting 3B job to Crede and being injured during ST, but he’s a righty with some power who plays third (sorta… he’s not a good fielder)

Would Fields, Poreda, and I dunno—Egbert be a good return for Street? As much as I’d rather have LaRoche and DeJesus from LA, that seems unlikely.

I know this will incur the wrath of literally 100% of A’s fans, but oh well.

My guess is that most if not all teams contending for the playoffs would absolutely kill to have a guy like ziggy in their bullpen.
his stock has got to be considerably high right now. the only knock I can put on him is that he is still relatively unproven. too small a sample size for a team to be giving up top prospects.
but still… this is exactly the guy i can see a GM overpaying for.

[disclaimer: i dont want him to go. my thought process went:
-pondered an article talking about the A’s being bland, boring, and nameless
-thought, who is exciting on our team?
-first answer was Ziggy (plus cargon and sweeney)
-natural conclusion was: why not trade Ziggy?]

Fresh column from Ken Rosenthal. The Rockies, six games out in the NL West, could certainly become buyers. They offered Clint Barmes for Jeremy Guthrie and were turned down, and continue to monitor Bronson Arroyo and Tim Redding.

What does AN think of Barmes? I’m guessing people aren’t real high on him, as there’s a chance of him really being Crosby redux, but he probably plays better defense and may have turned a corner with his hitting (suspiciously high BABIP of .347 says maybe not).

I could certainly see him as a throw-in in some kind of Duke deal if they (foolishly) become buyers, which is the bigger question. Can the A’s please pry Stewart and Nelson from them?

I haven’t perused this whole thread but what would you guys think of trading for Garrett Atkins. The guy is coming up on his prime and could be a good addition. Aside from this whole “that’s not rebuilding” bs, I think it could be wise…