Well on 1st is big brother and on 3rd is little brother.

Hopefully with the A’s surplus of arms in the minors and Walker and possibly Alvarez in Pittsburgh they make Andy LaRoche available in the offseason and the teams can work out a deal.

Till then good luck Andy after being freed from LA

But I am glad there was no deadline deal impatience on our side. We don’t have a contender this year so there wasn’t much point unless we wanted to get a young prospect some seasoning on the left side of the infield. Why budge on our young pitching when those kids will be even stronger trading cards as they continue to develop?

I feel a lot more comfortable with a deal happening on our terms this coming offseason where the market is steady and we can present our case for guys like Duke and Street who have terrific stats and records but don’t necessarily impress anyone with their raw stuff and velocity.

In the meantime, gear up for some really awful 100% baseball.

Wow. Theo Epstein unloads Manny and gets Jason Bay. Manny is going to be a free agent. He can’t play defense at all, and his elevator goes up half way; and you get rid of him and replace with him a pretty stellar guy in Jason Bay….outstanding move for the Redsox. I thought only Billy Beane had the vision for something this good.

Here in Seattle the Mariners were lucky to send Arthur Rhodes to the Marlins for a prospect…..while they have and play both Jose Vidro and Miguel Cairo. When you follow the Mariners and watch how stupid they are it was easy to switch to an intelligent team like the A’s, and become a fan.

All that said I assume that Billy and David did not find anything to their liking, and are standing pat for now. In Billy and David I trust!

Some have already advocated some of these ideas but I think it’s time for these actions:

We have a ton of semi-prospects in AAA (and by a ton of semi-prospect I don’t just mean Powell’s weight). It’s time to give guys like Putnam, Petit, Patterson, Bankston and Denorfia a chance to get more than 15 ABs. It’s time to see if Buck, Barton, and Murton can turn it around. It’s time to see if Pennington, Powell, and Robnett can become more than the next Nelson Cruz/Dallas MacPherson (though I would like to see if either of them can be the next Jack Cust/Luke Scott; first we’d have to acquire them). It’s time to find out if anyone knows what the hell happened to Jesus Guzman. Too bad Jeff Baisley is injured.

And that’s a lot of ABs to hold “tryouts” (for lack of a better word) for 2009. And I will be very, very disappointed for every Emil Brown, Brooks Conrad (who has less chance of making it than any of the aforementioned), and Jack Hannahan AB we see. Though Hannahan would be acceptable to me as a Raj Davis-type bench guy, who’s not taking many ABs. I would also put Crosby on waivers and hope LA pulls another Loaiza and claims him. If they don’t (or no else does) I would explore some trades, though I’m unsure how the process works. Can we trade Little Bunny Bones BoCro for prospects who didn’t go through waivers if he goes through waivers? Or do we have to trade for another guy who cleared waivers? I know it would be against all principles but I might even want to put the struggling Ellis on the DL if he’s not at 110% (Rotoworld suggested this), and extend him now at something like 3/21 so he doesn’t throw a Bradley/Halsey type fit. After performing pretty badly offensively, the extention might be cheap enough to make Ellis a bargain for us.

Anyway, this is where I want to go a little crazy. Sure, the biggest problem I’ve posed is I want to get regular ABs for 5 OFers not counting CarGo, Swooney, and Patterson (who could see PT at 2b). So why not another one? I think we should call up Javy Herrera. Herrera used to be our top OF prospect but as a prospect, Javier has been passed by Buck, Sweeney, CarGo, and Cunningham at the upper levels and Sulentic (though he may be injured) and Brown at the lower levels. Plus there’s the aforementioned adequate to average outfielders who’ve put up better stats at higher levels like Murton, Patterson, Putnam, Denorfia, and Robnett. But scouts say Herrera has some of the best tools of the bunch. Maybe he does something crazy like Hanley and actually becomes a somewhat valuable commodity. And he’s already on the 40 man.

This is already somewhat long-winded so I’ll try to wrap it up.

We should do similar with pitchers. Every IP that goes to Embree (although he could have a little trade value in the offseason, but that means risking getting stuck with his option in 2009, ugh), Foulke, or DiNardo is a wasted opportunity. Those innings should go to Meyer, Marshall, or being super aggresive with a guy like Andrew Bailey or Josh Outman. Jared Lansford and Jose Garcia (though he may be injured) could be similar type rush guys but I want to see both starting in Midland in August with Anderson/Cahill at the Olympics or when Mazzaro/Simmons are called up to AAA when Gio/Meyer are called up to the show.

Let’s see…they gave up Ramirez, Moss, and Hansen and got back only Jason Bay?!

That’s absolutely ridiculous, considering they’re paying Ramirez’s salary and Bay is a worse player than Ramirez, let alone Bay for Moss Hansen AND Ramirez.

so its obvious street, his value was down fair enough…dont sell low on him and take a subpar deal. they can wai on him

but if the rumors are true, why ask so much for duke…fowler and stewart…i’d settle for stewart and a couple solid guys

they are really playing with fire since you expect regression from duke and his value may likely never been higher

i guess wait till winter meetings then…4-5 more months of rumors and speculation

all the chatter about trading for offense. a’s never have and never will trade for an offensive bat nearing or in prime. too much emphasis on youth, no power hitting. a’s strategy is to get power hitting on the cheap. a’s spend money on pitching and defense. that’s why first half of season looks good, then a’s choke in second half when arms are tired and bats can take advantage.

Pete (New Mexico): Is Gio Gonzalez a front of the rotation pitcher?

Keith Law: (2:38 PM ET ) No, back of the rotation.

it’s just frustrating. before the all-star break when the a’s were in contention, instead of following a course that athletic nations contributors (and for that fact of the matter probably a’s fans generally) knew needed to be done, ownership/management showed no commitment to the team. if it’s any indication from the trades that were announced, it seems probable that the a’s could have got a batter. what were the benefits of the harden/gaudin/blanton trades? why didn’t the a’s get a nady, larouche, etc. a’s ownership/management failed to balance the team’s competing needs. too much in the distant future is illustrated by the perverbial question, “what is a million dollars worth to you a hundred years from now?” who cares your gonna be dead when you get it. that’s why a’s attendance is about the lowest in the league…if the owners aren’t committed to the team why should the fans. other a’s fans i know tell me things like, “i wanna bring a sign to the game that reads: i’m scared to go to games because i might get traded”, or “it’s best to buy an a’s jersey with no name or your name on it because if you put your favorite player’s name on it, by the time you get it in the mail, that player won’t be on the team.” no disrespect to beane and company, but the a’s fans aren’t allowed time to develop a relationship with players. why would fans want to go to a game? would you rather go to a function where you know some of the people or where there are in attendance only complete strangers? couldn’t sell out red sox, yankees, angels with reduced seating capacity…when was the last time that happened? if that ain’t a clue, i don’t know what is…