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Beane's latest moves testing faith

Tiny by BlueMoon on

Like most of you, I believe Billy Beane knows what he is doing.  He's a genious -- except for the Hudson trade, right? Even that deal might turn out with Meyer now in Oakland and Hudson's career in jeapardy due to elbow injury.

Still it's hard to stomach that the A's had a pretty nice season going midway before he continued blowing up the team.  The A's have quickly become the most unwatchable team in majors.

Recent trades make no sense.  No top prospects.  I mean how many 2nd basemen do the A's need? Murton, Patterson -- these are not hot young prospects.  This whole quantity over quality is difficult  to believe in.  Is he just throwing a bunch of slop against the wall and hoping some of it sticks? 

I've been thropugh lean years with Mitchell Page, Wayne Gross and Dave Kingman -- those teams sucked, but they scored some runs and were entertaining.  If the A's are going to stink for a few years I say move in the fences and load up the line-up with all-bat no glove guys.  At least entertain us. 

In the end Beane's plan will probably work out, but it's not fun right now.

 

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prospects

gallagher with his great minor league track record at 22, hopefully will be good.
murton/patterson may be useful mlb ready players, but i doubt cubs miss them
donaldson may have regained his status as a top tier catching prospect.

beane was willing to throw in gaudin, just to get gallagher who cubs kept untouchable.

cardenas is a top 30 type prospect, he’s the caliber prospect you want deals built around. for a struggling blanton thats the best they were able to do. the issue is he’s a bit further away and nor at a huge position need. if he was able to show that he’s a capable ss/3b, that would take care of one need over the next 6 yrs or so.

outman/spencer werent really names we heard about at all. but seem interesting prospects. if only they couldve tricked phillies in adding jason donald SS for embree, they declined. for results on the blanton deal is maybe 2 yrs away to judge that deal. compared to the cubs deal, weve seen 3 players but give it some time. though it looks worse now since harden/gaudin are dominating

by Asfan4ever723 on Aug 5, 2008 8:12 AM PDT   0 recs

No, it's not fun now, but keep the faith

Too much is being made of “Beane’s moves” because of an important coincidence of timing: Beane traded Harden and Gaudin and then Blanton, and right about the same time the A’s embarked upon a hellish 2-16 stretch, which makes it look like Beane “blew up the team.” That perception is mostly incorrect, however.

What’s changed, really? Two things, primarily: Braden is taking Blanton’s starts, for one. That’s pretty much been a wash, since Blanton wasn’t pitching well and Braden hasn’t been awful. On the other hand, Gallagher has not been as good as Harden, but how much is that worth, really? Maybe two games so far, if that? (After all, Harden probably loses to Halliday yesterday too, because the A’s offense scored one measly run – and remember that Harden’s relatively short starts left considerable room for things to go bad after he left the games.) So maybe Beane’s move turned a 4-14 skid into a 2-16 skid, at worst. Either of those skids would be sufficient to end the team’s postseason hopes. Some will point to the psychological effects of the trades, but I don’t have much patience with those kinds of arguments, and even if I did, there’s no plausible way psychology can account for the vast difference between 2-16 and some acceptable record: 2-16 reveals some serious weaknesses. This team had a bad offense, several important injuries, some pitchers that were due to regress a bit and who also had some looming fatigue issues as they approached career IP highs, and a brutal second-half schedule. The A’s were walking a tightrope and due for a tumble (which I’m sure has a lot to do with why Beane felt able to make the moves he did – while it wasn’t impossible the A’s could have somehow kept dodging bullets and stayed in contention all year, the odds weren’t good enough to justify interrupting the master plan).

The last few weeks have been painfully ugly and disspiriting, and they followed two big Beane trades – but despite appearances the ugliness has been only to a quite small degree a result of those trades.

by Faust on Aug 5, 2008 8:52 AM PDT   1 recs

Oh come on, Harden would never lose to Halliday 2-1

(Except he did, earlier this year.)

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Aug 5, 2008 8:53 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

halladay

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:07 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

he's humble

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:10 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

There was probably a psycological effect

When you trade away your most exciting pitcher and your opening day starter, I can see the team losing a little confidence over all.

If we hadn’t traded away those players, we would have continued to play exactly how we had been playing over the previous 3 months: .500 baseball. Was that good enough to make the playoffs?

Yes we were sitting at 8 or 9 games over .500 when we made the trade. But that was due to the month of April when the team led the league in RISP, while their team average sat a good 100 points lower. They were getting lucky.

So the A’s brass took a look at the team, decided they had probably used up all the luck they were going to get in one season and they went back to their plan. That plan, as Billy clearly stated in the off-season, was to rebuild the right way. Do it completely and thoroughly.

The A’s decided they could either hang on to a .500 season, and keep the fans relatively happy or truly gut the team, fill some gaps in future plans and make sure they rebuild the right way, fans be damned. I for one think we’ll be praising Billy for doing what he did, 2 years from now.

by GusanoQuemador on Aug 5, 2008 9:24 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

only problem is

we couldn’t quite gut the team. crosby, embree et al are still here.

good post though, i wish more people would realize this instead of talking about how they miss RICH HARDIN!!!1

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:09 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

killing me

i think i have about 30 posts out of whatever i have saying “it’s harden, not hardin”

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:14 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

+1

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 Aug 5, 2008 9:43 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

+1

wish i heard this opinion more often

by oakinboston on Aug 5, 2008 10:03 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

+1 from me as well

I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but you are in the midst of a prodigious run of comment awesomeness, analagous in baseball terms to Bob Gibson in June of ‘68, or Barry Bonds in September, 2001.

by 74mk on Aug 5, 2008 10:33 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

(golf clap)

The monster at the end of this blog.

by grover on Aug 5, 2008 7:41 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Recent trades make no sense. No top prospects. I mean how many 2nd basemen do the A’s need? Murton, Patterson—these are not hot young prospects. This whole quantity over quality is difficult to believe in. Is he just throwing a bunch of slop against the wall and hoping some of it sticks?

how is cardenas not a top prospect? or is it that he’s too old at 20?
donaldson (1.108 OPS, Dec 1985) and spencer (1.210 OPS, Jan 1986)... are they not hot enough or not young enough?
patterson has a 1.005 OPS, gallagher is 22…

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 Aug 5, 2008 9:38 AM PDT   0 recs

billy beane: braindead GM throwing prospect slop against walls nightly

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 Aug 5, 2008 9:39 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Harden trade.

I’m not sure I understand the urgency in the deal. It’s still early, but so far in losing Harden the A’s got two players in return who have yet to prove they can stay in the big leagues. Gallagher seems decent enough so far, but he doesn’t seem to have near the stuff that Harden does, and I’m not sure he will ever outperform Harden unless Harden is on the DL. This goes without saying Beane just tossed in Gaudin. Harden had another year left, so it’s not like there was a lot of urgency. If his value wasn’t high enough to warrant a better return, then maybe he would have been affordable to re-sign for another 2-3 years. Given the time left on Harden’s contract I think you have to wait until you get a better return. Otherwise if a team is not going to overpay for him, why not just wait until the offseason when there are more possible suitors with a wider variety of prospects to work with. I guess the obvious response is that Harden could get hurt and lose value. Regardless, does anyone think Patterson and Murton are going to still be with the team in 2 years making a big impact? The offense still lacks a power hitting corner outfielder, and future 3B, and SS. Trading away Harden was probably the best shot at filling these voids, but none of that happened.

What about Barry?
"Barry who?" Forst said, and I felt like I was in the middle of a knock-knock joke.

by KMoAsFan on Aug 5, 2008 9:39 AM PDT   0 recs

The urgency

1. Harden looked like an injury was imminent

2. Harden has a $7M club option for next year that Beane would have had to make a really tough decision on.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Aug 5, 2008 9:52 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

and he's still going 5 or 6 innings

in most starts

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:11 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Surprisingly, I actually agree with most of this

Well, not the part about Harden signing a cheap extension. Harden did not, as far as I can tell, particularly care for Oakland and he thought that he wasn’t injury prone. That doesn’t add up to a bargain-price extension.

That said, I really didn’t see what the urgency was. None of the players the A’s got back project as star players and the team wasn’t starved for depth options at corner outfield or SP. I understand that Harden’s value was probably going to decline when he injured himself again, but sometimes it’s worth taking a gamble where you know the odds are against you because the payoff is high enough. If a full healthy season from Harden would have commanded a superior SS or 3B prospect (not that there are a lot of those right now… bear with me here) then I think the A’s should have held him.

Now, it may be that his value in trade was just irreparably damaged by his injury record and the A’s were never going to get a good return for him. Certainly the fact that they got more for Blanton suggests that GMs put a premium on durability. But if they could have gotten an elite prospect, I think they should have tried, even at the acknowledged risk of having him implode and getting nothing.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:24 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

- some writer said a few months ago that harden would only bring the a’s back one top prospect, because GMs worried about his durability.
- unless some GM says “hey, i was willing to trade a lot more for harden!” i’m going to assume beane took the best deal available.
- i like gallagher/patterson/donaldson/murton more than i like(d) harden’s chances of staying healthy all season after watching his final few starts with the a’s.

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 Aug 5, 2008 10:30 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Oh, I'm reasonably sure it was the best deal available at the time

and, as I said, I fully agree that Harden’s chances of making it through a season uninjured were lousy.

The best analogy I can come up with is that Beane had a lottery ticket with a 15% chance of winning $100 and he sold it for ten bucks.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:36 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Here's the thing

Slusser reported after the Harden trade that Beane had only spoken to Hendry! It sounds like he didn’t even elicit offers from other teams.

by faninphilly on Aug 5, 2008 10:53 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

i doubt that

a lot

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:12 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I think she did say that, though

The thing is, everyone in baseball knew Harden was available. You aren’t going to get a better deal cold-calling teams that haven’t bothered to express an interest in Harden. Everyone who was willing to give anything realistic had surely made their interest known to Beane.

by Faust on Aug 5, 2008 11:15 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

i haven't seen the article

or even looked for it, but i don’t see how beane would only talk to one team about a guy who had interest going. that doesn’t seem like the way he operates

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:17 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Beane doesn't call teams to offer players

He “mentions they’re available” in the media and sees what happens.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Aug 5, 2008 1:19 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

regardless

it doesn’t add up to me that he would talk to one team.

by the way, calvin and hobbes…best comic ever

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 2:46 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Me either

But I could see him thinking he had a serious deal. His quote could just mean that no one else made a serious offer.

And yes. yes it is.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Aug 5, 2008 3:16 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Well, yes and no

The Cubs were interested early in Harden, thus they were the only party Beane was talking to at the time. If Beane had been willing to hold on to Harden until the July 31st deadline drew closer he would have received more offers.

The monster at the end of this blog.

by grover on Aug 5, 2008 8:08 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I'm sure they tried

But there’s not much you can do when people you’re negotiating with say ‘no’.

I for one think that they are higher on Gallagher than people think. Others know more about prospects than I do, but I’d be curious to see how Gallagher ranked say, 2 years ago in the Cubs system. I get the sense that people were as high on Gallagher as they were on Haren at his age.

by GusanoQuemador on Aug 5, 2008 10:33 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

"I think that they are higher on Gallagher than people think."

I agree with this. The Olney post-trade article made it quite clear that Beane wasn’t just accepting whatever package of goodies was out there, but was specifically targeting Gallagher as the main component of the return. Part of that may have been not giving up on the current season (getting a MLB-ready pitcher back), but part of it was probably their own evaluation of Gallagher, and the value of the trade largely depends on how correct that evaluation turns out to be. If Sean Gallagher turns into Dan Haren redux, people will stop yelling about how we got ripped off in the Harden trade. If he struggles for a couple of years and drops out of the mix, then it won’t look like we got much value for Harden.

For what it’s worth, I didn’t like the trade either, but I’ve since kind of reconciled to it because I can see the logic used and I’m willing to wait and see how Gallagher turns out.

by Faust on Aug 5, 2008 10:49 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

That was exactly my reaction

“Wow, we traded Harden. We must have been blown away by someone.”

“Who are these guys (at least we got Murton)?!?”

“PECOTA says Gallagher sucks”

“OMG the sky is falling”

“Oooo, apparently we really like Gallagher, Donaldson is better than his numbers this season, and we have Ellis insurance. I get it.”

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Aug 5, 2008 10:53 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I agree, except "getting it" for me wasn't necessarily agreeing with it

But I think Patterson is never going to produce much above replacement, Murton seems to have lost it, and I’m not sure I see Donaldson in the major league future because I really like Suzuki. And I wouldn’t trade Harden for Gallagher straight up.

Still, there’s obviously logic behind it. I just don’t agree with the apparent assessment of some of the players.

by thejd44 on Aug 5, 2008 1:46 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Donaldson was the second highest rated hitter last year

among catchers, and he just recently started playing some again at his old position: 3B. Does that help you feel better? It does me.

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Aug 5, 2008 2:05 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Keep in mind

Haren wasn’t exactly dominant his first couple years with the club.

by GusanoQuemador on Aug 5, 2008 10:58 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

+1

i think we would take a 14-12 season from gallagher next year or whatever it was

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:13 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

This is a non sequiter

I mean, the Mariners were higher on Horacio Ramirez than people thought. Turned out “people” were right on that one.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:59 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

yea well those "people"

did not include any one named Billy Beane, one of the best evaluators of pitching talent in the game.

by GusanoQuemador on Aug 5, 2008 11:01 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I don't really get what you mean by non sequiter in this context

Surely the A’s merit more of an assumption of competence in their evaluations of pitching talent than the Mariners do, and that’s implicit in wormburner’s post?

by Faust on Aug 5, 2008 11:07 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Not to mention the fact that one mistake

hardly proves that teams should stop trusting their player evaluations.

by ohmangoAs on Aug 5, 2008 12:27 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

One more thing....

...which is that with Gio, Simmons, Cahill and Anderson all within a year of getting to the Majors, and with Eveland and Smith still learning (as of the trade) at the MLB level, what was Beane doing trading for another not-quite-ready starter, even if his potential is higher than the “experts” say it is? Not to mention the fact that along with Harden, Beane traded the man who would’ve replaced either Harden or Blanton in the rotation, and someone who would be, looking at where we are today, the #2 guy in the rotation, Gaudin. As for Murton and Patterson - neither are MLB-ready at the moment, and with the prospects of an extension for Ellis in the offing, both are essentially superfluous.

It was a trade meant to get some kind of “value” for a trading piece, a philosophical idea that is, I think, irrelevant when you’re talking about a special talent like Rich Harden.

by richwol1 on Aug 5, 2008 11:01 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I think the Harden deal was just a salary/health liability dump

It is the only thing that makes sense because we traded and ace for a couple of jokers

"the A's need more quality preembreetive pitching" ~monkeyball

by OptimistPrime on Aug 5, 2008 2:25 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Optimism Fail

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Aug 5, 2008 3:17 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

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 Aug 5, 2008 9:40 AM PDT   0 recs

You're getting more cryptic as you get more laconic

I didn’t get this one.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:07 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

it would have made sense if i had left this thread.
that was the plan, but i just couldn’t stop…

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 Aug 5, 2008 10:16 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

+1

The 2009 A's draft pick... getting higher every game.

by rebus on Aug 5, 2008 1:25 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Someone on ESPN Board posted that Gio is starting Thursday

I am not sure that is official, I am thinking they read in Rotoworld that he is a strong candidate.

Sure would be nice for him to get some early runs and build his confidence with a victory. This will be the one bright spot of the second half.

On another note:

Since the AS break I notice we have scored 45 runs which is 66 runs less than the leading team (30 of 30)

Our team ERA is over 5.

Seeing this, it is amazing we have won 2 games. There should be a penalty for being bad like deducting 1st half wins. (LOL)

I hate unproductive outs and the A's are producing them at record production

by Trainman on Aug 5, 2008 10:03 AM PDT   0 recs

My new pet peeve: bashing Billy Beane for the Hudson trade

this basically sums up my point:

The distinction between decision and outcome is still not clear for most people. When someone makes an investment, and then loses money, he often says that he made a bad decision. If he would make the same decision again if he did not know how it would turn out, then he would be more accurate in saying that he made a good decision and had a bad outcome.
—Ronald Howard, Professor of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University

it’s fine if you want to say the outcome of the trade is bad (and are you saying that as loudly now that Huddy is having TJ surgery?)
But to imply that trade was a poor decision at the time it was made, is at the very least highly debatable, or, imo, just plain wrong.

by oakinboston on Aug 5, 2008 10:03 AM PDT   0 recs

oops, reply below

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 Aug 5, 2008 10:10 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

The distinction between [at bat] and outcome is still not clear for most people. When someone [takes a big swing], and then [strikes out], he often says that he [had a bad at-bat]. If he would [take the same swing] again if he did not know how it would turn out, then he would be more accurate in saying that he [had a good at-bat] and had a bad outcome.
—Ryan Howard, Professor of Slugging, Philadelphia Phillies

I don’t know why I did this, it just amused me.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:30 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Howard's a plagiarist

Jack Cust, Professor of Slugging, Oakland A’s

by GusanoQuemador on Aug 5, 2008 10:46 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Cust is merely an Asst. Prof. -- he doesn't have tenure yet

... and, yes, Beane’s likely to replace him with a TA before he gets in front of the tenure committee.

This is the highest-known density of gorillas that's ever been found. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Aug 5, 2008 10:58 AM PDT to parent up   1 recs

+1

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 5, 2008 11:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Are you kidding? Cust OWNS the school

The Jack Cust Academy of Hitting

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Aug 5, 2008 12:44 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

depo on outcome vs process

my huddy trade joke fell flat...

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 Aug 5, 2008 10:10 AM PDT   0 recs

I liked that joke

The A's colors are green and gold.

by mikeA on Aug 5, 2008 10:21 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

and, hey,

don’t judge a joke by it’s outcome. If you employed all the proper methods of humor but no one laughed, you should limit the recriminations.

The A's colors are green and gold.

by mikeA on Aug 5, 2008 10:22 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

QOTM

Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Aug 5, 2008 10:39 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

i was considering posting something similar

but considering the mourning tone of that post I decided to let the fans grieve in peace.

by oakinboston on Aug 5, 2008 10:35 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I know the chances of Harden getting hurt are very good, but watching him just

dominate with the cubs while Gallagher has just completely sucked for the A’s is hard.

by Erin6 on Aug 5, 2008 10:21 AM PDT   0 recs

I think half your posts are

hatred towards Gallagher?

by buddahead9 on Aug 5, 2008 12:42 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

The team is not losing because it does not have Harden and it certainly is not losing because it does not have Blanton ...

This team is losing because the offense is atrocious. Adding back Harden probably gives the team an extra 1-2 wins, relative to where they are. Adding Blanton probably does not add any. Would you feel better if the team were 55-56 and a mere 14.5 games behind the Halos? If the current streak were 4-14 instead of 2-16?

Again, the problem is not the pitching—it is the fact that the team has scored only 2.7 runs per game over the last 18.

"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback

by devo on Aug 5, 2008 10:22 AM PDT   0 recs

I don't think they are losing like this because they don't have Harden, but if you are going to

trade away a pitcher like him, you expect to get more back in the trade, and IMO the A’s got completely screwed over in that trade.

by Erin6 on Aug 5, 2008 10:23 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Eh ... he got a decent haul ...

"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback

by devo on Aug 5, 2008 10:33 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

We'll have to agree to disagree ...

"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback

by devo on Aug 5, 2008 11:13 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Gaudin wasn't just a throw in...

...without him the deal doesn’t get done. He’s insurance for the Cubs if/when Harden self-destructs. Could Beane have gotten more? Maybe, but I think it’s still too early to tell whether or not we got screwed by this deal. It seems like A’s managment is pretty high on Gallagher just as the Cubs were and some of the other guys could surprise in the system just as Harden did when he was coming up.

Or they could all be crap.

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

by Streams Of Whiskey on Aug 5, 2008 1:34 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Gaudin is worth considerably more than being "Harden insurance"

And that’s the gripe most have with giving him up.

by thejd44 on Aug 5, 2008 1:51 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs