the brown part

It drums up his trade value. Several teams need closers (Cardinals, Tigers, Rangers, DBacks if Lyon walks, Brewers, Padres if Hoffman retires, Indians), the list goes on.

did any other teams even try to sign emil brown?

gets iffy, huston, you’re up.

finding out that Brown is second on the team in homers. The second-worst part was finding out that he’s hit only 13.

Also:

These guys probably wish they never even signed me. That makes two 5 bazillion of us.

Fixed.

That is some quote from Brown and I am 1 of those 5 bazillion who wishes he was never signed.

So let’s not get too crazy about trading away every single one of our pitchers. Who else do you nominate for closer besides Ziggy?

However, his poor performance led to someone else getting a chance at the closer position. It’s Ziggy’s job to lose now and he has excelled in the role. He has earned the role as closer and shouldn’t be removed unless he falters. It’s the way of the world, Huston.

seems like a very nice guy. He had some decent games for us. It just happens that our team wasn’t a contending team and it was better to let the young guys play and develop. I wish things had gone differently and his veteran presence and good guy teammate persona was needed on a contending team.

I’m still not used to seeing him in the 6th or 7th inning… therefore he should be closing. Also, he’s awesome again, so he should be closing. My logic is infallible, I know.

He has a terrible arm. He gets bad jumps. It seems like once a week there is a double that he could have caught. Or he just flails at the ball awkwardly while its going over his head. Can’t knock him at the plate though..

Designated hitter Frank Thomas will get more tests on his injured right quadriceps this week and there is a possibility that he will require surgery. Either way, his return this season appears extremely doubtful.

Having him come in for set up work right now is kind of pointless. If this was spring training then maybe the conversation would be different. Zigs should be used in 6-8 innings and Devine /Street should be getting the 9th inning.

Either way he is gonna be expensive next year so the A’s need to decide what they are gonna do with Huston really soon.

I see him as streaky, at best, but I do not see him as worthless. Shoot, for the first month or so he helped carry the team… then he totally sucked for awhile… and now seems to be back to somewhat average (though I haven’t checked numbers of late).

On the one hand, he is still at or near the top in several not insignificant categories. On the other hand, those “leading” numbers aren’t all that great by overall baseball standards, and is more a testament to how much the rest of the team really sucks! Without him, we’d probably only have 30 wins, the rest of the offense is that bad.

Ok, that last point is an exaggerration, but still…

His words in the interview don’t seem all that inflammatory to me. I do think it’s significant that he expressed his frustration publicly to a reporter. Whether it was premeditated or accidental, I expect it will result in him going the way of all such complainers. But it looks to me like he did his complaining in a restrained and non-destructive way. I think the key is:

Despite the inflammatory words, Brown by all accounts has been a good teammate this season. He hasn’t visibly sulked around the clubhouse.

To me, that means he’s still a classy and professional guy, unlike some others who sulked and grumbled in the clubhouse or made wild accusations.

But yeah, this greatly increases the chance that he’s gone before the season is over. Maybe he’ll find his way onto the bench of a playoff team, like Kielty did.

Incidentally, I’m not convinced that the A’s wish they never even signed him. I think he served the purpose they intended for him, and maybe a little more.