2009 Oakland Athletics

Cabrera too, but batting giambi 9th?

Giambi in 9 hole (LOLEL) and Garrett Anderson.

Please tell me where you arrived at this lineup?

buck, cunningham, davis. id rather see robnett or herrera get a shot than anderson. i know he seems like hank aaron when he plays the a’s, but his skills have diminished a lot in the past 2-3 years.

I will endeavor to explain, without condescension, why this is a very very very bad idea.

1. Garret Anderson: At this stage of his career, Garret Anderson is a pretty poor baseball player. Last year, he posted an OBP of .325— well below league average. His power is mediocre— he hasn’t managed 20 HR since 2003. And he’s playing left field, an offense-first position and— the crowning indignity— is bad at defense too. He’s almost worthless as a player at this point and certainly not worth spending money on, or giving a starting job to.

1a. Travis Buck: Chopped liver? You won’t find a reputable projection system that thinks he’s going to be worse next season than Garret Anderson.

2. Ben Sheets: While I would love to fantasize about Sheets wearing green and gold, the fact of the matter is that he is not within the team budget. Personally, I’d like to see the A’s operate the team at a loss for a season or two so that they can bid for a World Series with Matt Holliday. But dreaming about that is a fool’s errand.

3. Orlando Cabrera: You’ve already spent all the money under Lew Wolff’s seat cushions… and you want ANOTHER free agent? I just don’t know what to say here.

4. The lineup: You have Orlando Cabrera hitting in front of Jason Giambi. Orlando Cabrera’s career high— career high!— OBP is 61 points worse than Giambi’s career average. It’s only 5 points better than Giambi’s career LOW. Anderson’s career mark is almost as bad as Cabrera’s.

Before you suggest something like this in the future, you need to do three things:

1. Read up on how to evaluate hitters’ capabilities more accurately,
2. Develop a sense of how to construct a lineup to maximize the number of baserunners, meaning not putting worse hitters in front of better ones, and
3. Get a handle on payroll reality. Players are coming cheap this offseason, but the reason they are doing so is that the teams are all cutting back. The A’s are not any different in that respect— what we thought the payroll would be four months ago is not what we think it’ll be at this point.