Open Letter To A's Fans
by James Haick on Jan 4, 2012 6:38 PM PST
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PrintI have been a Oakland A's fan for most of my life and a dedicated reader of Athletics Nation since 2001. I am just a normal, die hard A's fan and have never had the time or urge to put my two cents in. That is until now. I am so totally fed up with how some A's fans, most baseball writers and what seems like the rest of the baseball world has already counted the A's out until 2015 or so. I go to the the A's official website this afternoon and the video player automatically plays Jane Lee saying she is unsure why we signed Coco Crisp because we are going to lose till at least 2014. This is coming from the A's own beat writer!! I for one am really excited about this coming season. Having played baseball for most of my life, I have learned that you never can count a talented player, let alone an entire team out, especially before a season has even begun. The nay saying about this franchise needs to stop in my opinion. I look over our roster and lineup and I see ALOT of talented individuals. This group has a chance to be very special if given the opportunity to play everyday. I really think Bob Geren's managing style of playing the hot hand and not allowing players to work through slumps really stunted the growth of the players we had and currently have. I am a big fan of Bob Melvin and think he is perfect for this team. I also think the most recent trades Billy Beane has made has been wrongly diagnosed as a dismantling move. I believe he sold high on all three players. I am not sold on Gio and Trevor being as good as they are being treated by the media. I think a few of the players are as good as the two of them right now (Parker & Peacock) with the rest of the players having a very high probability to be as good or better in the very near future. These trades are nothing like losing a Mulder or Hudson. As for Bailey, If he stays healthy, he is one of the best closers in the league. Luckily we have a great track record with creating stud closers. FDLS, Fuentes, Balfour or Devine (who was suppose to be the A's closer before Bailey came out of nowhere) are all in my opinion high quality options. I think JJ Reddick has the potential to be the next Johnny Damon. I live in Ft. Myers, FL where the Red Sox have their spring training and I have seen JJ Reddick quite a few times. He is a very exciting player with some great leadership qualities. I think this trade is going to work out great for the A's. Also, for people to say that the A's lineup has no power is absolutely ridiculous. Unproven power, yes, but power none the less. Chris Carter, Brandon Allen, and Michael Taylor have a ton of power and are talented ball players that haven't been given a full chance to blossom at the big league level. I believe there time is now. I for one think 2012 is going to be a great year for the Oakland A's and REFUSE to give up a season before it has even started. I think a lot of people will be surprised by the quality of this team and how will they do. Go A's!
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And JJ Redick is a basketball player
by LongLiveLangerhans on Jan 4, 2012 8:29 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Thank YOU!
I thought I was on a Duke blog for a second…
What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.
And I didn't want to be the one to say something. Hehe
What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.
To be fair...
JJ Redick only plays three hours away from Fort Myers.
Maybe he's a time traveller
And hopefully he’s a psychic.
All bold lettering is hard to read.
"You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy."
-Charles Manson
My eyes hurt.
Though I like the sentiment.
I fart in your general direction.
by Streams Of Whiskey on Jan 4, 2012 7:46 PM PST reply actions
100% agree James....and CLASSIC response by our positive AN members
.
Lance "you sunk my" Blankenship
I agree, and I have been an Oakland A's fan since '68
I really wanted Beane to allow the new guys to grow together after the Haren trade but instead he wanted everything now and it didn’t work. Mind you, it could have but didn’t.
Now, I see the opportunity to play the youngsters in the big leagues and see where the positives are.
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, either way, YOU'RE RIGHT !"
I hope you are right
However, I believe even Beane has said he’s tooling the roster for San Jose in 2015. Whatever, I hope it all works out.
As someone who has been reading AN since 1983
I think it’s great Beane is finally trading for basketball players. Let’s face it our outside shot has been horrible for years and J.J. Redick should be able to step in hit the shot from way downtown.
But seriously, folks....
As someone who's been watching Baseketball since 1990
I couldn’t agree more.
by OnlybuyBeaneJerseys on Jan 5, 2012 2:19 AM PST up reply actions
As someone who has been an Oakland A's fan since 1957
I admire the OP’s optimistic attitude and know that it is sorely misplaced.
Thanks for the positive view.
I definitely have hope that Reddick will be better than DeJesus was in 2011. Cahill was pretty meh last year, he wasn’t really much better than Moscoso. You are right that if just one out of Carter/Allen/Taylor pan out we could be an improved team (and incidentally would give us a position player that would be a key part of this rebuild).
Be careful not to confuse "negativity" with "desire to rebuild."
I, personally, love the fact that we’re tearing the team down and starting from scratch; I think its the right move. When some people say that we’re going to lose until 2014, I don’t think its negativity, its just the reality of a rebuild. While Beane may have sold high on the guys he did sell, the reality is that we did trade for prospects, who in all likelihood won’t be good the first couple years we have them. While anything is possible and every person on the roster could click and become awesome, its more likely that the plan is to lay low for a few years. Let the Rangers and Angels battle it out for the division while they’re powerhouses, and we’ll join the party a couple years down the road when we’re ready.
by Rebuilding Season on Jan 4, 2012 11:38 PM PST reply actions
Ditto
It’s more realistic then nagative, because I don’t think you can make a very strong arguement that year after year, the A’s will be contending against big spenders like Texas and LA. We have a team full of young guys, and they’ll need a few years to mature and become good, solid players. The trades did kinda puzzle me at first, but even with Gio, Cahill and Bailey, we weren’t going to win big in 2012. Now, we have a parade of promising young prospects, some of whom are ready to get their first real taste of the Bigs in 2012.
However, you’re right: It’s never good to be consistently negative, especially with out providing any solid proof of why you’re right.Nobody likes people who are total pessimists. Heck, it’s gonna be a tough few years for the A’s now, and while you can expect them to lose a lot, if you can provide evidence (which most people can), then that’s much better then just saying “W’e’re not going to win because the team sucks” and then not backing it up.
Right now, we’re on the rebuild process, which is really the only positive option at this point, because there was no point in signing sub-par 30-somethings and sticking with the same bunch of guys in a futile effort to contend for the AL West.
And you mention one thing: "I look over our roster and lineup and I see A LOT of talented individuals. Guys like Parker and Peacock, I suppose. Now, think about it: are those guys all players who can – and who we should expect to – become stellar MLB players and win in 2012? Do you think we should rest our hopes on ’em now and that they should be pushed and pushed? Or should we wait a few years, ease them in, address any problems and then come into 2015 with a group of talented guys who have experience, are still young and are ready to win?
by Sean Fortuna on Jan 5, 2012 12:43 AM PST up reply actions
What if it doesn't have to be either or
Is it absolutely necessary to be terrible in order to build for 2015? I know the draft picks are better, but I actually agree with the post that we should still be hoping to win some games in 2012. And the addition of Coco is the exact way to balance the rebuild with winning a few this year. He fills a position that we don’t have another good option for, doesn’t require a long-term contract, and can keep fans like my wife interested. She was actually excited when I told her that Coco was coming back. She has no idea what his OPS is or who he is blocking, but she might be willing to watch a few more games, especially if we’re not terrible.
John 3:16
"If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I’ll play like Gallego." - Rickey Henderson
by A'sFanDFW on Jan 5, 2012 9:35 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, says the poster with the handle "Rebuilding Season"
Sorry, just couldn’t resist adding that snark. I agree with your sentiment and am eagerly looking forward to joining the party in a couple years. Visions of Cole striking out an over-the-hill Pujols. Good times ahead!
Well, at least someone is optimistic
"I'll guarantee this: The A's will have a better season in 2012." - George Zimmer
I thought you guys knew Reddick was a two sport Athlete...
That’s why Beane traded for him! Go Magic!
by James Haick on Jan 5, 2012 6:26 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Slighlty off topic rant
I’m definately looking forward to seeing some of the young guys play. And this post gives me a chance to rant a bit about service time/arbitration clocks. Look, I can sort of understand from the business side why the system exists. But we just put a bunch of great new names on the farm. Many are MLB-ready. It’s a shame that for strategic reasons some of them won’t be brought up, simply because it’s a waste of their cost-controlled years.
Peacock and Parker could both feasibly start this year. If they both were to blossom into decent MLB starters, then along with McCarthy and hopefully healed up Braden and Anderson we could quite likely have an above average pitching staff. But because we can’t risk wasting a Parker year on a season when the bats will likely be dreadful, we’re robbed of the chance/hope for that breakout season.
For better or worse Oakland hasn’t gamed service time much. Which makes me happy as an A’s fanatic and sad a cold-hearted numbers & strategy guy. I just wish those two halves of fandom didn’t have to be forever divided because of team-control rules.
Hells yeah!
Now THAT’s what I’m talking about! This team is a lot better than people may realize.
Also, screw the Angels. I hope they go 0-162. Sorry Albert, Dan Haren, any other people who used to be cool before they ended up in that moral cesspool— you’re dead to me.
The glare was not practiced. I would get into the game situations, and when that happens, there comes a level of concentration that most can only imagine but can never achieve. You become what you are doing, and that is what you see on my face. -Dave Stewart
by Hegenberger Road on Jan 5, 2012 3:55 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
Seems like a corporate plant to me...
too many holes and missteps. Perhaps this is Lew Wolff in disguise attempting to sell tickets. (just kidding by the way)
Yay optimism!
(Boo lack of paragraph breaks.)
Baseball is a stupid-making enterprise in that nobody wants to be singled out or say something dumb. —Michael Lewis
Aren't you allowed to go in and change that?
It does make it a little difficult to read all in one block like that.
Totally off topic
But does AN have any organized get-together at Spring Training? I am about to book my annual pilgrimage and would like to meet some of my fellow wacko’s.
There are very few things that can energize the spirit like walking into the stadium in early March: the green grass, the sun in your face, the sound of the bat on ball, etc.
If you have never gone – it is Mardi Gras for baseball fans. I have had a beer with Alan Trammel, spent almost a half hour talking golf with Lon Simmons and had many other cool encounters with some of baseballs royalty over the last 7 years of doing this.
Baja been here
Some of us will be there the third weekend in March
Probably be a diary about it soon….
Scott Hatteberg, English major.
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