Hello all! For anyone interested I'm starting a yahoo fantasy baseball league for fans of the oakland a's aka members of athleticsnation.com. Anyone who's looking to have fun (but is content with 2nd place at best) should go to yahoo and join. the league name is AthleticSupporters and the password is oakland. There will be a live draft on March 17th (saturday) at 11:00am your time which is 2:00pm over here in ohio. All of the other info is under the league details. Hope to see lots of you there and mediocre good luck!

The recent discussions about AJ Burnett have interested me a bit. It seems that the Yanks want a left handed bat and salary relief (?) or they just want to get rid of Burnett.

My proposal; trade S Smith and Fuentes to NYY for Burnett, $25M, and two prospects, to be named later if necessary. Smith and Fuentes have about $8 M of financial obligations; Burnett is owed $33 M over the next two years so the money works out evenly. The Yanks get a useful platoon bat and a useful, if properly used situational lefty. So at least the Yanks should talk.

The A's get an inning eater who might improve out of the spotlight but little else. The real plus would be a couple of Yankee prospects - I looked at hitters like T Austin and M Williams but other names should be considered.

Now, why would the A's be interested; the money would be the same, Smith and Fuentes are not part of the long term plan, Smith (and Gomes) MAY wind up blocking someone we should play and determine if they have a future (Taylor?), and finally the prospects MAY be part of the next good team in a few years.

What do you think?

I realize this probably does not help the team in 2012 but I would really like to see a push toward acquiring young talent and not any more signings (Gomes, Manny, etc) that simply add to the muck and offer no hope for 2015.

As I sit here in front of my computor and read what happen in the Baseball world over the last 24 hour on mlbtraderumors.com I see an opportunity for the A's. This opportunity is named Roy Oswalt.

Roy wishes to pitch for the Cards or the Rangers. But both those teams do not need him, and thus have made low offers to Roy. The next team on the list, is the Red Sox. Who themselves have a self imposed cap on what they want to spend. Thus again Roy gets a low offer. The Reds and Phillies have kicked the tires, but have to move a pitcher to clear money and space (Blanton, Bailey).

Roy started the winter looking for a rumored 3 years and a maybe 10 million a year. Then he said he would sign for one year. It appears he only has offers in the 5 to 7 million range.

This is the time for the A's to make a big push for Oswalt. If the A's came in with a 2 million signing bonus and another 6 million in pay and say reachable bonus of 2 million. We might just get him. While some A's fan might say that he does not want to come to Oakland, that is nice money and well over what others seem to be offering. "You want to go to Texas, well take 5 million less!"

There are some good reasons for adding a Oswalt. The most important, is the ability to flip a very good stater at the trade deadline. Teams in the hunt, come June or July, might pay a few nice prospects to get a number one or two starter. While teams like Boston, Texas and the Cards might look today like they are set in the rotation, come June, their world has likely changed. Oswalt has been a stud for years, with only last season being a year he did not make 30+ starts.

Adding Roy, also pushes back one of the Parker or Peacock kids back to AAA for a few months. Which would likely help the kids development, and save the A's a year in sevise time.

Roy will/should understand that he is here for half a season. He will go to a playoff contender. Oakland is a stop on the way to his future team. And he will be well payed

I have written about this idea in the past, but with all the teams that Roy wants to go to, dragging their feet, this is a very nice opportunity.

Tom Milone seemed like an underrated player to me...

So, I dug into his BB/SO and BB/9 numbers and looked for some comparables to see just how underrated he might be.

Some interesting results...

For starters, here's Tom Milone's career minor league #s for SO/BB, SO/9 and WHIP:

Tom Milone, Minor League (IP: 516.2)

SO/BB: 5.54

SO/9: 8.1

WHIP: 1.140

Now, here's another pitcher's minor league career numbers:

Pitcher X, Minor League (IP: 491.1)

SO/BB: 2.06

S0/9: 5.7

WHIP: 1.185

Pitcher X was, of course, Greg Maddux.

Now, Maddux's Major League numbers:

Greg Maddux, Major League

SO/BB: 3.37

S0/9: 6.1

WHIP: 1.143

For some more minor league fun, here's the minor league numbers for Tom Glavine and Roy Halladay:

Tom Glavine Minor League (561 IP)

SO/BB: 1.78

S0/9: 7.0

WHIP: 1.285

Roy Halladay Minor League (638 IP)

SO/BB: 2.00

S0/9: 5.9

WHIP: 1.312

And Major League:

Tom Glavine Major League

SO/BB: 1.74

S0/9: 5.3

WHIP: 1.314

Roy Halladay Major League

SO/BB: 3.72

S0/9: 6.9

WHIP: 1.168

So Tom Milone's career minor league 5.54 SO/BB shatters everyone else's, and his 8.1 SO/9 is also better than all of the above. His Minor league ERA is 3.05, so it's not like that hasn't been there, either.

To put those stats in perspective...

The current active leaders in SO/BB are Dan Haren and Mariano Rivera, each with 4.04. The all-time leaders are Tommy Bond with 4.46 (1800's pitcher), Curt Schilling with 4.38, and Pedro Martinez with 4.15. No one else has better than 4 career.

Milone's BB/9 rate in the minors has been 1.50. The current Major League active leader is Carlos Silva with 1.73, followed by Roy Halladay with 1.85 and Dan Haren with 1.89.

One pitcher I found does outdo Milone's Minor League numbers.

Stephen Strasburg (75 minor league IP):

SO/BB: 5.88

S0/9: 11.2

WHIP: 0.806

So Milone, throwing 87 MPH or so, has a SO/BB almost that of Strasburg's, and better than Maddux's by a good margin.

To be fair...here's Brad Radke's minor league numbers:

Brad Radke Minor League (581 IP)

SO/BB: 3.42

S0/9: 7.0

WHIP: 1.149

ERA: 3.20

Similar WHIP and SO/9, though Milone had a better SO/BB by a good chunk. Radke is, it appears, the <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp?c_id=mlb&tcid=mm_mlb_stats#sectionType=sp&playerType=QUALIFIER&statType=pitching&page_type=SortablePlayer&season=&season_type=ALL&sportCode='mlb'&league_code='MLB'&split=&team_id=&active_sw=&game_type='R'&position='1'&sortOrder='asc'&sortColumn=bb_9&results=&page=1&perPage=50&timeframe=&extended=2&last_x_days=&ts=1328777247464&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+pitching" target="new">modern career leader in BB/9 at 1.69.</a>

So, going by these numbers, it seems Milone is, ah, a wee bit underrated? XD His numbers are pretty off the charts compared to other soft throwers like Glavine or Maddux. Even if his Major League numbers are like a -50% dropoff of his minor league stats, he still has the makings of a top-notch pickup.

What do you guys think? Any other comparables to take a look at?

On Saturday, a week after the Oakland A's fanfest my friend Dan was celebrating his birthday by heading to the Giants fanfest at AT&T Park. I was at home, minding my own business, when he called and said he was in a crazy long line to get in, and if I wanted to join. Because it was his birthday, and he was by himself, I said fine. It's only a short bicycle ride from my place in SF to the park, so what the hell. I was planning to do chores or start my taxes...the Giants fanfest couldn't be worse than that, could it?

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Was looking at the Niners nation site today and saw they had an all time 49ers list setup by postion. Did some digging here but was unable to find anything like that(could be i'm not using this internet machine correctly) so i thought it would be fun to put together a list. So Here is my stab at it.

C: Terry Steinbach
1B: Mak McGwire
2B: Mark Ellis
SS: Miquel Tejada
3B: Sal Bando
LF: Rickey
CF:Dwayne Murphy
RF: Reggie Jackson

DH: Dave Kingman

SP1: Catfish Hunter
SP2: Vida Blue
SP3: Rollie Fingers
SP4: Dave Stewart
SP5: Tim Hudson

CL: Eck

Interested in seeing other people's ideas for this list so please chime in. Definitely some debatable positions.

Peter Gammons tweeted this weekend that, in addition to Manny Ramirez, the A’s are also considering Magglio Ordonez, who has been recovering from ankle surgery in the offseason.

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Community Prospect List:

#1: Jarrod Parker, RHP

#2: Michael Choice, CF

There are about 11 or so weeks until Opening Day, so we will be doing one voting thread per week until the season starts. So get ready, set and VOTE!

The Poll Option won the vote last week, so we will be going with that from now on. Please no ballot stuffing, though ;)

Please add suggestions below for players to be added to next week's poll. If you agree with a suggestion, please comment and rec it to make it more visible.

Happy voting!

The A's traded Andrew Bailey in the off-season and now have a huge hole at closer. Oakland's FanFest last weekend did not generate any answers, so fans are left wondering who is going to finish games for the A's in 2012.

First, some of the guys left on the free agent market:

Jason Isringhausen showed some promise of reviving his career last year with the Mets. He finished the season with 7 saves, a 4.05 ERA and 1.286 WHIP. He is supposed to be healthy and ready to pitch. Coming back to Oakland would bring him full circle back to the team where he made his first All-Star team and a stadium he pitched great in.

Mike Gonzalez is considered by many to be the top available free agent reliever. He hasn't had a winning record or ERA under 4.00 in three of the past 4 seasons, but when he's good, he's great. His career whip is under 1.25 while his SO/9 sits at a lofty 10.3 (and would be a lot closer to 11 if he hadn't thrown up an 8.6 in 2011). He is also a lefty, which the A's have preferred to stockpile the last few seasons.

Among the other reliever possibilities out there, Scott Linebrink, Luis Ayala and Damaso Marte could all be good fits for Oakland. Ayala had a great year last year with the Yankees (2.09 ERA, 1.27 WHIP), but has no real closing experience (18 total saves in 7 seasons). Linebrink is 35 years old and has fallen off in recent years, but might fit if the A's are looking for a veteran RHP. Dámaso Marté missed all of 2011 but might be a cheap option provided he can pitch again in 2012.

Internally, the A's might have hope Sonny Gray and his 0.45 ERA at AA Midland in 2011, is their star of the future, but he's a ways off and could be kept in the minors until he's ready for the rotation. Joey Devine had a great 2008 with Oakland, but has never topped 50 innings in a season and only has one career save. Devine most likely still has to prove he can stay healthy to get a shot at closing. Fautino De Los Santos is another option. He has top tier stuff, but has struggled with his command of the strike zone at times. Most of the other younger arms in the system still need time to develop consistency, which leaves the two A's veterans as the most viable options.

It is probably going to come down to Brian Fuentes or Grant Balfour.

Before Andrew Bailey returned last season, the A's turned to Brian "T-Rex" Fuentes. Rex posted a 1-8 record and an ERA around 5.00, while struggling with his role. Then, under Melvin, Fuentes turned it completely around. He went undefeated after the All-Star break with an ERA under 1.75. Fuentes led the AL in saves with the Angels as recently as 2009 (48 saves) and would probably be the clear favorite if it weren't for Balfour's outstanding 2011.

Balfour turned in a solid 2011, with a 2.40 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 62 innings. He only has 10 career saves, with 14 blown saves, but he has the grit and pitching ability most teams look for in a closer. He picked up 26 holds last season and has had some amazing WHIPs over the past 4 seasons: 0.891, 1.366, 1.084, and 1.032 in 2011. Balfour has also endeared himself to fans in Oakland as the "Mad Aussie," and takes his role very seriously.

Even though Balfour has the better numbers and is a bit younger (34 to Fuentes' 36), I think Fuentes should start 2012 as the A's closer. Balfour is a great setup man and should be comfortable staying in that role. Fuentes has a lot more experience and showed during 2011's second half that he still has the quality stuff that made him a 4-time All-Star.

If anything breaks down, the A's know they have options in their system, but hopefully they will add another arm before the 2012 season gets underway. Hopefully, whomever the Athletics choose stays healthy and provides a consist presence in the bullpen that the A's have lacked in recent seasons. Otherwise, fans could be in for another bumpy ride during those close, grind-em-out ballgames.

AJ is a sports heckler and FanPoster on AthleticsNation.com

Please follow me on Twitter: @justplainaj

I wrote Lew Wolff a short note Sunday morning and dropped it in a box, but did not hear back. Here was my comment/question, paraphrased:

"Do you plan to keep payroll at $40-50M over the next four seasons, and then splurge with a major-free agent acquisition right as a new stadium opens, pushing payroll to $80M+? If so, I'm very excited about the team's vision and future. Thank you for your contributions to this franchise."

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