The hotstove show on comcast which is supposed to be split between As and Giants is almost all about the giants it makes me sick!I tried watching it and each time its like 90 percent Giants ,even the set is Giants orange!

The Giants bias has become even more obvious since the world series win I all but stopped watching chronicle live for months because all it was was a Giants love in!In all the As four world series wins I dont think they got a tenth of the coverage the Giants got with one,Giants fans better pray that they can have a division race against the el foldo San diego Padres a team which always finds a way to lose and then meet the overrated Phils which can beat the Rays but ofcourse roll over for the Yanks and then get to play the super choker Rangers a team that amazes me with the inventive ways they find to blow the big one!Being an as fan can be tough but the more vocal we are about the bias pointing out that untill recently with the advent of the Giants new park each team sold about the same amount of tickets with the As outselling the Giants some seasons.Be loud and proud and call the media on this less than subtle bias which was well in place long before the new park in San Fran

I write my own baseball blog, called Baseball's Economist; and I figured I'd share my post from the other day about the A's signing of Yoenis Cespedes with the Athletics Nation community:

Does Billy Beane know something that no one else in baseball knows… again?? How could baseball’s smallest market team put up a figure that scared off all the big market teams, including the craziest spenders of this off-season, for a player who has never stepped foot on even a minor league field in America? This week, Yoenis Cespedes signed a 4 year/$36 million contract with Beane’s Oakland Athletics. Kevin Goldstein rated Cespedes the 20th best prospect in baseball coming into 2012, and he has put up some incredible numbers against baseball’s elite, albeit in a small sample size. In six games during the 2009 WBC, Cespedes hit 2 home runs, drove in 5, and hit .458; good for an OPS of 1.480. This move by Oakland came completely out of left field (pun intended), and brings up many interesting questions; I’ll attempt to answer three of them.

1. Does this deal make financial sense for Oakland?

This deal does make financial sense because to be worth $9 million a year, Cespedes will only need accumulate a WAR of 8.0 (based on today’s current market). Also, the contract does not push Oakland’s 2012 payroll over $60 million. Id be shocked if Cespedes wasn’t worth 2 wins a season over the next four years. The outfielders who had around 2.0 fWAR in 2011, were Coco Crisp, David Dejesus, Seth Smith, and Josh Willingham… all who are ironically connected to Oakland. I’m not a scout so I can’t truly analyze his ability, but from what I’ve read Cespedes will likely be more productive than those five players. I’m sure Beane feels the same way, or else he would not have made Cespedes his highest paid player for the upcoming season.

2. Can Cespedes reach his maximum potential, and if he does what does that mean for Oakland?

Based on Cespedes' 2011 numbers in Cuba, Clay Davenport projects a major league line of .245/.311/.469 for the Cuban outfielder. A .780 OPS is solid and similar to the offensive numbers put up by outfielders, Adam Jones, Marlon Byrd, and the 2007-10 version of Hunter Pence; which would be serviceable to Oakland, but not the superstar Beane seems to be hoping for. Oakland's front office must think that Cespedes will reach his lofty potential, and be a powerful corner outfielder along the lines of Jay Bruce. Over the last two seasons, Bruce has produced an average of 29 home runs and an OPS of .832. Bruce is projected (by Bill James) to have an OPS of .859 and hit 32 home runs, in 2012. An outfielder in his late twenties, who is able to put up those kind of numbers would be an extremely valuable asset, and make this signing an incredible one.

The question is if Cespedes will be used to bring in another stock of prospects to continue Oakland’s rebuilding, or if his production will have Oakland competing during 2014 and ‘15 seasons. Beane has traded almost all of his valuable assets away this off-season (Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey), for a stock of young players that have added to Oakland’s youth. Oakland won’t be competitive in the A.L. West in 2012 or 2013. But, they have an interesting young pitching staff, and Jemile Weeks is a ballplayer, so by 2014 when there will be two wild cards teams, it would not be outrageous to think the Athletics will be a playoff contender. Waiting through two more non-competitive seasons may be a little depressing for Oakland fans, but there is definitely some glimmers of hope.

3. Is cleaning house at a certain position and then acquiring a massive surplus at that position in the same off-season, the new "Moneyball" strategy?

On December 31st, Oakland’s outfield consisted of Ryan Sweeny, Michael Taylor, and Jermaine Mitchell, …. Who?? Since then, they have traded for Josh Reddick, Smith, and Colin Cowgill, and signed Crisp, Cespedes, and Jonny Gomes. The moneyball concept used to be acquiring players with high OBP’s, that concept now seems to be all about converting a weakness into a surplus. Let’s say you lock in Crisp in center and Cespedes in right, that leaves Oakland with four outfielders, two left-handed and two right-handed all competing for left field. I’m not sure if Beane has a plan to trade some of this stock, or just wants an incredible amount of depth. Cespedes, Smith, Reddick, Cowgill and Crisp are all under team control for at least the next three years, so it seems that Gomes is the most expendable. This amount of outfielders leaves me as confused as Scott Hatteberg must’ve been when he was told that he was going to replace Jason Giambi at first base in 2002. I honestly cannot come to any conclusion on what Beane expects to do with all of these outfielders. My best guess is that he hopes Gomes gets enough at-bats in 2012, to have some value at the trade deadline, then trade Smith either before 2013 or during, and have Crisp, Cespedes, and Reddick as a lethal outfield in 2014. I’m not sure if Beane’s strategy for the future is the right one, but the last time he thought outside the box like this, his team was a perennial contender.

The A's can find young pitching. You may have noticed this over the last dozen years. First, there was Hudson, Zito, and Mulder. They were complemented by Ted Lilly and Cory Lidle for a couple of seasons. Rich Harden showed all the talent in the world, but couldn't stay on the field. Joe Blanton came up through the minors and Dan Haren was acquired from the Cardinals. We watched Greg Smith and Dana Eveland get a chance to prove they were quality major league starters (they weren't). Then the next wave hit, featuring Dallas Braden, Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, and Gio Gonzalez, but also included Josh Outman, Vin Mazzaro, and Tyson Ross. Even Brandon McCarthy, who seems like he's been around forever, is only 28.

Since Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez arrived though, the A's have not landed a single impact bat. Their best hitters over the last decade include Josh Willingham (one season), Jack Cust (two seasons), Daric Barton (one season), Frank Thomas (one season), and Jermaine Dye (one season). The closest thing to a home grown position player "star" is Nick Swisher.

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I'd like to take a minute or two from everyone's day to talk about nicknames. Or more specifically, nicknames of current A's players.

Everyone knows about how Chuck Finley was the ultimate showman and turned his team into almost the circus act of baseball with their garish uniforms, awesome facial hair, and great promotions. I think we, as the fans, should bring some of that attitude back.

We are in a unique place in baseball history where we can create nicknames for our team that can spread via the interwebs. Nicknames which AN, with its considerable influence, can spread to the A's and their broadcasters, and finally on to ESPN where the country at large can learn about how awesome some of our guys are.

The Mustache Gang, the Bash Brothers, Catfish, Eck, Hendu, Blue Moon, Rollie (Side note to Ray Fosse, just adding -ie or -y to the end of someone's name should not be the basis for EVERY nickname). Let's put our heads together and come up with some awesome nicknames that can spread throughout the baseball world and generate some interest in our boys in Green and Gold.

Let's have some fun with this. Some of my suggestions after The Jump...

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I don't know if this has been brought up or not as I have not been keeping up with AN over the last few weeks, but the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that Lew Wolf has been told by Selig that he will give him San Jose but that Wolf has to play ball. At around the time Selig announced that the stadium was on the "front burner" Beane started signing players like Coco, Gomes, Colon and then trading for Smith. Honestly who saw any of these signings coming? With these moves the A's went from possible 100 games losers to being mediocre to decent. The rest of baseball does not want the A's to be terrible because the worse they are, the worse the revenue they pull in which means the other owner would have to shell out more in revenue sharing. The rest of baseball doesn't want to pay welfare to any team and especially not to a team that is intentionally tanking. So Selig told Wolf that if wants San Jose then he needs to spend more money this season in order to generate more wins and revenue.

I believe Selig has a soft spot for Manny mostly because he helped bring a WS to Boston which MLB undoubtedly loves. I think this is a major factor in Manny's reduced suspension. Maybe its a coincidence, but the A's are the only team "interested" in Manny. I don't think is a coincidence. If the A's sign Manny then its another box checked off on Seligs 'San Jose to Do List' for Wolf.