Yesterday: End of an Oakland Era

Cruz had a good year with the Cubs, then utterly collapsed, and then revived again under Leo Mazzone. Curt Young is no Leo Mazzone.

Thomas is worthless. I mean that literally: he's the kind of fourth outfielder you can pick up for near the minimum any time you want.

Without having any more inside information than anyone else, I can say with complete confidence that there was one better deal out there: keep Huddy, watch him light up his contract year, and take a shot at winning the damn pennant. The draft pick we would have then gotten wouldn't be as valuable as Meyer, Cruz and Thomas, but it wouldn't be substantially less valuable, either.

There's a reason John Lennon is the idol.

The A's are not the same.

I'm going to the liquor store.

Charles Thomas did have a good rookie season (as my good friend Hubie Brown would say, "ya gotta like the upside on this kid") and using Cruz as a bridge to Dotel is an improvement over last season...though I don't know if Octavio can reach the shutdown ability of Izzy, Foulke, etc.

Can someone give me a few details about Meyer? Is he on a par with Harden and Blanton regarding, ahem, "upside"?

beane better spin this around in july for something.

I am no expert and am going with my faith in BB on this one. Who knows, maybe this isn't the end of this transaction. All I know is that BB has been more right than wrong.

Good luck to Tim. The Braves are getting a great pitcher, competitor and person. I am still very proud to be a fan of the Green and Gold.

He has occasional power, but nothing that allows you to put him anywhere near the middle of the line-up.

Except for one oddball year (2003) in the minors, he's never walked much, he's not good enough to play CF, he has a certain amount of speed which he's never learned to turn into stolen bases, and the managers of the teams he's played on don't seem to think he can bunt much, either.

And you have to wonder about his ability to handle pressure: he was strictly deer-in-the-headlights in the playoffs this year, and in almost exactly 500 professional plate appearances in 2004, he had one (1) sacrifice fly.

So, yeah, I think he's worthless. Not in the literal sense: the guy is good enough to make a major league roster. Only a tiny percentage of guys who ever pick up a glove can do that. But in major league terms, guys like him are a dime a dozen. He brings the A's nothing they couldn't get easily elsewhere.

Will Thomas take Byrnes' place in the OF at lower cost?  Should the A's pony up to keep Byrnes??? What does AN think??

Before you jump all over me, I'm a huge A's fan. Part of the original AN. I'm even a Hudson fan.

But the truth is that, the formula and personnel wasn't getting it done.

Time to move on. It's sad to see Hudson go. But its time to turn the page.

do we kill 'em w/ pitching?
do we rule the 7th/8th/9th?
do we kill 'em w/ hitting?
do we kill 'em w/ defense?
or is it that we are now DECENT (not great)enough in all areas to compete?

I do understand that Huddy's demand that a contract be offered before March made the situation untenable, and perhaps these 3 unknowns (to me) will make the deal worthwhile. It may be time to pass the mantle of leadership to Chavez, who's not going anywhere. I'm still concerned about the quality of pitching trades...and of the pitcher coaching since Peterson's departure.

The Braves have some magic. Look at Russ Ortiz' season. Hopefully, Huddy will have the same.

Sharks fans may compare the situation to the trade of Owen Nolan, who, though not the talent or leader that Huddy has been, still exemplified the grit and heart of the team. Fans wondered who would step up and how the team would fare. They had their best season ever.

Sure would be nice to give the guy the send off he deserves. Raise a glass to one of the best.

Surprise Surprise. Even with Dotel and Durazo getting 4 each and Byrnes getting 2 Million we probably have about 3-4 million to spend.

My guess is that Byrnes or Hatteberg will be traded and we will have 5-6 million to spend some where.
Hopefully on a right handed bat but we will see.

Deep Breaths folks we have lost players before.

In July 1998 I lived in Seattle when the Mariners traded Randy Johnson for 3 prospects.  Everyone in Seattle screamed.  The three prospects were Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama.  None of them is the Big Unit, but Garcia and Guillen are solid players and Halama was generally good for Seattle.  I'd say that if Thomas Cruz and Meyer turn out for us like Garcia, Guillen and Halama did for Seattle, we're better off than getting a compensation draft pick.

Trust Billy, let him do his job.

1. "No matter how successful you are, change is always good. There can never be a status quo. When you have no money, you can't afford long-term solutions, only short-term ones. You have to always be upgrading. Otherwise, you're fucked."
2. "The day you say you have to do something, you're screwed. Because you are going to make a bad deal. You can always recover from the player you didn't sign. You may never recover from the player you signed at the wrong price."
3. "Know exactly what every player in baseball is worth to you."
4. "Know exactly who you want and go after him. (Never mind who they say they want to trade you.)"
5. Every deal you do will be publicly scrutinized by subjective opinion. Not everyone believes that they know everything about the personal computer. But everyone who ever picked up a bat thinks he knows baseball. To do this well, you have to ignore the newspapers."

We shall see if this deal followed his own rules, but I imagine that 3 and 4 are the ones most likely to have been broken. (Maybe 2 also)

They took off in 2001, with only Garcia of those three players making a really useful contributions.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1947932

Some posters wouldn't be happy if BB had traded for Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols.  BB does what he can with what he has.  The A's have been a contending team for half a decade with no money.  I want to see Theo Epstein or Brian Cashman run a team on a $55M payroll.

Frankly, I'd be pretty sad to get a new stadium if it means the price of a ticket doubles (which we all know it will because the rent at the Net is dirt cheap).

Being a general manager is no better than betting in Vegas.  The only control that Billy has over the outcome of the season is to place his best bet based on the odds available to him, for this season and later down the road.   He has no choice but to play the best odds that he can.  Large market teams play the short odds; that is, to lay the big money on big-name free agents for the immediate returns.  They can worry about next year when next year comes.  Small market teams, however, must play the long odds with potential stars for the next couple of years because they can't put down enough money to win big on the short odds.  The long odds are to go with a large number of unproven players with a lot of potential instead of a small number of proven, major league ready players and a smorgasbord of nobodys.  

One of these years, Billy is going to roll seven.  All it will take is half of the unknowns from the given year putting up serious numbers.  It may be this year or the next; as an A's fan, I can only believe that this year the world series comes to Oakland after breakout seasons from Huston Street, Joe Blanton, Nick Swisher, and Dan Meyer.  Hell, that's why Billy stayed in Oakland.  He wants to have the bragging rights associated with bringing the world championship to a small market team.

Even if the A's fizzle instead of explode, I'll still be going to as many games as I can. It is more fun to root for a gangly crew of unprovens and undervalueds than any group of high-money all-stars winning it all (David gloats in eternity for one victory.  Goliath was a long time champion forever remembered for getting bitch slapped with a slingshot).

PS. I tipped a couple of snifters of Knob Creek beyond the normal tonight for Timmy.  I look forward to seeing him smack the ball out of the park to win a NLDS.

PPS. I'm also stoked to see Huddy go to Atlanta because I grew up watching the Braves with my great-grandmother (rip).  I was a Braves fan before they started their 13 straight division championships and lost interest when 1) my great grandmother died and 2) the Braves started winning.  Who-ride on pac-bell this year.

Perhaps his A's life had to end like this. Perhaps Hudson wanted it this way. Publicly, he kept his bad vibes to himself, as all leaders should. But occasionally to clubhouse dwellers, Hudson would let his frustration seep out. He perceived that the A's showed more love and admiration for Mulder and Zito. And so many times after leaving a game ahead on the scoreboard, Hudson saw his "W" erased. In 2002 alone, he left with the lead in eight of his no-decisions, and the bullpen blew the saves.

Does anyone remember hearing anything about this? And how can Mark Purdy write something like that and not give an explanation? I can't imagine Beane favoring Mulder and Zito over Hudson...and I know the players loved him. It will be interesting to see if Urban addresses this in "Aces" but I hope it's not true.

The A's have no business in the American League.