Something we have to DO?  ;)

Mr Geren,
With the struggles of your offense, and all the injuries, how long can you continue to play Kendall 6 times a week.  Wouldn't the offense with Melhuse be beneficial, with a somewhat veteran staff.

Eric Chavez, right now, is a shadow of his former self.

Yes, he's got sore forearms. Yes, he's had a shoulder issue for several years that he won't get off-season surgery to fix. Yes, he has no protection in the lineup.

Yes, he's defensive nirvana, but .240 with 5 HRs is what you'd expect from Scutaro if he'd been playing third base all year, not the offensive lynchpin of the team.

Doesn't there come a point where you say, "Eric, we love you and all, you're a clubhouse captain, but you have to sit down until your arms are 100%"?

already touched on my question.

I want to know about Chavy and his forearm problems. It's a lingering injury that looks to be a repeat of last season for him. If that turns out to be the case, would you consider moving him down in the batting order?

Also, with the struggles and injuries to our lineup, would you consider benching Kendall and having Piazza be the full-time catcher (when he's healthy) and keeping Cust as our DH to get more run producers in the lineup? <Especially if Kendall continues to hit below the mendoza line.>

It appears you have done a fantastic job keeping the team focused despite the injuries.  Have you managed a situation like this before?  If not, what experiences are you leaning on to handle the situation?  Do you have any "mentors" you have been getting advice from?  Not to dig up the past, but have you talked with Macha regarding how he handled it or if he would have done anything differently?

Thanks for letting us have input to the questions.

from the whole Macha debacle? In terms of your relationships with the players. It didn't seem like Macha knew there was a problem until it was too late.

What approach have you taken based on your observations on the bench last season that has helped prepare you to become a better coach, a better leader?

Mr. Geren,

Did you nail any bridesmaids at Billy's wedding?

What did you think about the Season Finale of LOST? Did it knock your socks off, or what?

With the new stadium on the way, do you feel the A's are going to get the financial support they need to sign some top talent in the next few years and more importantly keep the stars they currently have instead of being the mlb juggernauts farm team year in year out.  Was the Swisher extention a sign of things to come?

ps. great job on keeping this team competative in your first year with the carosel of personnal you've had to deal with. We all know you've had challenges game in game out.

I love the idea of asking the manager these questions but I doubt that we'll get anything close to straight answers from Bob.  Regarding the Kendall question, I'm sure Geren will tell us that 1) Kendall is a career .300 hitter and 2) his value to the team can't be found in the box scores, etc...

How much more does Jack Cust have to show you to be considered as part of the A's future?

Thanks Blez and Bob!

Blez, you just need to tell him for me that I heart him, and everyone knows how I felt about our previous manager.

How do the A's go about preparing their defensive alignments for each opponent? Rene Lacheman carries a giant binder in the dugout during every game - is this usually what he's assessing when the A's are in the field? Is he looking at spray charts and hitter/pitcher data, and determining if, for example, Mark Ellis needs to be 3 steps to his left when Dave Roberts is up?
Or, is all of this information and discussion handled in a meeting before each series with the entire coaching staff?
Another way to phrase this would be - In terms of defensive alignment, do the A's play most hitters they face "straight up", or is there at least a subtle shift for literally every hitter they face, based upon statistical data?

You have to figure that if anyone is doing that, it's the A's.

Another question, still on the topic of defense, is:

Which defensive metric (PMR,Zone Rating, Dewan's +/-, etc.) does the team value the most in terms of evaluating defenders, or do they have their own?

Thanks for providing us with these unique opportunities, Blez.

I think you are doing a tremendous job with the club this year and managing all of the injuries and call ups. I am curious to know when Kurt Suzuki will come up for a try at catcher and what you will do when Kotsay comes back as well as Loiaza. Thank you for such a great season so far! Keep up the amazing work, Mr. Manager of the Year!

1.  Hey Bob:  Have you seen the movie Office Space, and if so, which of the Bobs do you most closely identify with?

2.  Hey Bob:  Now that Ken's gone, if someone gets stuck in the bathroom whose job is it to liberate him?

Thanks!

I think everyone wants to know how long the "Kendall is a major league baseball player" charade can last. But there's absolutely no one Geren gives a straight answer to that question, and it'll just end up being some Gardenhire-esque rant about hustle, grittiness, scrappiness, defense, and teamwork. We've all read that garbage before, and don't need to read it again now. But perhaps he would answer something about whether or not Melhouse will actually get more playing time, whether he expects Suzuki to be on the roster, or his opinion on Piazza playing catcher.

Next, why is Chavez hitting lower in the order? Heck, even last season, he ASKED to be moved lower, and was refused. (yes, I realize different managers) At this point, he's a defensive specialist, and I think most A's fans have given up on the idea that he's a 35HR potential guy. If another player with exact stats to Chavez, including the past couple years, was on the team, but wasn't named Eric Chavez, there's no was he would hit 3rd or 4th (or so). The A's should be above making decisions based on contract status or name recognition.

My last one is regarding Braden's screwball and why he's not allowed to throw it. To me, it makes no sense at all. If the choice is: (1) an ineffective, but healthy pitcher, or (2) an effective pitcher who might get hurt at some point, you obviously go with #2.

I know others have already mentioned these, so consider this me casting my vote for those who have already brought these up.

this point in the season when you consider all of the injuries and the stop-gaps that have been used to keep this team together?  Also, I think you have done one hell of a job with this team and we're glad to have you around.  

Then say... don't start gettin' too f****** cocky!

Mr. Geren, as a manager, how do you deal with a player who's clearly very smart and very talented, has done well in the past, isn't injured, isn't visibly doing anything wrong that anyone can detect...but just isn't hitting well?  How do you balance your responsibility to the team as a whole vs. your need to respect that individual player and make the best use of him in the long and short term?

some quality questions.  I will say that a lot of the questions are going to be tough to ask because after being around these baseball guys enough (and Geren in particular), they're not going to call out a player publicly.  After interviewing him once already, he's not ever going to be negative so I'm going to ask the questions in a way where we'll hopefully get an answer.

Mr. Geren, when do you think women will be allowed to try out for MLB?

...is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Bob,

We are again near the top in hitting into DPs.  What can be done to address this issue?

Sam

I just went to the injuries link on the A's MLB page and it gave me a message saying "We apologize for the inconvenience.  Please try back in a few minutes".  Am I the only who's scared?

The only one, I meant.

I have heard the common belief from A's management that injuries are just "the luck of the draw" and are just random occcurances.  But many at AN don't share this belief.  The number of A's injuries in recent years are not "regressing to the mean" but  seem to be multiplying at an ever increasing rate. For a team that believes so strongly in the numbers and in stats as the A's do, this number of injuries each year must be more than troubling. Is it possible that there is one or more root problems in the physical conditioning systems that the A's are employing,  and that these injuries, and repeat injuries, and repeat injuries to multiple players is not random??  

After the back-to-back blown saves vs. the Royals, several people wanted to see Connor Robertson get a chance at closing the next save opportunity, even if it meant he could be making his big league debut in the 9th inning of a 1 run game. How do you feel about debuting a pitcher in such a high stress situation?

If you pick any injured player on the roster to come back and and stay healthy all year, who would you pick? Who's the biggest difference maker on the injury report?

Hey Bob,
With all your baseball experience, and perhaps even golf experience, can you answer a question about bats?

Why is it that when a person plays golf, they use drivers, irons, wedges, putters... yet no one says it "messes up my swing" if they go from a driver to an iron, etc.  Baseball players try to maintain exactly the same length and weight for their bats.  I often hear about guys "grabbing the wrong bat" and they can tell right away.  They never want to switch bats.

Or do they?

That is the question.

It seems to me, you might use a lighter bat is you're facing Zumaya at 100mph, for a quicker swing, and maybe move forward in the box and use a heavier bat with Jamie Moyer.  But you never see much change in stance or position, AB to AB, for any particular player.

Or, if you have men on second and third and no outs, how about a heavier bat that puts more impact on a late swing and would also have a larger sweet spot?

Let's speculate, and say, some other bat is needed if it runners on first and second and no outs, in the 1st or 2nd inning!  The GIDPs is ridiculous!

I dunno, maybe players are tinkering in that regard all the time.  All I know is, I see a lot of shattered bats (thinner handles do not increase bat speed appreciably) and no one is using a bat with a  thicker handle...you never see a "Nellie Fox" bottle bat anymore.  Bats up until the 1980s had thicker handles.

Thinking about the athletes on crew teams (rowing, collegiate, Olympic) you rarely hear anything about forearm strain, bad elbows, even though the repetitive strain is tremendous (to the point of blisters on the hands).  The oars (sweeps) are much larger diameter handles than bats.  Could the trend to thinner handles be causing more fore-arm stress?

You do see "cupped ends" of bats, which again, probably is such a tiny percent of weight, no one could tell the difference whether they did it or not.  How do these "fads" persist, with so much money in MLB at stake??

experiences or stories that you feel sums up the clubhouse chemistry as it stands at the moment?

Is it a lack of proper stretching and arobics or is it really just bad luck? Maybe its time for a new training staff.

The WHOLE TEAM looked great in a team effort! Crosby looks awesome and so does Shannon Stewart! I don't see the point of questioning the injuries. It's too knee jerk to blame the coaching staff or the players for being too laid back. I think the A's take their chances by taking on projects that tend to get injured, which makes them affordable by the A's. The pitching will continue hopefully to be good enough until Kotsay, Milty and others come back. PS is Rich Harden dead again? No word about him on the A's website in weeks it seems. Anyone?

With the repeated need this season to find a new starter to plug into the rotation, why have they for so long resisted using DiNardo as a starter?

As an added bonus, if Lenny really is going to be called upon next time the #5 slot comes up, Geren might give you the early scoop.  But no sense wasting a question asking that directly, since we'll know soon enough.  I'm more curious about why they didn't start DiNardo before now.

2 outs, Blanton is stuck in the bathroom, what kind of ninja moves do you have to free your starting pitcher or do we just abandon him and call up another SP from Double A Midland?

this isn't repetitive.

Coach Geren:

Given the A's dismal injury record the past few seasons, do you think it's time the organization takes a different approach to strength and conditioning?  If so, what approach should that be?  If not, why not (e.g. is the roster just filled with too many injury-prone players)?