has made me really understand the genius of Billy Beane.
This, in my opinion, is going to be his masterwork.

Also, I'm no expert, but I've seen Chris Denorfia's minor league (and major league) numbers, and they're outstanding. How come nobody's talking about the Great Chris Denorfia?

I would say that Kotsay is likely out the door, and if he is still around, the only reason to play him is to give him enough value so that someone takes him from us.

Otherwise, I think we start the season a few different ways.

Either we have Gonzalez jump to the Majors and start in CF.

Or

Sweeney and Denorfia battle for the Centerfield job.

The bonus that comes from that is we can possibly get even more trade value, as when Gonzalez does come up, we have established Centerfielders who can either backup the team in the 4th OF role or be dealt for another prospect to make room for Gonzalez.

In the minors, we seem to have no real GOOD player depth at SS, 2B or 3B. We have roleplayers, but no real outstanding prospects.

Which leads me to believe that if we don't make a deal, such as dealing Chavez to LAD in a package to land LaRoche and/or Hu, that we will see Chavez at 3B for more years to come, and that the A's might go the All Defense-No Offense route at Middle Infield, likely with Petit at Shortstop and either Murphy or Pennington at 2B come mid 2008.

Middleinfield prospects, that is to say, GOOD Middle Infield prospects who can both field AND hit (The ARods, the Jeters, the Tejadas, the Garciaparas of the world) are very hard to find and maybe harder to acquire. The Devil Rays have one, and Hu might be a decent bet for the Dodgers, but I don't know if we can acquire one ourselves.

Though I still like the idea of a Blanton trade to Seattle with a subsequent conversion of Adam Jones back to Short Stop might be a good idea.

Fernando Hernandez, our 23-year-old Rule 5 pick and former White Sox AA pitcher, is probably too old for this team.  

I don't think that Beane was aiming for a five-year rebuilding.  He was looking at having the worst year for this team be 2008 and then have the team close to coming back into contention in 2009 with the real team poised to be among the American League elite in 2010.  

And hopefully the team learned a lot from these last few seasons specifically in terms of how to prevent injuries.  It's like a brand new reset and a chance to start over.  The thing is you want to build towards greatness, you don't want to revel in mediocrity and just hope and pray you can stay healthy and hang with the other teams.

Now the A's just need to make a smart draft choice or two this year, hopefully get some value for a rebuilt Chavez and Kotsay (although not at the cost of giving Denorfia experience).

is 2008 going more closely resemble 1997 or 1998? i'm saying '97, praying for '98.

The best pitchers we got in these deals will either still be in the minors (Anderson definitely, DLS likely), or rookies who probably won't do that well. Cahill and Rodriguez will also probably not be up in time, and Blanton will likely be gone... C. Gonzalez probably won't hit that much since he still has a lot of improving to do. Plus, anything we get out of Carter and Cunningham won't come in 2009. So... I think we're looking at a rough year that year.

The more it doesn't even look that terrible.  I know major parts of it will probably still be jettisoned, but if everything actually broke right for that group (for a change)?  They could finish with the same or better record that they did last year.

If Sweeney and Cunningham warrant a parentheses appearance, I don't see why one or two of our catching prospects don't appear behind Suzuki.

Am I the only one here who isn't sold on Suzuki?  I think Denorfia has a better chance of being good than Suzuki does.

And what about Casilla, Gray, and Lugo?

from ESPN

Pitchers
NUM NAME POS BAT THW AGE HT WT 2007 SALARY  
55 Joe Blanton P R R 27 6-3 250 $380,000
13 Jerry Blevins P L L 24 6-6 175 N/A  
51 Dallas Braden P L L 24 6-1 183 N/A  
59 Andrew Brown P R R 26 6-6 230 N/A  
50 Kiko Calero P R R 32 6-1 203 $1,600,000
44 Santiago Casilla P R R 27 6-0 202 N/A  
35 Lenny DiNardo P L L 28 6-4 190 $389,750
58 Justin Duchscherer P R R 30 6-3 203 $1,187,500
41 Alan Embree P L L 37 6-2 190 $2,356,496
25 Dana Eveland P L L 24 6-1 258 N/A  
57 Chad Gaudin P R R 24 5-10 180 $400,000
40 Rich Harden P L R 26 6-1 190 $2,250,000
56 Fernando Hernandez P R R 23 5-11 190 N/A  
45 Ruddy Lugo P R R 27 6-0 190 $403,600
37 Dan Meyer P R L 26 6-3 210 N/A  
20 Huston Street P R R 24 6-0 195 $380,000

Catchers
NUM NAME POS BAT THW AGE HT WT 2007 SALARY  
18 Rob Bowen C B R 26 6-3 225 $382,300
24 Kurt Suzuki C R R 24 6-0 205 N/A  

Infielders
NUM NAME POS BAT THW AGE HT WT 2007 SALARY  
69 Wes Bankston 1B R R 24 6-4 200 N/A  
10 Daric Barton 1B L R 22 6-0 224 N/A  
3 Eric Chavez 3B L R 30 6-1 230 $9,500,000
7 Bobby Crosby DL SS R R 27 6-3 217 $2,550,000
14 Mark Ellis 2B R R 30 5-11 190 $3,500,000
22 Jack Hannahan 3B L R 27 6-2 205 N/A  
29 Dan Johnson 1B L R 28 6-2 226 $390,000
8 Kevin Melillo DL 2B L R 25 5-10 197 N/A  
12 Donnie Murphy SS R R 24 5-10 185 N/A  

Outfielders
NUM NAME POS BAT THW AGE HT WT 2007 SALARY  
6 Travis Buck DL RF L R 24 6-2 224 $380,000
32 Jack Cust DH L R 28 6-1 231 N/A  
19 Chris Denorfia DL CF R R 27 6-0 195 $382,500
28 Carlos Gonzalez LF L L 22 6-1 180 N/A  
21 Mark Kotsay DL CF L L 32 6-0 204 $8,000,000
26 Danny Putnam CF L L 25 5-10 202 N/A  
15 Ryan Sweeney LF L L 22 6-4 215 N/A  

Average Age: 26.4
Average Weight: 205
Average Height: 6-1
Right-Handed Pitchers: 10
Left-Handed Pitchers: 6
Right-Handed Batters: 6
Left-Handed Batters: 11
Switch Hitters: 1

The Angels had better enjoy 2008, because when the A’s rebuild they rebuild differently than most teams: Before you even realize they’re rebuilding, they’ve already gotten the permits and laid the foundation, and are on to looking at what color they want for the trim.

I like this paragraph...it's cheery and makes me feel better. I am not so sure that this great team will emerge in 2009, It may be in 2010 that we contend again but the sentiment strikes a happy chord in my A's lovin" heart. Thanks Nico.

I think Beane is gunning to be back in true contention in 2009. Why? Because I think Buck and Barton are truly special,

What makes you think of Buck as truly special?

When talking about youth movement, Beane isn't playing. We have the 2nd youngest roster in MLB, next to the Marlins. Of course this doesn't take into account ability or otherwise, but it's interesting nevertheless. The DBacks are scary! Both young and talented:

Rank of Average Age of 40 man roster

1 Florida 25.3
2 Oakland 26.4
3 Arizona 26.8
4 Washington 26.9  
5 Pittsburgh 27.0  

18 San Francisco 28.2

26 Detroit 29.0
27 NY Mets 29.3
28 St. Louis 29.4
29 Boston 29.5
30 Houston 29.5

He said he wants out, its not like he produced past couple years.

Our 25 man roster as it would be if the season started today...

C1 Kurt Suzuki
1B Daric Barton
2B Mark Ellis
3B Eric Chavez
SS Bobby Crosby
LF Jack Cust
CF Mark Kotsay
RF Travis Buck
DH Dan Johnson

C2 Rob Bowen
CF Chris Denorfia
3B Jack Hanahan
SS Donnie Murphy

SP Rich Harden
SP Joe Blanton
SP Chad Gaudin
SP Dana Eveland
SP Dan Meyer

CL Huston Street
RP Justin Duchscherer
RP Alan Embree
RP Andrew Brown
RP Santiago Casilla
RP Kiko Calero
RP Fernando Hernandez

mainly because we have so many played under contract or out of options.