Now that I live out of market for the A's, I watch almost all of their games on Extra Innings.  One of my biggest frustrations last year was dealing with out-of-market announcers.  I mean, if I had to listen to Hawk Harrelson one more time, I might've gone all Marlon Brando at the end of Apocalypse Now..."The horror, the horror...".

I also happen to be a huge New Jersey Devils fan and I get really annoyed having to listen to Florida Panthers or Pittsburgh Penguins announcers instead of the best hockey play-by-play guy around, Mike "Doc" Emrick.  The good news is that the Center Ice package is occasionally giving me the choice as to what broadcast I want to watch.

I'm only hoping that MLB follows the NHL lead and adopts something similar because it would make my enjoyment of A's games so much more pure.  And my wife will no longer have to tell me that it's "weird" that I'm watching A's games in dead silence with the mute button on.

I haven't seen this linked anywhere else on AN, but Maury Brown did an excellent interview with former A's and Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson.  I would highly recommend that you read it.  It's got some great stuff in there about pitching mechanics as well as former A's like Barry Zito and a very interesting moment that he describes from an A's game against the New York Yankees where he was the pitching coach:

And when you talk about memorable trips to the mound, a moment that really sticks out has to be when Jason Isringhausen was pitching for us in Oakland, and we went into Yankee Stadium. It believe it was early September and Barry Zito was winning the game three to two against Roger Clemens. We brought in Izzy in the ninth inning, and the first pitch to Bernie Williams was a homer. And now it's three to three. And the first pitch to David Justice was a homer. So two pitches later – about thirty seconds – we lose. (Laughs.)

And he was, you know, distraught to say the least. It was one of those situations where it affected him. He hadn't closed for a long period of time in his career – I believe it might have been his first full year of closing – and it really had a major impact on him. It really affected him;  he felt like he let the team down. He was very de-motivated. Fear, worry and doubt starts to creep in, and he really said, “Look, I need a few days off of this. I need a break.”

The story essentially goes on from there and how Peterson tries to work Izzy through that moment of crisis and dealing with a similar situation later on in the year. 

Peterson also talks about the difference between playing or coaching in the New York market as opposed to the Oakland market.  He essentially says that in New York you essentially have 162 seasons in a year as opposed to the 162 games in a year in Oakland.  By that he means that the drama is amped up to a ridiculous level based on what the team did on that certain day.  Apparently he's never been in an AN game thread.

Two other notes about the interview.  First, Brown discusses what pitchers from the past that Peterson would've wanted to have coached.  Peterson brings up Sandy Koufax.  I would've loved to have had Brown tie the elbow issues that Koufax had back to Peterson's work on the injury issues with pitchers.  Would Peterson have been able to give Koufax a longer career?  I want to know what Peterson thinks.

The other thing is that I'm wondering how much of an impact Peterson leaving the A's has adversely impacted their injury issues.  Maybe Peterson's impact on the A's pitching has been overstated, but would the A's pitchers have had as many issues if Peterson was still here?  How much do the A's still use the techniques and programs that Peterson had implemented while he was here?

Sean Avery is the world's biggest douchebag.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he really is.

But we already knew that, didn't we?  Still, the NHL confirmed it today with an indefinite suspension and a pending meeting between Avery and the NHL commish.  Avery was suspended for making the comment that Dion Phaneuf was part of a growing trend in the NHL and that's dating Avery's "sloppy seconds".  Yes, he said this in reference to his former girlfriend, 24 star Elisha Cuthbert.  You know, this woman right here:

via img2.timeinc.net

Regardless, Avery is a grade A moron.  I think the better punishment would've been to have let Avery play tonight against Phaneuf and the Flames in Calgary.  I know, I know, Bettman wants to avoid a circus, but don't you think that Phaneuf would've doled out some street justice.  You don't call another man's girlfriend sloppy seconds.  Never ever.  And hockey is all about justice.  This is a saga that is just beginning.

Maybe if Avery is in the building, Phaneuf will go old school on his ass.  And by old school, I mean this:

I know there are a bunch of Sharks fans on AN, so I wanted to make sure that I directed you to the Sharks site we have for SB Nation.  It's called Fear the Fin and we have a new blogger over at the site. 

Almost all of our Bay Area blogs are amongst the most well trafficked blogs on SB Nation, so I wanted to make sure that Mr. Plank got his fair share of promotion since I've promoted the other Bay Area blogs a bunch of times.  Oh and don't forget that AN's very own saint is still running the show at Silver and Black Pride.  And now that basketball season is in full swing, you can also visit our boys at Golden State of Mind.  Go ahead and pay them a visit.

As for hockey, I'm just glad that SB Nation finally has a New Jersey Devils blog.  I had nothing to do with the naming of that blog but I do trust Lou Lamoriello much in the same way that I trust Billy Beane.

It's always fascinating for me to see a player seemingly told that his career is in jeopardy with his current team.  Bobby Crosby has essentially been told that.  It's not just in that blog post, but there is common knowledge everywhere that the A's are pursuing Rafael Furcal.  There has also been speculation that if the A's miss out on Furcal that they're going to immediately pursue Edgar Renteria instead. 

The bottom line is pretty clear.  It appears that Crosby's days in Oakland are numbered.  I guess I'm wondering, do you get to the point of no return with a player as management where there's no chance that a guy will be back?  Let's say, for example, that the A's are unwilling to go to the same insane extremes to sign Furcal that a team like the Giants is willing to do.  Then one of the other teams that misses out on Furcal decides that Renteria is their backup plan.  I don't know about you, but I don't want the A's overpaying for Renteria.  I wouldn't mind it as much with Furcal because Furcal is above average for his position.  And Furcal is about two years younger.  Just following the free agent market over the years, teams are very much willing to overpay for a position that is in short supply.  Short stop this year appears to be one of those positions.

Here's the question though.  If the A's don't upgrade the position through free agency, do they then look to deal Crosby regardless?  It's not exactly a motivator to hear that the GM who drafted you and handed the starting job to you to replace a local legend has "lost patience with you."  I personally think it's tough to come back from that sentiment.  Then again, maybe Beane knows Crosby well enough to think that he might respond on the field if he feels like it's his "last chance."  I doubt that's the case. 

If I had to venture a guess, mine would be that Crosby will be gone come the start of the season 2009.  Possibly even before the end of 2008.  There's a high probabilty that someone thinks that Crosby would benefit by being in a new location.  And they're probably right.  Crosby's gotten to that place with A's fans where he's one of those players that we all fear coming up to bat in any crucial situation.  There's just no going back from there.  Especially when the GM is included in the folks who feel that way.  Beane has been incredibly patient with Crosby up until this point.  But I do believe that they've finally reached that breaking point.  The point of no return. Even if the A's don't succeed in getting one of the big shortstops, I could see them turning to Pennington and giving him a shot.  It just would seem weird in a season where it looks like the A's are going to try to be competitive that they'd go that route.  That's more of an A's mentality from 2008, not the one that went out and got Matt Holliday.

Do you think we've seen the last of Crosby in Oakland?  Or could this possibly just be a motivational move on Beane's part?

The Devils' style of play has come under scrutiny since 1995. Certain offensive players have wanted out of the Devils' very conservative, defensive system.  Lou Lamoriello has dispatched players who didn't buy into the team-first concept.  Mike Van Ryn was never given a chance to be a Devil because of his me-first mentality.

Yet I can't help but think when I watch the Devils play that certain players on their team are being grossly misused.  I'm thinking of Johnny Oduya and Paul Martin and to a lesser extent, Salmela.  I think Oduya and Martin are more offensively skilled than they're allowed to demonstrate because the Devils are so much about taking care of their own end.  Martin only has four assists this year and his career high in points was only 37, but Martin makes great choices with the puck in the offensive zone.  He's very effective on the power play and I'd like to see him be given the green light a little more.

Salmela is young and he's just learning the ropes in the defensive end, so it is probably a little much to ask him to be a huge offensive contributor.  But he's shown brief flashes of immense creativity.  He's also a defenseman who is not at all shy about firing the puck.  Which brings me to:

Oduya is the one who has shown Devils' fans flashes of brilliance.  He's had some remarkable goals for the Devils.  I think most Devils fans remember this one against the Canes from last year:

Oduya is one of the better skating defenseman the Devils have ever had.  Scott Niedermayer was clearly number one, Rafalski was also good, but Oduya is probably somewhere between Nieds and Rafalski in terms of pure skating ability.  He also has a better shot than Niedermayer could've ever hoped for. 

So what am I asking for?  Allow the Devils defenseman to activate more often.  Let Oduya pinch a little more frequently.  The Devils have responsible forwards who can cover when a defenseman activates.  I mean, I feel very comfortable with John Madden covering defense when a Martin or an Oduya pinch. 

I know this will fall upon deaf ears because the Devils do things the Devil way.  That means not taking risks and playing percentages.  But if they do want to survive during the time when Martin Brodeur is out, they might need to win more 5-4, 6-5 games than they're accustomed and that means generating some extra offense from somewhere.  I think the personnel is there.  Do you?

As you may or may not be aware, I'm Tyler Bleszinski and I happened to found SportsBlogs Nation.  I also happened to be one of the biggest Devils fans you will ever find.  I've followed this team religiously since about 1986.  Even though I grew up in Boston, I loved watching the Devils and I think it was mostly because I dug on their uniforms.  Hey, kids are kids, right?  And red and green happened to be my two favorite colors.  Yes they were Christmas colors, but who doesn't love Christmas? 

Yes, back in the day it was going to the old Boston Garden when the Devils came to town.  I was at a game when Reed Larson scored on Alain Chevrier from the red line.  I loved Patrick Sundstrom for his all-around play (being an earlier, perhaps more skilled version of John Madden).  But I really fell for the Devils when Sean Burke came into the fold as I often tended goal myself as a youngster.  1988 was one of the greatest years of my life with everything from the "Cirella takes a shot, save by Pang, rebound, they score.  They did it, they did it, the Devils make the playoffs for the first time in their history!"  It was an addiction for me.

Well that addicition never waned over the years and then I started SB Nation.  I ran the Oakland A's blog Athletics Nation, which was the first blog in the network.  I didn't have the time to dedicate to another blog, but I've been dying for a New Jersey Devils blog since day one of starting this company.  I'm really happy that John has come on board and will be running this site.  He runs it in a very similar fashion as to what I do with AN. 

So I want to express a warm welcome to John here at SB Nation.  I'm sure I'll be spending plenty of time here.  I'll be attached to it like Pat Verbeek's surgically repaired thumb.

For those of you still hurting from losing Carlos Gonzalez, Joe Sheehan has a word of advice for you.  Don't be.  I think Sheehan is one of the smartest baseball journalists out there and he comes out in full favor of Billy Beane winning this deal with the Rockies.  Sheehan essentially points out that C-Gon's numbers were never really that great in the minors any way except for a two-year stretch in 05-06.  He actually says that he has no idea how Gonzalez wound up in the bigs with the numbers he had.

But my favorite part of the article is this (you'll have to be a BP subscriber to read the rest, sorry!):

For the A's, Holliday fits like a glove. In addition to getting him for a reasonable price, they slide a hitter into their lineup who does exactly what they need. The A's draw walks; that pretty much sums up their offensive skill set. They don't hit for average (last), they don't hit doubles (last), they don't hit triples (tenth). Even the walks they draw (fourth) don't lead to a high OBP (13th and not last, thanks to the Royals) because they hit so poorly. I lost track of the number of times they had two runners on with no one out and didn't score.

Now one bat will not completely change this equation.  The A's need more than just Holliday if they really hope to compete in 2009, which is why I think that Beane will be pretty aggressive on the free agent market. 

Nico and I talk on the phone about the A's quite a bit and something that he and I have said for the past two, maybe three years is that the A's don't seem to have any "hitters".  By that we mean, not just a guy who knows how to work the zone and get on base, but someone who actually hits for a high average to take advantage of a lot of those walks the A's get.  Holliday is exactly that and even if he does take a turn down because of park adjustments and moving to a better league, he should still be up close to a .300 average.  Like Sheehan, I think it drastically helps the A's.  I would still hope the A's can somehow lure Holliday into staying longer term, but my feeling is still one of extreme optimism after the deal, pending what else the A's decide to do this offseason.

So the A's have acquired a big bat in the Rockies Matt Holliday.  And he's right-handed.  And he's young.  The A's haven't acquired someone like this since they landed Jermaine Dye and they had Giambi and Dye powering them towards what looked like a powerhouse team for years to come.  Well because of the freak accident that broke Dye's leg in the playoffs, the Dye acquisition didn't work.

The details are still a little fuzzy, but it looks like the deal is for Greg Smith for sure and probably Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street.  If this is the final deal, I would honestly say that both Smith and Street are pretty expendable in this current A's roster alignment.  Smith, otherwise known as "Nibbles" around AN since about June last year for his penchant for not challenging hitters, should be relatively easily replaced by someone like Brett Anderson or even Josh Outman.  Street, who seemed to find himself a bit towards the very end of the year, will be replaced by Joey Devine.  And let's face it, Beane has always considered closers expendable commodities.  Street wasn't even the A's closer by the end of the year, so who thinks that this is a big loss for the A's?  I don't.

The one big chip the A's gave up, if the rumors are true, was Carlos Gonzalez.  C-Gon didn't have a great year. He had flashes of brilliance for Oakland and you could see that he had all the tools and talent, but the A's don't prize players like that.  They want their players to have the plate discipline.  So perhaps it was a situation where Beane felt that perhaps C-Gon is going to be a star, but just probably not the right star in the right situation.

The question remains on Holliday.  Do the A's try and re-sign him long-term?  I'm betting that the answer on that one is probably no.  I'd love to see the A's do it because they'd have a long-term nagging need finally resolved in Holliday (that being a big stick from the right-side).  But I'm just not sure that Boras and the A's would be able to come to a deal.  I mean, we're talking Billy Beane and Scott Boras here.  Course they could probably charge admission to the cage match on pay-per-view if Beane did decide to at least try to negotiate.

The A's get a guy who was runner-up for MVP of the National League in 2007 (I've heard quite a few arguments that he deserved it, not Rollins, but I'll leave that for salb and grover to decide).  He is probably dreaming about dollar signs heading into the year, so you just have to know that he is going to come to camp ready to perform.  Say what you want about professional athletes, but I truly don't think anything motivates them like the promise of a big pay day.  So you're going to see a motivated guy performing in green and gold.  There was quite a bit of discussion in some of the other threads earlier about whether or not the A's would try to move Holliday at the trade deadline, and I tend to think you will see them try to move him if the A's don't seem to be contending for whatever reason (the young pitching doesn't perform as expected or, as has been the last couple of seasons, the injuries pile up early).  I mean there aren't that many hitters like Holliday that a contender can plug right into the third or fourth spot in a lineup and he fits perfectly.  So the A's did acquire a very nice trading chip if the steel cage match between Beane and Boras never comes to fruition.  The other thing is that the A's could also just let him walk at the end of the year and take two very nice draft picks as compensation.  We know Beane loves to stockpile draft picks.

In the meantime, the A's offense just got upgraded.  Holliday will be a nice shot in the arm for the A's stagnant bats.  If anything, at least you finally get a "hitter".  The A's haven't had very many of those. 

The other thing it does do, I believe, is send a clear message to A's fans that the A's are going to try to compete in 2009.  You don't acquire a guy of Holliday's caliber with one year left on his contract to wallow in the basement of the AL West.  I also think we could see the A's also sign someone like Furcal as well to try and drastically reduce the pressure on the A's young staff.  You add someone like Furcal to the A's lineup and suddenly you have a lineup that looks like this:

Furcal
Sweeney
Holliday
Cust
Chavez (if healthy)
Suzuki
Buck/Cunningham
Ellis
Barton

Now that is not going to set the world on fire, but it does certainly look like it could put it its share of runs.  Or I might even bat Cust in front of Holliday because of Cust's ability to get on base.  Maybe Cust even sees some better pitches to hit as well because of it?

I love the trade.  Gonzalez might turn into the second coming of Carlos Beltran, but the A's could not go through another 162-game season with that offense.  It just wasn't going to work.  I'm expecting more moves towards the A's being competitive in 2009 on the heels of this, whether that means Furcal or Dunn or someone else, I'm not sure, but I don't think the A's are done.  They're sending a message that they think they can be competitive sooner rather than later, otherwise, why do the deal in the first place unless you don't really think that Gonzalez is all he was supposed to be? 

For once it's nice to have our team doing the acquiring, isn't it?