In the interest of breaking up the DLD drought, and because this is much more interesting than the lame work assignments that are piling up around me, I've created this sparse yet funcitonal DLD.

I have just two links to share, and that is this video of a flying fish out of water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwReuq3NMUM

And as you've no doubt heard by now, future HOFer and former A's catcher Mike Piazza is retiring.  It looks he may (or may not!) be entering the HOF at the same time as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3405188

Get dumping!

I just want to thank all the AN staff, editors, writers etc. for making this such a great blog.  Their love of the A's and faith in the ability of this blog to bring together the community of  A's fans has made AN a very special place for A’s fans.  I appreciate all their hard work in enforcing the rules of this community (a thankless job), in doing the editing and site management gruntwork, and in keeping this community interesting, lively and filled with good content.  For good examples of the latter, see today's entries written by Nico, Taj Adib and grover.  

That is all.  :-)

Due to the fact I desparately want to avoid work I am starting today's meager DLD.

Christina Karhl reviewed the Swisher trade.  She did not like what she saw.  The bottom line for her is that she is uncomfortable with the inherent riskiness of pitching prospects:

"I may be coming at this the wrong way, but I hate this deal for the A's. Not because of what it represents—hey, they're rebuilding, we get it—but because of what they got. I know Gonzalez and De Los Santos were the best the Sox had left to offer. I guess I just start off with the assumption that any group of pitchers involves casualties and risk, and that makes me squeamish. Gonzalez or De Los Santos? Both have promise, both are very young, but as a matter of odds alone, it's as if you have to start with the assumption that one of them's going to bust something before the A's ever get a good look at him."

http://baseballprospectus.com/articl...

Hall of Fame inductees will be announced today at 11 our time.

Dump on!!!

Let's get this thing going.  I don't have much, except this tidbit from BP on Trevor Cahill's progress:

"Trevor Cahill, RHP, Low A Kane County (Athletics)

The A’s have a solid history of pitchers putting up some big numbers at Kane County, but for the most part they were older college veterans taking advantage of rest of the league’s youth, and for the most part they didn’t have the prospect status to match the numbers. For every Joe Blanton, there was a Brad Knox or a Steven Bondurant.  Trevor Cahill is a little different.  Oakland’s top draft pick last year (second round), Cahill is just 19, and his future is looking very bright these days.  On Saturday, the righthander allowed one run on two hits over six innings while striking out seven, extending an eight-game streak in which the California native has an 0.91 ERA while allowing just 23 hits in 49.1 innings while striking out 52.  With a low-90s fastball that touches 93 and one of the better curveballs in the system, Cahill has the stuff to match the stats and is arguably the top minor-league pitcher the A's have. "

http://baseballprospectus.com/articl...

So there!  Post yer own damned links!

In the interest of brevity and because I SuCk and am a sandwich or two short of a picnic, I will launch today's DUMp with only one link, in which Billy Beane entertains the thought of adding Rickey Henderson to the September 40-man roster.  And because I still do not know how to do box quotes, I will provide an excerpt the old-fashioned way:

"'I'm disappointed about how my career ended,' Henderson told the Chronicle by phone this week. 'I haven't had the time to say, "I'm retiring.' But baseball says, "You're retired." Every other player has had the chance to say they're through. I want to go out and say, "I'm done. I'm happy." Give me a chance to retire.'"

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2874724

Continue reading this post »

Who else is tired of hearing all the "experts" poo-pooing the A's by reminding readers that "The A's don't win no playoff series.  The A's haven't won since last century."?

I am.  

Screw them!

Yes, we all know that the A's have not won a playoff during the Beane era, but why, why, why do "they" insist on using the A's' history against them when they have so little in common with those past teams?  Do those experts not have anything else to write about?  

One of the few constants in the Beane era has been, of course, Billy Beane.  But what about the teams themselves?  Here are the players who played on the 2000-2003 A's who are still currently with the team:

2000.  Chavez, Zito
      
2001.  Chavez, Zito
      
2002.  Chavez, Zito, Ellis
      
2003.  Chavez, Zito, Ellis, Duchscherer, Harden, Melhuse*

Except for Chavez and Zito and later Ellis, the 2000-2002 A's bore little resemblance to the 2006 teams.  While the 2003 teams had a few more players who are with the A's now, they were still very different teams from the 2006 A's.  The handful of players the A's have kept from those earlier teams have been some of their best players.

The bottom line is that this is a vastly different team from previous A's playoff teams.  The 2006 A's should not feel any more or less constrained by its playoff history than other playoff teams.  

All the naysayers can bite me.

It's called the DLD, but it feels more like the "Daily Injury Dump."  From today's SFGate:

"Outfielder Milton Bradley "could well be back at square one," Macha said, after Bradley aggravated his oblique muscle strain Saturday. Designated hitter Frank Thomas (quadriceps) might rejoin the lineup tonight, and Macha also hopes reliever Joe Kennedy (biceps) will be available tonight.

None of Oakland's other ailing pitchers is close to returning, from starters Rich Harden (back) and Esteban Loaiza (back) to relievers Justin Duchscherer (elbow) and Jay Witasick (ankle). The A's hope Loaiza can pitch in a simulated game Friday and Harden can throw a bullpen session Monday. "

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/17/SPG0IISC9K1.DTL

Zack Greinke is expected to throw batting practice:

"Right-hander Zack Greinke is scheduled to throw live batting practice Thursday for the first time since returning from an extended absence to deal with psychological issues.

Greinke got the go-ahead after a 62-pitch workout Monday in Surprise.

A revised workout plan calls for Greinke to throw 30 pitches Thursday to hitters, then have a regular bullpen workout Saturday before pitching two innings Monday in what club officials term a "controlled atmosphere."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/14596441.htm

Dump away!

Hello Fellow ANers, let's get things going.

SI, for once, has decided to take a break from covering Johnny Damon, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martinez to throw us A's fans a bone.  Actually, John Donovan wrote a pretty good article about Thomas and included a few notes about other A's players:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/john_donovan/03/14/big.hurt/index.html

Here are a couple of excerpts from two recent ESPN chats.  The first is from Gary Gillette's chat:

"Brandon (PA): How do you think Frank Thomas will do in Oakland?"

"Gary Gillette: Poorly. While it's possible Big Frank will be healthy, happy, and productive, I'd give 3-1 odds against that happening. I think he's done. "

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=11062

The second is from Rob Neyer's chat from today:

"Tre (Chicago): Can Rich Harden nab the Cy Young this year? The only real difference betw. him and Johan Santana is one has played a few full seasons."

"Rob Neyer: That's one real difference, and a pretty big one. Here's another; in 2005, Santana walked 45 hitters in 232 innings; Harden walked 43 in 128 innings. I love Harden. But Santana's in a class all by himself."

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=11078

And finally, Mychael Urban returns with another edition of "A's Mailbag," addressing our relative abundance of catching prospects, what's in store for Juan Cruz this year, and a few other goodies:

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060313&content_id=1348706& ;vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

Sorry this DLD is short; I just wanted to get the DLD rolling for today.  When the boss is away, the mice will play, but the boss won't be gone for long.

We begin today's weekend dump with a link to a column by Ray Ratto, who proclaims that Billy Beane may "Lighten Up."  Sayeth Ratto:

"In the past, Beane could always blame his non-existent bench on the A's modest payroll, because teams who squeeze a quarter usually squeeze it from the bench and the bullpen. The lack of depth killed them in more than one postseason and prevented them from getting there in each of the last two. Last year, for the first time in years, their bullpen held up, but the bench was -- well, made of wood and stretched from the bat rack to the dugout bathroom, and that's about it."

Glenn Dickey also weighs in on the Thomas acquisition.  If you'll recall, Dickey suggested a few months ago that the A's try to acquire either Kornerko or Thomas.  He describes the Thomas acquisition as "frosting on the cake," the cake being an already deep A's roster: the deepest in 15 years.  Yesterday, Neyer described Thomas as "Sprinkles" on the cupcake.  Sprinkes, frosting, whatever.  At any rate, the consensus among columnists seems to be that the A's are "deep" this season.

Finally, for you milestone trackers, Dayn Perry gives a rundown of various career milestones that could be reached this season, and a guess at their likelihood of happening, including Sosa reaching 600 hrs, Rivera getting 400 saves, and Glavine getting his 300th win.

And, in case you're counting, only 65 more days until the season begins.

Enjoy Fanfest everyone!  Now dump on...

Let's start today off with something positive.  Jason Giambi and A's players donated money to help Wash's family, who have been displaced by Katrina:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2151772

"'That was very nice,' Washington said of the players' support. 'Now, instead of looking at one apartment, we can get a couple. That was awesome. It's been a long time since I dropped tears, I never expected anything like this.'"