Wednesday Musings - A's Give to Charity, New Baseball Rules, Checking In

In case you haven't heard this fabulous story, let me recap: The A's players voted to donate an entire playoff share ($34,325.16) to charity. It's not such a noteworthy story if we have a team full of millionaire superstars, but with our payroll, and our group of guys, this is truly a touching gesture, and as the article puts it:

Despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the Major Leagues, the A’s showed how closely connected the team is to the community. The generous gesture by the Oakland A’s just adds another reason why the team has been rekindling the passion for baseball in Oakland.

I decorated my Christmas tree last night, and as all the A's ornaments went up, I just felt again the magic of the 2012 season. Last year at this time, I no more could have imagined an AL West Championship than I could have a real visit from Santa, but look at how that turned out. I feel so lucky to have the A's as my main rooting interest, and despite being in the middle of a fun year with my other teams (49ers, Stanford football, and the Warriors), I still think of A's baseball the most, even during the off-season.

Sports Illustrated published this article yesterday, and I thought it was worth a quick glance. Titled "The Nine Rules Baseball Needs to Change", it delves into the benefit of replay, the disadvantage of having umpires makes calls out of position, and body armor.

I absolutely disagree with the assessment that the playoffs are too long, and a seven game series should be shortened to five; personally, I would like all playoff series to be 7. I also found the argument against September expanded rosters to be interesting:

It's time for general managers to stop talking about it and do something about it. It's a quick and logical fix. Teams should play all games with the same number of players. I advocate using a 25-man roster all year long. The difference is that in September you can call up as many players as you want but you must designate a game roster each day of 25 players. A manager, for instance, might leave off his other four starting pitchers, for instance, to include four September call-ups. Some GMs have advocated a standard but expanded roster for September games -- say, a daily roster of 28. Twenty-five is plenty, and brings uniformity to the season.

What do you think? So how IS everyone? Are you watching any other sports, or are you counting down the days until A's baseball is back on the air? Catch me up!