Athletics Nation

Gaijin_Suketto - December 22, 2009 reply

I feel like I've made a comment like this before.

It's like... something out of a dream or... I don't know. Maybe I'm just going crazy.

LoneStranger - December 22, 2009 reply

I feel like I've seen something like this before

sfoakbay - December 22, 2009 reply

The A's aren't really trying

2015 is the new date for the A’s to try to win games. Right now they’d like to sell some tickets without spending too much money. They’d also like to see how many “Rookie of the Year” winners they can produce and then trade for 17-yr-olds.

BlueMoon - December 22, 2009 reply

Not for nothin'...

… but the reason Melky Cabrera is the “headliner” in the Vasquez trade is likely because ESPN sucks at reporting. They neglect to mention in the headline that the Braves acquired Arodys Vizcaino, whom Keith Law says immediately becomes one of the top 5 prospects in the Braves’ system and profiles as a potential #1 or #2 starter. Also, as far as I can tell, this is Vasquez’s last season, so you’’re giving up that highly-touted prospect for a 1-year rental.

I’m not trying to sound defeatist, but it doesn’t look like the A’s will exactly be taking the league by storm next year. I don’t see much point in acquiring veteran players— and giving up any sort of value to do so— if playoff contention is out of the question. These are the types of moves you make when you’re on the cusp.

Eh, the Vazquez trade was not one that I'd want to be a part of

A roughly equivalent package from the A’s would be something like Rajai Davis, Michael Ynoa and Brad Kilby. Plus Davis’s 2010 salary.

For one year of Vazquez at full price? Nah. Not interested.

Same, as acknowledged below.

You really think...

the A’s should trade a top 5 prospect, another useful player, and absorb $8 million in salary for a 33 year old pitcher with one year (+ an option I think) left on his contract? Sounds sort of similar to the Holliday trade, and people seem pretty against trying something like that for this year. If the A’s traded, say, Michel Ynoa and Ryan Sweeney for one year of Vazquez, I think people would be pretty upset.

swatnick - December 22, 2009 reply

True -- I should have stuck with Hardy and Granderson

as deals I’d like the A’s to have gotten in on, not Vasquez, who would be nice to add in a vacuum but not in fact given his contract length, amount, or quality prospect going the other way.

and Polanco

or Iwamura.

Agreed on Hardy

It seems like Beane’s making the opposite mistake he usually does with Pennington — letting a handful of major league atbats trump all the minor league evidence that he’s not much of a hitter. As for Granderson, the Tigers got a great deal for him. Scherzer’s a beast.

swatnick - December 22, 2009 reply

Well, yeah

That deal was good for both the Yankees and Tigers, thanks to Arizona’s decision to trade two good pitchers for two significantly worse ones.

Vazquez doesn't have an option

He would’ve made sense if he was under control beyond 2010.

Blicks - December 23, 2009 reply

On the other hand,

how about Henry Rodriguez and Matt Sulentic for Brandon Morrow? The A’s could become the Wilford Brimley All-Stars!

Probably an unfair comparison, because Seattle is a division rival, but… boy, not liking the Morrow return. This is the first Z-man move that I really don’t agree with. League is mediocre despite big-time stuff, and the other guy seems to have some real issues with plate discipline.

Yeah, I'm not sure what that deal is about.

Philip Christy - December 22, 2009 reply

Yeah

No idea what’s going on there…

It seems like Jack Z is getting rid of Bavasi's guys...

just because they were Bavasi’s guys. I mean, most of those guys were scrubs and should be cut-loose for whatever he can get for them, but I thought that last season, Morrow showed some real promise and has a hell of an arm.

I would’ve liked to hear that the A’s inquired on him, that’s for sure.

Taj Adib - December 22, 2009 reply

Does seem like a bit of a purge, doesn't it

About the only remaining M’s starters who were acquired by Bavasi are Saunders, Lopez, Johnson, and Felix Hernandez.

Is this one os those,

“I don’t like people who were here before me” kind of new-management things? Of course that usually happens with more immediate employees (like “traveling secretary” and “Asst GM” would be in this business).

The spin I've read...

… is that this is another move to contend right now (the reasoning being that Morrow is a “project” and League can help “right now.” Their words, not mine). Still, seems a little silly to me. If what you want is some mediocre right-now help, seems to me you can pick that up on the free agent market without having to give up a commodity like Morrow.

Maybe they think he’s a huge injury risk or something.

+1

I can see that being their reasoning, but that just doesn’t make sense. League’s potential worth next year doesn’t come close to Morrow’s. I mean the guy’s been worth 1.5 WAR over his career and Morrow could easily reach that next season…
I think it’s much more likely that they value Chavez pretty highly and are enticed by the power potential…

They must really dislike Morrow for some reason. It's not his fault they picked him over Lincecum.

Wait, they traded Morrow?

Dang, Z is moving like crazy. I can’t keep up.

iglew - December 22, 2009 reply

Maybe Z has faith in the staff he's put together to turn League around

For all I rip on Kenny Wililams, he has a really good pitching coach in Don Cooper, and he’s had some successful reclamation projects with the White Sox (Thornton, Jenks, etc.). Maybe Z has been told by his coaching staff that they can fix League.

thejd44 - December 22, 2009 reply

I really believe Kenny Williams is one of the more underrated GMs

He’s generally skewered as “an idiot!!!!111” yet he has both identified many good bargains (Thornton is a great example) and put together winning teams multiple times. Is he perfect? Far from it. Should he get credit for everything that has gone right? No. But the guy has actually done some very smart things along the way.

He's one of the lesser GMs in baseball.

Given the low esteem in which KW is held

by the Moneyball crowd, there is plenty of room for both Nico’s and Mike’s statements to be correct.

I feel pretty confident that he’s not as bad as he’s generally made out to be. Still not sure if he’s above average.

Well, I mean

I don’t think I have him down on the list with, say, Dayton Moore, Ed Wade, Sabean, etc… he’s probably the next cut above that though.

I mean, he DID win the World Series, but it’s kinda hard to credit him with like every pitcher on his team having a ridiculous career year all at the same time, etc.

Why not?

Sabean gets discredited because Liriano, Bonser, and Nathan all had a ridiculous career year at the same time. (Well, OK, maybe Nathan’s was for real, but still.)

Because that was possibly one of the worst trades of all time

Right, but part of the reason it was the worst

is because in 2006 Liriano had an out-of-his-head career year and Bonser was uncharacteristically non-sucky. That’s not so different from the White Sox rotation all having good years in 2005.

True, it was still a bad trade because Nathan >> Pierzynski, but not as epically bad as its reputation.

It was only an out of his head career year because he got hurt after.

The dude put up a 4 WAR season in his first full year in the big leagues.

But making trades is often a guessing-game

On who stays healthy and who gets hurt. This is probably what motivated Byrnes to trade Scherzer, for example. You can’t count Liriano’s hypothetical production in a case he was healthy for last three years against Sabean in that trade.

Manstein - December 23, 2009 reply

I agree with this placement of him

He’s not in that truly awful, “doesn’t deserve his job” rung by any means. He’s clearly intelligent and at least has plans that (usually) make some kind of sense.

thejd44 - December 23, 2009 reply

Exactly -- he's not terrific but not awful

On AN, I’m constantly reading about how awful he is.

Nico - December 23, 2009 reply

I'm pretty sure in his tenure, he's made more moves than anybody in baseball

Although that number can be skewed since he’ll obviously have more than guys with less time on the job (and it may not be true anymore, but was a few years ago), it shows that he does A LOT.

He’d better have a few wins if he’s going to haphazardly make moves the way he does.

For every Quentin (and that cost him Carter, anyway) or Thornton, I’d say there’s at least 3-5 Todd Ritchie/Billy Koch moves he’s made.

That said, the 2010 White Sox are gonna be really, really awesome in 1999.

thejd44 - December 22, 2009 reply

Their haul for the Vazquez trade was pretty hefty

Much better than I would have expected, but he really seems to jump at the idea of making a deal.
I think they’ll really come to regret that Peavy deal in a few years…

And then he undoes it by trading Nick Swisher for squadoosh because he got pissed off at him.

the mark teahen deal was masterful though

I think it was semi-stupid

Teahen was ultimately, considering his salary, a zero value player. He’s a butcher at 3B, not that great at RF or any other defensive position he’s played, and doesn’t have a good enough bat to make up for it.

Getz and Fields aren’t much, but the fact that Getz = Teahen, except making league minimum and has decent upside, tips the deal towards stupid.

The extension, on the other hand, indefensiblly stupid.

Blicks - December 23, 2009 reply

I know. I was being totally sarcastic.

It was dumb, and it blocks Brent Morel.

A:"Rios's contract + Mark Teahen"

Q: What are two things that no one wants and would have been either released or DFA’d or rotting on a bench for many years until KW came along?

BUT YOU GUYZZZ!!!

Rios had, like, 70 RBIs last year, and Teahan is 7 for 10 with a home run when there’s a RISP and Ozzie Guillen isn’t yelling at one of his playerzzz!!!
These guys would be our best hittersss!!!

stranahanahan - December 23, 2009 reply

I think it's important to point out that

Rios had a whopping 70 RBIs!!!!!!! while Jack Cust only had 70 RBIs!!!!!!!

Nico - December 23, 2009 reply

Vazquez was never an option

His contract with the Braves allowed him to veto a trade to any West Coast team. Some reports had him nixing a possible trade with the Dodgers, before the Yanks came calling.

OaklandSi - December 22, 2009 via mobile reply

Hardy

Would have been nice.

niallmack - December 22, 2009 reply

Yes he would have.

Curtis Granderson would have been nice too

They did get Michael Taylor though. Credit where credit is due.

Definitely.

Imagine adding Granderson, Hardy, and Inge and you have yourself a contender — and given what Granderson and Hardy cost, and what Inge likely would (mostly salary), you wonder how much the A’s would have had to give up to assemble that crew.

They can still get Inge.

They don’t really have anyone that’s comparable to Carlos Gomez or Austin Jackson in the eyes of the teams that acquired them. I’m not that enamored of either so it’s a bit frustrating.

Wait, Nico

Should the A’s trade for Inge?
That’s the first I’ve heard you talk about him…

Brandon Inge!!!!!!!

The Vazquez trade reminds me,

The Yankees have too many SPs now with Mitre and Gaudin on the outs. Now’s the time to bring back Chad! It’d probably only take a C prospect to pry him away. I’m sure the yanks are looking to restock the system a little after their Granderson/Vazqeuz trades.

Chad could be a decent option for someone. Maybe Seattle or Anaheim.

I don’t think I’d trade more than a C prospect for him, and the Angels and Mariners probably would.

yeah, but if you brought back Chad and Duke, that'd leave you with

1 – Duke
2 – Braden
3 – Anderson
4 – Gaudin
5 – Cahill/Gio/Mazzaro/Outman

That’s a sneaky good rotation.

Damn that whole Gaudin is good

myth refuses to die. He’s been atrocious except for ONE half-season. Don’t let his overall track record affect anything tho. GAUDIN for 4th starter!!!

ohmangoAs - December 22, 2009 reply

This year

he pitched 147 inning with 139 K’s and an FIP of 4.16. That sounds like a pretty damn good 4th starter to me.

It sounds like what people here think Dallas Braden is.

hadn't considered that

pitcher 1: 136 IP, 81K, 42 BB, 3.73 FIP
pitcher 2: 147 IP, 139K, 76 BB, 4.16 FIP

one is a #1 pitcher and one TOTALY SUCKORZ!!!!

I don't think anyone who seriously stops and thinks about it

would call Braden a #1 pitcher. That’s just insane.

Imagine intimating that Braden was a #1 back around this time in '07

You’d have gotten hung by the chimney with care.

I was nearly lynched for intimating that Dallas Braden was even a competent pitcher after 2008

I can’t even really take credit for that one. A 2-second glance at the guy’s FIP said he had been ridonkulously unlucky in his MLB career and would likely be a solid pitcher going forward.

That said, his FIP is still at basically the same “solid pitcher” level that it’s always been at. So, yeah. Not a #1 pitcher.

hung by the chimney

Wow, you know there’s gotta be a NSFW image of that out there somewhere. But I’m not going to go looking for it.

Yeah, OK I lied.

Curiosity got the better of me.

It’s not as bad as I thought. Google images made it all the way to picture 14 before anything dirty turned up, and even that was remarkably tame.

It’s only borderline NSFW, but since it really is a workday, I’ll play it safe with just a link.

Depends on the definition of "#1"

I do predict the A’s will have him pitch opening day, so in that sense he’d be our #1.

I agree that he’s not our best though, and probably not our second best either.

No

When people talk about a pitcher being “a #1 starter,” they do not mean “the opening day starter for a particular team” unless they are being deliberately obtuse. That’s the kind of Orwellian language manipulation used by marketing directors to try to lure fans into buying season tickets.

PaulThomas - December 23, 2009 reply

And yet, dozens of out-of-town commentators

WILL be that obtuse. If Braden does indeed pitch opening day, they’ll all be calling him our “#1”.

For the record, I knew exactly what you meant. I only intended to point out that others out there will use the term differently, confusing matters by calling a guy our “#1” even if he’s not the best.

iglew - December 24, 2009 reply

I think if we're talking number one starter

my money is on Brett Anderson at this point. But that’s just me…

mrod - December 23, 2009 reply

i think dallas braden is my hero

9Custs - December 22, 2009 reply

While I love 209

He is NOT a #1 in the rotation, unless of course your rotation sucks.

For a brief moment in time

Gaudin was unhittable.

That train left the station a looooooong time ago

He was almost exactly as valuable starting this year

As he was with Oakland in ’07 in terms of per IP.

Duke's not coming back

From the sounds of things, all reports keep saying that he’s saying with a new team this week…

I hope it's an east coast team in the NL.

LoneStranger - December 23, 2009 reply

I'm guessing Yankees.

I stand corrected

Olney reports that there’s a fair chance he could still sign with us.
I’d provide the link, but it’s ESPN insider…

stranahanahan - December 23, 2009 reply

They could use some more catching depth

Recker, maybe?

didn't they just add Mike Rivera?

Sigh.

Nobody truly appreciates Francisco Cervelli.

Mrs. Cervelli does

They could also use an OF to replace Melky. Hairston?

Send them Buck and Hairston -- "they're one OFer combined!"

0-4

Blogging For Dummies: How To Write A Bad Post

1. “I should write something so there’s something new to read on the front page.”
2. “Hey, the Vazquez trade was finalized.”
3. “Vazquez would be a great fit in the A’s current rotation.”
4. “Of course, JJ Hardy would have been a great fit in the infield.”
5. “And Granderson in the OF.”
6. “Man, players who would help the A’s a lot right now keep getting traded elsewhere.”
7. “I should really start writing something…”

Braves still need an OF. Buck/Hairston could still end up there.

They don’t really have much in the way of extra SS/3B, though, so another team would have to be involved.

Hmm...Maybe we can settle for their backup catcher,

but ask that they also throw in Yunel Escobar.

So do the Yankees, actually.

RAJAI DAVIS FOR AROD + CASH

I'd do it without CASH

nah.

We don’t need a third baseman OR a shortstop, especially one that’s such a weak hitter.

Leopold Bloom - December 22, 2009 reply

And he's not clutch.

eastbayexpat - December 22, 2009 reply

no grit.

Leopold Bloom - December 22, 2009 reply

i mean seriously...he's never been key to a post season run that's ended with a world championship.

stm72 - December 22, 2009 reply

yeah but he got to bang madonna.

ray of lite madonna, not lucky star madonna

big difference

stm72 - December 22, 2009 reply

Like you'd turn either down?

there's sloppy seconds and then there's sloppy seconds to the 50th power. i would pass on ray of lite madonna. had the serious hots for lucky star madonna.

stm72 - January 1, 2010 reply

Shyah, no

What do we want with that one hipped-over-the-hill pretty boy?

STRICKOUTS through age 28:

A-Rod: 1126
Rajai: 141

Rajai FTW!

Spass30 - December 22, 2009 reply

Self-deprecation saved you from some serious OP snark Nico ;)

About Javier Vazquez...

The guy had it written in his contract that he could veto a trade to any NL West or AL West team. He forced a trade out of Arizona less than a year after the D’backs traded for him, as was his right since he was traded to Arizon by the Yankees a year after he signed a multi-year contract with them.

He doesn’t want to play his home games out here, which means Oakland never had a chance to acquire him.

grover - December 22, 2009 reply

This post would have been meaningful

if you had actually told me what the trades that happened are. Or at least linked to a news story. I gather from your observations that a Vasquez trade and a Hardy trade happened, but I’m still not clear on the details. Not all of us sit around watching MLBTR or ESPN all day, you know.

Sure, I know I could go searching and find it pretty easily, but hey, I was hoping you’d at least give me a summary rather than start talking about a trade as if everyone already knows about it. Call me lazy.

iglew - December 22, 2009 reply

oops, meant to say "more meaningful"

Lazy AND a lousy proofreader.

(Going to go look for the Brandon Morrow trade now.)

iglew - December 22, 2009 reply

im sure you already know about it but just in case

www.mlbtraderumors.com will give links to all stories and the categorize it pretty easily. not the most trust worthy source maybe, but it gives someone a place to start

thewhizkid - December 22, 2009 reply

Laziness and poor proofreading tend to go together, I think.

thejd44 - December 22, 2009 reply

Honestly, iglew, your observation is only about the 8th worst thing

about this post, which if it were a horse would have been put out to the glue factory, if it were Chavez would have been shot by a gang of “non-Mexican haters,” and if it were Crosby would have still been less of a whiff.

And JJ Hardy was traded about 2 months ago.

What? That can't be right...

If this post were Chavez it would still be penciled in for a starting spot in next year’s blogging lineup.

This post feels better than it's felt in years.

thejd44 - December 22, 2009 reply

Its November, 2010

Crisp’s option has just been exercised, and G.Desme (have we figured out if his name is Greg or Grant yet?) and Corey Brown have raced into AAA. Michael Taylor and Chris Carter have thrown up OPSs of 1000+ at AAA and we have so many outfielders its not funny.

Every CF in MLB has gotten a year older, there’s bound to have been some injuries to some and there will be teams (the white sox immediately come to mind) looking for one. Lets check the market shall we?

Willie Bloomquist (33)
Jody Gerut (33)
Willie Harris (33)
Jason Michaels (35)
Corey Patterson (31)
Willy Taveras (29)

(THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION, THIS IS THE CF MARKET)

Random, CF-needing GM sees said list and says: “Oh shit, well that’s a terrible group. Who’s available for trades? Lets go around and see who’s available…”

Thats when this dude spins around dramatically and holds his chin to make sure you see his baller-ass watch and says “O RLY? A CENTER FIELDER IS WHAT YOU SEEK, EHHHHHHH????”

“LET ME GIVE YOU A TOUR OF MY SHOWROOM….OVER HERE WE HAVE THE YOUTHFUL, GOOD LOOKING ATHLETE-TYPE WHO HITS AT A LEAGUE AVERAGE RATE BUT HAS A GOOD CEILING, HE’S MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN MELKY CABRERA, WHO WAS JUST TRADED FOR THE GUY WITH THE 3RD HIGHEST FIP LAST YEAR.”

R.Sweeney: “Good day to you sir” /takes off running and makes a sweet catch and somehow lines a hard single to right-center in the same motion.

“HARK! BUT LOOK OVER HERE, ITS A COST CONTROLLED COCO CRISP! DOES MY USE OF ALLITERATION HYPNOTIZE YOU? IT SHOULD DO! HE’S ALL YOURS FOR 2011 AND HE’S ALSO BETTER THAN MELKY CABRERA. HE ALSO GOES BY THE NICKNAME “COOKIE”, IF THERE IS A COMPANY IN YOUR TOWN THAT MAKES COOKIES, THE COMMERCIAL TIE-INS ARE ENDLESS. LOOK, HE EVEN LOVES TO EAT COOKIES!"

C. Crisp: /eats cookies from bag. Andruw Jones materializes next to him, grabs the bag from him, inhales the bag and disappears while laughing manically.
C. Crisp: “Aw crumbshucks”

“DO YOU THINK I AM EVEN CLOSE TO FINISHING THIS? NO! HERE IS RAJAI DAVIS, A SHORT STOCKY GUY WHO IN AN EFFORT TO GET TEH AWESOME, ONCE WENT THROUGH A RIGID VOODOOO CEREMONY WHICH INCLUDED RUBBING RICKEY HENDERSON’S 939 BAG ALL OVER HIS BODY AND EATING A BAG OF LOU BROCK’S TOENAILS”

R.Davis: “yummy yummy yummy yummy YAAHHHMAAAA”
/is wearing a chain of Melky Cabrera’s teeth
/smashes a triple, then runs back to first so he can steal second then third, then scores on a wild pitch.
“yummy yummy yummy yummy YAAHHHMAAAA”

“WE ALSO HAVE SCOTT HAIRSTON.”

S. Hairston: “ouch, hi, oh cmon, help out ol’ scotty, you gotta! im just trying to make ends meet! I’ll play that centered field for you, Im getting better at hittin righties I swear! C’mon sir, my marriage is hanging by a thread, ol’ scotty needs a home. Im definitely better than Melky Cabrera, although he’s a swell guy I dont wanna badmouth him, yeah you should probably just sign him instead of me, he was a Yankee and Im just ol’ Scotty”
/makes puppy dog eyes
/begrudgingly plays better than Melky Cabrera
/Frank Wren’s eyes well up with tears.

“LASTLY WE HAVE GENETICALLY MELDED TWO BORDERLINE EVERYDAY PLAYERS INTO A SUPER FRANKENSTIEN EVERYDAY CF! MEET AARVIS BUCKINGHAM!”

A.Buckingham: “uuughhhhhhhhhhghgaarrrrrrrrrghARGHGHHHHH”
/plays better than Melky Cabrera

“SO…..REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAID I WAS A FOOL FOR SIGNING CRISP AND STOCKPILING ALL THESE CENTER FIELDERS? IM NOT MUCH OF A FOOL NOW AM I???? NOW GIVE ME PLAYERS THAT ARE MUCH BETTER THAN THESE ONES, YOU DO IT NOW! YOU DONT WANT BRIAN ANDERSON OUT THERE DO YOU?”

/Dayton Moore signs Brian Anderson to 6 year deal
D. Moore: “hey guys, whats going on?”

This is like The Dugout

I rec’d it. Why haven’t you all rec’d it? Rec it!

CaliforniaJag - December 22, 2009 reply

thanks

sometimes, you just have to make your own dugouts haha

Hairston sounds like Gill off the Simpsons

Daniel777 - December 22, 2009 reply

YUP!

Can anyone get the Raj reference though?

Police Academy 4

Citizens on Patrol

gatling - December 22, 2009 reply

YOU WIN!!!

The quiz, my heart, etc

Seriously how incredible is that film? I watched it with some friends (great party movie btw) the other day and we pondered if it could even be made today without costing $500MM. Its so epic, ever scene is in a different setting, and theres random amazingness such as David Spade has his stunts done by Tony Hawk! Thats like Raj Davis getting Frank Thomas as his stuntman, LOL! Also the quoted scene above is just such a classic as well…

I love that movie

You have pre-SNL David Spade as a skate board punk, pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone as a newspaper reporter, Mahoney super gluing the megaphone to Harris’ mouth, the Simon Says bit where the prisoners escape, the hot air balloon chase, Zed’s poetry reading with the old ladies, and of course the scene you used for Rajai. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of the first three Police Academy movies, but I feel safe in saying #4 was my favorite by far.

gatling - December 23, 2009 reply

Green

Daniel777 - December 22, 2009 reply

Jesus christ, sometimes you come up with some funny shit.

This is one of those times.

Sigged my favorite part, too

This was awesome

CaliforniaJag - December 22, 2009 reply

But you sigged the part with my one quibble.

“Hark” means listen, not look. Should be “Lo”. Billy wouldn’t get that wrong.

While I agree that there's parts of this Id love to slightly change

The number 1 rule of comedy is that the less you know about whatever youre writing, the funnier it is. This right here is the perfect example of what I mean.

also, just re-reading it now

That part that says “DO YOU THINK I AM EVEN CLOSE TO FINISHING THIS? NO!” is actually directed at myself, as I knew I was “on a roll” so to speak and this post was getting really long. That’s just a really odd thing to throw in there, I have no idea why I went with it, other than it looking kind of funny to read.

That would explain why I suck at comedy.

I’m not funny at all.

iglew - December 24, 2009 reply

rec'd, but

You left out the part where our record was 70-92 and Chase Utley and Jayson Werth have hit more HRs together than our entire team combined

cuppingmaster - December 22, 2009 reply

my favortie part

smashes a triple, then runs back to first so he can steal second then third, then scores on a wild pitch

micdog2001 - December 22, 2009 reply

I know this post was mostly in jest (and good job with that)

But I’m not sure if the White Sox needing/wanting an OF is serious or not.

Unless they make moves, in 2011 their starting OF will be the same as 2010 (Pierre, Rios, Quentin). They really don’t have the need, at least from their perspective.

thejd44 - December 22, 2009 reply

If you honestly think Rios is going to play an adequate CF all year for the chisox

then surely you jest.

whether he does or he doesn't, he's under a nearly untradably bad contract

The Bluejays were pretty delighted he got picked up on waivers, by all accounts

bobnothing - December 22, 2009 reply

Bravura performance

I like the Crisp signing much more now

Amazing application of alliteration!

muffinpryde - December 22, 2009 reply

Alliterates and Illiterates: The New Undervalued Commodities!

Travis Buck working with Swisher and Yankees hitting instructot

spoke to onetime A’s right fielder Travis Buck yesterday about the most recent influx of outfielders, which presumably pushes him down the depth chart again, but Buck has a good attitude about the whole thing: He said that if he goes out and does what he’s supposed to during the spring, either the A’s will want him or someone else might.

To that end, Buck has been working with ex-A’s outfielder Nick Swisher and Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long. Buck has all but eliminated his famous “waggle” and he said that for the first time, he’s really incorporating his lower body into his swing. That gives him more power, Buck said. (And that’s certainly something the A’s could use.) He’s very happy with the results.

Buck said his agent heard some rumblings during the winter meetings that some other teams might have interest in him but A’s GM Billy Beane didn’t express interest in parting with him.

Trainman - December 22, 2009 reply

Instructor

LOL

tot

Trainman - December 22, 2009 reply

I was hoping you meant that Buck was under the guidance

of a tater tot.

Better if you use the blockquote feature

so that it’s more clear that Susan Slusser is talking, not you. As written it sounds like you’re the one who spoke with Buck yesterday.