Friday, June 30, 2006
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COCKTAIL PARTY
The week is finally over and I'll have a lot more time over the rest of the season to post.
Here's to Ron Flores.
posted by ZACHARY D MANPRIN at 2:08 PM
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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DEWEY AWARDS
Here begins a series of posts on the statistics in the various levels of the A's organization. The Short Season Northwest League has begun play; this is where you will find several of the A's recent draft picks beginning their professional careers. Also, many of the players are in the Arizona League, which is the rookie league. Not to be confused with the Arizona Fall League.
This coincides with a recent report on the A's minor league system by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.
There aren't a lot of bright spots in the A's system. Craig Italiano's shoulder is jacked up, big freakin' surprise. A majority of the pitchers have been lucky, rather than good, and the other have been inconsistent. For second year pitchers, that's not such a big deal. But it diminishes some of the hopes for guys like Brad Knox and Ben Fritz. There's a laundry list of A's players who have disappeared from the radar in the last two years that had some possibility of panning out or at least making it to AAA. You make it that far and there's a still a shot at making the 25-man roster or at least contributing at the big league level. However, IF you're out of baseball after two years of being drafted. That is bad and not exactly a gold star for player development, scouting and the organization as a whole.
Enough of my jibber-jabber from the big picture.
As far as Oakland, we know the score. The A's don't score enough.
With Mark Ellis beginning a rehab assignment, one must wonder if Mike Rouse, Antonio Perez or Marco Scutaro is removed from the 25 Man roster. It was not a huge surprise to see Antonio Perez to make an appearance at 2nd base. A little side-by-side comparison.
The A's OF woes continue, as Nick Swisher is the only hitter with any authority. Kielty and Payton have been hitting as of late. But is that too little too late? Payton has been acting like, well, Jay Payton. He is now bitching and moaning about playing time despite starting several games in center while Mark Kotsay hobbled about with his Abba Zabba back.
Kielty, Payton and at least on middle infielder is most likely dangling out there for immediate trade. And this is information that is readily available anywhere. So don't try slapping me around.
As far as pitching the old ball around, the A's are doing well. Ken Macha aside. A few of us blew up Saturday when he failed to pinch hit for Danny Haren in the top of the 6th. The A's ended up extended their lead to 7-2. In the bottom of the 6th, Haren gave up a single, double and a two-run single to make the score 7-4. Which led to Macha extending Huston Street and the asinine approach to pitching to Bonds and the 8-7 debacle. The Giants won the Bay Bridge series, kids.