QUINN THE NOT SO MIGHTY

Catching up on the past few weeks of A's news...




I am REALLY disappointed in Ryan Quinn. Usually he takes the sour taste of Mychael Urban out of your mouth with a splash of reality. But in this MLB.com piece, Around the Horn: Outfielders Quinn looks like he handed Urban his laptop to send his article in.


Chock full of ridiculousness and still, still the penchant for asking the manager about roster positions. Why Bob Geren hasn't started the process of telling reporters "go ask David Forst about who is going to be on the roster, I have a pennant to win with the guys I have right now."


From Quinn's piece;

First base could fall to Johnson or Erubiel Durazo...Swisher could return to first if Bobby Kielty or prospects Travis Buck or Ryan Goleski surprises in Phoenix and takes over left field.


- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

First, Erubiel Durazo is a DH. He was a DH when he came to the A's years ago and lost most of 2005 to elbow surgery on his throwing arm. Durazo has bricks for hands and throws less effective than Scott Hatteberg. Durazo is not an option at 1st base.


From Quinn's piece;

Swisher has shown the most potential of the candidates with his power in 2006 (35 homers) and should be able to improve his batting average with more experience at the plate.

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

What does Swisher's 'power' have to do with playing 1st base? And since when do hitters improve their batting average because they get older? The argument could be made that Swisher's average was bad in 2006 and 2005 and it couldn't be much worse in 2007. Swisher hit 35 HR in 2006. He also struck out in 27% of his at-bats (152 K's in 552 ABs). If you want to play the batting average game, fine, but Quinn didn't point out the obvious. Swisher hit .190 with runners in scoring position and .226 in close games after the 7th inning.


From Quinn's piece;

Kielty is the obvious choice to back up Swisher. The switch-hitting Kielty hit well against lefties last season, with a .325 batting average and a .607 slugging percentage from the right side.

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

Kielty had better be an option; the A's are paying his platoon'd ass $2.1 Million in 2007.

Overall	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total	.270	.329	.441	.770
As LHB	.229	.308	.314	.622
As RHB	.325	.358	.607	.965

You want Bobby Kielty getting a lot of ABs as a left-handed hitter? Wonder why Ken Macha was fired? In part for letting Kielty have so many ABs with a helmet flap that covers his right ear...


And here's where things get sticky.
From Quinn's piece;

Goleski was acquired by the A's this off-season from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and is being praised by Geren before even arriving at McAfee Coliseum.

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

Okay. That's just bad writing. Geren won't see Goleski swinging a bat until next month at the earliest. So why the Coliseum is even mentioned is beyond me. Further, Goleski was a Rule V draft selected by the Devil Rays. The A's sent the D-Rays cash for Goleski - but the Rule V stipulation is still valid. The A's have to keep Goleski on the 25 Man roster or offer him back to the Indians, Goleski's original team, for $25,000.


Now here's where things get dicey.


Goleski had surgery in the off season to repair a broken wrist.


Teams are required to submit an injury report prior to the Rule V Draft. The Indians failed to include Goleski on that list. But, here's where another MLB.com writer puts on his stupid hat:

The Indians lost a prized offensive prospect when Ryan Goleski was taken by the Devil Rays with the first pick in December's Rule 5 Draft...the Tribe might end up getting the player back...the Indians certainly had nothing to gain from hiding the injury, as knowledge of it would have greatly decreased their chances of losing Goleski.


- Anthony Castrovince, MLB.com

The Indians had EVERYthing to gain from hiding the injury! Goleski was, as the writer stated, a "prized" prospect. Was this done intentionally? Probably not. But you never can tell, for sure. But it is hard to imagine that the A's didn't do their research and the Indians could dot i's. Probably because they use a lot of capital I's.


From Quinn's piece;

And don't forget about Buck, perhaps a big part of the A's future...Geren...when asked if he could be playing in left field this year, Geren said "stranger things have happened."

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

"Perhaps a big part" of their future. What does that mean? He could be big, or he could be a bottomless washout, either way, that's big, right? Buck can hit doubles like John Olerud. A hitter I think Buck can compare to and hopefully emulate.


From Quinn's piece;

Whoever ends up in left field will have a large void to fill in Payton's absence. Payton led the A's in batting average (.296) last season and played all three outfield positions.

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

Payton also had the 8th worst On Base Percentage of A's regulars and played a horrid outfield. Getting a garden gnome in left field would be an upgrade over Payton.


From Quinn's piece;

When Kotsay needs a day off from center it will likely be Milton Bradley moving over from right field or perhaps Swisher, who played center field in the Minor Leagues and at Ohio State.

- Ryan Quinn, MLB.com

Bollocks, bloody bollocks. Nick Swisher in center? Defensively, Swisher wasn't the best left-fielder or the best 1st baseman. So the A's will stick him in centerfield, hoping he takes off? Even Macha wasn't that stupid to put Swisher in center last season for more than 2 innings. Swisher played center in college only because he pouted enough to get his way. He played centerfield or he 'might just leave college and enter in the draft'. Even in college, though, he was at 1st base most of the time. The A's left Swisher in center in the minor leagues to keep him happy, they didn't really work on his defense. They just told him to get on base. By the time Swisher was in Sacramento, it was obvious he was never going to play anywhere near the middle of the outfield.


Milton Bradley is the A's best player and the fact that the A's missed the opportunity to lock him up for the next few years is telling. The A's are banking on Travis Buck, Danny Putnam, Brian Stavisky and Javi Herrera to be ready in the next two seasons.