Danny Haren and Connor Robertson were traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for LHP Brett Anderson, LHP Greg Smith, LHP Dana Eveland, OFCarlos Gonzalez, OF Aaron Cunningham and 1B Chris Carter.

Statists, anaylysis and breakdown are happening over at the FORUM.

BREAKING: THE MITCHELL REPORT (PDF)



This is the kind of signing that makes people cringe. People who understand statistics and logic and reason and reality. Not fans who think that if you wear an A's uniform you are the best player or pitcher in the league despite no evidence to support such a case.


Lenny DiNardo was signed to a one year deal for $900,000 further proving that if you throw with your left arm and have a left hand attached to it you can make a living as a Major League pitcher. The A's retained one of their pitchers from 2007 when you think they would be trying to swab the decks of anything they could of that albatross.


What A's fans will remember are the few games where DiNardo was 'lights' out. Actually he had one good game in August and two decent games in July. Other than that DiNardo appeared in 35 games as a starter and a reliever in 2007. In 35 games he allowed runs in 23 of those games. What the average A's fan that doesn't bother to look at stats (facts/truth) realize is that DiNardo ran into a large spate of luck brought to you by the old earned run versus run allowed.


What DiNardo does have a plus skill at is getting groundballs. His groundball to flyball rate is more than two to one which is good. However, he strikes out so few batters as to negate that skill at times. A solid pitcher strikes out close to a batter an inning as a reliever and a 10-15% drop in that rate as a starter. DiNardo struck out 112 batters in over 212 innings pitched.

SEASON	TEAM	RBI	SH	SF	IBB	HB	WP	BK	SB	CS	IR	IS	GDP	GB	FB	G/F
2004	Bos	18	1	1	1	2	1	0	1	1	9	5	1	57	18	3.17
2005	Bos	8	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	5	3	3	27	13	2.08
2006	Bos	28	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	6	2	9	92	33	2.79
2007	Oak	63	7	6	2	3	2	0	3	3	11	2	27	243	103	2.36
Total	--	117	9	9	5	6	5	0	5	5	31	12	40	419	167	2.51

DiNardo was signed to fill out the AAA Sacramento RiverCats rotation. Nothing more. He made a few Krusty Burgers over the league minimum as far as salary. DiNardo's performance in 2007 in no way justifies the A's signing him to a contract for 2008. The A's signed DiNardo because they are desperate. The let Joe Kennedy fade away on waivers toward the tail end of the season. By the way Eric Byrnes fans - there goes your legacy of that trade. Jay Witasick had been jettisoned long before that.


What boggles the mind is why the A's would pay for DiNardo when they have Brad Ziegler who had a GB/FB ratio of 3.74 in AAA last year and an astonishing 6.83 GB/FB ratios against right-handers. Ziegler's K rate was also better than DiNardo's. We will have a better idea when PECOTA comes out in a few weeks.

NAME	G	GS	W	L	Sv	QS	Hld	IP	H	ER	R	HR	BB	SO	K/9	P/GS	WHIP	ERA
Dan Haren	34	34	15	9	0	28	0	222.2	214	76	91	24	55	192	7.76	107.10	1.21	3.07
Joe Blanton	34	34	14	10	0	20	0	230.0	240	101	106	16	40	140	5.48	102.60	1.22	3.95
Lenny DiNardo	35	20	8	10	0	7	0	131.1	136	60	74	13	50	59	4.04	80.20	1.42	4.11
Chad Gaudin	34	34	11	13	0	15	0	199.1	205	98	108	21	100	154	6.95	97.00	1.53	4.42
Dallas Braden	20	14	1	8	0	2	1	72.1	91	54	59	9	26	55	6.84	84.60	1.62	6.72
	G	GS	W	L	Sv	QS	Hld	IP	H	ER	R	HR	BB	SO	K/9	P/GS	WHIP	ERA
Athletics	162	162	76	86	36	85	66	1448	1468	689	758	138	530	1036	6.44	95.90	1.38	4.28

DiNardo's ERA is skewed far and wide versus the other A's starters as he was the benefit of ruled errors in the field behind him. This is one of the tacit arguments of analysis; it really doesn't matter if the runs were earned or not - they still scored. A pitcher's job is to prevent runs. To prevent runs a pitcher needs outs. How those outs are obtained delves deeper into analysis - groundballs are better than flyballs, strike outs are better than groundballs; to a point. One pitch can get a groundball whereas a strikeout needs a minimum of three.


DiNardo was very lucky in 2007 and only 5 pitchers in MLB last year with more than 100 innings pitched had better bullpen support. Looking at VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) with more than 100 innings pitched DiNardo was 95th; behind Barry Zito, behind Joe Kennedy and Jarrod Washburn - none of which had good seasons in 2007.


Is DiNardo a bargain compared to those pitchers? You can't discount quality and DiNardo is far from quality. He is a live body. And apparently the A's feel the going rate for live bodies is $900,000.


If you want to trot out the standby for substandard lefty starters, "well, if he doesn't work out as a starter the A's can use him as a reliever and a LOOGY (Lefty One Out GuY)."


That doesn't work either. While DiNardo was better as a reliever (only 35 innings to look at) his splits against left-handed hitters was WORSE than his splits against right-handed hitters overall. DiNardo also flopped down the stretch with each passing day adding more gasoline to the fire.

Overall	ERA	W	L	SV	SVO	G	GS	CG	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG
Total	4.11	8	10	0	0	35	20	0	131.1	136	74	60	13	50	59	.278
As Starter	4.93	7	8	0	0	20	20	0	96.2	108	67	53	12	43	37	.293
As Reliever	1.82	1	2	0	0	15	0	0	34.2	28	7	7	1	7	22	.231
Opponent Batting	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total	489	74	136	23	0	13	63	50	3	59	3	3	.278	.341	.405	.745
Right / Left	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs. Right	387	74	105	19	0	9	48	40	1	51	3	2	.271	.333	.390	.723
vs. Left	102	0	31	4	0	4	15	10	2	8	0	1	.304	.371	.461	.831
By Day/Month	ERA	W	L	SV	SVO	G	GS	CG	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG
April	1.93	0	1	0	0	5	0	0	9.1	8	2	2	1	1	5	.235
May	1.72	1	1	0	0	7	1	0	15.2	11	6	3	0	5	10	.200
June	3.12	2	2	0	0	5	5	0	26.0	25	13	9	2	14	9	.272
July	4.15	2	2	0	0	6	5	0	30.1	32	17	14	2	8	13	.267
August	4.78	3	1	0	0	6	6	0	32.0	36	17	17	6	13	12	.300
September	7.50	0	3	0	0	6	3	0	18.0	24	19	15	2	9	10	.353
Pre-All Star	2.72	3	5	0	0	19	7	0	59.2	55	27	18	4	23	32	.252
Post-All Star	5.27	5	5	0	0	16	13	0	71.2	81	47	42	9	27	27	.299

The DiNardo signing is another nail in the coffin of the A's inability to produce league average or even marginal players from within their own organization. The A's used to be very good at plucking players from other organization that slipped through the cracks. The A's have never been good at fielding players in their own organization to serve that role. You really need to sit back as a fan and wonder why the medical staff was overhauled after the season but not the Player Development department or minor league administration...

Link for report on the Mitchell Report:
ESPN.com - Howard Bryant

More than 65 years ago the Doolittle Raiders flying B25B Mitchells bombed Honshu in a limited attack at the Japanese home islands. The attack itself did little material damage but the aftereffects on moral and minor strategic were valuable. If not transparent.


Tomorrow the Mitchell Report is due to be released, more than likely in limited form (you REALLY think MLB is going to release EVERYTHING?) with press conferences to follow Friday.


The Report will have much the same impact on baseball as the Doolittle Raids. Little material impact but the aftereffects and ploys of psychological and emotional value will sustain the general public for a brief time.


The fact remains that PEDs and steroids were not against the rules of baseball until 2003 and players who used were not cheating. From designer steroids and HGH to Ritalin and diet pills. Long before steroids there was cocaine, amphetamines (greenies), different 'vitamin' shots and drug cocktails - one called the red sludge used by indignant Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. Ever wonder why players before the late 1980's were so damn skinny? Didn't have anything to do with steroids. Players were hopped up on uppers and cocaine and their metabolism was working non-stop. And it wasn't a select few, either.


Barry Bonds wasn't a cheater. Neither was Mark McGwire. And if you think they were then you need to throw in Paul Molitor and 1978 Pittsburgh Pirates. Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, too. they all used a substance illegal to possess to enhance their performance. Were any of them against the rules of MLB? No. So, how are you a cheater if you aren't breaking the rules? Against the law? Throwing a high 90's baseball at a hated co-workers head would be considered illegal, too. But Jose Mesa has no problem doing that. Nor does Roger Clemens or Curt Schilling. Is there a larger hypocrite on the planet than Schilling? Why is cortisone accepted but other drugs not? How many pain killers and other drugs was Schilling on during the 'Bloody Sock' games?


If you haven't read Ball Four by Jim Bouton (inventor of Big League Chew, by the way) then you really need to before you start your internal argument on this issue. Then move on to The Juice by Will Carroll and go from there. I do feel bad for Will as his book was lumped into every book that came after with the title 'juice' in it. Of course, Judy Blume was probably irked that Freckle Juice was being ignored.


If your career hung in the balance and a $30 Million payday existed for using PEDs - anyone who says they wouldn't use is lying. If you think an extra cup of coffee in the morning will help you perform you are going to head to Peet's and load up. Even if the FDA has stated that if caffeine were introduced as a drug in the 21st century it would have to be regulated. But caffeine is accepted. Nicotine, too. If you think that there is a weight loss miracle diet are you really going to question the ingredients and their purity? Not if it works, right? As it turns out a high portion of over the counter PEDs and supplements are laced with steroids and other fun chemicals that are illegal. So if Aunt Cindy lost 40 lbs on her new diet and the self-confidence led her to a promotion and a fancy new beau-hunk are you going to call her a cheater and a fraud?

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus has his latest Future Shock article on MLB team's top prospects. Goldstein is formerly of Baseball America. For the last few years he has been gracious with his time and patience in discussing the A's farm system in interviews on EiO. I am not going to pester KG this season and simply hope to run into him at Spring Training in February or March.


The scuttlebutt of any article on the Oakland A's is how much the hand of Billy Beane played into it.


Beane's propaganda is distributed through the local media and online publications. It shows. Beane knows he can manipulate and cherry pick what information he allows out and what he needs to tilt an advantage in the A's favor. Take the A's injury-related information. The A's give up nothing as far as information let alone details. Yet, their 40 Man roster looks like a roll call on trauma ward.


If you have access to Baseball America online or want to run to the local book store and check it out; the A's prospect lists over the last few years have been head scratchers to say the least. Three has always been a bent that Baseball America is the scout-heavy baseball site while Baseball Prospectus is stat head based. Short answer 'yes' with an 'if', long answer 'no' with a 'but'. The order of the prospects doesn't really matter much for me, personally. Again, for me, personally. I am not really concerned with who is the 'best' prospect. I am more concerned at which player is closest and the ceiling or long term impact the player might have.


You can argue that I am an idiot in that I really am arguing the order of the prospects. I would respond with, 'nuh ugh' and further suggest that the rankings matter little until they actually put on an A's uniform in the regular season. The reason being the A's prospects may not be comparable to another organization's prospects. The A's best prospect may not make the top 10 in Arizona's or Florida's organization. Still, the A's top prospect might be a regular for the A's in the coming season.


Anyway. Here's the list Goldstein provides. Head over to the FORUM and read more on the prospects. By tomorrow morning I will try to have the statistics for each of the players listed. And any day now we will have the PECTOA numbers from Nate Silver.


[ED NOTE] If at a certain point in your career as a baseball fan that you get more excited AFTER the season is over due to all the publications and statistics to analyze - welcome!

	FIVE STAR PROSPECT		DRAFTED
1.	Daric Barton	1B (DH)	2003 1st Round - 28th pick overall (St. Louis Cardinals)
	FOUR STAR PROSPECT
2.	Trevor Cahill	RHP	2006 2nd Round - 66th pick overall
	THREE STAR PROSPECT
3.	James Simmons	RHP	2007 1st Round - 26th pick overall
4.	Henry Rodriguez	RHP	2006 Signed - Venezuela
5.	Andrew Bailey	RHP	200 6th Round - 188th pick overall
6.	Corey Brown	OF	200 1st Round - 59th pick overall
7.	Jermaine Mitchell	OF	2006 5th Round - 158th pick overall
8.	Javier Herrera	OF	2001 Signed Venezuela
9.	Jerry Blevins	LHP	2004 17th Round - 516th pick overall
	TWO STAR PROSPECT
10.	Josh Horton	SS	2007 2nd Round - 90th pick overall
11.	Sean Doolittle	1B	2007 1st Round - 41st pick overall