Zachary reports from the 2008 FanFest...


I readily admit that FanFest has become something of an anomaly. It's really not that much fun for a fan if you have been to more than one event. It's the equivalent to a boat or RV show. There just isn't that much to do or see. I am saying this from my perspective. I have been in the dugout, the clubhouse (note: be a good baseball fan - baseball teams don't have locker rooms, they have clubhouses) and the press box before and after games. So seeing it during the FanFest isn't that much fun.


I'm sorry if I sound like a killjoy here, but I am simply being realistic. Fan attendance was down considerably for the 2008 FanFest. Many blame the weather - 101 was closed for stretches over the weekend and the recent spat of trades may have further dampened things. Really, I think A's fans just had something better to do over the weekend. Apparently so did Eric Chavez since he didn't bother to show up.


And let that be a ringing endorsement of the current stage of the franchise; the A's signature model - the face of the Oakland A's did not appear at their annual fan event. The idea that he did not have a few hours to spend in Oakland due to rehab or any other reason is just not going to go over well. Let's face it, Eric Chavez chickened out. At least Bobby Crosby showed up and heard the criticism from fans. Chavez might just be too brittle and delicate to take what he considers abuse.


It's a shame because nothing the A's have done to shield him from criticism over the years has worked. Billy Beane still sings his praises. Then again, I think Beane still feels Chavez is 22 years old and he is just due to break out into superstardom. As it is Chavez is a 30 year old who compares to hitters like Phil Nevin and Adrian Beltre. He isn't a star let alone on the verge of superstardom.


I made my way to the Q&A Section in the rightfield corner. David Forst, Billy Beane and Bob Geren were the featured targets with the annoying Glen Kuiper hosting. It was chilly and all three showed their mettle by braving the weather. Kuiper wore a blue fleece jacket. Would it kill him to wear the Green and Gold to the freakin' FanFest? Or at least a 'neutral' color like tan?





The beauty of the Q&A sessions is that you get a nice wave of fan reaction and sentiment; from the asinine to the overly complex. One fan mentioned she was thankful that the A's don't have problems in the front office like the 'other Oakland team'. Really? What do you call firing, re-hiring, and re-firing Ken Macha? Bob (Bobo) Geren is on a short leash no matter what Beane says in public. I am not suggesting that the fan was dumb, stupid or ill-informed. I am simply making the point that some fans believe what they want damn the facts or the conclusions thereof.


I generally ask questions of Beane that he is not ask knowing full well that the answers will be a jumbled mix of his standard rhetoric. A few years ago I asked if the A's could develop and replace front office staff just as they do players and managers. He stymied about the organization and how well it is run. But the fact is that the A's have not developed front office people from within. They continue to use outside contractors on a short term basis. This is part of the reason the A's are so secretive about information.


Saturday I asked Beane about the changes made to the medical staff and the coaching staff and why changes have not been made to the drafting and player development staff. It's about 30 minutes in on the Q&A available on the A's website. Beane got defensive and clumsily answered a question with, again, his standard answer; "these guys didn't get dumb overnight". He championed his staff and the system. When in fact he short changed what Grady Fuson meant to the organization and their draft strategy. Beane pointed out that Eric Kubota, Keith Lieppman - those are the guys that drafted Hudson, Mulder and Zito. Actually that was Fuson.


I was trying to get a response in but the guy holding the mike had switched it off. I said that those players were drafted 10 years ago - my question was why haven't there been changes made. Billy rambled on about how the money was tied up in the big league club for years and the money wasn't spent on the minor league system.


Huh?


I can not believe that Beane would think to try to argue the point that spending money on Jason Kendall, Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez better spent than a measly $4-5 Million on draft picks in the last few seasons. I will bring this up again, and again, Justin Smoak was drafted by the A's in 2006 and the A's failed to sign him. He will be one of the first three draft picks this year. His demand the A's would not meet? $1 Million signing bonus. Heck, the A's gave John McCurdy a $2.25+ Million signing bonus and he has not been able to compete above High A ball in the California League.


It was futile to get an actually constructive answer, but I hope my point was made. That when there were continual issues with the medical staff and it came to a head a change was made. Albeit after the fact and considerable damage was made. There were issues with the coaching staff. Changes were made. Why not the drafting and player development departments?


Is it cheaper to sign 20 guys at $500,000 and try and develop their skills or pay 2 guys $10 Million and hope they perform?


Anyway.


I walked away from the Q&A and made my rounds around the first level. I saw the dogs in the SPCA exhibit and I saw Stomper so it was a full experience in my book. I don't recommend the FanFest unless you have nothing better to do on a Saturday and you live in the BayArea. Especially if you have to pay. I got four free tickets and free parking. I would have given the tickets away if I knew anyone who wanted to go.


Do I have suggestions on how to improve FanFest? Yup.


For a start - put the bloggers on the dais, get rid of Kuiper and Ray Fosse and let the true fans run the show.

The best news possible is that the skies have broken for a second prior to the 2008 Oakland A's FanFest. Each year FanFest challenges you to figure out why you keep coming back. The event is not exactly a 'fest' but it definitely would only be fun for a fan. The Question and Answer sessions might be interesting if some people decide to vent their frustration. The problem is that there will most likely not be any logic or reason behind the rage.




"Why did you trade Nick Swisher? Was Danny Haren not cute enough to be on the Oakland A's?"




In other new the A's and Chad Gaudin split the difference on their arbitration numbers. Which is very strange. Justin Duchscherer, an All Star with more than five years of service time is set to make $1.2 Million while Gaudin who has a full season and parts of others will be making $1.77 Million in 2008. It can be argued Justin Duchscherer's agent failed his client.




The A's claimed outfielder Jeff Fiorentino off waivers from the Reds and designated reliever Ruddy Lugo for assignment.

The A's signed Joe Blanton. Avoiding arbitration. Chad Gaudin is going to arbitration. And the A's signed Kirk Sarloos and people are going crazy. Who would have thought signing the equivalent of John Wasdin or Aaron Cook would somehow signal to A's fans that the A's are going to now win more games? It is amazing what a little luck, Ray Fosse and pitching in a pitcher's park will do for a guy's mystique.


Saarloos depends on what Rob Neyer determined was a bag of 'magic pixie dust' (as opposed to the non-magic pixie dust) to get batters out. His bag was empty last year in Cincinatti. What he brings to the A's is a pitcher desperate to pitch in any situation to keep a major league job. Does Saarloos have any value? Sure, in that a league average pitcher is better than a worse than league pitcher. And that is what Saarloos is at best; a league average pitcher. He won't strikeout guys and he needs groundballs and good defense to stay average.


Here's hoping the A's have what Saarloos needs to be successful.

The A's avoided arbitration with Huston Street and signed their closer (for now) to a one-year $3.3 Million deal. The A's still have Joe Blanton and Chad Gaudin on their way to the arbitration abattoir. Usually there is an arbitration scoreboard on ESPN.com or elsewhere but it has not yet been located. The general feeling would be that Street would have lost his case. Injury plus blown saves does not equate a good arbitration case.


If some of you were hoping that Eric Chavez would be traded soon, lessen that hope. Joe Crede signed a one year $5.5 Million deal with the Chicago White Sox despite knowing that Josh Fields will be the starter at 3rd base this season. It will be interesting to see if Crede is sent somewhere like Texas or L'Angels.

CAN'TSAY WE'RE GOING TO MISS YOU, MARK

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/14/sports/s145542S74.DTL

The deal to pay the Atlanta Braves to take Mark Kotsay off the A's hands has been completed. A throw-in of Jamie Richmond was included.

The A's are going to pay the Braves more than $5 Million to rid themselves of Kotsay. Kotsay came to the A's in 2004 from the San Diego Padres. The deal was hung up for a week over MRI results and 2nd and 3rd medical opinions on Kotsay. Following the 2005 season the A's signed Kotsay to a 3-year deal despite his injury issues. Kotsay hit a pedestrian .267/.321/.388 and while still showed an accurate arm clearly was hindered by shoulder, back and hamstring injuries.

The A's get Joey Devine - a closer that could become Huston Street's set-up man or set-up Street to be traded later this season. Devine has terrific K rates but does fall apart at times with his control.

Jamie Richmond will most likely round out the Midland rotation. Richmond does not project to make the big league roster. He does not have very good K rates, does not have a good flyball/groundball ratio. However, he has been shown to be effective. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the Texas League.

The A's have agreed to a trade in principle with the Atlanta Braves. The players involved are CF Mark Kotsay and RHP Joey Devine. The trade is contingent on two things; Kotsay passing a physical on Monday and the A's picking up more than $5 Million of Kotsay's salary.


That is shocking. And awfully familiar. When the A's acquired Kotsay there was a week long process of the A's reviewing Kotsay's medical history before the trade was made official.


Remember the justification for Jason Kendall heading into 2007? The A's were getting paid $7 Million from the Pirates for taking the peg-legged catcher of their hands two years prior. Well, the A's have become the Pirates; agreeing in principle to trade Mark Kotsay to the Braves for Simply Joey Devine...and paying more than $5 Million of Kotsay's contract to boot.


The deal hinges on Mark Kotsay passing a physical on Monday which is not as easy as it seems and could be a greater risk than taking on Joey Devine, Simply, Devine. Kotsay will have to fly from Reno to the Delta hub that is Atlanta this weekend.


The problem?


Kotsay's back stiffens up like a...damn. I want to use a fluffer joke here but probably shouldn't. Kotsay's back stiffens up sitting on a plane for hours at a time. He could very well land in Atlanta and the Braves may not want to take on the oft injured light hitting centerfielder.


There are no standards when it comes to 'what is pass' and 'what is fail' when it comes to a physical in MLB. It could be that the trainer drops the player's medical file on the floor and asks him to pick it up. If he does; hey you pass! It also could be a series of strength and conditioning tests over time. Particularly a back that can seize after just 20 minutes of exercise.


Regardless, the A's have made a valiant attempt to rid themselves of an albatross that plagued them for many seasons. Kotsay was a mixed bag as a player and a player that perhaps deserved much more scorn than he received.


Let's get to the Simply Devine part of the trade. Devine is a former 1st round pick out of North Carolina in 2005 (A's trading for former 1st round picks, again). He was up with the Braves in just 3 months and gave up a season ending homer to Chris Burke. Some say it left him shell-shocked. Some say just exhausted from the longest season he had ever played. Others say that it's the burden of the curse of the creature's ghost that forever torments the Braves bullpen and occasionally still haunts Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.


Devine was one of the Braves top 10 prospects coming into 2007. According to Baseball America, heading into 2008 he was not. Devine's a two-pitch pitcher. He features a deadening 91-93 sinker and one of the best sliders in baseball. Sound familiar? Huston Street's long lost clone, perhaps. The exception is that Devine's fastball can hit 97. He strikes out batters at a high rate and doesn't trust his sinker. A power pitcher that has the mentality to be a closer but has not learned to pitch.


What do you mean he hasn't learned to pitch?


His best pitch is still his sinker but he does not utilize it to get groundballs as he should. From different reports he looks to strike batters out rather than set them up. Put simply throwing more pitches to a batter increases the odds the batter will reach base. A groundball on the first pitch is preferable to a 8 pitch sequence and a strikeout. Maybe it's a product of the Braves system and not Devine. He has had back problems and struggles with his command. Maybe it's a lack of trust in his stuff.


Coming to the A's would seem like a blessing for Devine and for Oakland where groundballs are worshipped. Unfortunately so are Doan's pills and trips to the DL. Okay, not Doan's pills -something much, much stronger, but you get the idea. If Devine's mechanics can be sorted out and he can learn to love the defense behind him - the end of A's games might be a Devine stroll onto Street.


Does this make Huston Street expendable? He was before, why wouldn't he be now?


As bad as A's fans are making the 2008 roster - it really isn't that bleak. While the A's will lack a dominant starter a lot of games are going to be a lot of fun to watch. The odds are against a team like the A's are assembling but you never can tell. If they get decent starting pitching and play mistake free ball a few nights a week they could be a .500 team.


I am more excited about 2008 than I was 2007!

PAGING DR. SHUFFHAUSEN...PAGING DR. EMIL SHUFFHAUSEN



And the A's outfield redesign takes new shape. Sort of. If amoebic form can be called shape. I am pretty sure that there will still be three outfield spots and players in the traditional Left Field, Center Field and Right Field spots in 2008 for the A's. Mostly sure. Unless they don't.


Susan Slusser has been doing her best to live up to her nickname her at EiO; 'Tool'. Earlier this week Slusser 'reported' that the A's were in talks to sign Mike Cameron - a free agent. Quickly let's hit some reason that makes little to zero sense;

• The A's are in rebuilding mode and are paring salary; Cameron made over $7 Million in 2007 and more than likely would command at least $5 Million in 2008.




• Cameron will start the 2008 season on a 25 Game suspension for violation of the MLB Drug Policy (amphetamines - or 'greenies').




• Mike Cameron strikes out a lot even for a 'power' hitter and doesn't walk enough; he has never hit more than 30 HR in a season, over 150 strikeouts on a 162 game average and owns a career OBP of .341




• The A's already have Mark Kotsay under an albatross of a contract.




• The A's are supposed to be getting younger - Cameron will be 35 in 2008.

Now, sticking Cameron and Jack Cust back to back in the batting order might be a useful way to blow debris around the infield with the amount of swings and misses between them it doesn't do much for the A's at all. While Cameron does have 3 Gold Gloves to sport around he also has enough injury baggage that does not get any lighter with his age.


Here is Slusser's 'report':

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/11/SPH3UDEL6.DTL
A's looking for an outfielder
Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, January 11, 2008


(01-10) 19:23 PST -- With Nick Swisher traded away and free agent Shannon Stewart unlikely to return, the A's are moving to sign a right-hand-hitting outfielder, according to major-league sources.

Oakland has had several conversations with veteran Mike Cameron, who was also briefly an A's target before he signed with the Mets in 2004. Cameron, who turned 35 on Tuesday, must sit out the first 25 games of the season after testing positive for a banned substance last year. That is an unpaid suspension, which means a bit of a price break for whichever team signs the three-time Gold Glove winner.

Other prominent right-handed hitting outfielders include Reggie Sanders and Rondell White. Jason Lane, who is from Santa Rosa, another possibility, agreed to a minor-league contract with the Yankees on Thursday.

Oakland has been linked to Boston outfielder Coco Crisp in past trade rumors, and the Red Sox have shopped Crisp this off-season, but recent rumblings of a Huston Street-for-Crisp deal are "fiction," one A's official said...

Okay, let's flip these notions aside first the right-handed outfielder bit. The A's are always left-handed heavy with their hitters. Billy Beane is oft quoted as saying, "it's a left-hander's game." Every off season the beat reporters speculate on what right-handed, aged, player the A's will sign. John Jaha, Randy Velarde, Ron Gant, Randy Velarde (again), Ron Gant (again),Eric Karros, Jay Payton, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza. Some work, some don't, but why on earth can't the A's develop a right-handed hitter?


The A's have been since left-handed heavy since the mid-1990's. They were right-handed heavy prior to that...so I guess it balances out. Oddly, the A's have never been big on switch-hitters until recently with Nick Swisher, Milton Bradley and Adam Melhuse. Sure, you can throw in Bobby Kielty if you want but that is like suggesting Huston Street could pitch with his left arm.


Rondell White? He will be 36, sports a .336 OBP, has played for 15 seasons and had more than 500 ABs in a season just twice - the last in 1999. He has limited to 800 ABs the last two years. Again, a player who has a long history of injury who is getting older. And also can't play the outfield let alone centerfield. He made $2.5 Million last season.


Reggie Sanders? Sanders will be 40 years old in 2008. But, I'll keep going...he has been limited to 600 ABs the last 3 seasons. The last time he was a regular OF'er was 2002 and the last time he appeared in more than 80 games in center was 1998. He made $5,000,000 last season.


Jason Lane? He'll be 31 in 2008 and his home and away splits look like a cupcake next to a wedding cake. And he can't play center.


Coco Crisp? He is entering his prime and is under contract for more than $4 Million in 2008. Boston wouldn't give up Crisp for something less than a blockbuster deal. A healthy Huston Street wouldn't be enough.


So, in the meantime, the A's signed Emil Brown whom they originally drafted in 1994. Brown will be 33 this season and offers little more than someone to track down flyballs to make the pitching staff respectable. Really, Brown's a .262/.329/.401 career hitter. The difficulty is that Brown hasn't played centerfield since 2001. This isn't so much a bad signing for the A's as a worthless one. Jeff DaVanon or Doug Clark would have been cheaper and more reliable.

There is a lot going on in baseball and with the Oakland A's and yet nothing seems to be happening! Such is life with the Hot Stove. There are numerous articles for you to review and there really is time right now for you to check out the A's minor league system and get used to some of the names that might be of interest later this season.

With the A's Fan Fest fast approaching I would like to take the opportunity to ask if you would please offer up some feedback on Elephants in Oakland. Is the site too difficult to navigate? Do you visit the Forum? Have you registered? Do you visit any other baseball sites; what do you like about those sites?

I have a specific area for site feedback on the forum (click here) or fire off an email;

elephantsinoakland @ gmail.com

- Elephants in Oakland Staff

One of the many reasons I started this blog and website years ago was for my own memory. It became impossible to read what the media wrote about games (ever notice that nothing seems to happen between the 5th and 8th innings of a game according to a beat reporter?). Only the box score held some clue, but depending on that source it may have been incomplete as well. What I found was that the more I talked about A's baseball with other fans how much they were not aware of. Many still think the talking heads on TV know what they are talking about. That beat reporters 'report'; not trivialize. That articles are news worthy; not puff pieces.


The media misses the boat on analysis. Even editorials are not much more than a lot of hot air to rile up your indignation (SEE; PED's or what some of you refer to as steroids - again, steroids are not the whole story). Unfortunately fans read the newspapers and watch highlights on ESPN and think they got the information they needed. The A's won or lost, the score was X-Y, so and so got the win, so and so the loss, somebody got a hit.


As bad as the game reporting is the bigger picture and the ebb and flow of a baseball organization is completely lost on the media. They have resorted to starting their own 'blogs' [ED NOTE: the difference between a blog and a newspaper are many] and comments from readers to keep their profession from listing. Michael Lewis gave his version of events regarding the Oakland A's and the media felt spurned. Particularly the much noted lax west coast sports media. Someone scooped them on a story that had been there for years. Lewis didn't get it 'right' so much as he uncovered the tarp acting as a veil.


The big picture is lost as are the details in the media. There really is no forest. There are no trees. There is simply what they choose to tell you.


You should feel insulted by that.

---

The recent trades by the Oakland Athletics are dynamic and have implication on many levels. The most important is that they are a stinging rebuke of Billy Beane's management of the Oakland Athletics Baseball Club, and if you will - the populist Moneyball theory. Very few 'got' what Moneyball was about. Too many think it had to do with drafting college pitchers, guys with high on base percentages and to hell with input by scouts. Actually, it was about finding market inefficiencies and exploiting them. The problem? The A's didn't do a very good job of exploitation and the draft that highlighted that theory turned into a bust.


Nick Swisher was the embodiment of the draft for Michael Lewis and let's just take it on its face; the rest of the baseball world as it came to Moneyball and the A's. I mean, why fight the thunder and lightning at this point? Swisher was one of several first round draft picks for the A's in 2002. While Lewis spent much of the book explaining (not very well) varying statistical analysis methods the A's purportedly eschewed - Nick Swisher was the player the scouting crowd and stat heads could 'agree' on. The definable stats and the indefinable intangibles and the tools in-betweens were all there with Nick Swisher.


What Swisher became for the A's was a loudmouth, publicity-whore and/or the face of the A's franchise. Swisher was not a disappointment if you read columns by Susan Slusser and Mychael Urban. If you look at the projections based on stats and the hopes based on talent and ability - Swisher had failed, to date, to live up to the expectations of both the stat head and scouting communities. Swisher's ability and talent have deteriorated into 'old player skills'; power, walks, low average, lack of speed. In 2007 Jack Cust clearly showed that those old player skills are not worthy of a 1st round draft choice - they could be had, twice-over, (the A's had Cust in Sacramento for 2005) at the minor league level.


Now. Take that into context. Is that a condemnation of Swisher - or the A's organization? How many other A's players that have been drafted and developed through their system have been able to deliver? Very few. Very, very few. Joe Blanton is a back of the rotation innings eater. But.


Eric Chavez.


Bobby Crosby.


Two good examples. I could list the dozens of failed high draft picks of the A's that never made it to full season in AAA since Billy Beane took over the helm of the Good Ship Athletics...


The A's farm system was as barren as a Transylvania blood drive as recently as a month ago. Suddenly the A's have prospects in the outfield and on the pitcher's mound. To be blunt the trades of Danny (Che) Haren and Nick Swisher were necessary for the A's. Individually Haren and Swisher are beside the point; the A's have failed to draft and develop players at an unconscionable rate. Their farm system was dry. And while they did have players make the 25 Man roster in 2007 - many of those were out of despair and well beyond need. The fact that the A's signed Lenny DiNardo to a one-year $900,000+ contract spelled out how desperate they had become.


These recent trades restock a desperate farm system. However the question remains; why has their draft system, strategy and player development personnel not been sacked? Are the A's glutens for punishment? Does the A's front office really expect to turn it around?


For all the talk of the A's being a 'poor' team in a 'small' market their success had been tied to drafting, developing and even trading for young talent. The A's have tried to fill gaps in their player development ranks and at the major league level with poor decisions on contract extensions and free agent contracts.


Let's look at just one of many scenarios that combines a lot of these strings together:

• For the 2004 season Billy Beane signed Arthur Rhodes to a 3 year deal. Beane designated Rhodes as the closer. Rhodes had flamed out as a closer in the past with both Baltimore and Seattle. Rhodes was 34 years old, not getting any younger and was now due $9 Million over the life of the contract.


• Rhodes was horrible as a closer. And did not make any friends in the clubhouse, either.


• In late June, with the A's 3 1/2 games behind the Angels in the AL West Beane traded for Octavio Dotel.


• Dotel promptly blew his first save opportunity with the A's.


• The A's gave up Mike Wood (5th starter) and Mark Teahen (a 3rd baseman drafted in the ballyhooed Moneyball draft of 2002) to the Kansas City Royals. Also involved in the deal were catcher John Buck (from the Astros to the Royals) and centerfielder Carlos Beltran (from the Royals to the Astros). It's safe to say that those four players fared better than Dotel.


• The A's went 4-9 in the last two weeks of the 2004 season and then Angels overtook the A's in the AL West via a 10-0 romp against an injured Mark Mulder in game 160 and went on to win the division.


• The A's failure to develop a closer for several years led Billy Beane to agree to arbitration with Octavio Dotel and pay him $4,750,000. Dotel was promptly injured in 2005 after appearing in just 15 games.


• As the A's had failed to develop a catcher for several seasons (Jeremy Brown - Moneyball draft of 2002) and with Arthur Rhodes contract too deep of a burden following the 2004 season Billy Beane traded for Jason Kendall who was paid more than $25 Million by the A's for 2 1/2 years of some of the worst offensive baseball by a catcher EVER in an A's uniform.


• Since 2005 Mark Teahen has hit .274/.340/.429 and made $1,076,500.


• Since 2005 Eric Chavez has hit .253/.331/.451 and made $27,500,000.
[ED NOTE: For those wishing to grasp at straws and point out Chavez' two Gold Gloves at 3rd base in 2005 and 2006 - statistics show he was not the best defensive 3rd baseman either year but feel free to make a point that two Gold Gloves are worth more than $25 million.]



• John Buck has been Kansas City's regular backstop for several seasons. Mike Wood was a serviceable 5th starter. Carlos Beltran has been an All Star the last three seasons and hit .276/.353/.525 winning two Silver Sluggers.
[ED NOTE: Okay, Beltran made $39 Million - Kendall and Chavez made more than $50 Million combined]

There's a tale been told about the greatness of Billy Beane for a long time. I hope you have stopped believing what you hear in the media and from the casual fan. Start questioning the validity and base your opinions on the numbers and facts. Billy Beane is not the worst GM in baseball, but it's not hard to pick out better GM's. Even with the A's mythical small payroll. Beane has made some great moves...good moves...not so good moves. The fact remains he has made so many bad moves that his 'positive' moves are really just scabs on the A's organization wounds he himself inflicted.

The A's have traded Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for three of their top prospects; (RHP) Fautino De Los Santos, (LHP) Gio Gonzalez and OF Ryan Sweeney.



Statistics, analysis and breakdown are happening over at the FORUM.


This is left over from the Haren deal:

I like the trade. I like it because it gets the A's minor league system some breathing room. Kudos to Beane and Forst. They admit there is a problem and got four very good prospects for one very good pitcher. The A's didn't give up, they gave in.

Here's a take on the Swisher trade:

I like the trade. I like it because it gets the A's minor league system some breathing room. Kudos to Beane and Forst. They admit there is a problem and got two very good prospects for one good hitter. The A's didn't give up, they gave in.

I am updating the Forum with entries on each player acquired.

---

Position: P Full Name: Fautino de los Santos

Born: February 15, 1986 Dominican Republic

Height: 6-0 Weight: 205 Bats: R Throws: R

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Level	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP
2007	Kannapolis	SAL	-	Chw	A	9	4	2.40	21	15	97.2	49	33	26	5	36	121	4.52	0.46	3.32	11.15	0.87
	Winst-Salm	Caro	-	Chw	A+	1	1	3.65	5	5	24.2	20	12	10	3	7	32	7.30	1.09	2.55	11.68	1.09
						10	5	2.65	26	20	122.1	69	45	36	8	43	153	5.09	0.59	3.17	11.28	0.92

---

Position: P Full Name: Giovany A. Gonzalez

Born: September 19, 1985 Hialeah,Florida

Height: 5-11 Weight: 185 Bats: R Throws: L

High School: Monsignor Pace (Opa Locka,FL)

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Level	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP
2004	Bristol	App	18	Chw	Rk	1	2	2.25	7	6	24	17	8	6	0	8	36	6.38	0.00	3.00	13.50	1.04
	Kannapolis	SAL	18	Chw	A	1	1	3.03	6	6	32.2	30	13	11	1	13	27	8.27	0.28	3.58	7.44	1.32
2005	Kannapolis	SAL	19	Chw	A	5	3	1.87	11	10	57.2	36	16	12	3	22	84	5.62	0.47	3.43	13.11	1.01
	Winst-Salm	Caro	19	Chw	A+	8	3	3.56	13	13	73.1	61	33	29	5	25	79	7.49	0.61	3.07	9.70	1.17
2006	Reading	East	20	Phi	AA	7	12	4.66	27	27	154.2	140	88	80	24	81	166	8.15	1.40	4.71	9.66	1.43
						W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	H9	HR9	BB9	K9	WHIP
	Minors					31	28	3.49	91	89	492.1	400	215	191	43	206	577	7.32	0.79	3.77	10.55	1.23

---

Position: OF Full Name: Ryan Joseph Sweeney

Born: February 20, 1985 Cedar Rapids,Iowa

Height: 6-4 Weight: 200 Bats: L Throws: L

High School: Xavier (Cedar Rapids,IA)

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	Bristol	App	18	Chw	Rk	19	67	11	21	3	0	2	5	3	0	7	10	.313	.387	.448	.835
	Great flls	Pio	18	La	Rk	10	34	0	12	2	0	0	4	0	2	2	3	.353	.389	.412	.801
2004	Winst-Salm	Caro	19	Chw	A+	134	515	71	146	22	3	7	66	8	6	40	65	.283	.342	.379	.721
2005	Birmingham	Sou	20	Chw	AA	113	429	64	128	22	3	1	47	6	6	35	53	.298	.357	.371	.728
2006	Charlotte	IL	21	Chw	AAA	118	449	64	133	25	3	13	70	7	7	35	73	.296	.350	.452	.802
	CWS	AL	21	Chw	MLB	18	35	1	8	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	7	.229	.229	.229	.458
2007	Charlotte	IL	22	Chw	AAA	105	397	50	107	17	2	10	47	8	5	48	71	.270	.348	.398	.746
	CWS	AL	22	Chw	MLB	15	45	5	9	3	0	1	5	0	1	4	5	.200	.265	.333	.598
						G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
	Majors					33	80	6	17	3	0	1	10	0	1	4	12	.213	.250	.288	.538
	Minors					499	1891	260	547	91	11	33	239	32	26	167	275	.289	.351	.401	.752