1. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on the A's season now, but I'm going to go crazy if we don't sign a right handed power bat in the off-season. And lets revisit the three big trades during last offseason and see how the A's faired:
Kendall for Rhodes/Redman: Advantage- Push. Kendall can't hit it out of the infield and can't throw a runner out. He does provide some needed leadership in the clubhouse, can still get onbase, and did and excellent job handling the young pitching staff. If we move him down in the lineup to either 8 or 9, he would be better suited. Redman and Rhodes started out extremely hot and made Beane look very very bad. But in the end, Redman was 5-15 with a 4.90 ERA with a terrible K/IP ratio. Rhodes broke down in the second half and was out. For Kendall's small contribution and Rhodes good first half, I will call this a wash.
Hudson for Cruz, Meyer, and Thomas: Advantage: Braves. Cruz sucked. Thomas sucked, and Meyer when healthy sucked. Hudson on the other hand, will pitch 200 innings, and win 15 games with a 3.52 ERA. He only had 115 Ks which is very concerning, but not as much as his huge contract. This move was made out of necessity and the only good outcome for the A's was that it drove this trade...
Mulder for Harren, Calero, and Barton: Advantage: A's. With no pitching out on the open market, and the Braves getting Hudson, the Cards panicked and gave into Beane and handing over the farm to him. Harren outpitched Mulder, and Calero was excellent in the bullpen. This alone would of been enough to make this trade worth it, but now you throw in the best hitting prospect in all of baseball who should be ready by mid season of 2006, and this might be Beane's best trade of all time.
With every key part of our rotation, bullpen, and offense locked up for next year, we only need one right handed bat and some bullpen depth and we are set for 2006. We have a bunch of $ opening up in the offseason with Duarzo, Hatteberg, Kendall, Dotel, and Rincon off the books, so I expect to see that one hole filled.
2. Did anyone read BSG's quote of the day today. If you haven't, here it is:
"There's nothing to say. The game's over. It's not going to change the score." -- Steelers president Dan Rooney on the 52 seconds that were mistakenly added to the game clock in the Patriots' 23-20 win over Pittsburgh
Is this true? Where the fuck have I been, if I'm hearing about it for the first time today?
1 comment:
You do kow that Rhodes is out for personal reasons in this second half, right? So it's not like he's sitting out because he's pitched bad. Apparently, his mother or son is deathly ill. There aren't a lot of details right now regarding the circumstances.
Post a Comment