I’m surprised by this trade, too. If Boggio moves to left, putting Jason Lane on the bench, what has it accomplished for Houston? Beltran’s going to play center, and that’ll make their defense better, but I look at Biggio for Lane and think wha?
The A’s, meanwhile, get stronger, as they do each season as they find out what their needs are.
A month ago, today’s game probably would have upset me. But apathy has set it to the point where I really don’t care that Melvin’s bullpen management caused the team to have to use tomorrow’s starter to finish the game and his incessant bunting led to scenarios where they kept giving away chances to score. But, really, we all know this season is a wash, and Texas sweeping us just cements that. At this point, we’re just biding time until the organization lights up the fire sale.
Billy Beane reportedly has made his first move of ’04, picking up Octavio Dotel in a three way trade that sends Carlos Beltran to Houston. The A’s are giving up Mark Teahen, their ridiculously overrated third base prospect, and getting a dynamic reliever to help solidify their bullpen. Unless one of the other players in the deal has a last name of Chavez, Hudson, Mulder, or Zito, it looks like Beane has once again cashed in via a trade with the Royals.
Or, they could bring in Jamie Moyer in relief…
Thanks to Buntin’ Bob also deciding to be Mix-And-Match Bob, lets hope J.J. Putz is ready to throw 50-100 pitches today. Melvin used 4 relievers (Villone, Mateo, Hasegawa, and Myers) to each get one or two outs, leaving Putz as the sole arm in the pen for extra innings. Good luck, J.J.
Derek here, your voice of over-negativity here (I’ve been catching up on our email lately… hee hee) with another dose.
The Mariners are getting poor production out of Spiezio. They could consider replacing him with Justin Leone, who for the second year is putting up huge (huge!) stats, this year in Tacoma. .253/.353/.615. That’s not as impressive as it sounds, of course — the translations show him only a little ahead of Spiezio’s offensive level. And he’d have been much cheaper. So if the Mariners got a chance to ship Spiezio out, even if they had to pay a chunk of his salary, they could save a lot of money and increase *even further* their flexibility for next year.
But say there aren’t any takers for Spiezio. Bucky Jacobsen is a right-handed first baseman who mashes the ball real far: .325/.408/.679 (.679, yes). Olerud’s been helpless like an infant against lefties this year, and for a first baseman pretty bad against righties too.
Jolbert Cabrera, when he’s been playing, has hit okay but there’s not a lot in his career to recommend him as a long-term bet to even continue hitting .304/.324/.400, while Jacobsen’s skill set’s pretty clear.
Plus, the whole Bocachica-Cabrera-Bloomquist-Santiago utility plethora isn’t helping anyone, the team’s struggling to score runs and almost can’t hit a home run. Jacobsen would allow Olerud to rest against lefties, he could rest Martinez at DH once a week, and get some key pinch-hit at-bats.
There are things the team can still do to improve now. I can’t see them chasing down three teams, but that’s no reason the team can’t be active and improve this year and next.
Rod Freaking Barajas.
This is the Bloomquist Effect: the team’s looking so hard for signs of hope that they’ll point to anything, no matter how inconsequential, as an indicator that they’ve been right all along and this team really is worthwhile, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary.
Just as Bloomquist’s flash of goodness has justified sticking with him since then, so does that brief stretch of wins justify further inaction and harm to the long-term health of the franchise.
I’m sure you never thought this would happen, but… the Big Board is up-to-date, including the Everett AquaSox. All hail the Big Board. There have been so many changes I can’t possibly list them all here, so you’ll just have to check it out for yourself. Needless to say, this hasn’t been a good year for the M’s farm system. Injuries have taken their toll at every level, particularly among pitchers, leading to marginal players being brought in from independant leagues and the waiver wire to fill in the holes.
Anyway, check it out, and as always, drop me a line if something doesn’t look right or if a link isn’t working.
They’re done. Done. You hear me, front office? The M’s are done this season. Their recent hot streak was an abberation, a function of playing the likes of Montreal and Pittsburgh. If I read one more article about how the M’s are waiting to see if they’ll get back in the race before making moves, or about how they don’t want to upset the fans, I’m going to hurl. You know what? We’re already upset. Give up on this season and try to make the team better for 2005 and beyond. Trust me, we can take it. Just show us some sort of effort, will you?
And further, Bill Bavasi, quit using your “if we make a trade, we have to get better on the field this season” line. Like in this article. And this one.
I’m also tired of “there’s nothing we can do to make this team better right now.” Oh yeah? You’re getting nothing in the way of production out of third base. Why not give Justin Leone a shot? He hit two more homers last night to give him 20 on the season, second-best in the PCL.
Yeah, I’m frustrated. But not so much by their poor play this season as by their seeming inability — or unwillingness — to recognize what’s broken and how to go about fixing it. Rather than stopping to swap out their flat tire for a spare, they’re hoping that if they just drive a few more miles, the tire might magically patch itself.
Look, it’s Josias Manzanillo!