The 2009 Oakland A's Call All Destroyer Tells Us What He Thinks Thread

I wonder what he thinks about Ryan Sweeney's abs?

I wonder if I'll remember what prompted this by the end of the year.

Why did the apostrophe on Sweeney's abs not go crazy?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y4TdkfppHdQ/R8mCyLosynI/AAAAAAAAAJY/YS4WGJIv2Rk/s400/00+-+Step+Up+2+The+Streets+-+Soundtrack+%28Cover%29.jpg

ok this made me lol a bit.

you guys should have signed furcal; you'd have had a puncher's chance in that division.

It wasn't for lack of trying that we didn't sign him.

We may still have a puncher's chance tbh. The division is really awful.

i hope these guys can win it this year, i'm tired of the angels

http://www.rschristianchurch.com/devotional/Angels/Angels_in_the_Outfield_Poster.jpg

What horrors that film created

"A Flat-Out Wonderful Playoff Flop!"

lol

at least the orig had Ralph Kiner.

will A's sign Cabrera?

Are there still noises about that? A's seem disinclined to give up the pick for him, but maybe. He's an obvious improvement over Crosby.

"A neverending cycle of white dudes and 'take ur base'"

Orlando needs to realize he won't be getting Renteria $$$.

He should just wait 3 years and wait for the Giants to sign him.

Gotta say looking at Kevin Goldstein's write up of the A's system is making me feel good.

well, screw Fremont!

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=1187

i'll always remember the description of fremont from some random youtube where two guys ghost-rode their whip to protest the move: "a parking lot with a mayor."

I'm kinda glad they aren't going to Fremont. That would have been a pain in the ass to get to by BART.

A's sign Orlando Cabrera.

Neyer Knows Best

OC gets 1/4 compared to Renteria's 2/18.5

LOL

Yeah that seems positively cheap, although I guess the A's do lose a second round pick, right?

nice signing. anytime you can replace bobby crosby with average production for $4 million, you have to do that.

indeed

I think technically its a sandwich pick, but theres not a shit ton of difference between suppl 1st round and round two.

A's getting Nomar as well apparently.

Thinking about maybe getting a small season ticket package. I like this team.

Video of Michael Ynoa's first workout in the US:

http://baybridgebaseball.com/2009/03/the-ynoa-video/

Ryan Sweeney was in MLB studio tnite. HOTT

He is very sexy. I wish he hit home runs.

damn

This Bailey kid throws some serious shit.

I didn't know Sweeney was such a big sexy thing (6'4" 220), you'd think someone would've gotten a little more power into his swing by now.

Yeah that's the problem with Sweeney. He's a big athletic tool-sy dude with no pop. If he hit 20+ homers, everyone would be cooing madly over him. As it is, it's just like meh.

it's kinda like when gabe kapler was hot shit until everyone realized he had about as much power as jerome walton

Lyle Mouton disease

get on teh roids

Didn't help Kapler.

everyone knows roids hav no effect on jews - that why they call it the jews

2nd worst record in baseball to the Nats.

2009 Oakland A's
Worst offense in MLB to date:
BA .228
OBP .303
SLG .301
OPS .604

these are 1939 Oaks unis, but Holliday & Sweeney look good in em.

also, one of the M's broadcasters still thinks Gone with the Wind is "the greatest picture ever made."

Where can I buy a replica 1939 Oakland Oaks jersey?

Pockets are weird looking. Holliday and Sweeney always look good.

i'm sure they'll auction those?

fell asleep before end of game :P

Are the A's getting worse? Seriously. Maybe time for a new GM?

Looks like Chavez may be done for good. Sad.

Haren signed an extension w/Arizona that has him playing at slave-labor prices for the next three years

yeah haren is signed through 2012 at 11 million per, plus a team option for 2013. i think letting an ace go for a bunch of what will (probably) be lesser parts kinda comes off like when the cubs spent their maddux money on jose guzman and randy myers and a couple of other useless spare parts. the a's philosophy worked out with mulder/hudson/zito but was a disaster w/r/t haren imo. sometimes you have to lock up the bird in the hand.

i wonder if the A's have any pitchers with a positive VLORP?

if u meant vorp the answer is they all do except these guys:

Dan Giese
Jerry Blevins
Santiago Casilla
Sean Gallagher
Dana Eveland
Gio Gonzalez

oh i lied dan giese has a vorp of 1.0

"Pretty much a blueprint on how to get your team to hate you." -- Dallas Braden on his performance yesterday

fire Beane.

giambi released

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4383844

damn, his OPS (.697) wasn't that much lower than Big Papi's (.724) either...

"steroids is bad"

"damn, his OPS (.697) wasn't that much lower than Big Papi's (.724) either..."

Esp. damning considering how much shittier a stadium the Coliseum is for hitters compared to Fenway.

http://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpghttp://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/mlb/players/65/3226.jpg

I've already seen "Beane to Mets" speculation; Shasta would be real easy to take next year, huh?

he went from 23.5 mil last year to 4 mil this year, largest absolute drop in salary ever in mlb??

pavano, carl? Williams, Bernie?

Shasta would be real easy to take next year, huh?

halp parsing this pls?

two of your most obsessive targets fused in one franchise?

Wait a goddamn second I thought that you alone were my most obsessive target...?

I wouldn't flatter myself that much.

Can someone tell me why baseball players have such fat arses? Is it for counterbalance when swinging?

cuz a lot of them are American?

was Bob Geren wearing one of Connie Mack's old suits for vintage-uniform Sunday?

Yes, but he should have kept it on for the game -- would have made his on-field argument a lot more entertaining.

oh, he changed? booooooooooo

(probly against the rules)

was the Holliday trade Beane's stupidest?

Which part? Cuz the haul from the Cardinals was pretty good all things considered.

So far though the deal looks good for the Rockies though.

It does, but at the time neither Street nor Gonzalez were anything like guaranteed successes. For some people, the Greg Smith part of the deal was most interesting, a limited but decent proven starter coming to a club that always needs good pitching. As things turned out, Smith's been injured all season, and useless when he has played, while Street's been lights out and Cargo has finally hit a streak of form that make him look like an upgrade on Holliday. It won't last, we all know that, but even so, between him and Houston we feel we've got near enough the best we could considering Holliday was always going to leave.

The question should probably be: why was Holliday so disappointing in Oakland? Was it something that could have been predicted and/or dealt with?

some might suggest it was a combination of struggling and water returning to its own level

All I really want out of a televised A's game are closeups like these:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3227/3091186741_3a5ff4f4be.jpg

*~*~*~*~who is <3THAT<3~*~*~~*

Ryan "Hot" Sweeney

ryans weeny

http://bellabambinophotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/aweb27.jpg

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/08/26/bobby-crosbys-dad-rips-billy-beane/

"My feelings are that he has been messed around with, and that Billy Beane has done a number on him," says the 60-year-old Crosby, a retired major league scout who resides in Garden Grove. "Right now Bobby's on the disabled list, and he's not even hurt. He had a twinge in his left calf, but it wasn't serious enough to put him on the DL. But they were just looking for an excuse. Bobby's not hurt, period."

"I know I'm Bobby's father, and I'm biased when it comes to him," concedes Ed Crosby. "But I also know he hasn't been treated properly by Billy Beane. They're supposed to be making a movie about Billy Beane with Brad Pitt starring. What's it going to be, a comedy?"

"The A's take the bats out of their players' hands from the time they're in the minor leagues," he says. "Bobby was taught always to take the first pitch. They take all the aggressiveness out of their players. Look how much better guys like Eric Byrnes and Nick Swisher and Marco Scutaro have become once they got out of Oakland."

Very funny stuff!

Crosby struck out 141 times his rookie year, #13 in MLB.
I'd like to take the aggressiveness out of him too!

Crosby's career #s: .238/.305/.379
His 2009: .223/.294/.365

RIP?

No teams tried to claim him off waivers in the offseason. It's not inconceivable that Crosby retires this off-season.

That said Beane has established him as reasonable defensive utility player so I could see someone picking him up as an 11th man.

if jason giambi got a minor league contract this year, i'm pretty sure that bobby crosby could in the offseason

not so sure about that, giambi actually could hit the ball at one point.

if yuniesky bentancourt is still in the majors based solely on old reputation, i think bobby crosby could catch on with someone somewhere

Can someone explain to me why is Gio Gonzalez is in the majors?

wait, where was this crest of Eric Byrnes' career?

There was that week in 2006, when he decided to hit like a man.

"Can someone explain to me why is Gio Gonzalez is in the majors?"

Cuz he's either going to figure out how to throw strikes here or it's not going to matter?

I mean dude is striking out a batter+ an inning so it's not exactly a stuff problem, it's more a seem unable to not walk dudes like crazy problem (which admittedly was also his problem in the minors so. . .)

raj davis has been doing a nice jose reyes at his peak imitation of the last month plus

of = for

Sweeney swingin as hot as he looks in Sept:

.372/ .427 /.500