Any takers?

hasn’t worked as well for them lately has it did earlier in Beane’s tenure. A little more variation in the system would be a good thing. A guy can have all the strike zone discipline in the world and walk a ton, but at some point, he’s gonna have to be able to swing the bat. The A’s prospects, save Suzuki, haven’t been able to do that at the MLB level recently.

in both the rotation and the bullpen.

the biggest need would be addressing the anemic offense. Trade holliday to the braves for escobar.

crosby, cust, and giambi have little value, so hopefully you can move them for whatever low level bats and arms are available.

this opens up spots for carter, barton (who is still fairly young), and eventually cunningham, cardenas, etc

And go back to the day when I thought Orlando Cabrera was better than Bobby Crosby. I would not get out of bed that day. I would do the same thing on the day that I thought Jason Giambi was still a good player.

Both of these moves were clearly terrible moves at the time (hey, I panned them, so I can say that). Neither guy’s realistic projections were better than their replacements, yet the moves were made. The Cabrera move, while it has killed the team on the field (and Geren, the worst baseball manager I’ve seen in my life, keeps hitting one of the 5 worst offensive players in baseball 2nd), hasn’t really hurt the future because neither he nor Crosby nor anybody else waiting in the wings is a future starting shortstop. Giambi, on the other hand, is crippling the future. His presence is preventing Daric Barton AND Travis Buck from getting the major league at bats they need.

Let’s start from the top.

First thing I do is fire my best man buddy, Bob Geren. It’s pretty clear that Geren is acting as though he can do anything and won’t get fired. This is evident because he is actually doing things that are so offensive to the intelligent baseball mind that there’s no way he’d still have a job if not for the friendship. Batting Cabrera 1 or 2 all year has hurt the team almost as much as if he had batted Holliday 9th (somebody run the numbers on this. I bet it’s true). Another dumb Geren move: playing Ryan Sweeney against LHP. Rajai Davis has proven that when he gets at least semi-regular playing time, he’s a pretty good player. Below average hitter with a great glove at a premium defensive position is nothing to sneeze at. Against lefties, Sweeney is an ok defensive player and a below replacement offensive player. Yet, most days against lefties, Sweeney is out there. Oh, and how about him getting on Cust in the spring about too many strikeouts, something that couldn’t possibly be an organizational decision (mainly because ONLY Geren said it was a problem). So Cust is swinging at more. And he’s having a terrible year. Good job changing your best offensive player from the past two years, dipshit. I could go on for a month about this stuff, but let’s move on.

Giambi has to go. He serves no purpose and he’s not actually good at baseball. Having a below-replacement 38 year old is inexcusable when you’re not even close to contention. Unless you think you can get something for him via trade, and I can’t fathom what team would want him, the $5.25 million (this year+$1.25 buyout for next) is sunk cost. Release him and get the guys who deserve it the at bats, who actually have a future with the team, in the lineup. There’s also no point in having Nomar on the team. I liked the idea of signing him to compliment Chavez at the beginning of the season, but at this point he’s just taking up a roster spot. He’s also not actually better than the alternatives (Crosby, Hannahan). Unlike Giambi, I think a team might take a chance on Nomar for a bench spot.

This organization looks like it’s really far off, but I don’t think it is. Actually, to me there’s a handful of really obvious things that would instantly improve the team now and for the future. What I don’t understand is why these things aren’t being done. It’s like we’re in some kind of bizarro world where the A’s are winning and the old guys are producing and pitchers don’t keep getting hurt.

Giambi, Cabrera, Holliday, etc… and get back as much as you can for each. Start building for the future around the young pitching and good middle infield prospects. Fire the manager and get someone tough who would do good with young players like maybe Phil Garner :) Then trade one of the top pitchig prospects for a good young power bat like Matt LaPorta.

Here are trades I would do: Holliday to Braves for Freddie Freeman and Cole Rohrborogh(whatever), Cabrera and Giambi for anything, and Gio Gonzalez and Adrain Cardenas to Indains for LaPorta. Then I would sign a third baseman when the team is ready to actually compete in a few years.

Cahill and Anderson belong in AAA right now.

It’s just that Anderson has been making improvements to an extent, that makes me hesitant to send him down. Just the IP/pitch count issues, and service time issues. But he hasn’t wowed.

Get rid of Giambi/OCab/Holliday. Send Cahill/Anderson to AAA. Get Gallagher up when healthy and leave him and Gio in all year. Then maybe give Simmons a shot later in the year. Buck/Barton play everyday along with Cunningham. Send Holliday to STL for Wallace.