Who in the What, Now?

Here are some of the issues Peter Gammons has pointed out with the A's in his October 16th column at ESPN.com:

...both the Mets' and Devil Rays' first impressions were that the M's are driving a hard bargain on the compensation, and if it goes too long, don't be surprised if the Mets talk more earnestly with Art Howe, although that window closes quickly.


Ken Macha's interview with the Mets was reportedly very impressive, but the school of thought seems to be that the Oakland bench coach is the Cubs' first choice, and the Cubs are the best job out there -- unless Dusty Baker decides to move on Seattle. Of course, if Howe went to the Mets, Macha would be Billy Beane's first choice, although Oakland Triple-A (Sacramento River Cats) manager Bob Geren is a future big-league skipper.


...Oakland owner Steve Schott has given the Red Sox the runaround in their attempt to talk to Billy Beane. Schott would like to sell the club, but he has treated Beane as a commodity, not a human. And everyone knows Schott has no intention of ever getting Miguel Tejada signed, so the A's have gone about as far as they can go.


Oakland still hopes to sign Ray Durham, figuring that the Yankees will go for defense and Boston won't give up the draft choice. One possibility is Colorado...

Confused. Yes, so are we.


Gammons says that Schott wants to sell the team, that's no secret. That he won't try to sign Miguel Tejada to a long term deal is also no secret. If you're selling a car you really don't want to put in a new expensvie 8 Track deck when cassettes are just around the corner. Sure, you hear the same music but cost and resale are the big issues. It's hard to unload a high ticket item when the buyer doesn't want one of its main features (see; Giambi, Jason) and will have to spend money to replace it.

The real brain twister is that Gammons reports the A's are looking into Ray Durham. That's not so much news as it is confirmation. A lot of local and regional sports writers like to echo each other and 'report' items that are really just recirculated. If it gets circulated to the opposing coast, usually that is significant enough that the rumor or issue didn't die or was not denied.

But if the A's aren't going to sign Tejada to a long term deal, why would they look at getting Durham as a Free Agent unless they were thinking ahead; plugging Ellis in at short and Durham back at second should the experiment in the outfield go awry?

There's nothing like a non-denial denial.


There's been a lot of talk on the West Coast on the subject, but if the northeast is anything, it's Peter Gammons.


There's Harvard Yard, Fenway Park and Peter.


That sparks a lot of talk about Terrence Long if Durham is going to try to outfield. At the time of the trade for Ray Durham from the White Sox Durham led the AL in errors by a second baseman. Mark Ellis has shown that he is the A's answer at second for several more years (at a minimum salary to boot). If Durham takes over in center, even on a part time basis, the A's might be looking to unload Long.