Damn These Erasers

The A's shipped minor leaguers Neal Cotts and Daylan Holt to the Chicago White Sox to complete the Foulk/Koch deal. Cotts (LHP) went 12-6 with a 4.12 in Modesto last year, stirking out 178 in 138 innings. He also issued 87 walks. Cotts is 22 years old with a fastball that rarely breaks 90. His upside is limited, but he can be a useful lefty swing-man or deep reliever.


Daylan Holt came out of Texas A&M and his junior season slump carried into his first year of professional baseball. Holt managed .286/20/88 in Modesto in 2002. Nothing to sneeze at, but for a guy who hit 34 homeruns in his sophomore college season, it was a little less than what was expected of him at this stage in his career. Holt looks to be a corner outfielder/DH. Holt didn't walk enough and struck out too much for the A's wishes (125 K's /44 walks).


The A's released Mike Fhyrie. Fhyrie is going to be a decent organizational warrior for a team in 2003. Fhyrie was good in AAA 7-2, 2.33 ERA and close to horrible in Oakland 2-4, 4.44 ERA. Fhyrie lucked out a few times in getting big leads in his starts and also threw a lot of gas on the fire when asked to come in for long relief.


Fhyrie will find a home with somebody, Tampa and Texas could do a lot worse.