Lost Weekend

Many things happened in the last five days and we are trying to sort them out. We have received permission to post some of the season ticket mailings and we are in the process of scanning them. Also, Pyra was purchased by Google. In addition 2+2=4.


At least there's one media story about a guy named 'Rose' that didn't deal with the Hit King.


Erubiel Durazo may not be the starting firstbaseman. Duh. Durazo does bring qustions to the batting order. We'll take a look at that when Spring training starts to kick in.


This Ray Ratto article on Rick Peterson makes you realize why pitching coaches do not make good managers. It also helps you understand why they are so few good pitching coaches. In a related effort, Baseball Prospectus has an article on Rick Peterson that makes us wonder if Peterson is on the fast path to Leo Mazzonedom.


Ted Lilly gets an early puff piece even before the first Spring Training game. After getting the brake pads lined last September, Lilly looked like a 'flinger'. His delivery was shorter, but incomplete. He looked like he was constantly warming up on the mound and not 'pitching'...if that makes sense.


When it rains it Piatts. A few tidbits here on local players on Adam Piatt's future. The article suggests that Piatt has the inside track to the 4th outfielder spot on the 25 man roster. Ya think? Maybe just because he's out of options and the A's don't want to lose him to anyone in the western hemisphere? Some sports writers are too stupid for their own good. More on Piatt and further evidence that there might be only one story, but that a dozen writers can rework it into two dozen different articles.


Our peanut butter might be chock full of nuts, but that doesn't make it nutty. The four lefty rotation issue gets punted around, again.


Speaking of dumb sports writers...

Whither, Ken Rosenthal?

Ken Rosenthal has the ability th churn out decent baseball related chunks in a short amount of time. Usually because The Sporting News allows him to slash and burn all pretext of actual journalism. Rosenthal might be the closest thing to a closet blogger you'll find in sports next to Peter Gammons. In his latest 'article', Rosenthal waxes on several issues including the Royals woes in trying to keep their talent. He suggests a three way trade is only missing it's third wheel. We throw one out there; the A's. The A's offer Terrence Long and Esteban German and/or Frank Mennechino. The A's, for the first time in a long time, are long on mid-infielders. Not since Tony Batista and Miguel Tejada were on the field together (for about a week) did the A's future up the middle seem so bright. Even if Miggi walks, the A's are set with Mark Ellis, Luis Lopez, Mennechino, German, Bobby Crosby and SHHHHH! (don't let anyone know about the Australian!) for several years to come.


The odd part about the aritcle is that Rosenthal cites a source as , 'one scout', and goes on to say that the A's have holes at three offensive positions and their bullpen has "questions". We'd take the A's three holes and proclaim that they couldn't do any worse and they are all bound to improve. Further, those three holes are a heck of a lot better than several MLB line ups that are six to seven deep in holes. As far as the A's bullpen, the only question is who is going to get squeezed out. The A's had one of, if not, the best pitching staffs in all of baseball last year-in spite of their set up man and closer. With Mecir on the shelf for at least a few weeks and Foulke in for Koch the A's are better than they were last year, at least on paper.
Which brings us to possibly the best quote ever:

"I'm not filling anyone's shoes. I brought my own shoes." -Keith Foulke on trading places with Billy Koch

To boot, the A's have arms to trade and/or juggle to maximize effectiveness. With San Diego looking to acquire a closer while Trevor Hoffman mends (though we wonder why, if you aren't going to win that many games just go by committee) and several other elbows in MLB creaking and cracking the A's could be looking at a big Spring Sale that could benefit them mightily.


This Rosenthal piece makes you long for the 'cited reports' of Peter Gammons and 'analysis' Harold Reynolds.


Still, we'll watch Baseball Tonight rather than CNN any day of the week and twice, well, every day of the week except Sunday.