SECOND ANNUAL EIOS
ORGANIZATION EVALUATION

Here are the grades for the Oakland Athletics Baseball Club before we head into 2004.

ORGANIZATION

Grade: B+
A decided grade that is a little inflated.

The Oakland Athletics Baseball Club is one of the best organizations in all of sports, not just in baseball. From success on a small budget to a rabid fan base to a compelling minor league system, the A’s are the blueprint model for businesses outside of baseball and an icon of achievement within.

OAKLAND ORGANIZATION: STANDINGS

96-66 .593 Oakland; AL West Champions
92-52 .639 (AAA) Sacramento River Cats; PCL Champions
34-36 .486 (AA) Midland Rock Hounds
42-28 .600 (High A) Modesto A’s; North Division Wild Card, Freitas Award
39-30 .565 (Low A) Kane County
35-41 .461 (Short-Season A) Vancouver
19-36 .345 (Rookie) AZL Athletics
Totals
357 wins - 289 losses .553 winning percentage

Organization of the year?

The A’s put together another superb season from top to middle. The single A and rookie teams did not manage to win as many games as the higher teams. Though, the variables are also vulnerable to a wider range of scrutiny. For instance, the A’s draft far more college players than high school players. Most of these players hit the AZL team and single A ball. The demands of a college season are considerable tougher than that of a high school season. So you can expect a lot of worn out bodies heading to play ball in the late Summer and early Fall. Further, the A’s organization also has strict demands and conforming to these demands can often lead to players being at different spectrums of focus once the season gets started. While one player is focusing on working the count the runner on first might be working on getting a better read on infield rotations. A pitcher might be working on slowing his delivery from the stretch while a catcher is working on better footwork throwing down to second. It’s on the job training.

The A’s minor league system is one that should be viewed as upper tier and a model of consistency. The Modesto A’s celebrate their 30th season with the A’s in 2004. The River Cats have broken minor league attendance record the last four seasons. Sacramento also set a slue of other records on the way to the Pacific Coast League Championship and Minor League Team of the Year honors (Baseball America).

FRONT OFFICE

Grade: A-

Moneyball-itis could have run this team into the ground before it got started. It did not. The A’s got off to a fast start, and then took a nosedive. Much of that can be linked, but not attributed to, the release and subsequent ridiculous discussions surrounding Moneyball.

Joe Morgan, for several months insisted that Billy Beane, the venerable one, wrote Moneyball. Most likely because Joe is an idiot, and that’s been made apparent many, many times. Moreover, with the kind of 'periodical publications' (ask us why a former handler at ESPN calls his Fantasy Bseball team - Joe Morgan's Porn Stash) Joe reads he was probably thinking that all books are written by someone else and not by the guy whose name is on the book’s cover. Athletes often have a ghostwriter, or blatantly employ a writer to write for them, they can’t be bothered with details; see David Wells. Joe is a well 'read' individual and has an affinity for certain other publications, but, we’ll leave that for another time (Joe, it’s called Spectravision and it’s cheaper and easier than carrying an extra suitcase of ‘reading material’).

We go inside the mind of Joe Morgan:

‘Since the book was labeled as being written by Michael Lewis, then Billy Beane must have really written it and the book is about Michael Lewis. You see, if the book was labeled as being written by Billy Beane it must have really been written by Michael Lewis and it is about Billy Beane. Those publishers weren't thinking the right way and that's why those things happen. To write good books you have to have some twist. What they should have done was…’

Okay, let’s get out of Joe’s brain before we get caught in a redundant loop of stupidity. Remember, the last book Joe wrote was not exactly As I Lay Dying.

Moneyball also had an affect on other GM’s and front office personnel. Seattle Mariners’ GM ‘Stand’ Pat Gillick has decided that not only is Billy Beane wrong and that he doesn’t know how to run an organization, he is going to tell him as much. Not yet? "No, but I plan on it" (see the hyper-linked item for the full article and the quote is at the bottom). The Grady 'Personality' Fuson melodrama played itself out before the All Star break. Fuson went on and on how Billy Beane called to apologize earlier in the season, Beane denied the claim making Fuson a bigger buffoon of himself than any best selling author or GM could ever hope.

All the while Beane, Paul DePodesta, Erik Kubota, David Forst and Danny McCormack kept to the business of finding players and developing budding stars. Who the hell is Jon Weber and how the hell did the A's find him and get him away from Seattle?

The trades made by Billy Beane & Co. get a lot of headlines. But the draft and minor league system are what the A's depend on to stay competitive. In 2003 the Big Three, then Four Large, and their catcher were all developed from the draft and minor league system. The 3rd base and short-stop positions were manned by home grown talent, too. Throw in Eric Byrnes in the outfield and on any given day half the A's lineup was scouted, drafted and brought up through the A's system.

The A’s recent draft has revealed another bevy of talent, these players are worthy of treatment in a best-selling book, too (how about a freakishly bad run blog – would that do?).

The OAKLAND A’s 2003 DRAFT:

Player	Bat/Throws	Ht	Wt	STATUS	Age	Rnd	Pos
Omar Quintanilla	Left/Right	5'9"	185	$1,360,000	22	1st	SS
Brian J Snyder	Right/Right	5'11"	195	$1,325,000	21	1st	3B
Bradley K Sullivan	Right/Right	6'1"	190	$992,500	22	1st	RHP
Andre E Ethier	Left/Left	6'3"	200	$580,000	21	2nd	CF
Dustin C Majewski	Left/Left	5'11"	190	$220,000	22	3rd	CF
Edward S Kim	Left/Right	6'4"	260	$100,000	22	4th	1B
John T Peterson	Right/Left	6'1"	1703	$170,000	21	5th	LHP
Luke T Appert	Left/Right	5'11"	180	$42,500	23	6th	2B
David J Castillo	Right/Right	5'9"	180	$95,000	22	7th	C
Michael M McGirr	Right/Right	6'0"	185	$22,500	22	8th	RHP
Grant T Reynolds	Right/Right	5'11"	190	$15,000	23	9th	RHP
Matthew J Lynch	Left/Left	6'1"	185	$15,000	22	10th	LHP
Vasili G Spanos	Right/Right	6'1"	230	$7,500	22	11th	3B
Brian W Ingram	Left/Right	5'10"	175	Signed	22	11th	SS
Eduardo Cornejo	Left/Right	5'10"	175	Signed	22	13th	SS
Anthony L Zambotti	Right/Right	6'1"	200	Signed	23	14th	RHP
Steven T Bondurant	Left/Left	6'0"	190	Signed	23	15th	LHP
Vern N Sterry	Right/Right	6'2"	195	D-N-S	21	16th	RHP
Ryan W France	Right/Right	6'3"	210	Signed	24	17th	RHP
William Becher	Left/Right	6'5"	230	D-N-S	21	18th	1B
Graham Harrison	Switch/Right	6'2"	210	D-N-S	18	19th	C
Gordon Corder	Right/Right	6'2"	235	Signed	23	20th	1B
William B Pruitt	Left/Right	6'2"	175	D-N-S	18	21st	SS
Brian T Peacock	Right/Right	5'11"	181	D-N-S	22	8th	RHP
Justin R Towles	Right/Right	6'1"	175	D-N-S	19	23rd	C
Cory A Hahn	Right/Right	6'0"	210	Signed	21	24th	RHP
Sean Farrell	Right/Right	5'11"	210	Signed	22	25th	OF
Brian J Horwitz	Right/Right	6'2"	180	D-N-S	21	26th	OF
James Heuser	Left/Leftt	6'5"	200	Signed	19	27th	LHP
Jared D Trout	Right/Right	6'1"	195	Signed	21	28th	RHP
Alexander Woodson	Left/Left	6'0"	185	D-N-S	17	29th	LHP
Justin J Cassel	Right/Right	6'1"	190	D-N-S	19	30th	RHP
Joel B Fountain	Right/Right	6'4"	175	D-N-S	19	31st	RHP
Steve Sollmann	Right/Right	5'10"	190	D-N-S	20	32nd	2B
hiccup
Eric Macha	Right/Right	6'4"	220	Signed	22	33rd	3B
excuse us
Broc C Coffman	Left/Left	6'2"	200	D-N-S	18	34th	LHP
Michael D Mitchell	Right/Right	6'2"	180	D-N-S	22	35th	RHP
Matthew S Ryals	Right/Right	6'2"	185	D-N-S	18	36th	RHP
Sean F Kazmar	Right/Right	5'9"	160	D-N-S	19	37th	SS
Zachary M Simons	Left/Right	6'3"	180	D-N-S	18	38th	RHP
Joshua J Rodriguez	Right/Right	6'0"	170	D-N-S	19	39th	2B
Christopher R Westervelt	Right/Right	5'11"	205	D-N-S	22	40th	C

REVIEW: 42 (College: 28, High School: 9, JC: 5)
Position Players: 22 Pitchers: 19 Manager’s Sons: 1
($ amount denotes signing bonus, so, duh, they’re signed…
D-N-S the player did not sign, we’ll follow up and find out who may re-enter the draft)

Of course, following the draft, the season actually gets started for the front office. The only real matters left are signing draft picks and dispatching them to their minor league assignments. Then the focus shifts to AA Midland AAA Sacramento and the parent club in Oakland. Later, toward who might become available in other organizations. Oakland’s flaws, in the past, have been readily improved upon prior to the trading deadline with swift, calculating moves from within the front office.

The A’s moves following the 2002 season were brilliant as much as they were dumbfounding that other GM’s and organizations were willing to unload cheap talent and untapped talent for so little.

In Mid October of 2002 the A’s dumped Jeff Tam, Cody McKay and Juan Pena. Tam went on to watch his ERA explode in Toronto, McKay went to the Brewers and Pena, who knows? On Halloween the A’s picked up the option on Scott Hatteberg, which seemed like a good move at the time considering the bang the A’s were getting for their bucks.

On November 13th the A’s bought Roy Smith form the Cleveland Indians and Smith spent the year in Sacramento starting and long relieving. The A’s also signed a slue of free agents to minor league deals. Heath Bost is not on any of the A’s organizations active rosters and David Hooten had an unimpressive year for Midland in the Texas League. The A’s also brought up Bob Geren from his post as River Cats manager and tied him to the bullpen for 2003. The A’s also dismissed Mike Quade with thanks after Quade refused to be reassigned in the organization.

Three days later the A’s sent Cory Lidle to Toronto for Mike Rouse and Chris Mowday. Rouse had a decent stint in AA Midland and will be in the Arizona Fall League this winter. Mowday stunk up both Modesto and Kane County. Cory Lidle got a few wins in Toronto in 2003, but his ERA would make a porn merchant blush.

Two days later Jose Silva, Mitch Meluskey, David McCarty and Billy McMillon were signed to minor league deals.

On December 3rd the A’s traded Billy Koch and two players to be named later (Neal Cotts and outfielder Daylan Holt ) to the Chicago White Sox for Keith Foulke, Mark Johnson, Minor League Pitcher of the Year Joe Valentine and cash considerations - enough to pay most of, if not all of, Foulke's contract. At this point, if Billy Beane didn’t have exempt status everywhere in the planet, this move surely moved him to the upper class of all beings that breath. Foulke lost his closer’s job in Chicago because Jerry Manuel didn’t like the fact Foulke blew two saves in a week. Foulke’s numbers were so good, even after losing his job as a closer, that he was still one of the best relievers in baseball. Norm Charlton signed with the A’s on December 17th, 2002. Charlton is either re-retiring or coming back in 2004 after elbow surgery. Most likely both.