IF THE TRUTH LEAKS OUT, YOUR STRATEGY WILL BE FOILED.
IF THE SOLDIERS WORRY, THEY WILL BE HESITANT AND FEARFUL.

- The Art of War -

Here are a number of topics that need to be addressed:

• The recent trade acquisition of Jason Kendall (click me) via Arthur Rhodes and Mark Redman
  
• The facts surrounding the steroid controversy (click me)
  
• The fact that there is no controversy (click me)
  
• The performance enhancing drug issue in MLB (click me)
  
• The A's in winter ball (click me)
  
• Predicting Baseball America's top 10 Prospects in the A's organization (click me)
  
• (click me)Why you did not understand whatMoneyball is about
  
• Where do we go now?

KENDALL FOR RHODES AND REDMAN

I will examine the trade in great detail. But...I don't like the trade. Catchers get hurt. And expensive, hurt catchers do not help matters at all. As I said, I will elaborate.

BALCO FIASCO

The revelation about the BALCO indictments leaked from grand jury testimony is ridiculous. There are so many levels of ridiculousness it's hard to understand where to begin. The admission of usage of performance enhancing drugs, and/or the denial of such, came more than 350 days ago. This is old news, then, isn't it?

You can debate about grand jury testimony being leaked, how it was obtained, how stupid each Giambi brother is in turn, how stupid the Giambi brothers' legal representatives are, how stupid the Giambi brothers' agents are, how good Barry Bonds' legal representative is, how good Barry Bonds' agent is, how silly it is for the New York Yankees to suggest they will try to void Jason Giambi's contract (but not Gary Sheffield's), how the Yankees have no legal ground to stand on, how the Yankees have no moral or ethical ground to stand on, how the Yankees knew of Jason Giambi's extensive medical history before, during and after signing him (why DID Jason Gaimbi hire his own personal trainer, Bob Alejo, after signing with New York?), how stupid Barry Bonds thinks the public is, how right Barry Bonds is, how baseball will do nothing on the matter, how the judge in the case will do nothing, how Victor Conte may end up walking because the case may never go to trial, etc., etc, ditto, ditto.

FINGERLESS POINTING

There were no rules in Major League Baseball against performance enhancing drugs, their use or much of a drug policy at all, until last year. And even the current program enforced by MLB is so full of holes that it makes the North Dallas Forty trainer look like a saint.

Players could have bought and shot steroids, had the pitching coach apply the cream during a meeting on the mound or even started a blog detailing performance enhancing drugs and their value and distributed leaflets to fans pushing the site during a game...and MLB would do nothing.

MLB blames the Player's Union and Donald Fehr.

As Kaiser Selig always blames the union and Fehr.

Steroids and performance enhancing drugs were not against the rules of MLB. Just take that and move past the hoopla.

ISSUE TOO

There really is no issue about performance enhancing drugs in MLB. There are concerns and health related stabs to be made. Without a comprehensive and effective drug testing policy, tough, MLB will continue to be a dumping ground for, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH SPORTS". SO, Real Sports on HBO and Dateline on NBC and 60 Minutes on CBS will all run their journalistic pieces in the next three months. Which begs the question; baseball shoots off its own feet, stick their feet in their mouth and give itself blackeyes - when is enough, enough?

Athletes get around Olympic drug testing, so, let's just bypass this stuff and get back to the game between the lines, shall we?

There's nothing we can say or do about the situation as we did nothing but encourage baseball to turn a blind eye for the past several decades. Have people forgot about Darryl Strawberry, Steve Howe, Dave Parker, hell - have you not read BALL FOUR?

MLB has so much egg on its face that omelet jokes are no longer funny.

Throw in Pete Rose, the Nationals flap, the Winter Meetings and now this...somebody bring out Kaiser Selig's PR police because the man is on a mission to jam more shot off feet into his mouth.

With John McCain threatening Congressional action (yah, because Congress has the ethical and moral compass to guide MLB - and there ar eno more pressing matters the U.S. Gov't should be dealing with than grand jury testimony from 2003) there seems to be no end on making the most of non-baseball issues, well, issues.

DON'T BREATHE THE AIR

There are a few snippets here and there about the A's in the Winter Leagues. Nothing to get upset about, nothing to get excited about. Steady as she goes.

Dan Johnson and Matt Watson returned from the Hermosillo Orange Growers for different reasons - both non-baseball.

Dan Johnson's wife went into labor, so the father-to-be (that would be Dan Johnson, though it would have been funny if I left that open ended...maybe not funny to anyone who knows Dan Johnson) returned home. It turned out to be false labor.

At around the same time, Matt Watson returned home to Pennsylvania due to an illness. It is not deemed serious, but it's a shame to travel that far and not be able to be productive because of health reasons. Hopefully the rest will be better than the extra AB's in Mexico Watson could have had.

Dan Johnson has returned to the Mexican League and had a stint in LF. Johnson is a first baseman by need, as batters need a position in order to hit, definitely not by glove - so sending Johnson to the outfield is noteworthy. Johnson is not much with the glove, average is the best moniker to use.

Though tough love with the glove, he found his groove with the stick.

BATTERS	G	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	R	H	TB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TBB	SO
Dan Johnson	34	112	.259	.390	.563	.953	27	29	63	7	0	9	27	26	16

Nelson Cruz got a mention in Baseball America

TAKEN FROM JOHN MANUEL's WINTER NOTEBOOK ON BASEBALL AMERICA
• 
  "Dominican outfielder Nelson Cruz (Athletics) took a circuitous route to playing in his homeland's Winter League. Gigantes had dropped him from its roster during the summer, unaware of the progress Cruz was making in the A's system (he hit a career-high 26 home runs and reached Triple-A in 2004). A's officials lobbied for his return after the season had started, and he's been Gigantes' best hitter. He was batting .372-2-16 in 13 games."John Manuel - December 3rd, 2004

BATTERS	G	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	R	H	TB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TBB	SO
Nelson Cruz	13	43	.372	.460	.581	1.041	8	16	25	3	0	2	16	7	15

NOTE - THE STRIKEOUT TO WALK RATIO...YICK

CASEY COUNTS 'EM DOWN

One of the warmer moments of the winter off-season is predicting what A's Top Prospects are doing as somebody checks a list, more than once. Baseball America has a solid system of selecting each organization's Top 10 Prospects and writing up a basic review on the player. The criteria is basic and the process informational.

Sure the results can be argued from here to there, but the context is different for each major league team. And Baseball America doesn't design their list with said context. It's a "pure" list.

Here's how I predict Baseball America will list the Top 10 for 2004-5:

1. Huston Street
   
2. Dan Johnson
   
3. Nick Swisher
   
4. Joe Blanton
   
5. Jairo Garcia
   
6. Nelson Cruz
   
7. Omar Quintanilla
   
8. Mike Rouse
   
9. Jason Perry
   
10. Shawn Kohn

What does this mean? You'll find out when the date comes.

LISTEN, READ, THINK, SHUT THE F...

It just never ends.

Apparently, when it comes to the A's, sportswriters are morons.

Any chance they get, they pull Moneyball out of their ass, which is located directly next to their heads...yes, in their ass.

Is there a maximum IQ you have to be below in order to work in today's media?

I saw a jar with a floating brain in formaldehyde the other day writing for the New York Times, so apparently the bar is low.

Do you really want me to break down this article and have the writer's email address available so you can vent your frustration at him, too?

I am so angry about Moneyball that I feel Michael Lewis owes me money at this point.

Michael Lewis could have just wrote a book without any words contaned within - and the same crap would spew from the PC of even the grandest of sportswriting hacks. Just a cover relating to baseball and a dust jacket with a few words on the Oakland A's would do the trick.

TIMMY'S HOLIDAY CAMP

Can we get through one off-season without all of the "...Blank, the agent for Player, set a deadline for contract negotiations to begin by such a date or Player will not negotiate during the season...when contacted for a comment, General Manager said, 'he set a deadline as every Free Agent before him has'..."

Tim Hudson has set a deadline for a deal.

Big freakin' deal.

At least the Georgia Grinder didn't say anything about the hometown discount.

Hudson wants to get his situation in order with the A's. The problem is that the deck is stacked against him.

When a player sets a deadline, what he essentially does is create a paper wall. The team very well can't start bad-mouthing the player or it will decrease his trade value. In fact, if the team does not begin negotiations immediately, the trade scenarios come flying in from outside.

So, the Oakland A's organization can allow Billy Beane to listen to trade offers all this week in Anaheim and not be accused of placing Tim Hudson on the nonexistent TRADING BLOCK.

It basically is a feeble attempt to start a dialogue. The agent wants to get dollar amounts set during a negotiations to be prepared for next season if the A's decide to trade or not trade Hudson. The agent can start posturing, "if my client would not take X years at Y dollars last season, what make you think you can lowball me a year later?"

With arbitration still ahead, there are other things on the mind of the A's Front Office. The Tim Hudson Trade Scenarios can go on and on. It won't change a thing. Firstm the Rule 5 Draft, then, everything else.

But, for the discerning fan here are a few reasons why the A's would trade Hudson:

• Twice in the last three years Tim Hudson has been unavailable or sub par due to health related issues in the playoffs.
  
• Tim Hudson missed time in 2004 due to injury.
  
• Tim Hudson is an elite pitcher who could command a very high salary with another team.
  
• 4 years at $40 Million is not out of the question.
  
• The A's are on a strict budget, tighter after the Jason Kendall acquisition.
  
• Tim Hudson will be 29 years old in 2004.
  
• The A's have a gaggle of starting pitching coming up through their organization.

That is a decent list. Here's a reason not to trade Hudson:

• Because he is Tim Hudson.

Now, can you honestly remove yourself from the situation and make a choice?