BLUTHINESS

I guess what I want to know is, why is Marco Scutaro virtually handed a roster spot? He is basically a poor man's version of Antonio Perez, who is already a K-Mart blue light special.

Unless Crosby and/or Ellis is hurt, there is no reason to have Perez, Scutaro, and Ginter on the squad, and there is no reason to have Perez and Scutaro on at the same time either.

I don't know if Ginter's atrocious year was a sample size fluke or whatever, and unlike Watson or Ron Flores, I don't know if he'll ever regain that confidence, but having him play in AAA is also a waste of money, especially considering the teams that had a need this offseason at 2B (Twins, Royals, Pirates, Mets, Cincy, St. Louis, etc.)

I still think it has been a great offseason (such as the Thomas signing), but there are some things left on the table.
And on a side note, maybe the situation with Chavez-Ginter last year (Ginter was supposed to spell Chavy at 3rd) is what has swung me to the dark side about Macha. He showed absolutely no ability to work his depth at one of the few positions he had it.

I think the ultimate problem is that Ginter was so bad last year that he has absolutely no trade value, and the A's don't want to release him because they traded a very good proospect, Nelson Cruz, for him.

Also, I don't really have evidence for this, but I get the feeling that Ginter is one of those guys that needs regular playing time and won't thrive as a sub, whereas Scutaro seems to do well as a sub but gets exposed with regular playing time. Perez I know little about, except that he's got a little bit of pop, and he's fairly young and cheap, making him an A's kind of player. I'm too lazy to look up the data on any of this.

Should Ginter get another shot? Sure. Will he? Nah. The best any of us can hope is that he hits .500 this spring, draws the interest of one of the teams Ruben mentions, and brings back a live arm in a trade.

When Ginter accepted assignment to Sacramento, (he had the right to refuse, but no one would be paying him a million dollars to be playing this year, so perhaps wisely, he didn't), the $1M or so that the A's contract requires him to be paid became a sunk cost. That is, whatever the A's do with him; play him in Oakland, play him in Sacramento, or release him outright, they're going to pay him that million dollars. The question then becomes what makes the most sense for them?

If the organization believes Ginter will bounce back to something like what he was in Milwaukee, they'll play him in Oakland. If they don't, they'll play him in Sacramento, where he'll be Justin Case, and help win the River Cats another division championship, or possibly make himself tradeable if he plays well enough.

very true...sometimes you just gotta eat it when you make a mistake

Perez and Scutaro actually fit different roles. Last year I watched virtually every game Perez played and while the boy can hit - he hit everybody, just about everyday, and only dipped below .300 at the last minute - he was fairly atrocious in the infield. I see him as a pinch hitter and Scoot as a late-inning defensive replacement. Ginter has been chalked up as a loss.

I think Ginter's falling off was due to the steroid/drug testing scrutiny.

WHAT?

Ginter never tested positive for anything.

And even if he did - who cares? The only person who really got nailed for it is Rafael Palmiero and that's because of what he said in Congress.

They aren't investigating Miguel Yejada, the guy that supplied Palmiero.

Don't remember were I read it, but Beane tried to send Ginter to the Dodgers as part of the Bradley deal.

Didn't fly.

And I think Ginter's salary is $1.4 million next/this season.

It's not. Ginter's contract was for $450K in 2005, and slightly over $1M (like, $1.03M, I think) in 2006.

Which doesn't really matter. If it were $1.4M, that money would be as sunk as the $1M is.

Maybe it was $1.04 million for Ginter and I transposed the numbers.

Or I could be losing my mind.

Spending too much time thinking about Ginter'll do that to you.

I think about Keith Ginter a lot.