MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR

The A's have agreed to a trade in principle with the Atlanta Braves. The players involved are CF Mark Kotsay and RHP Joey Devine. The trade is contingent on two things; Kotsay passing a physical on Monday and the A's picking up more than $5 Million of Kotsay's salary.


That is shocking. And awfully familiar. When the A's acquired Kotsay there was a week long process of the A's reviewing Kotsay's medical history before the trade was made official.


Remember the justification for Jason Kendall heading into 2007? The A's were getting paid $7 Million from the Pirates for taking the peg-legged catcher of their hands two years prior. Well, the A's have become the Pirates; agreeing in principle to trade Mark Kotsay to the Braves for Simply Joey Devine...and paying more than $5 Million of Kotsay's contract to boot.


The deal hinges on Mark Kotsay passing a physical on Monday which is not as easy as it seems and could be a greater risk than taking on Joey Devine, Simply, Devine. Kotsay will have to fly from Reno to the Delta hub that is Atlanta this weekend.


The problem?


Kotsay's back stiffens up like a...damn. I want to use a fluffer joke here but probably shouldn't. Kotsay's back stiffens up sitting on a plane for hours at a time. He could very well land in Atlanta and the Braves may not want to take on the oft injured light hitting centerfielder.


There are no standards when it comes to 'what is pass' and 'what is fail' when it comes to a physical in MLB. It could be that the trainer drops the player's medical file on the floor and asks him to pick it up. If he does; hey you pass! It also could be a series of strength and conditioning tests over time. Particularly a back that can seize after just 20 minutes of exercise.


Regardless, the A's have made a valiant attempt to rid themselves of an albatross that plagued them for many seasons. Kotsay was a mixed bag as a player and a player that perhaps deserved much more scorn than he received.


Let's get to the Simply Devine part of the trade. Devine is a former 1st round pick out of North Carolina in 2005 (A's trading for former 1st round picks, again). He was up with the Braves in just 3 months and gave up a season ending homer to Chris Burke. Some say it left him shell-shocked. Some say just exhausted from the longest season he had ever played. Others say that it's the burden of the curse of the creature's ghost that forever torments the Braves bullpen and occasionally still haunts Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.


Devine was one of the Braves top 10 prospects coming into 2007. According to Baseball America, heading into 2008 he was not. Devine's a two-pitch pitcher. He features a deadening 91-93 sinker and one of the best sliders in baseball. Sound familiar? Huston Street's long lost clone, perhaps. The exception is that Devine's fastball can hit 97. He strikes out batters at a high rate and doesn't trust his sinker. A power pitcher that has the mentality to be a closer but has not learned to pitch.


What do you mean he hasn't learned to pitch?


His best pitch is still his sinker but he does not utilize it to get groundballs as he should. From different reports he looks to strike batters out rather than set them up. Put simply throwing more pitches to a batter increases the odds the batter will reach base. A groundball on the first pitch is preferable to a 8 pitch sequence and a strikeout. Maybe it's a product of the Braves system and not Devine. He has had back problems and struggles with his command. Maybe it's a lack of trust in his stuff.


Coming to the A's would seem like a blessing for Devine and for Oakland where groundballs are worshipped. Unfortunately so are Doan's pills and trips to the DL. Okay, not Doan's pills -something much, much stronger, but you get the idea. If Devine's mechanics can be sorted out and he can learn to love the defense behind him - the end of A's games might be a Devine stroll onto Street.


Does this make Huston Street expendable? He was before, why wouldn't he be now?


As bad as A's fans are making the 2008 roster - it really isn't that bleak. While the A's will lack a dominant starter a lot of games are going to be a lot of fun to watch. The odds are against a team like the A's are assembling but you never can tell. If they get decent starting pitching and play mistake free ball a few nights a week they could be a .500 team.


I am more excited about 2008 than I was 2007!