CATCHING UP WITH...

CATCHING UP WITH...

Any day with a reference to Depeche Mode is a pretty good day.


Elephants in Oakland is going to begin using columns for certain aspects of the site. 'Catching Up With...' will be a media recap from the previous day(s). 'It Ain't Easy Being Green (and Gold)' will be posts that are heavy on opinion but based on evidence (fact, statistics, and analysis). If you have any ideas for naming columns, please fire off an email (elephantsinoakland@gmail.com). We are looking for 7-10 solid column names.


...and away we go...

MLB.COM - Oakland Athletics' Site

SUZUKI STAKING HIS CLAIM AS A'S LEADER

This is a typical puff piece on a player. In this case it does not deliver anything we don't already know. Why is it a puff piece? There isn't a negative word about Kurt Suzuki in the article It explains how much hard work and how dedicated he is...so are most professional athletes. Suzuki really isn't that different. What the article does provide is a few of the throw away quotes that will be forgotten before you leave the article. That's not a knock on KZ, just a reality of what kind of filler material is loaded into the media hopper on a regular basis.


NOTES: WELL-TRAVELED CUST SETTLING IN;
SLUGGER RELISHES RETURN TO OAKLAND, POISED FOR BIG SEASON

The article proposes that Cust has a starting position locked up for the first time in his career. That's specious reasoning. Designated Hitter isn't really a position, is it? Cust is listed as DH for the fact he is terrible in the field. He has played the outfield and 1st base. It wouldn't be a surprise if Cust is playing in the outfield on Opening Day with Daric Barton at DH and Dan Johnson at 1st base.



EVELAND IN THE MIX; the next note in the article suggests that Dana Eveland is a possible 5th start for the A's in 2008. Again, that's fairly obvious. He does have major league service time, though Chad Guadin might be the 5th starter and given the opportunity to start later in April the first time the A's need a 5th starter. Eveland has weight control issues and the A's seldom use Spring Training as a testing ground. It is very rare that a player truly wins a spot out of Spring Training with this organization. The last pitcher to do so was Jeff Tam way back in 2000. But at this stage who knows what David Forst has decided?



RODRIGUEZ REPORTS; Henry Rodriguez reported to spring training, which is a note in and of itself as a lot of players seem to be hitting a wall with visa issues throughout MLB. Rodriguez impressed Bobo (Bob Geren), then again Geren is impressed by the sun rising every morning. It is a bit ridiculous to get a quote from Geren on a prospect he has never seen and makes him sound out of the loop; "He's supposed to be an incredible talent...He's supposed to throw up close to 100 [mph]." That sounds like something a fan might say. Rodriguez has good stuff but lousy control - striking out more than a batter an inning but his strike out to walk ratio was 106/58. He didn't give up a lot of hits but a lot of guys got on base.



GAUDIN GETS A MOVE ON; Chad Gaudin has began running which is a good sign of recovery. However it has to be in the back of A's fans minds that the A's have a history of pushing injured players back into the line-up, particularly out of spring training. See; Rich Harden. Gaudin, if you recall, was the guy Elephants in Oakland championed in the off season last year and was arguably one of the better starters in the American League before the All Star break. Again, he had hip and foot injuries that he pitched through and put up a ton of unnecessary innings. Something that Bobo should have been lambasted for but was not.


DUCHSCHERER THRILLED ABOUT SHOT TO START;
RIGHTY MAKING TRANSITION FROM RELIEF AT A'S SPRING TRAINING CAMP

Zachary had a chance to talk to Justin Duchscherer a few years ago for a pre-interview. The interview never took place. At the time one of the big questions was about Duchscherer's car accident, pitching in Sacramento and relieving vs starting. Duchscherer was diplomatic about his role with the A's. Clearly, though, he preferred starting. At the time the A's were not sold on Duchscherer's stuff and the ability to get through the batting order three times. That's what a starter is required to do; get through the batting order three times and hopefully get 20 outs or more. Do the math. 20 outs is 6 2/3 innings. Limit the opposition to 3 or fewer runs and that's a pretty good day on the bump.



The article summarizes Duchscherer's off season and the call from Bobo about having a different role come Spring Training. Duchscherer's father is mentioned in the article and he has been a constant presence in Duchscherer's career. Nice guy, too.


NOTES: HARDEN ENCOURAGED BY WORKOUT;
RIGHT-HANDER HAS BEEN LIMITED BY INJURIES PAST TWO YEARS

When isn't Harden and the A's encouraged by a workout? It has come to pass that any printed or spoken word positive about Rich Harden's health is accepted with as much faith as the lone gunman theory and the JFK assassination. Yes, it is that bad. Really. Yes, when the A's director of public relations is quoted on a player's health, Jim Young, that has to be taken as proof positive even the A's brass has pretty much gone to looking for flubber-like substances as a solution.



OWNING UP TO OPTIMISM: Ugh. Lewis Wolff, the Keebler Elf and the bane of Elephants in Oakland's existence. Zachary made a comment last Spring that Wolff sat near him during a simulated game at Papago Park. With only two dozen people in the stands it took everything he had not to jump up and get in Wolff's face, "I might have eventually been tossed by security and permanently banned from attending anything in Phoenix. I still think I made the correct choice...for the most part."



Wolff spouts nothing but jeweled quotes about the ballpark fraud surrounding Fremont and the trades in the off season. Owners should be seen and not heard. Particularly Oakland professional sports owners. Wolff is simply an investor. He cares very little about the sports teams he owns and hangs around for the PR and to pump of the value of an organization for a later sale. There are huge tax write-offs with professional sports teams and Wolff takes advantage of every loophole.



PACING THEMSELVES: Today catchers are going to begin throwing down during their drills. Good. The A's were terrible throwing out runners. While some blame goes to a pitcher in that they are responsible for holding runners close, Jason Kendall was just awful throwing out runners. No matter who the pitcher was he was awful. Kurt Suzuki was only marginally better. Not bad enough to make Frank Robinson cry bad, though.



"Hello, my name is ..."; Yes, yes. The A's have 'new' faces. Every team does. Every year there is turnover and the minor leaguers are only recognized by family members. Zachary and Kerry met Andre Ethier's mom a few years ago at the A's facility and were both sad that a cool guy and terrific baseball player was trade. Even if it was for a personal favorite of Zachary's, Milton Bradley.


FRICK RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED TUESDAY;
HALL OF FAME TO RECOGNIZE BROADCASTING EXCELLENCE

Ridiculous. Bill King has been snubbed again in favor of someone who is alive. That sucks so much animal testicle on such a grand scale that that dinosaurs needed to be added to cover the magnitude of this shameful act.


NOTES: CATCHERS LOVE IT AROUND THE PLATE;
A'S BACKSTOPS PROVE TO BE A MORE PATIENT BUNCH WHEN BATTING

This part of the article attempts to 'prove' that A's catchers walk rates justify that they are more patient at the plate. Two immortal words when it comes to statistical analysis; SAMPLE SIZE. Rob Bowen and Kurt Suzuki totaled 302 plate appearances to Jason Kendall's 312 and the article tries to compare that to all of the American League. Doesn't work that way. Stats have to be based on a decent comparison. Suzuki had 248 plate appearances. If you want to compare Kendall to Suzuki that comparison can be made; Kendall had .39 walks per plate appearance to Suzuki's .98. But patience, is that really determined by walks? What about pitches per plate appearances? There Kendall has a minuscule edge of 3.79 to Suzuki's 3.76. Kendall did have an extra 62 plate appearances compared to Suzuki...



TOO EARLY TO TELL: Recall when Bobo was discussing Rodriguez? "There's no real evaluation going on at this point...at this point, it's just for them to get in shape." Ugh. Contradiction?



NAMELESS WORKOUTS CONTINUE: You can't make this stuff up. Within a few dozen words Geren is quoted, "[Greg] Smith's control was impressive and [Dana] Eveland showed a good breaking ball and had some good run on his fastball...Arnold Leon again looked extremely polished for his age." Really? Seriously.



RADIO GUESTS: Robert Baun. Worse than Hawk Harrelson. Just terrible. The A's, save Ken Korach have the absolute worst announcers and personalities on the air in baseball and perhaps all of professional sports. Vince Cotroneo gets a pass for 2007. New team and all.



ATHLETICS AGREE TO TERMS WITH SIX: Rob Bowen, Landon Powell, Kevin Melillo, Donnie Murphy, Gregorio Petit, Dan Meyer. Not news worthy. The A's controlled all of these players. It's merely getting a contract signed. Formality. Rare that non-arbitration players get anything more than a one year deal at a slight increase from the year before as far as pay.



REPORT CARD: Santiago 'Jairo Garcia' Casilla and Angel Garcia have not reported to camp. Most likely visa problems. This is not Casilla's first problem and the A's front office does not like this kind of lax behavior. Casilla is not in camp meaning he is at least a week behind other pitchers and could be two weeks behind before he arrives. He'll need 'special attention' when he does arrive taking away from other things coaches could be doing. Casilla is overrated at this point and he may very well find himself in AAA to start the season and face the possibility of being traded and/or a cement ceiling getting back to Oakland. His ERA was above the league average, which is not good for a reliever. His K's per inning is better than 1 an inning but his walks to K rate is not good. He has a poor groundball rate, though he only allowed 5 of 31 inherited runners to score. This is better than decent.



CHAVEZ GEARING TOWARD OPENING DAY;
A'S THIRD BASEMAN RECOVERING FROM THREE OFFSEASON SURGERIES



Ugh, for crying out loud, more of the Chavez spoiled brat routine.


'Chavez said he's willing to put in the time in the training room every day to keep himself in the lineup, noting that until recently, he had been a very durable player. From 2000 through 2005, he appeared in at least 150 games five times.


And maybe if he got an occasionally day off or had the surgery that was suggested five years ago he wouldn't have three surgeries to rehab from. Perhaps Chavez would not be the disappointment he is had he actually went into the training room every day as well as the damn weight room and actually tried to make himself a better athlete and refine his ability to translate into hardened skills. Chavez is the face of the Oakland A's franchise; a perpetual underachiever and he's not miffed at it at all...




Tomorrow we'll hit the newsstands and review some of the newspaper's scribblings.