Will Billy Beane turn Oakland into sellers or buyers at this year's trade deadline? (Photo Credit:fangraphs.com)

The Oakland Athletics entered the season with high hopes and a hunger for a division crown, but fast-forward 82 games into the season, and you’ll find the A’s in last place in the AL West and on the fringe of playoff contention.

GM Billy Beane set out last winter to upgrade an A’s offense that ranked 23rd in runs scored (663), 17th in batting average (.256), 16th in on-base percentage (.324), 26th in slugging percentage (.378), and 28th in home runs (109).

So far, the results of Beane’s efforts have not been good.

The A’s rank 29th in runs scored (281), 28th in batting average (.234), 27th in on-base percentage (.302), 30th in slugging percentage (.338), and 30th in home runs (41). So in a way, the A’s haven’t gotten any better with the additions of Hideki Matsui, Josh Willingham, and David DeJesus, but rather have actually gotten worse. (more…)

It definitely got the attention of catcher Kurt Suzuki he commented that. ”New York and Boston, they get it every day.  Little stuff for them is big stuff for us.”  Meaning, this is not the kind of drama that occurs in Oakland.

In fact, this was high drama for the A’s when Fuentes complained how Geren was taking advantage of him, not communicating with him and did not understand in Fuentes”s words, “why Geren continued to summon him in late innings with the score tied.”

These comments by Fuentes apparently opened a 4 year can of worms about Geren’s managerial style.  However, on the flip side of this story, there were those who supported Geren and had no problem putting Fuentes in his place.  Former A’s Dennis Eckersley practically ripped Fuentes apart when he went to the airwaves and told Bay Area Sports Radio 95.7 the following;

“Weak. If you fail, you fail. You don’t throw the manager under the bus. ”You can’t say  what he said. Period … He’s been around the big leagues too long to act like that … He makes a ton of money, and he’s not the greatest closer in the universe. So zip it … It makes him look bad. It just does. At the same time, it doesn’t show a lot of respect for the manager … If I’m the manager, he’s in my office. If that was La Russa, are you kidding me? He’d chop my head off. I would make a formal apology … Geren’s got to do something.”

Then there are those who back Fuentes up like Colorado Rockies Relief Pitcher Huston Street. Street agrees with Fuentes.  He sent a text to the San Francisco Chronicle‘s A’s beat reporter saying, “Bob was never good at communication, and I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but it was a sentiment reflected in many conversations during the two years I spent in Oakland, and even recently when talking to guys after I left.”

Whatever,  happens or has happened since this incident, one thing is for certain the A’s organization has no intentions of getting rid of Bob Geren.  His relationship with Billy Beane is rock solid.  While Fuentes future will remain uncertain because he is a player and players get traded and sent to other team or back to the minors.  Do I think Fuentes is in jeopardy of being booted off the team?  No, it is not likely.  It is possible though that this drama may continue, or perhaps this will make the team stronger.

After this debacle, the A’s were able to play good baseball against the Angels and then went on to sweep the Orioles in Oakland, which puts them within a game of first place.

Well, it put them within a game of first place.  The Yankees are giving them a run for their money by beating the A’s in both Monday’s game and today’s game 10-3.  No drama here!

The hot stove news conference attracted a ton of media and about 100 Japanese affiliates.  I had wrote in an earlier piece, that Matsui has a huge cult following in his hometown of Japan, a win-win for the A’s where they will get the extra press in and around the Asian community.  It was reported that even the Japanese consul general of San Francisco, Hiroshi Inomata was in attendance, a big deal for his fans back home.

Matsui, who put on his brand spanking new Oakland A’s No. 55 home jersey, signed on for $4.25 million dollars, which includes a bonus of  $100,000.  This deal with Matsui will fill in the gap that has been haunting the team since last season, their very poor offense.

 A’s Manager told MLB.com that, “He has a combination of power and [hitting] for average and on-base percentage, he can be a situational hitter.  He is going to fit in really well.  We haven’t had anybody with his pedigree and experience.”  The DH had a good run with the Angels last season hitting .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI’s. This is exactly what the team needs, a player that can bring a dependable bat in the middle of the lineup

Matsui, will bring with him both his seasoned experience from his starter days with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, to his extended stints with the both the Yankees and the Angels, as well as his leadership/mentorship, a trait likely to be passed down to the A’s younger players.  There seems to be a consensus with many of the player already.   A’s starter Dallas Braden has been quoted as saying, “To have Godzilla by the bay instead of Anaheim – that’s big for us.  It’s awesome.  This guy brings a totally different ingredient.”   Catcher Kurt Suzukialso chimed in about the deal and said, “I like this, I think it’s great for us young hitters to have a guy like Matsui around.  It gives us someone to look up to.  He’s done it all, he’s a champion and he’s a pure professional.

Now, with this deal inked, management still has to continue to scout out more talent for its offense and has a hefty winter surplus of money to add those players to their lineup.  Beane has expressed some concern the free market is becoming thin and that the A’s may consider trades, however he would prefer not to move their young starters.   There have been rumors that that the team is going to go back and consider speaking with Red Sox 3B Adrian Beltre, whether he wants to play in Oakland or not remains to be unseen, but with Matsui on board perhaps he may change his mind about putting on a Swingin A’s uniform.

Other News: Reliever Joey Devine used his leverage of salary arbitration to sign a one-year-contract with the A’s.  If my memory serves me correct, he has not played for the last two seasons due to his injuries as well as his post 09 Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.  Back in 08 he was 6-1 with a 0.59 ERA in 42 relief appearances with the team.