A’s

Taking a moment to look back, look ahead, and fire off some random observations as I turn the page on the calendar to February.  I’ll keep this month’s installment shorter than usual since I’m sick as a dog and the magic of DayQuil is wearing off fast. I’m probably a few dozen keystrokes away from passing out in front of my computer. LOOKING BACK • The rebuild/youth movement made an abrupt shift toward veterans when general manager Billy Beane added Coco Crisp, Bartolo Colon, Seth Smith and Jonny Gomes to the roster which left me scratching my head. If the [...]

The A’s enter this season as huge underdogs in the stacked AL West, but there was a time when the A’s were considered dark horses to take the west. Last year, in fact, was supposed to be the year for the A’s to emerge out of the west as division champions. Slow starts, though, by Hideki Matsui & Co. prevented the A’s from making much noise in the west. Oakland finished third in the west, going 74-88 en route to yet another year of irrelevancy. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006 when the team was swept in ALCS [...]

The A’s designated Adrian Cardenas for assignment on Thursday after the team signed free agent outfielder Jonny Gomes. Cardenas, 24, appeared in 127 games last year with Oakland’s Triple-A team the Sacramento River Cats. In 545 at-bats, Cardenas hit .314/.374/.418 with five home runs and 51 RBIs. The decision to designate Cardenas for assignment seems to make sense on the surface. The A’s had him playing all over the place last season, with Cardenas splitting time between left field, short stop, third base, and second base. It is obvious, to anyone following the organization, that the A’s just didn’t have [...]

Every Friday, Swingin’ A’s will make a prediction about the A’s 2012 season with the help of our “crystal ball.” The series, appropriately titled “Crystal Ball Fridays,” will continue through the week before Opening Night. Enjoy.  As absurd as it may sound, the Oakland A’s are reportedly interested in adding Manny Ramirez to the roster this year. The power-starved Athletics could use a little help in the power department this year, but even Manny’s presence in the lineup doesn’t guarantee much production. Ramirez, 39, would have to serve his 50-game suspension first before making any kind of contributions on the [...]

Every Friday, Swingin’ A’s will make a prediction about the A’s 2012 season with the help of our “crystal ball.” The series, appropriately titled “Crystal Ball Fridays,” will continue through the week before Opening Night. Enjoy.  With Andrew Bailey now sporting a Boston Red Sox jersey, the A’s will need someone to fill their empty closer role. Oakland’s bullpen offers a few options for Bailey’s old spot, but who will be Oakland’s closer in 2012? Oh Crystal Ball, please tell us who’ll be closing games this year for our beloved green-and-gold… Well, the A’s 2012 season figures to be a [...]

Over the next couple of days Swingin’ A’s will take a closer look at some of the prospects the Athletics scored in the Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey trades. We continue our overview with right-handed pitcher Raul Alcantara.  The A’s love pitching. They really do. Just take a look at some of their trades recently. They’ve traded pitchers only to acquire more pitchers.  Brad Peacock, Tom Milone, A.J. Cole, Jarrod Parker, and Raul Alcantara are just a few of the pitchers you might see on the mound come 2015 or whenever this “rebuild” is officially completed. For the sake of this post, though, I’ll just [...]

The A’s may not have a lot of resources, but they do have plenty of pitching. That commodity was put to the test on Monday, as general manager Billy Beane shipped two of his pitchers to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for something his team lacks: offense. Oakland shipped pitchers Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman to Colorado in exchange for power-hitting outfielder Seth Smith. The Rockies get two very capable starters in Moscoso and Outman, but the A’s aren’t losers in the deal. With Smith, 29, the A’s outfield finally begins to take shape. Beane apparently likes Smith’s power and [...]

Every Friday, Swingin’ A’s will make a prediction about the A’s 2012 season with the help of our “crystal ball.” The series, appropriately titled “Crystal Ball Fridays,” will continue through the week before Opening Night. Enjoy.  Crystal Ball, what does Oakland’s 2012 starting rotation look like? The A’s will likely enter the spring with a few questions surrounding the state of its starting rotation. With Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez both out of Oakland, the Athletics will need a few of their young arms to step up this spring and help fill the voids left by Cahill and Gonzalez. It [...]

Welcome to Swingin’ A’s Triple Play where we field one subject and turn it into three possible outcomes. My gut feeling on how things may pan out is at the end of the post where you can cast your vote in the monthly poll and sound off in the comments section. IN PLAY: Daric Barton‘s 2012 season. At one time Barton was a hyped prospect in the blockbuster Mark Mulder trade.  At this time a year ago he was a promising young player penciled in as Oakland’s everyday first baseman on the strength of a slick glove and a knack for [...]

There are reports circulating around the rumor mill that seem to suggest that the A’s are interested in free-agent outfielder Ryan Ludwick. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com recently tweeted that at least four teams are interested in Ludwick. The A’s recently re-signed their own free-agent OF Coco Crisp earlier this month, but general manager Billy Beane is reportedly interested in exploring the free agent market for outfield help. There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting a little extra help, right? Oakland’s new-look outfield corp currently includes Crisp, Michael Taylor, and Josh Reddick. Adding a veteran player like Ludwick could help add a [...]