Right before the season I graded the A’s offseason’s moves and with fake baseball nearing an end I thought now would be a perfect time to catch up with the moves and see how much my opinion has changed (or not changed).

I decided to start with the Gio Gonzalez move, which I graded an A- back in April.  This trade brought (RHP) Brad Peacock, (LHP) Tom Milone, (C) Derek Norris and (RHP) A.J. Cole to Oakland and sent (LHP) Gio Gonzalez to Washington.

Brad Peacock was the main piece surrounding this trade, he still has not seen any time up in Oakland, but I expect that he will make his debut with the A’s at some point this season.  Over 14 starts in Triple-A Sacramento Peacock has a 6-3 record with a 5.67 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.  Although those numbers don’t look great, he has a .370 BABIP and 3.50 FIP which tells us that he may not be pitching up to his potential and we can probably expect better things from him in the future.

He currently has a 10.7 H/9 rate, which seems to be what’s hampering him the most right now.  With a high BABIP of .370 his hits could very well be because of the defense, or lack of and just plain bad luck.  Either way, looking at the bigger picture shows there is no need for concern regarding the high ERA.

Tom Milone was named as the 4th starter during spring training and has been with the team since opening day.  I have talked about it before, but I will say it again, there are two Tom Milones; the one who pitches in the Coliseum and the one who pitches on the road.

» Continue reading “Update On A’s Offseason Moves: Gio Gonzalez Trade”

Baseball starts (again) today, are the A's ready? (Photo: Flickr/theseanster93)

As I am getting ready to leave for the game I want to wish you all a Happy Opening Day!

I also thought I would throw up a few quick predictions for this season, because how can you (re)start the season without predictions?

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I think this is going to be a better team than last season.  When the A’s lost Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez they did take a hit, but I believe that their offense will make them a better team this season.  Not a lot better, but I am predicting a 77-85 season for the A’s.

Going into this season the biggest question mark for me is their bullpen, which I briefly mentioned in my “Grading the A’s Offseason Moves” post.  On a scale of 1-10 the confidence I have in this bullpen is at about a 3.5.  I believe the bullpen is what can really make or break the team this year, but I would not object if they set out to prove me wrong.

A lot will have to happen for the A’s to win this division, nothing short of a major collapse in the entire Rangers AND Angels organizations, so for now I will settle for third place and a better record than last season.

Now on to the things we know for sure; this is a short two game series against the Mariners, because they count the two games played in Japan towards this one.

The pitchers tonight are (RHP) Brandon McCarthy and (LHP) Jason Vargas.

In his first start of the season Brandon McCarthy pitched 7 innings against the Mariners, he allowed 6 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 3.

Jason Vargas was equally as sharp in his first start against the A’s, he threw 6.1 innings and only allowed 2 hits, 1 earned run and struck out 3.

The Gio Gonzalez trade is one of the A's best off season moves

The A’s made plenty of moves this offseason, along with trading away Travor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez they also acquired 8,903,247 outfielders, a veteran pitcher and Manny Ramirez.  I am here to give my grade on each move, I can’t say I would do better than Billy Beane, but I can say I have my own opinions on things.

(RHP) Jarrod Parker, (RHP) Ryan Cook and (OF) Collin Cowgill for (RHP) Trevor Cahill, (LHP) Craig Breslow:  Jarrod Parker was the center of this trade, the A’s essentially received a pitcher the same age as Cahill, but with Jarrod Parker having only played 1 game in the majors, he has a lot less service time and the potential to be the future ace for this club.  Although Jarrod Parker had some control issues this spring, we should not be alarmed, Parker has been ranked the number 1 prospect in the organization by several experts including Baseball America, John Sickels and MLB.com (Baseball Prospectus has him listed as number 2).  B+

(RHP) Brad Peacock, (LHP) Tom Milone, (C) Derek Norris and (RHP) A.J. Cole for (LHP) Gio Gonzalez:  I think most agree that the A’s got the better end of this deal.  The package was built around Brad Peacock, who has the potential to be a middle of the rotation guy.  He has a live fastball that sits around 92-94 MPH, but can reach as high as 95-97 MPH, his downfall being his control issues.  While Gio Gonzalez had put up decent numbers for the A’s, they were able to obtain three of the Nationals top prospects in return in Peacock, Norris and Cole.   Tom Milone was not a top prospect, but Bob Melvin liked what they saw from him this spring and has named him as the third starter.  A-

(OF) Josh Reddick, (IF) Miles Head and (RHP) Raul Alcantara for (RHP) Andrew Bailey and (OF) Ryan Sweeney: I never really gave this trade a fair chance from the beginning since Billy Beane had said he was going to be asking for a high return on Bailey, but received an “okay” return instead.  I don’t think very highly of closers, but I would have liked to seen Beane maybe get a little more in return.  Josh Reddick was the center piece of this trade and I do think he will be a decent addition to the lineup, I was just hoping for someone with more of a power swing.

Miles Head is the most interesting piece of this trade in my opinion, John Sickels describes him as a “Grade C+ type who has major league potential but still has things to prove. He could develop into a very productive slugger, but could also fizzle out as a Quadruple-A bat without a real position.”  C

» Continue reading “Grading The A’s Offseason Moves”

(RHP) Tyson Ross will take the mound today at Phoenix Muni against the Dodgers.

Today’s lineup: Coco Crisp CF, Eric Sogard 3B, Kurt Suzuki C, Manny Ramirez DH, Brandon Allen 1B, Cliff Pennington SS, Michael Taylor RF, Brandon Moss LF and Wes Timmons 2B.

Today’s game can be heard on MLB.com.

In case you missed it: Two of the A’s starting pitchers from last season made their debuts for their new teams yesterday:

Gio Gonzalez pitched 3 impressive innings for the Washington Nationals, he allowed 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 BB and 2 strikeouts.

Guillermo Moscoso pitched 2 innings for the Colorado Rockies, he allowed 5 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 2 BB and 1 strikeout.

For those of you who are interested, Trevor Cahill will make his debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks today and the game can be seen on MLB Network at 12:00 PST.

Normally after a big trade we hear about the reactions from around the league, thanks to Twitter we can now get reactions straight from the players fingers:

 That’s sweet of you to offer Boom-Boom, but if you haven’t heard, you’re next.

» Continue reading “Reactions From Around The Organization”

Call me pessimistic, but I don’t understand this trade.  While I believe the A’s received a huge return for him, I would have liked to see the A’s get more than one position player in return.  That being said here’s a look at what the A’s will get from the Nationals:

Brad Peacock RHP: Ranked the third best prospect in the Nationals organization by Baseball America, he is the biggest piece of this trade.  Between double-A and triple-A last season Peacock had 15 wins 2.39 ERA and  .99 WHIP in 25 games.  He made his debut in the majors in September last season, he had two starts in which he won both games and only surrendered one run in 12.1 innings.

AJ Cole RHP: Ranked the fourth best prospect in the Nationals organization by Baseball America.  Cole had a 4-7 record with a 4.04 ERA in 20 games (18 which were starts) in Class A last season.  The thing that stands out most to me is his 10.9 SO/9 and 2.4 BB/9.

Derek Norris Catcher: Ranked the 9th top prospect in the Nationals organization by Baseball America.  Norris posted a  .210/.367/.446 in 423 plate appearances with the Nationals double-A affiliate last season.  He had 20 homeruns and 46 RBI along with 13 stolen bases.

Tom Milone LHP: In triple-A last season Milone had  12-6 record with a 3.81 ERA in 24 starts, again, the big thing that stands out is his 9.4 SO/9 and 1.0 BB/9.  He made his major league debut in September where he went 1-0 over 5 starts with a 3.81 ERA and 1.23 WHIP.

My first reaction, as I said before, is I don’t understand why we are getting so much pitching in return since we were told at the beginning of the off-season that we were already “deep in starting pitching”.  While I think all of these players have a big upside I would like to see us start obtaining players that can hit.  I also don’t “get” the Norris pick up unless we are already giving up on Max Stassi.

As for Gio, I will miss him.  Over the past couple of years he has grown to be my favorite player in Oakland.  While I understand the need for rebuilding at this point, it doesn’t ever make it any easier to see your favorite player get shipped off.  I wish him the best in Washington and hope he has a great 2012 season for them.

Meanwhile the A’s also have Brandon McCarthy as equally confused (for a different reason):

According to Buster Olney the A’s are getting close to dealing off Gio.

The front runner is…who knows?

So SOME team is going to get Gio for SOME Prospects soon.

Update: Per Ken Rosenthal the Red Sox are trying to get Gio and Bailey in a “monster deal”, but he feels the Nationals are the one to beat.

I am guessing Gio will be dealt within the next 24 hours, if not by the end of the day.

My prediction was right, the Rangers have won negotiation rights to Yu Darvish.  My feelings are the same as they are about Albert Pujols coming to the division, it doesn’t matter right now because the A’s aren’t going to be contenders for at least 3 more seasons.

Rumors surrounding Gio should start heating up again and my first thought when I heard Texas won the right to negotiate was that the Jays are probably going to make a call to Beane in the morning.

In other Gonzalez news, the Nationals are now making a hard push for Gio.  Rumor has it that it would be a 4 for 1 player deal.

This past week has been pretty quiet for the A’s.  In fact, most of the news surrounding Oakland this past week has been coming from everywhere except Oakland.  Gio has been tied to so many teams I lost track!

I will start with the teams I know are out or close to being out of the race:

• The Nationals were in the race but feel that the asking price is way too much, so they’re out
• The Tigers were willing to part with Jacob Tuner for Gio, but I am hearing today they are out
• The Phillies did not have anything Billy wants so talks were cut off fairly quickly
• The Mets are now interested in Gio, but basically want him for free so we can assume they are out as fast as they were in
• The Yankees also feel the asking price is too high and are probably close to being out if they aren’t already
• The Reds traded for Mat Latos earlier in the day so it’s pretty safe to say they are out

I believe Brett Anderson said it best

Gio was one of the hottest players discussed at the winter meetings this past week.  According to sources, out of all 30 teams in baseball, more teams than not at least asked about the left hander.

There are nine teams we know for sure that have expressed interest  in Gonzalez; the Rangers, Jays, Tigers, Nationals, Marlins (shocking), Yankees, Phillies, Reds and Diamondbacks.   Billy Beane is said to be asking for a “Dan Haren type deal”, which brought Arizona’s top prospects Brett Anderson, Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Carter to Oakland.

Gio is a Miami area native and has expressed interest being traded to the Marlins or Yankees if he happens to be traded.  I do believe these two teams would be the front runners in landing him because they have exactly what the A’s are looking for, it just depends on what they are willing to give up.  It’s believed that Beane is asking for a package built around Logan Morrison from the Marlins, but they are more willing to part with Gaby Sanchez than Morrison.  If Beane wants a Dan Haren type package in return, Gaby Sanchez will not get this done.  From the Yankees we hear Beane is asking for catcher Jesus Montero AND pitchers Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances, the asking price is a bit steep for the Yankees and they have supposedly said “no” on this offer.

I personally don’t think the Phillies and Tigers have anything worth trading for so those talks will probably die down soon, if they haven’t already.  I would like to see one of two things, Beane keeps Gio around and signs him to a Cahill-like extension, or we trade Gio to the Yankees for a package that revolves around Montero.  It’s hard to say where he will land at this point with so many teams being involved in rumors.