After “Moneyball” lost best picture to “The Artist”, my Twitter time line exploded.  Every person who wasn’t an A’s fan had some stupid reference to make about the A’s losing just like the movie.

The A’s have actually won 9 World Series for the record.

Moneyball didn’t take home any Academy Awards, but the whole experience was fun to witness as a fan.  It’s not every day you are going to see Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill sporting an A’s cap, or even talk about the team.  (I’d like also to think that since working on the film they secretly root for them too).

If that’s still not enough to make you feel better about “Moneyball” going 0-6, only two other baseball films have been nominated for Best Picture and neither won.  Only four other actors from baseball movies have been nominated, none of them have won either.

The Academy doesn’t think highly of baseball movies, not even Gary Cooper’s portrayal of Lou Gehrig could get him an Oscar nod.

It’s been pretty a pretty quiet weekend for the A’s with most of the news surrounding Scott Sizemore, but here’s the latest:

Scott Sizemore will not have a MRI until Monday morning. Jane Lee confirmed via twitter he has an appointment scheduled at 9:30 AM.

Bob Melvin says Brian Fuentes was bothered by a hamstring problem a few days ago, but is throwing off the mound again.

We’re STILL waiting to hear from Bud Selig about the San Jose territorial rights, but Giants CEO Larry Baer briefly addressed the issue yesterday.

By now you probably know the Academy Awards are tonight and “Moneyball” is nominated for 6 Oscars, including best picture and best actor.

Speaking of “Moneyball”, Eric Chavez takes a look back at the 2002 season, he believes the young players made them more of a successful team than the “formula”:

“Those are some pretty good players,” Chavez told MLB.com earlier this week. “I saw the movie and it wasn’t a realistic view of what happened there. It’s easy to say you had a formula and it worked. They drafted really well. We were fortunate to have young guys come together at the same time and play really well together. Billy has tried to do it again over the last few years, but it’s hard to duplicate. It’s hard to do. It’s a slippery slope when you start saying you have an equation for success.”

In case you missed it: Dallas Braden took the time out to joke about Manny’s new video coordinator.

(photo: Leaders Event/flickr)

Earlier today, Bloomberg News reported that general manger Billy Beane and president Michael Crowley have both agreed to extensions with the A’s through 2019.  The contracts should be official within the next 30 days.

Billy Beane has been the general manager of the Oakland A’s since 1998, during his time with the A’s they have made the playoffs 5 times, but have not made it to the World Series.  The last time the A’s made it to the playoffs under Billy Beane was in 2006, which also happens to be the last time the A’s have seen a winning season.

For once I am at a loss for words.  I don’t know if this is good for the fans or bad for the fans.  When it comes to Billy Beane, I never know where I stand.  Part of me remembers of the early 2000′s when the A’s were a dominant team, but now here we are, the A’s haven’t had a record over .500 in the past six seasons. Six very long seasons.

If Susan Slusser is right, if this is a sign of optimism regarding the stadium efforts, than this is good news.  If it’s not, than I am not sure what the upcoming years brings for this team, but hopefully it will be better then the last six years.

Joe Blanton 2008 (Photo: Chris Lockard/Flickr)

First off I would like to wish Aerys Sports a Happy 1st Birthday!  I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to write about what I love most and to be part of such an amazing website.  

I want to thank Julie and Terri for this opportunity and a big thank you to my readers, because without you I would be talking to a wall.  I look forward to what the future brings, for both Aerys and the A’s!

» Continue reading “Moneyball: Where Are They Now? Part III”

Eric Chavez 2010 (Photo: patrick_h/Flickr)

You can see part one of this post here.

The Players:

Chad Bradford: Relief Pitcher for the Oakland A’s: Chad Bradford played with the Oakland A’s from 2001-2004.  Bradford was eventually traded in 2005 to the Boston Red Sox for outfielder Jay Payton. He last played in the majors in 2009 for the Tampa Bay Rays.

He now coaches varsity baseball at Central Hinds Academy in Mississippi.

Eric Chavez: Third Baseman for the Oakland A’s: Eric Chavez played for the Oakland from 1998-2010.  The New York Yankees signed Eric Chavez via free agency in 2011 when the A’s failed to pick up the club option for him.

He is currently a free agent.

» Continue reading “Moneyball: Where Are They Now? Part II”

The A’s were busy yesterday, maybe not as busy as the Tigers, but they made a few moves while no one was watching.

-The A’s officially announced their deal with Bartolo Colon.  The right-hander will make $2 million next season and his contract includes a signing bonus.

-The A’s also announced the signing of Jonny Gomes, he signed a $1 million contract and could make $200,000 more in incentives.  Gomes tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that he grew up an A’s fan and the 1989 World Series is what started his love for baseball, you can read more of the story here.

-The A’s also signed 16-year old Yairo Muñoz, a short stop from the Dominican Republic.  He is described by dplbaseball.com as a switch-hitter who has “solid fielding skills and runs above average”.  They also say he is a contact hitter who can “drive the ball gap to gap”.

He’s very young, but I believe if he works out, the A’s will look to him as their future shortstop.  The deal is worth $280,000.

-Moneyball was nominated for six Academy Awards including: best picture, lead actor (Brad Pitt),  supporting actor (Jonah Hill), adapted screenplay, film editing and sound mixing.

-Lastly, John Sickels released his 2012 farm system rankings on Monday, he listed the A’s farm system as the number 10 best in the league.

I decided to stay! Yay! (photo: Leaders Event/flickr)

With Moneyball coming out on Blu-Ray last week and talks about the movie being nominated for an Oscar, I thought this would be a perfect time to take a look at where everyone is now.

The book and movie are fairly different, so I will be taking people from both.  I will be breaking these into three different posts (the staff, the players and the 2002 draft).  So without further ado…

The Staff: 

Billy Beane: General Manager of the Oakland Athletics: Almost ten years later and Billy Beane is still the GM in Oakland, since Moneyball he has also become a minority owner of the team.  He still has failed to bring a championship to Oakland.

Paul DePodesta: Assistant General Manager to Billy Beane goes by the name Peter Brand in the movie: Paul DePodesta left the A’s in 2004 to work as the GM for the LA Dodgers, he was fired in 2005.  Currently, he is the vice president of player development and scouting for the New York Mets.

Steve Schott: Owner of the Oakland Athletics: Schott sold the Oakland A’s to now owner, Lewis Wolff, in 2005.

Grady Fuson: Head of Scouting for the Oakland Athletics: Grady Fuson left the A’s in 2002 to work for the Texas Rangers as their Assistant GM.  He returned to Oakland in 2010 and is currently a special assistant to Billy Beane.

Art Howe: Manager of the Oakland Athletics: After the 2002 season Art Howe left Oakland to go manage the New York Mets.  Howe has not been in baseball since 2008, when he was a bench coach for the Texas Rangers.

Ron Washington: Third Base Coach for the Oakland Athletics: Everyone in Oakland thought that Ron Washington would be a sure thing for the managerial job once Ken Macha was fired after the 2006 season. Much to the fan’s dismay, Bob Geren was hired instead, shortly after the announcement Wash accepted the manager job for the Texas Rangers and he currently still manages for them.  Ron Washington has taken the Rangers to back-to-back World Series, but has come up short both times.