Baseball Talk

[Kevincal]

Well they traded away Hudson and Mulder because they couldnt afford to keep them. And why wait to lose them to free agency when you can get prospects and picks back for them. I am sure they A's heavily scouted the farm system of the Cardinals and the Braves before the trade. The A's are one of the best teams at scouting and developing talent in the Majors.

You kind of have to be 

Yes, dollar for dollar you won't find a better team in the MLB imo.

[INVOK3R]

Sorry, I have to go with the Minnesota Twins as far as drafting and developing.

Some current examples...
Johan Santana - Rule 5 draft pickup from the Astros if I remember right.
Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser, Joe Nathan for A.J. Pierzynski from the Giants.
Joe Mauer - Drafted and brought up through the farm system.
Justin Morneau - Drafted and brought up through the farm system.
Torii Hunter - Drafted and brought up through the farm system.

Stats...
Santana - 3.00 ERA, 11-5, 152 Ks in 144 innings. (All-Star & WBC)
Liriano - 1.94 ERA, 11-2, 115 Ks in 102 innings. (All-Star, WBC, and up for ROY)
Bonser - 5.30 ERA, 2-2, 27 Ks in 35.2 innings. (Rookie Year)
Nathan - 1.58 ERA, 6-0, 18 for 19 saves, 58 Ks in 40 innings. (WBC)
Mauer - .377 AVG, .451 OBP, 49 RS, 48 RBI. (All-Star, Elected to WBC - declined.)
Morneau - .306 AVG, 25 HR, 78 RBI. (WBC)
Hunter - .269 AVG, 14 HR, 51 RS, 49 RBI. (Gold Glove 2001-2005)

[captain_nintendo]

I wont go into it, but the A's have had alot of talent drafted, developed and then moved away via free agency over the years. I would even go as far to say that they are the team this happens to the most.

Late 80's , they had 3 straight A.L. rookie of the year awards!
As far as pitching goes, recently.... Zito, Mulder and Hudson. All 3 are going to have long All-Star type careers. Not to mention a bunch of other talent they have popping up now. Hell the Dodgers have an A's prospect that was traded there this year, and is likely to be the N.L. rookie of the year.

I respect Minnesota because they are built along the same lines as the A's. Both teams are also "small market" teams that succeed through good farm systems and great moves by the GM's.

Screw you large market teams spending 100 million plus on salary

[shaggy]

Damn!  There go the Brewers again!  Down the shitter!

[Kevincal]

I had really awesome seats to the A's-Sox game last night.  5 rows up from the field.  I was right accross from where the bullpen catcher was.  I came SO close to catching a foul ball to.  It went right over my head but it was just out of reach If I jumped.  A guy two rows back got it...A's lost too...

[captain_nintendo]

Damn Red Sox

[Kevincal]

Ya they are a solid team.

[INVOK3R]

I'm heading to the Tigers vs Twins game on Friday.

Does anyone have any opinions on any trades that could happen soon?

[Kevincal]

There was a lot of talk about Zito getting traded when I was at the A's game...Don't know much more than that though. 

[Kevincal]

btw that closer on the Tigers that throws 100+ is awesome. 

[INVOK3R]

They must have finally demoted Todd Jones from being the closer... 

Must be Fernando Rodney... I'll have to keep an eye on him. Hopefully sometime after the Tigers and Twins play... Go Twins!!

[Kevincal]

I hope I'm not getting me teams mixed up...I THINK it was the Tigers...now I can't remember. 

[Mezmoron]

No one on Detroit throws 100+

And btw.....Soriano will end up with Anahiem I think.  Who knows though.

Ken

[Kevincal]

Joel Zumaya from the Tigers is who I was referring to.  I thought he was he closer but supposedly he's a reliever.  7 days ago he recorded the fastest pitch EVER in the MLB...104 MPH...WOW.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Zumaya

[Mezmoron]

Oh yeah...I forgot about him.  He should be the closer, but for some reason they still let Jones play...

Ken