Little Slide Rooter

OH MY GOD What are you OH MY GODding about? If they don't plan on much spending next year, may as well audition as many Mike Sweeneys and Scott Bakers as there are holes without internal options. I'm not saying he'll be great or even good. Just worth a look. Certainly over Brent Lillibridges and Justin Germanos.

Take Jackson and Lake off the DL and it looks better. Very true. Loux and Vizcaino too.

So depending on the financial situation, he could be auditioning for a spot next year. He's younger and will be a ton cheaper than say Corey Hart or Mike Morse. DeJesus is likely to be gone by August at the latest. Soriano probably too. Borbon's no lock to stick around, and Jackson and Szczur aren't sure things either. we'll need someone in the outfield until Soler and Almora are ready.

Dissagree. If that were the case, Why not Bogusevic? He's been out mashing Sweeney as of late? Why not Maysonet or Gonzalez who can at least play a bit of infield? I don't think it's about seeing what they have as his minor league opt out time has come and they want to store him for later when he might be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd best LH outfielder, depending on who's left when the smoke clears.

Wow, aside from Vitters and Watkins, Iowa is one sad, irrelavant collection of anti-prospects.

Yeah, I don't expect him to go all Christy Matthewson-y on the Rangers as he did the Padres, but he's been a solid 4-ish starter since his first two outings, though anyone who simply looksed at his last start plus his ERA would probably get the wrong idea due to his plethora of unearned runs.

He is somewhat of an asset. I know that your above the "WSR getting a boner over a 40 year old AAAA slugger," but the truth is that If he can be a productive 4th OF (currently a 5th or 6th but I'm talking long run) at the price, that's worth something to an organization strapped for cash. If they feel as though there's a chance that Sweeney can give the production he gave the A's between 2008-2010, he's worth a look. He also makes David DeJesus and Nate Schierhotz sell high candidates. As for Borbon, they wanted him and in order to get him for nothing as a DFA, they needed to give him a big league roster spot, which Sweeney did not as the time Until the wave of the future starts funneling in, they need to fill a roster. The goal seems to be to do so as cost effectively as possible using low risk, medium-high reclamations, bargain free agents, and anything remotely useful that come through the waiver wire. Sweeney and Borbon each fit that mold, as has every big league acquisition made by Epstein and Hoyer with the exception of Jackson. Look around. Jackson and Rizzo see to be the only Epstein additions on the big league level that was brought in solely to play for us. Aside from the Hendry leftovers, everyone else falls into one of those afore mentioned categories. DeJesus, Villanueva, Wood, and Fujikawa were a little of both, but our active roster includes is composed of [expletive] they threw at the wall. Some is just sticking better than others. We're the A's without the farm system (yet)

You still think this? They certainly don't belong in the conversation with the Astros, Marlins, or even Padres but the amount of times they've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory may well help their cause for a top 5 pick. Maybe 3. The Angels and Blue Jays aren't likely to stay as bad as they are, but the Mets, Mariners, White Sox, and Twins are all in the same category. Maybe the Brewers as well, unless Carlos Gomez and Yuniesky Betencourt really have finally discovered something other than Ryan Braun's medicine chest. It all depends on when the truck is actually backed up. Even then, we're not likely to have the same caliber of awful making up 4/5 of the starting rotation. 100 Ls isn't out of the question, but if it happens it won't come from the current roster.

I'm guessing that this is what Nuts&Gum witnessed. Edited due poor taste.

Yeiper Castillo with a real nice line, but I'm not quite as intrigued now that I know he's a 24 year old retread in A ball.

yeah i'm sure teams are just chomping at the bit to give up a high ceiling prospect for a 28 year old with severe injury and motivation questions who hasn't hit worth a damn since 2010. Chomping at the bit? No. Willing to give up a kid in the back end of their top 20-30 in exchange for a 28 year old who plays quality defense and still has that glimmer of promise, perhaps.

He's younger than DeJesus, more versatile than Borbon, and has a better overall track record than Schierholtz. Assuming that it is as I suspect and it's primarily due to the opt out date of his minor league deal then like Borbon, they could be giving up another roster spot for storage and he'll get his real chance after the truck's been backed up. And if things continue to go as they have been, that might not be too far off. And it's not like we can't use a competent bat off the bench.

My assumption is that the only reason for this move was because it was [expletive] or get off the pot time on Sweeney's minor league contract, and they chose to [expletive]. I've been a fan of him all along, but he simply doesn't serve a purpose on the big league roster.

More like nothing like a 3 game sweep at the hands of a big league team after going 5-3 vs. the Marlins and Padres to crush any optimism.

Vitters 4-7 all together. And Fujikawa pitched 1 hitless with 1/2 Bb/K. As for Ian, I have a feeling that we might not be seeing him in a Cubs uniform again, Chicago or Iowa. Hopefully we can at least get a high ceiling 19-20 year old out of it, but a sack full of Yen is more likely.

We're currently tied with the Angels for the 4th worst record in baseball. Toronto is 3rd, and half a game worse. I can't imagine those keeping pace in the fecal standings. my assumption is that we end up with the 3rd-5th pick behind Houston and Florida for certain. San Diego, Seattle, and the Mets are the only other teams that worry me, with our crosstown rivals and the Twins as dark horses.

He's actually very enjoyable to watch pitch, in that his stuff is 2nd only to Shark. It's the results that aren't enjoyable.

So far this season, Luis Valbuena is giving us the production that we'd realistically hoped for at 3B. I'd just expected that it would be coming from Ian Stewart.

Considering the fact that Valbuena's essentially doing what we'd hoped for Stewart to do, it could be a while until we see him. If we see him.

He was in the .800s not long ago at all. A month into the season, even a 5-7 day rough patch can really show on the slash line, as can a hot streak. He's actually hit a ton in that the past 10 days, raising his BA from .267 to .282. but then down to .273 after yesterday's 0fer. He just hasn't been walking so much, and it's probably not abnormal for a young player on a hot streak with that bat to be more interested in hitting than the free base.

One thing that strikes me about the Blue Jays system is that it's very young. 7 of their top 10 are 20 or younger; #1 is 20 and then the other 6 are 18-19. In their top 20, only 1 guy is over 23. I know that younger guys are more likely to be raw, but With The Jays clearly in win now mode I have to wonder if they'd be willing to give up more of their top guys than the Royals who have more polished prospects in their system, and less money at their disposal.

We can't just assume that if not traded, we'll take the comp pick. DeJesus has a 6.5MM team option for 2014, which is a decent value. Knowing that the finances aren't what we'd hoped, and they start the season off intending to win, my thinking is that we'd pick up the option. Especially if Brett Jackson does nothing to inspire confidence in his ability to hold down the fort until Almora takes over.

I'm not familiar with Yeiper Castillo, but that's a most impressive line he's got going thus far. And what's the story on Kyle Hendricks? Random throw in or specifically targeted in the trade. Is he anything more than someone to add to the Coleman/Rusin/Raley pile?

That's not correct. You know what you see watching sports highlight shows? Teams losing close games on a daily basis. Yes, but I don't really keep track of which teams do it on a regular basis.In the span of just over a month, we seem to have lost more than our fair share of either close games or those that we had no business losing. I'm not saying it's only the Cubs, but I certainly don't keep track of how often other teams have done it. Rather than going the only the Cubs route, I chalk it up to the combination of great starting pitching, awful relief pitching and the inability to get that big hit with RISP. Any teams that have that combination are likely to drop their share of heartbreakers as well.

Probably not. Last year, we achieved that milestone due to the fact that we spent the final month and a half or so with Travis Wood as our 1 Starter and rounded out the rotation with pretty much anyone that filled out a job application. My guess is that by that time this season, we'll have at least 2 of Shark, Jackson, Wood, and Villanueva. I'm sure we'll have at least three. Nobody will take on EJax's contract and we're not trading Shark. And isn't Wood under team control for a few more years? Edwin will be fine. But he's history's greatest monster.