2011 Oakland A's

[enyc718]

Oakland, CA- After a last place finish in the AL West, the underacheiving Oakland A's are in disarray. Their offense was a joke. No one batted over .280. Not even an earthquake showed the lack of power that these 2010 Oakland A's showed. Owners Lew Wolff and John Fisher have announced that moneyball is not the answer in Oakland. Billy Beane is out as GM in Oakland after 12 yrs. Lew and John have indicated that the past few yrs is not what they have imagined. With possibly a new stadium being built they want a fresh look.
Reports about a new GM have surfaced around the bay area, but not enough details to say who it actually is. Stay tuned, as it could get interesting here from Oakland.

[yougo1000]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

This one looks exciting

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Reports out of Oakland are that the new GM is going to be Alex Montana. It is said that he is a very young 28 yr old stock broker from New York. They say his passion is baseball and a frequent player of MLB The Show. Go figure. No word yet on when the announcement will come. We would just have to hope that it comes soon as the World Series just finished and the hot stove reports are starting to heat up.






Lew and John: We would like to welcome everyone here to this conference. As you all know we have parted ways from Mr. Beane. This will be a hard transition but we feel that it is the right one. We need to get this orginization moving the right way and we feel that what we were doing before wasn't working. John and myself would like to introduce to you the new GM of our orginization Alex Montana.


Mr. Montana: I want to thank Lew and John for having me here. Im overwhelmed. Coming from NY all the way to the west coast to be the GM for a professional baseball team is pretty exciting. But this is all business from here on out. I have a job to do. Will it be easy? No it won't. Im here to build an empire. One that will be hard to take down. I want to build the type of team that this orginization had in the 80's. A grind it out team that wants to be in this together. I think the most important thing that I want to bring in here is chemistry. It all starts at the top. While we are here during this special time, I would like to bring in the new manager of this A's team, Dave Magadan. And i would also like to welcome our new pitching coach Brook Jacoby. Like I said earlier, this is a business and we have to approach it like one. We still have spots that need to be filled.

Reporter: Mr. Montana, what is your first area of concern with rebuilding this team.

Mr. Montana: Well, first and foremost wen need some pop in the middle of that lineup. There are some coveted free agents out there that could help out in that department of course, but I also want a ball player that is going to blend in. So we are going to look long and hard before we make a commitment. I can assure you this though, we will not be cheap in how we go about our business.

Reporter: So you are saying its a win now mentality?

Mr. Montana: Everyone wants to win now. We just have to make sure we bring in the right players, players that will lay it out on the line for the team.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Free agency is under way!!! Many players out ther look to fatten their pockets while others are just looking for a place to call home. This free agency period is actually turning into a little battle between the Oakland A's and the Philadelphia Phillies. 2 franchises that have some history are both battling for what looks to be a well paid right fielder in Jayson Werth.

GM Alex Montana had this to say. "Being from the east coast and growing up in Brooklyn, we usually get what we want. Also, growing up a Mets fan, I hate the phillies even more. Jayson Werth is the player we are targeting at the moment, we look to make a strong push for him."

Werth is also being pursued by the Cincinnati Reds, although the A's seem to have the best offer out there, a 4yr-45.77m contract.

In other news, Jose reyes turned down a 5yr-108mil contract from the Mets to sign with the Dodgers for a 3yr-52.8mil contract. Carl Crawford has signes with the Chicago Cubs, a 7yr-70mil contract.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Nov.28- Jayson Werth shocks everyone and signs with the New York Mets, taking less money. Alderson must know what he is doing in queens, maybe taking a page from Billy Beane. lol the irony.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Justin Duchscherer, yea pronounce that one, has said he has no interest in coming back to Oakland. He was the A's only bright spot from 2010. The A's have now made a push for Rich Harden. Harden had this to say. "I would love to go back to Oakland where I started. I heard they have a new GM over there and would love to meet him. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

GM Alex Montana has indicated that they are in need of another starter to go with Braden, Anderson, Cahill, and Gonzalez. "Obvisouly Harden has played here before, i like his work ethic, and you know, sometimes for a professional athlete, its about coming back home. I don't think he has been comfortable in his last 2 stops, and good welcome home maybe what he needs. Rich, We are coming for you!"

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

A day after talking about re-joining is old team, Rich Harden wanted no part of the Oakland A's. It seems as if he was just using them to sign with the New York Yankees. The new GM for the A's seemed a little disgust with that. "Look, we are in the rebuilding process, but at the same time we are laying all of our chips on the table. If you wanna go and join that yanks thats fine, But when you indicate to us that you have interest in signing with this team, don't turn around just shut us down completely. I guess when you have an agent like Boras, your going to run into things like that.

On a side note, man its hard to lure these free agents to sign with you, like pulling teeth.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

The A's finished spring at 13-13. Trevor Cahill had an impressive spring going 4-0 with an ERA of 2.32. Andrew Bailey appeared in 8 games and had 7 saves. Adam Dunn, who was signed to provide some pop in the A's lineup batted .313 with 4HR and 9RBI. As a team the A's stole 19 bases while only getting caught twice.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

As the Oakland A's prepare for opening day on the road against the Angels, they just got word from team doctors that they will be without starting 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. After diving for a groundball in the last game of spring training, he said he felt 'a pop' in his shoulder. team doctors took a look and said it was dislocated and needs 1-2 months f recovery. Not good news for the A's considering they didn't resign Eric Chavez in the off-season. They had to call up Adam Rosales, who was supposed to start the season on the AAA team.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

Athletics at Angels - Angel Stadium
Apr 4, 2011	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland (0-1)	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	8	1
Los Angeles (1-0)	2	0	0	3	0	1	0	1	X	7	14	1
Player of the Game: Weaver
W: Weaver 1-0 L: Anderson 0-1

Oakland Athletics
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Crisp	3	0	2	0	1	0		.666
Miles	4	0	1	0	0	0		.250
Kubel	4	0	1	0	0	2		.250
Dunn	4	1	1	0	0	1		.250
Suzuki	4	1	1	1	0	3		.250
Scutaro	4	0	0	0	0	1		.000
Barton	4	0	1	1	0	0		.250
Davis	4	0	0	0	0	1		.000
Rosales	3	1	1	1	0	2		.333
TEAM TOTALS	34	3	8	3	1	10
BATTING: 2B: Crisp HR: Suzuki, Rosales
BASERUNNING: SB: Dunn

Los Angeles Angels
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Aybar	5	1	2	0	0	1		.400
Kendrick	4	1	1	1	0	0		.250
Rivera	4	0	3	1	0	0		.750
Morales	4	0	1	0	0	2		.250
Hunter	4	2	2	0	0	1		.500
Izturis	4	0	1	0	0	2		.250
Abreu	4	1	1	0	0	0		.250
Napoli	4	2	2	3	0	1		.500
Wood	4	0	1	2	0	0		.250
TEAM TOTALS	37	7	14	7	0	7
BATTING: 2B: Kendrick, Hunter, Napoli, Wood HR: Napoli

Oakland Athletics
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Anderson	5.1	10	5	5	0	5		8.43
Meloan	1.2	1	1	1	0	1		5.40
Ramirez	1.0	3	1	0	0	1		0.00
TEAM TOTALS	8.0	14	7	6	0	7

Los Angeles Angels
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Weaver	8.0	6	2	2	1	9		2.25
Shields	1.0	2	1	1	0	1		9.00
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	8	3	3	1	10

Aneheim, CA- Opening day has arrived. For the Oakland Athletics it couldn't have gone by any quicker. Jered Weaver was mainly responsible for that. Weaver went 8 innings and allowed just 2 runs, both solo shots. Said newly acquired Adam Dunn "his delivery had us fooled all game long." Dave Magaden takes his first lost in his managerial debut. Napoli had a huge debut with a homer and 4RBI's including a double.
In other news no pictures could be provided as the Oakland Express paper was on strike. They are to return to work today.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Napoli strikes again.

The second game of this series was a good. With Cahill on the mound the A's had a chance, especially in the the 7th inning when they scored all of their 3 runs. But in the the bottom of the 7th Wuertz came in to relief Cahill, starter Jake Fox (pictured below) lets a ball go right by him from a lack of effort and keep the inning going. That prompted coach Magadan to take him right out of the game. A couple of batters later Mike Napoli smashes a 3run shot.

Adam Dunn hits his first homer as an Oakland Athletic. Pinero didn't factor into the decision but went 6 strong with 2ER and striking out 4.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Braden Dominant on Mound

Dallas Braden wasn't perfect on this day, but striking out eleven,and giving up 7 scattered hits along with 2 ERs was dominant enough. Angel hitters were dazzled. Everyone in the Angels line-up struck out atleast once. 2 of their 3 runs came on Travis Woods 2 run shot against Braden. Scutaro sent what looked like a long flyout, a homerun just over Tori Hunters glove.


Adam Dunn who has played the DH role in the first 3 games went yard again. Also, newcomer Jason Kubel is struggling at the plate, going hitless in his last 2.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

A's Don't Get Calls or Win

"I felt like I could hit anything up there"
Those were Juan Rivera's exact words after he
belted 3 HRs to seal the Angels series win over the A's.


The Angels pounded 15 hits and 13 runs over the A's.
The A's felt that Clyde Washington had something to do
with the final score. Nonetheless Josh Outman was not
having a good day. Being squeezed at the strikezone, a ground
rule double by Izturis frusterated Outman, and set up a HR by
Rivera. The ground rule double was clearly foul (see below)
and it was that kind of day for the A's. Rivera finished 3-5 with 7RBIs.


On the mound for the Angels was Scot Kazmir, and he scored the
complete game by allowing 5 hits walking one and
striking out 7. Jason Kubel finally got a hit and an RBI for the A's.
Said manager Dave Magadan, " we are going to have games like this
we just need to bounce back as a team and play better, its not
the end of the world but we need to make something happen quick."

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

A's Get Win Despite
Circus Ninth

Seattle, WA- With one out in the bottom of the ninth and
Andrew Bailey in for the save,SS Marc Scutaro throws
away a routine groundball to first base. Next batter Josh Bard
grounds out to Aaron Miles who turns for the double play but
throws it over Scutaros head. That sets up runners on first
and second. Ichiro is up to bat and hits a sharp grounder to first
and Patterson takes it himself for the second out. Chone Figgins
next batter and he grounds out to first base only to have Patterson bobble the ball. That might of been the worst defense played in
the ninth inning I have ever seen. But the good closer that Bailey is,
he gets Milton Bradley to swing at a slider in the dirt to end the
drama.


Adam Dunn was leading off the ninth when he hit a deep fly ball
to the warning track and everyone in Safeco Field held their breath.
Franklin Guttierez and Ichiro both giving chase to the ball, they
must of not heard each other and collided against each other
and the wall, both fell to the ground. Ichiro reacted a little faster
and quickly threw the ball to the cut-off. Dunn ended up at third
and later scored on a sac fly from Scutaro. Both Ichiro and Guttierez
stayed in the game and are day to day.


With not much offense in this one, Gio Gonzalez pitched 7 2/3,
giving up5 hits, 2R, 2ER, 2BB and 3K. Opposing pitcher Ian Snell
posted a similar line pitching 6inn, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, and 2K (ND).
Jason Kubel got the off from manager Dave Magadan.

[enyc718]

Re: 2011 Oakland A's

Kubel Gets Anemic
Offense Going

Seattle, WA- Jason Kubel thanked his manager, Dave Magadan,
for giving him the day off on Friday. After the game Magadan
thanked Jason Kubel. Kubel finished 3-5 with 2HRs and 3RBIs.
It looked like Kubel has been pressing at the plate, so Magadan
moved him to sixth in the lineup. And it seemed to help. Dunn,
Scutaro and Kubel (4-5-6) went a combined 8-14. The A's hit
the ball well today against an aging Livan Hernandez. Hernandez
didn't have his best stuff who gave up nine hits, 6 runs, 4 of them
earned.

Brett Anderson looked sharp after a bounce back start. He struck
out nine in seven innings of work. The Seattle offense is showing
no life in the middle of the order.

The A's go for the sweep tomorrow, but will go up against King Felix.