Beaneball

My "Mike Piazza on the 60-day DL" guess ended up closest, but it turns out it's Chris Snelling going to the 60-day, which shouldn't have been a surprise to me. Also, Ruddy Lugo got sent down to the minors, mainly because he sucks. It's not clear to me why the A's are even bothering to hold on to him in the minors. Maybe they think there's something there they can fix?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 11:21 | |

More injury news: Travis Buck to the DL. Susan Slusser says Dee Brown is coming up to take his spot. I don't know if Dee Brown's on the 40-man. According to the official website, he's not. Also according to that website, the roster is full, so someone's going to have to go in order for Brown to come up. Guesses? Jason Windsor, Ruddy Lugo (hey, turns out he really does suck - it's not just the nasty Tampa air or something), Colby Lewis (ditto on the sucking), Shane Komine, or Brad Halsey. Or maybe Mike Piazza will go on the 60-day DL?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 17:26 | |

I'd wondered where Paul DePodesta had ended up after the Dodgers canned him. I suppose if I'd looked hard enough, I would have found out. Instead, it came up as an aside in Susan Slusser's piece about Milton Bradley:

Several major-league sources said that there is sure to be interest in Bradley. San Diego might be the best bet; the Padres are looking for offense and former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta, a major supporter of Bradley's, is now there.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Baseball at 14:49 | |

Completely crazy news: the A's today DFA'd Milton Bradley, who, when healthy, is their best hitter (on the assumption that Eric Chavez will spend the rest of his career trying to hit through nagging injuries that sap his power). Oakland called up Kevin Melillo to take Bradley's place. Billy Beane has scheduled a call or press conference or something for one o'clock (Pacific) to, hopefully, explain what's going on here. Certainly there's a lot of speculation, what with Bradley's somewhat tempestuous past, that he said or did something to someone that made Bob Geren and/or Billy Beane give him the Jeremy Giambi treatment. Also possible is that there's a trade in the works involving Bradley, but why would the A's feel the need to DFA him now? Why not get the benefit of his bat for the next few days until the supposed trade is consummated? I could see Bradley traded in the ten-day window the A's have to do something with him after the DFA, but I really doubt there's a deal nearly in place right now. Susan Slusser reports that one motivation for this is that a number of the A's outfielders have futures with the team, while Bradley doesn't (he's a free agent this year and, even with his injuries, could command more than the A's are willing to pay). Thus, his playing time was likely to be cut in favor of players like Travis Buck and Chris Snelling. If nothing else, Jack Cust and Travis Buck now have more job security, not to mention Bobby Kielty and Chris Snelling (although there's probably still one too many outfielders - Snelling, Kielty, Kotsay, Stewart, and Buck, plus Cust when Piazza is DHing).

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 15:28 | |

Sam Perlozzo was apparently fired today. The real question is now "Whence Leo Mazzone?" The whole reason he left Atlanta, as you'll recall, was to coach alongside his lifelong buddy Perlozzo.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Baseball at 13:22 | |