Beaneball

The Nets signed Eduardo Najera, which I guess I missed the first time around. Najera's a guy I thought could help the Lakers' depth inside, but he's off the table now. Here's the list of players I've mentioned as possibilities for the team and who's now gone (note that most of these aren't players I've seen in rumors; they're mostly just "available bigs", although some of them are rumor guys; against my better instincts, I've included some centers on the list instead of just power forwards, as I had before, because I guess if it comes down to it, the Lakers might just have to bring in a big body instead of someone who'll replace Turiaf more directly):

• Ronny Turiaf -- four years, $17 million, front-loaded, Golden State (Lakers can match, but shouldn't)
• James Posey -- still waffling
• DJ Mbenga -- waiting for the phone to ring, I'm sure
• Corey Maggette -- five years, $50 million, Golden State
• Sun Yue -- Kupchak wants to bring him over, but no word yet on a deal
• Kurt Thomas -- Spurs are his first choice?
• Brent Barry -- two years, $3.9 million, Houston
• Craig Smith -- qualifying offer extended by Minnesota
• Carl Landry -- qualifying offer extended by Houston
• Walter Herrmann -- big European money on the table?
• Randolph Morris -- not welcome back in New York?
• Kwame Brown -- Bucks, Heat apparently interested
• Eduardo Najera -- undisclosed deal with the Nets
• Juwan Howard -- ?
• Robert Horry -- not retiring; Spurs or Rockets?
• Francisco Elson -- not going back to Seattle; Miami?
• Theo Ratliff -- back to Detroit?
• Adonal Foyle -- back to Orlando?
• Quinton Ross -- with Brand gone, maybe the Clippers bring him back, but everyone is interested, including Phoenix, Orlando, New Jersey?
• Bostjan Nachbar -- Detroit? With the Nets adding Najera and Jarvis Hayes, does that mean no room for Nachbar?
• Dorell Wright -- qualifying offer from Miami
• Sasha Vujacic -- qualifying offer from the Lakers
• Patrick O'Bryant -- two years, $3 million, Celtics
• David Harrison -- Denver?
• Chris Andersen -- probably not Boston after signing O'Bryant; Cleveland?
• Primoz Brezec -- Seattle, Chicago, Miami?
• Jorge Garbajosa

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 12:47 | |

Everybody already knows that Sean Gallagher pitched a marvelous game, striking out seven in his seven innings while giving up just two runs. Yes, this wa Anaheim, which has an underachieving offense, but it's still a great performance. Here's MLB.com video of Gallagher's day. (It's actually the entire package of highlights from the game, but it leads off with Gallagher's performance.) Note especially the tremendous bite on his breaking pitches, and the fact that his fastball was in the mid-90's. With Harden's velocity falling off in the last two starts, the A's were down to exactly zero starting pitchers who could bring the heat. But they're back to one now.

You should also check out Emil Brown doubling to left to score Jack Cust. (a) Juan Rivera really made an atrocious play out there, trying to slide in front of the ball. I'm not sure if he was attempting to catch it or just stop it from getting past him, but he accomplished neither. (b) Jack Cust really unhitched the trailer, scoring on a slide just ahead of the relay to the plate. Wow.

Anyway, as for the rest of the returns on the trade: Matt Murton only went 1-5, but the hit came on an 0-2 pitch from Jon Garland with the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning. It's hard to call any hit key in a seven-run win, but at the time, the score was 5-2 A's, and getting Murton out in that situation would have left the Angels in a much better situation. Instead, he drove the single to right field, it was a five-run game, and Jack Hannahan capped the scoring in the next frame.

Meanwhile, Eric Patterson flashed the power-speed combination that's the entire reason the A's picked him up in the trade, hitting his first Sacramento homer and his stealing his first Sacramento base, though the River Cats ended up losing on a three-run homer off the bat of Sean Rodriguez in the bottom of the tenth. Landon Powell and Brooks Conrad also homered for Sacramento -- for Conrad, it was his 19th of the season, though his overall hitting stats are unimpressive: .230/.315/.464. That's a great ISO, especially for a utility guy (he played left field last night), but you'd like a little more contact ability from a 28-year-old in AAA.

Finally, for Stockton, Josh Donaldson had a couple of RBI singles, although he also struck out swinging three times and made an early throwing error. The Ports pulled out the win despite all five pitchers giving up at least one run.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 12:13 | |