Beaneball

Sean Deveney at The Sporting News says that the Lakers have interest in Kurt Thomas, so I'll update the list below. He also says that the Hornets, Cavs, and Lakers are all Posey suitors along with the Celtics, but so far, none of them have been willing to bite on Posey's request for a four-year deal. This is smart on the part of all four teams, because Posey is 31 years old already, as I've mentioned before. Having him around at 34 and 35 isn't going to make anyone happy.

The Globe, meanwhile has Washington and Detroit in the running with Charlotte, Cleveland, and Boston, but doesn't mention L.A.

• Ronny Turiaf -- four years, $17 million, front-loaded, Golden State (Lakers can match, but shouldn't)
• James Posey -- Celtics, Lakers, Cavs, Hornets, Wizards, Pistons?
• 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? Lakers?
• 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 Basketball at 19:05 | |

Let's just call up Eric Patterson now and move Mark Ellis over to shortstop. Or put Patterson at third. Or at short. Or put Kurt Suzuki at third and let Patterson catch. I don't care, because he's on fire at AAA and the A's can't hit. Patterson had three more hits yesterday, including another double and another homer. In his four games in the A's system, he's got an OPS of 1.576. (This is after putting up a robust .875 for the Cubs' AAA squad.) I'm pretty sure the man can hit. He's stolen 12 bases at AAA this year, and has been caught exactly zero times. This brings his career minor league rate to 79%, which isn't Carlos Beltran, but it is the kind of rate that can help the A's if he can keep it up in the majors.

I'm getting a little too excited about this, I know, because it's been four games with Sacramento. That said, the general statement you can make about Patterson ("he can hit") remains true whether you're looking at these four games or his nearly 2000-PA minor league career: .303/.367/.475 is an excellent line if he can stick at second base (and based on the fact that he's played second base in all four of his games at Sacramento, it looks like the A's will give him every chance to prove that he can stick there).

We all love Mark Ellis, partly because he's one of those "best defensive players never to win a Gold Glove" guys, partly because he's gritty and awesome, partly because he's said he wants to stay with the A's, and partly because he's the career leader in homers hit by players born in South Dakota (although watch out for Jason Kubel -- he's coming hard). But you have to ask about the warts as well, and here's the major one: Mark Ellis cannot be counted on to consistently hit the baseball. He had an excellent 2005, with an .861 OPS, and a good 2007, with a .777 OPS. But in those two years, his batting averages were .316 and .276. In 2003 (he was hurt in 2004) and 2006, he batted .248 and .249. This year, he's at .238. His OPS is in the low .700's. Is that the kind of performance you want to pay free agent money for, from a guy who'll be 32 next year? Patterson's PECOTA weighted mean for this year is basically what Ellis hit last season (and that doesn't take into account how well he's hit and stolen bases this season) -- isn't it worth it to get Mark Ellis's peak offensive performance out of a much younger and cheaper Eric Patterson, rather than paying Ellis himself to hit below his peak? And to be a constant declining presence in the 8th spot of the order for the next three years?

Fortunately, I have faith that the A's understand this, and that they're perfectly willing to let a fan favorite walk (they traded Rich Harden!) to replace him with a guy who will bring about the same value (just in a different shape -- more offense, less defense) for much cheaper.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 12:28 | |