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How All Of The A’s Pitchers Were Acquired: Lots Of Depth Even For 2015 Without Breaking The Bank!
Part of the lure in acquiring Samardzija was that he had 1 year left of Arbitration. He will likely cost in the $12 – 15 MIL range for 2015. He tops the list of several A’s players that will be ARB eligible in 2015 like Moss, Donaldson, Cook, Parker, Jaso, Reddick and Gentry. While the club is going for it in 2014, their unloading of Cespdes’s $10.5 MIL 2015 salary will be used to pay these guys raises for next year, which should ensure them of another chance to compete for it all.. The Pitching Staff will remain almost intact, with losing just Lester, Hammel and Gregerson, while 12 guys are still under Team control, and 3 more guys with lots of MLB experience are in Sacramento waiting for a callup.
How All Of The A’s Pitchers Were Acquired:
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Billy Beane has assembled quite the Pitching Staff for his 2014 final playoff push despite having both Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin out for the year with Tommy John Surgery.
Sonny Gray, A.J. Griffin and Sean Doolittle (although he was drafted as a hitter) are the only active pitchers on their staff that are homegrown products.
Jon Lester was acquired with Yoenis Cespedes (who signed as an International Free Agent.
Much like the hitters, the ‘Moneyball GM’ has wheeled and dealt until he put together one of the best run prevention teams in the game baseball.
Bringing in Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel cost the team 2 young prospects and Dan Straily, all of whom were team draft picks. Read the rest of this entry
How All Of The A’s Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree Shows Incredible Beane Trading Record
How All Of The Athletics Hitters Were Acquired:
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Truthfully this blog took me forever to do the research for, simply because the A’s GM Billy Beane has been so proactive at the trading helm.
From flipping Mark Mulder several years ago which fetched Dan Haren as part of the haul, to the massive deal with Dan Haren sent to the D’Backs, he added enough depth to pull off several other moves.
Yes, along the way he may have been burned by Colorado for Carlos Gonzalez, but in a the Dbacks deal still is paying off.
The Roster deals include several Oakland draft picks being flipped for current A’s.
Nick Swisher was traded for Gio Gonzalez, who in turn the club can thank for the Catching tandem of Derek Norris and John Jaso as assets received from Swisher initially.
Jaso was brought back in a 3 way deal from Washington, where the A’s sent the SP back to the team they traded Gio Gonzalez for.
Ryan Sweeney (another player brought in for the Swisher) was packaged with Andrew Bailey to obtain Josh Reddick. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers Losing Fielder For The Year May Be A Fatal Short Term Blow: But Maybe Not For The Long Term
Losing Prince Fielder for the year is somewhat catastrophic to the team, but it doesn’t have to be a death sentence to the 2014 year. The big 1B was not part of the 15 – 9 start the team put forth, before a rough 8 – 15 slide since then. Pitching will save the day, and the organization may look to add some players that don’t require a ton of assets to ascertain. If the club has bad next month,, it could also be time to sell some players off and retool for 2015. Fielder will have neck surgery, and when you are talking about possible spinal fusing, it is not an injury to be recovered from quickly
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Rangers have quite likely lost Prince Fielder for the year – with pending neck surgery. He joins a long list of players currently on the ‘MASH’ unit.
Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Leonys Martin, Donnie Murphy, Joseph Ortiz, Martin Perez, Joe Saunders, Tanner Scheppers, Geovany Soto, Dan Robertson Jurickson Profar, Engel Beltre, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Josh Wilson, James Adduci, Pedro Figueroa are all on the sick bay right now.
About half of them are not coming back this year potentially.
Adrian Beltre and Yu Darvish have also spent time on the DL this campaign.
The 16 players currently on the list above could virtually make up 2/3rds of the team. Read the rest of this entry
30 MLB Team Power Rankings: Week 5 – Apr. 2014
The Astros have helped pad the stats for teams like the A’s, Rangers and Angels offenses and Run Differentials so far in 2014, Having this cupcake team will definitely help your playoff chances with the weighted divisional play. I will be amazed if they finish out of last in the American League this year, and maybe only the Chicago Cubs will challenge them for the 1st overall pick again for the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
We are now at the 13 – 14% pole of the MLB year. Parity is reigning supreme on the standings.
For the record, while I love the Milwaukee start, they are just too many variables for them to keep up this pace.
Don’t get me wrong, i think this team is capable of making the playoffs, winning 90 games, but it could be eliminated as fast as they have compiled this record.
Ryan Braun’s thumb could require surgery. Ramirez’s knee’s could fail him.
Considering last night’s situation with Braun and Gomez, that could alter the playing field for the NL.
The suspension laid down for the brawl with the Pirates could also sway some momentum. Good on Milwaukee for starting 18 – 6. I just think the Cards will track them down in the next 138 games. Read the rest of this entry
Odds To Win The 2014 MLB World Series – Updated For Week 4
Wrigley Field is about the best all natural ballpark experience out of all of the 30 teams in the MLB – however the attendance has started to sag with the recent play of the franchise. Wrigley Field has seen a decline in fans attended every year since 2008, down from 3.3 Million fans in 2008, to 2.65 Million people in 2013 (only good for 7th out of 15 NL Teams). Today’s 100th birthday of the field should be the best game of the year at Addison and Clark.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Odds To Win The 2014 World Series
1. LA Dodgers +600
2. Detroit Tigers +700
T3. Washington Nationals +900 (Down from +700)
They have only really beat the Marlins all year, haven’t fared well against the great clubs,
T3. St. Louis Cardinals +900 (Down From +850)
Surprising a little they have come down a little, still will be able to catch Milwaukee. Poor start for Allen Craig and Jhonny Peralta should correct itself.
LA Dodgers Eliminated From Shutout Survivor – Leaving TEX/LAA + COL Left
Cliff Lee was downright filthy last in blanking the Dodgers. It was the 1st 0 runs game for the NL Los Angeles team, thus eliminating them from this competition. The only NL team left is the Colorado Rockies, who of course play in Coors Field as their home ballpark. The Phillies have received decent power from Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and now Ryan Howard has hit homers in back to back games, pacing the Philly to a 9 – 10 start, with Cole Hamels coming back.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Eliminated Last Night are the Dodgers.
After the games on Apr.20th, there are 27 teams taken out of this competition. The AL West still has 2 teams remaining in this and the NL has 1 All Divisions are eliminated except for those two.
Should be a great contest to see who can be the last team to score zero runs in a game. Read the rest of this entry
30 MLB Team Power Rankings: Week 4 MLB Baseball Apr. 2014
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
We are now at the 10% pole of the MLB year. The American League looks to have some serious battles taking place in the divisions, while the National League has teams who are separating from others.
Kansas City put themselves back on the map with a 5 – 2 week, and now have a tie for the AL Central lead.
The Yankees started the week winning 4 straight, before dropping the last contests with the Rays, but look good for the long haul.
The Rays officially lost Matt Moore for the year, and Alex Cobb is gone for a while too.
Albert Pujols is bouncing towards 500 HRs, but his Halo’s are in the midst of a tough 3 city road trip.
The Nationals are learning once again that nothing is handed to you. Read the rest of this entry
Oakland Athletics Roster In 2014: How All Of The Pitchers Were Acquired
Jarrod Parker is out for the year with Tommy John Surgery. You are talking about a guy that was 25 – 16 with a 3.68 ERA over the last 2 years combined. He has top of the rotation stuff and will be greatly missed. The A’s also had a TJ scare with A.J. Griffin, but it has been downgraded to an elbow strain for now. Parker was traded for by the Athletics in a major package sent to Oakland with Collin Cowgill and Ryan Cook for Starter Trevor Cahill. The club still has Parker and Cahill. While it is bad Parker is out in 2014, he will be back. Cahill has been ineffective for the D’backs in 2014 – with a 9.17 ERA and an MLB leading 4 losses.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
I just finished writing an article about how Billy Beane was smart not to have signed Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson to extensions here.
You really wont find him do this anytime soon with any of his chuckers.
The Scott Kazmir deal is the one he likes to do. It is simple as to why the man operates like this. He doesn’t have to give up any assets in the process.
Beane is a “Baseball Rounder”.
It is not unlike him to do manage 50 – 60 transactions per year. He was won more than he has lost – whether it is Free Agency or trades. His ballclub has the best record in the Majors since the start of play in 2012 – at 200 – 144 (.581 baseball).
We will go through the Pitching First, and then the hitting by the weekend. Read the rest of this entry
The Miami Marlins Payroll In 2014, Organizational Affiliates, Prospects, Depth Charts, (MLB + MiLB)
The Miami Marlins might have exited out of their plan to compete last season, however the talent wasn’t going to cut it – and they were able to restock the system with some talent, despite not having an chance to compete in 2013. Hopefully the ownership will buck up some cash when the team improves a little in future years.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @mlbreports and Jeff Kleiner (Salary, Roster and Depth Chart Expert for the MLB) – visit his website here Follow @prosportsroster
The Miami Marlins are known for doing a gazillion transactions throughout the year. Jeffrey Loria and CO. are always looking for ways to save dollars, become younger, and fill the Minor League System with players.
Since the team has won 2 World Series it is time in the MLB (21 Years), some people are even willing to give the franchise some credit, although most of that was attributed to the previous ownership regimes.
They are loaded with a multitude of young players that are highly touted and talented. The biggest question to ask is how they are going to move forward with Giancarlo Stanton?
2014 will be an interesting campaign for Miami. They have to hope that a lot of their several young players can mature and prosper, as they are in the same Division as the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.
For a Full 3 year Salary Outlook plus last years Stats for every player in the Miami Organization click here.
Giancarlo Stanton Highlights _- Mature Lyrics So Parental Guidance is Advised
The Miami Marlins Payroll In 2014, Organizational Affiliates, Prospects, Depth Charts, (MLB + MiLB)
The Miami Marlins might have exited out of their plan to compete last season, however the talent wasn’t going to cut it – and they were able to restock the system with some talent, despite not having an chance to compete in 2013. Hopefully the ownership will buck up some cash when the team improves a little.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @mlbreports and welcome Jeff Kleiner (Salary, Roster and Depth Chart Expert for the MLB) – visit his website here Follow @prosportsroster
The Miami Marlins are known for doing a gazillion transactions throughout the year. Jeffrey Loria and CO. are always looking for ways to save dollars, become younger, and fill the Minor League System with players.
Since the team has won 2 World Series it is time in the MLB (21 Years), some people are even willing to give the franchise some credit, although most of that was attributed to the previous ownership regimes.
They are loaded with a multitude of young players that are highly touted and talented. The biggest question to ask is how they are going to move forward with Giancarlo Stanton?
2014 will be an interesting campaign for Miami. They have to hope that a lot of their several young players can mature and prosper, as they are in the same Division as the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.
For a Full 3 year Salary Outlook plus last years Stats for every player in the Miami Organization click here.
Giancarlo Stanton Highlights _- Mature Lyrics So Parental Guidance is Advised
The Oakland A’s 2013 Roster Tree Part 1: The Hitters
Saturday, Dec.01/2012
How important was Cespedes to The A’s Lineup in 2012? They went 82-47 with him in the lineup and 12-21 without him. He was the biggest reason the team soared into the playoff race and won the AL East. Beane secured him in Free Agency before the start of last year. He is signed for 3 more years at 9 Million Dollars Per Year.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
A few months ago, our Lead Columnist/Website Founder (Jonathan Hacohen) wrote a brilliant piece about the assembly of the Oakland Athletics roster. He called it “MoneyBall 2.” Right after the piece, the A’s surged to the greatest record in the second half of the season and won the AL West. The team is now constructed of power hitters and power pitchers. The man behind it all is Billy Beane. I will not get into too much of this philosophy as you can read that piece here. What I intend to do is to show the roster of how it was comprised by Beane in the form of a roster tree. It is just like a family tree, however this shows trades dating back 2,3,4,5,6 fold etc.. in order to show you the mastery of the GM’s ability to field a roster on a limited budget.
The Future of the Oakland A’s: The Mustache Gang Meets the Bash Brothers: Revealing Billy Beane’s Master Plan click here.
The Oakland A’s 2013 Roster Tree Part 2: The Pitchers click here.
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