Olney's Latest: Lidge, Shields, Eveland, Lahey

Dana Eveland had pitched great for the A's in spring training with 3 wins and a 1.29 ERA in 5 games started to win the 5th spot in the A's rotation [4th for now since Chad Gaudin is on the disabled list.]I don't see a reason why Eveland can't have a good year. Eveland does have good strikeout stuff. And he also pitches pretty well for a lefty. I mean sure, he may not be the next Mark Mulder or Barry Zito [when he was good in Oakland,] But he should be a pretty good #3 starting pitcher if he maintains his control and throws strikes.

FWIW, there's been some speculation on Cub boards that perhaps Lahey could be returned to the Cubs as the PTBNL to complete the Monroe deal.

No clue if there's any validity to that.

keith law on eveland during spring...though yesterday against cleveland they had him topping out at 94mph. if he turns into a solid pitcher along with greg smth/brett anderson also in haren deal, A's would take it

Here is what he had to say about Dana:

"Dana Eveland continued his bid for a spot in the Oakland rotation with another strong outing, ripping through five innings against the Royals without giving up a run. His fastball was down a bit from his previous start, as he pitched mostly at 88 but threw some fastballs as low as 85 mph. But his secondary stuff was strong, including a curveball with good depth and a sharp slider that he used as his out pitch. Even more impressive was the presence of a clear pitching plan: get ahead with curveballs and fastballs, put hitters away with the slider, show the changeup to lefties and see if they'll chase it off the outside corner. Eveland reminds me a lot of Ted Lilly, with a little less fastball and an inferior changeup; both are lefties who reached the majors with shaky control and reputations as head cases, both feature four-pitch repertoires, and both have multiple weapons to get swings and misses. Lilly blossomed as a starter when he went to the big ballpark in Oakland and didn't have to worry about giving up fly balls. The same could be true for Eveland this year.

The Twins are going to send the Cubs a minor league player but both newspapers here reported at the time that the player would be a "marginal" or "low grade" prospect, not a quality prospect like Lahey.