A's To Seek Power This Offseason

Prince Fielder to the A's in an offseason trade.

Teixiera would be excellent but all sources are pointing towards Giambi right now.

I could for sure see Giambi but would he sign in oakland after beane commented on his steroid use? Does beane think bring up Carter is an option yet? Barton could play first with Carter Dhing. I'd let Ellis,Thomas,and brown walk. Will Chavez ever comeback healthy? Is Cust someone they see being a centerpiece of this team when it starts winning in 2010?

*Beane will think that....

Kevin Millar.

I wouldn't be suprised to see Possibly Beane try to make a play for Thome from the White Sox. Especially if the Sox want to put Konerko and Dh, Swisher at 1st and bring in a real CF

here's some issues

most of the top tier FA hitters in their prime will cost a ton 12-15mill+ a yr. i doubt A's spend that type of money. their largest FA contract ever was 3yr/21mill to esteban loaiza

their owner lew wolff said they'd like to avoid older, injured players like in past w/ piazza/thomas etc

would that list include a giles, abreu, giambi etc?

trading for a prince fielder/holliday would be against what they did to build up this farm system over the last yr +.

any mlb ready power hitters caught in a depth chart situation that may be available at a lesser price?

He could take a chance with a buy low trade - Khalil Greene. Ankiel is interesting and def a possibility. Would Beane give up a few chips to get Uggla? he wouldn't be totally cheap for next 4 yrs but takes care of Ellis' hole and the need for power.

The a's are certainly lacking in a 3B option, would Mark Reynolds be a thought? Ellis could easily be re-signed, he hasnt had a good year but is an up-and-down offensive player.

Chavez is finished playing 3B and is trying to comeback as a 1B/DH, Id love to see them move Barton to 3B and play Chavez until he's hurt and throw out this lineup in 08 and see what happens:

RF: Sweeney
3B: Barton
LF: Cust
DH: Giambi
1B: Chavez
CF: Gonzalez
2B: Ellis
C: Suzuki
SS: Crosby

Uggla would be a nice option too, the A's certainly have a log-jam of OF and pitching prospects.

arly- "their largest FA contract ever was 3yr/21mill to esteban loaiza"

Yeah, but their largest contract was to Eric Chavez (I think 60MM, might be wrong). He had the same amount of service time as any FA would have when signed; the A's just didn't lose any draft picks.

I hope Wolff sticks to his word on the older, injured FA.

Even if the A's signed a Type A FA, they wouldn't lose their 1st round pick (they're a lock to have a protected pick) and would get compensation from Ellis walking (although I seriously think Ellis will accept arbitration with that shoulder injury if it drops his value down enough, which could be good for the A's).

Athletic Domination- Mark Reynolds in an A's uniform for the next 4-5 years. YES. Chavez coming back as DH would be detrimental. If he can, he needs to be in the field, namely 3B. If he can't come back as 3B/1B, the A's need to eat salary and dump him.

Land-Man- You can't have him. ;-P

I know that the A's have a bit of a logjam in the OF, but isn't Juan Rivera supposed to be a free agent next year? He would be a nice pick up.

It would be nice to see Furcal signed too. Due to his injury, and missed playing time this year, he wouldn't even cost a draft pick. Between him and Crosby, there should be a SS on the field every day.

I don't think that trading for Fielder wouldn't that too crazy. There is no way that the Brewers are going to be able to sign Sabathia and Sheets for next year. They might even lose both, and will look for young pitching.

Braden/Embree/Street/Murton/Smith/Eveland in some kind of combination could be trade bait for a good bat like Fielder. Maybe even Duchscherer could be included next year if he can show he's healthy.

The A's have too much pitching at just about every level and should use some of that to trade for some bats.

Plus, it would nice to have a marquee player in green and gold.

"Stiglich says the A's will look for an impact bat in the free agent market noting that Beane added that he is reluctant to trade prospects from the system for a power hitter."

Reluctant or not, i dont see how he acquires a bat unless its through a trade. Truth is Oakland is still a small market team who wont be able to match the $$$ of the big boys, especially with reagrds to Texeira.

"Does beane think bring up Carter is an option yet? Barton could play first with Carter Dhing."

Carter is not even close to the bigs yet. Yeah he hit 39hrs and drove in over 100, but his BA is still in the high .250's, strikes out almost 1/3 of the time, not too mention he just finished his season in high A ball Cal league, a notorious hitters league. Let him complete a full year in AA before we start mentioning him as a possibility.

Lets go totally off the wall. Street + few prospects for... Big Papi. Theo can float the rumor that he asked for trade because of way Manny was treated or even because he just wants out. Very pricey but interestingly enough Papi doesn't have a no trade clause and would reap huge benefits for sox. As a cub fan I was tempted to make it Murton and eric patterson for Big Papi but even i have limits to the amount of crap I can spew

I could actually see the Red Sox accepting a hypothetical offer consisting of two players the Cubs no longer possess, especially for Big Papi.

I don't know, why don't A's just try to sign Manny if they really seek power rather than giving up prospects...

effin Cubs fans always have to get their two cents in.

1quik6- Ellis injured greatly increases his chances at accepting arbitration, which is a stopgap 2B for the A's.

The thing about the OF is that if three outfielders pan out well, the A's could always trade Cust and DH the FA, if it were to be necessary.