A's Chatter: Ellis, Giambi

The market undervalues defense. Billy Beane values what the market undervalues, thus signs players for bargain prices. Hmm..this seems very much like a book I read.

Obviously, the A's would heavily benefit from Bonds in their lineup. One of the few players, if not the only, the A's should allow Cust to roam LF again for.

I wouldn't sign Giambi. There has been talk of Chavez having to shift to 1B/DH, which would cause a logjam at those positions and/or Cust in LF (which is not a good thing). Giambi isn't that great at this stage in his career to do such a thing. Much rather trade for a 3B/SS.

I want to know more about Chavez's recovery, and the inevitable news that he will be returning as a 1B/DH

scribbletone- you want Juan Rivera yet you already listed 4 OF and Cust at DH?

The one thing Oakland doesnt need is more OFers.

How about trading Huston Street for Troy Glaus? That's killing 2 birds with 1 stone, filling the 3B hole and getting the power bat Beane promised he'd get to protect Cust.

Sorry Athletic D,

I'm with soxfan, that would be a horrible deal, Glaus is WAY past his prime. I would like the Giambi signing, but that would essentialy make Barton a back-up, because I think Giambi really wants to play first. And Cust as all A's fans know runs the 40 yard dash in about 40 seconds. Joking. But he's better fit for DH. So Giambi at first, and Cust DHing, Barton would mearly be a fill in guy.

As for the left side of the infield problem I think that the A's could bait Street and maybe a lower level prospect, like that guy Spencer who we got from the phils to a team like the padres for either Chase Headley or Kevin Kous. Both would work in my book. And the jettison crosby and chavez. I love 'um both but neither or them can figure out how to stay healthy and hit the ball in the same season.

depth for depth trade

cards needs a 2b, eric patterson is stuck w/ ellis resigned and cardenas/weeks behind him. patterson speed and versatility better used in nl

cards have glaus + freese/craig/wallace at 3b

patterson for freese seems like a fair deal

Glaus sucks? The guy posted the 7th best OPS for 3B in all of baseball last year. He was virtually a statistical tie with Evan Longoria in OPS.

The downside to Glaus is obviously his contract and defense. His value is tempered because of the financial commitment a team has to make ($11.25m for 09). That said, he is far from a chump and would be a huge upgrade for several teams with aspirations of contending. I don't see the Cards moving him though.

As for Street he had a very poor season. Out of 25 save opportunities he blew 7 of them. That's not good. Year before he blew 5 out of 21. Year before that (2006) 11 out of 48. Folks, 75% conversion rate is awful. He is below average as a closer.

I like Street a lot but he should not be closing games. Nor should he be paid like one. Some team will make a very poor decision to trade for a closer and end up with a good set-up man instead.

"With Chavez' injuries and little in terms of third base prospects, I wouldn't be surprised to see Adrian Cardenas get some time over there now that Ellis is locked up (likely until Jemile Weeks will be ready.)"

I think the position the A's are planning for Cardenas is SS. He's playing it in the AFL. Locking up Ellis could be seen as an endorsement of Cardenas at SS, to an extent.

3B would also be a good idea for Cardenas, as you said. Depends on what happens this offseason in terms of trades, and whether there is a trade for either another prospect(s) at one of 3B/SS.

Personally, I'd like to see Oakland go after Ian Stewart over there in Colorado. I know they're trying to move Garrett Atkins to make room for him, but if Oakland offered up the right deal(which they could, thanks to their absurd amount of young talented pitching prospects), they could could the cost-effective and productive third baseman they need.

I support getting Ian Stewart here, but it probably wont happen. It would be like another team trying to get CarGo from us.

*young starters

**for a top notch set up man, he is market value.

"Which is why it is best not to deal Street alone, but to package him with a pitching prospect(s) (i.e. Vin Mazarro, James Simmons, etc.) to net a nice 3B/SS prospect. Use that depth to fill holes. Just don't move Anderson or Cahill."

The main issue is that there are so few available shortstop prospects that in order to land one you need to give up massive value. Off the top of your head, who would the A's go after? Andrus? Triunfel? Lowrie? Escobar?

Nearly every top shortstop prospect that is actually going to stay at short will be untouchable because there are so few elite shortstop prospects high up in the minors. Most top SS prospects end up moving off of short by the time they are closing in on the majors.

But the concept of packaging Street with other players is definitely something I like, because I think the A's will be fairly disappointed by what the offers are for Street. If they are willing to include a guy like Simmons or Mazzaro though, I think that package would hold a pretty good deal of value.

I think it's true that Braden is a #5 type at best, but I think Smith will have a better career and in his prime could become a solid #3-4 type pitcher. For not having dominating "stuff", the guy knows how to get batters out. And, i've seem him dial it up to 90-91 when he has to. He's never gonna be a front end guy, but he's good enough to become a solid middle of the rotation guy. I also think Eveland has the stuff to become a solid #3 type. It's just a matter of him gettin ahold of the mental part of his game, because the potential is there. It wouldn't suprise me to see Beane move one of these guys in the offseason in a package, or for 1-2 position prospects. Cahill and Anderson will both be knocking on the door before A's fans know it.