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A’s Acquire Jack Cust

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The A’s have been busy lately with minor moves; today they picked up stathead favorite Jack Cust.  DH is the easiest position to fill, which is why Bill Bavasi’s Jose Vidro acquisition was so baffling.  Why pay your DH anything if Cust is freely available?

Cust returns to the A’s; he played for their Triple A club in ’05.  He’s a walk machine – he actually drew 143 of ’em last year.  They call him a Quad-A player, but he’s never really gotten a shot.  Why can’t he become Kevin Youkilis for the league minimum?  Cust has absolutely destroyed the ball in the minors so far this year.  He can definitely help the A’s at DH while they’re short-staffed.

A’s Acquire Snelling For Langerhans

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According to Baseball Digest Daily, the A’s have acquired Chris Snelling from the Nationals for the just-received Ryan Langerhans.  I hope neither guy bought a condo.

Pretty interesting swap between Billy Beane and Jim Bowden.  Snelling, aka Doyle (his middle name) in U.S.S. Mariner world, was a cult favorite for many Mariners fans.  His inclusion in the Jose Vidro deal this winter was met with great disdain.  Oddly, Langerhans shows up as his fifth most comparable player according to Baseball Prospectus. 

Langerhans is a little older, and has done a better job staying healthy.  Both players can handle multiple outfield positions (well, not at once) and know how to draw a walk. They’ve got eerily similar PECOTA projections, so maybe it was just a matter of each GM preferring to bet on the other guy’s outfielder.  I think the best case scenario is that one of these guys develops into Jeromy Burnitz.

Check out Chris Needham’s take on the trade over at Capitol Punishment.

A’s Not Discussing Harden?

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Both Buster Olney and Tim Brown have written about Rich Harden trade possibilities in recent days.  It seemed odd that talks would be going on with such an uncertain player, however.  Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle throws water on the fire, with a team source indicating to her that the A’s are not having trade talks involving Harden.

But usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire.  I would think Billy Beane has had Harden’s name come up in a conversation or two; perhaps back in early April when he was flashing his ace stuff with three quality starts.

It’ll be fun if Billy Beane throws a fire sale this summer (well, not for A’s fans).  It might be hard to get anything near full value for Harden, even though he’s the one with star potential.  Dan Haren, on the other hand…he could challenge for Cy Youngs as a Met. 

A’s Shop Harden To Red Sox

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Yahoo’s Tim Brown has a source indicating that Billy Beane has called the Red Sox to see if they’d be interested in oft-injured flamethrower Rich Harden.  Brown also knew some teams Beane didn’t call about Harden: the D’Backs, Dodgers, and Devil Rays.  He speculates that buzzing Boston could be an attempt to lure the Yankees.

Boston’s strength is it’s starting pitching, so it seems an odd area to upgrade.  Most likely this was just Billy and Theo BSing and it somehow turned into a trade rumor.  But can you imagine the Red Sox rotation on paper?

Matsuzaka
Beckett
Schilling
Harden
Wakefield

Then in ’08, the Red Sox could let Schilling walk and plug Lester in, without losing much.  Of course, a healthy Harden is like some sort of mirage.  Seeing Harden on a Major League mound is as rare as seeing me at the office past 4:52.  (What?  I have a 5:09 train I like to catch).

We could throw around a bunch of Red Sox prospect names in speculation, but why?  Nothing’s getting done until Harden strings together five healthy starts.

Brown says Oakland could go for a full-blown fire sale if they’re out of contention in July.  Future free agents Mike Piazza, Milton Bradley, Jason Kendall, and Joe Kennedy would be prime tradin’ chips.

A’s Acquire Ryan Langerhans

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According to Baseball Digest Daily, the A’s acquired outfielder Ryan Langerhans from the Braves for a player to be named later or cash considerations.  Given the recent trade for Chris Denorfia, the A’s will have decent outfield depth in 2008.  Perhaps this means they won’t be re-signing Milton Bradley.

Langerhans, 27, was off to a 2 for 41 start this year.  The trade should leave Matt Diaz and Craig Wilson with some extra playing time for Atlanta.  It could also make Scott Thorman a full-timer. 

Langerhans posted an excellent 13.7% walk rate last year, but he’s still well below average offensively for a left fielder.  His defense is his main asset.  The Indians had expressed interest in Langerhans in the past.

A’s Acquire Chris Denorfia

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According to Reds beat writer John Fay, the Athletics have acquired 26 year-old outfielder Chris Denorfia from the Reds for two players to be named later and cash. Denorfia is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery.

One might think 25 year-old Rule 5 power reliever Jared Burton would be involved in the deal, but that is not the case.  Fay asked Wayne Krivsky specifically about that.  Just playing matchmaker, but maybe one of the two players is starter Brad Halsey?  He certainly wants out, and he’s had moderate success in the NL before.  Fay also mentioned that the A’s have been interested in Denorfia since spring training and that another trade might be in the cards.

As for Denorfia, he doesn’t have any real weaknesses, but no overwhelming strengths either.  (According to Baseball America).  He could play center field for the A’s next year, or serve as a fine fourth outfielder.  The results have been there – Denorfia hit .349/.409/.484 in Triple A last year.  That translates to above average offense for a CF in the Majors.

Trading Rich Harden

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Rich Harden’s name first popped up in trade rumors in December.  John Delcos spoke with Mets GM Omar Minaya and indicated that the A’s starter was surprisingly available, perhaps for a package of Lastings Milledge, Aaron Heilman, and Philip Humber.  Ken Rosenthal later indicated that it was Dan Haren the Mets really wanted.  A confusing situation all around.

Buster Olney brought the rumor back to life today in his blog with some informed speculation.  He thinks that if Harden could stay healthy for a month or two, there could be a huge market for him at the deadline.  He’s locked up at a reasonable price through 2009.

Olney speculates that the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, or the big money teams could make a play.  One source Olney spoke to liked the Devil Rays as a suitor.  Personally I think Kazmir/Harden would be a lot better on paper than in reality, much like Prior/Wood.  I have to admit that putting Elijah Dukes and Milton Bradley on the same team could be cool.  Sidenote: Dukes seems like a changed man.  He sounds like a normal guy now, hanging out and eating Red Lobster with his family. 

Acquiring Harden in exchange for top tier talent would certainly be a risky move for a GM.  One GM not afraid to take risks: Kenny Williams.  The White Sox have a great medical staff, too.

Brad Halsey Wants Out

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In case you missed it, A’s pitcher Brad Halsey was less than amused when the team chose to go with Dallas Braden for Tuesday’s start.  Halsey believed that the A’s found out about his scheduled MRI, which would have come after the start.  He felt that the team chose not to promote him because they don’t want to pay him Major League DL money if he starts Tuesday and turns up injured shortly thereafter. 

Additionally, Halsey is probably still annoyed about receiving a $1,000 fine in ’04 for throwing a high and tight one to Dave Roberts, nearly inciting a Red Sox-Yankees brawl.  He should at least get to plunk the guy on the back if it’s going to cost him a grand.

Don’t we have to consider the possibility that Billy Beane just wanted to see a screwball live?  I know that would factor into my decision.  Dallas Braden doesn’t throw hard, but rather relies on deception and the old scroogie.  Let’s just hope his arm doesn’t snap off throwing that thing.

Halsey is a hittable, low strikeout southpaw with four unexceptional pitches.  He was last traded for a pretty decent pitcher in Juan Cruz. Because of his fifth-starter type success with the D’Backs in ’05, I imagine Beane can find an NL suitor.  I guess his new team is going to have to administer the MRI.

Halsey’s complaint may speak to a bigger issue regarding the A’s medical care. Check out the Athletics Nation take on that here.

A Little Help: A’s

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More rumors, news, and analysis is always a good thing.  Today I’m looking for someone to represent the Oakland Athletics.

What am I looking for in this person?

  • Solid writing skills and a style that fits with MLBTradeRumors.  Basically, I’ll know it when I see it.  I’m looking for the same type of analysis you see here every day.
  • Someone who can post up-to-the-minute A’s rumors as they surface.  I want a person who follows the team religiously and will have every source (traditional newspapers, high quality blogs, radio) covered.  It would make sense to have all the pertinent websites on an RSS reader.  You should be near a computer most times and able to hop on and write a post if something happens.  You’ll also have the freedom to track down and link to interesting articles and posts from around the Internet.
  • While this person is an A’s fan, objective analysis is preferred.  Additionally it would be nice to provide the local vibe/sentiment that people might otherwise not know about.  That might sound contradictory but I don’t think it is.  I should add that we do a little more than just report the news here at MLBTR – you’ll need to provide a little insight along with the rumors.
  • The benefit to you: a decent-sized audience and a chance to do a little sportswriting.  It could be a nice resume-builder and I would be happy to serve as a reference for you.  And I will give you some insight on how I do what I do, for what that’s worth.
  • Build your audience: within reason, you can link to your own blog or website and gain some new readers.
  • Email me at mlbtraderumors@gmail.com if this interests you and explain why you’re the best candidate.  I’ll choose one person and unfortunately won’t be able to reply to all.  A sample post of a rumor/signing (whether fake or true) might help make your case.  Note: long-winded posts are not my style! Brevity is a plus – I like 3-4 paragraph posts.

NOTE: Please don’t contact me about doing this for other teams.  I just want an A’s person at the moment.

A’s Interest in Kim Wanes

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The Rockies have been shopping Byung-Hyun Kim with little success and earlier in the week, it’s likely that the Oakland A’s can be crossed off the list of possible trade partners.  Oakland had been hoping to solidify the fifth starter’s slot and Joe Kennedy turned in a nice performance on Tuesday.

Kennedy struck out 9 and allowed only one walk and four hits in five innings.  Despite the strong performance however, Kennedy’s ERA for the spring stands at 14.11, so don’t be surprised if the A’s feel the need to start browsing the pitching aisles again.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".

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