Comments on: Oakland Athletics 2009 Team Preview

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:49:22 +0000

No way the A’s can afford to leave Cust out of the lineup. He’s been their best offensive player two years running, and his team-leading walks will be even more valuable with someone like Cabrera behind him.

If they don’t DH him, they’ll put him in the OF and put up with his awful defense.

The J.C. giveth, and he taketh away…. but he always giveths a little bit more! Haha!

By: pdaddy

pdaddy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:22:24 +0000

I agree, their starting rotation will be wildly inconsistent putting much stress on the bullpen. But, they’ll probably score some runs until they trade Matt Holliday in July.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:07:12 +0000

Jim, I second sexy Lou’s emotion. You could be writing with Messrs. Neyer and Law.

By: Lou

Lou — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:45:19 +0000

Jim, keep up the good work. I’m sure you aren’t being paid enough. Any Sox blog would be lucky to have you.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:41:25 +0000

Thanks for chiming in Lou, you’re more familiar with these guys than I am.

Yeah, I can see them competing. I’m not really impressed with Anaheim, and Texas & Seattle aren’t ready yet. Even with my bearish view of their rotation, they’re the 2nd best AL West team on paper. If a couple of those guys break through, they could win the division.

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:01:30 +0000

Jimbo,

I think that this year’s A’s will be a pleasant surprise. Injuries killed their hot start last year, and they have lots of youth that will be better served with one more year of experience.

As far as the Cust/Giambi/Buck/Barton 1B/RF/DH carousel is concerned, I’m thinking that Travis Buck or Jack Cust will be the odd man out. Giambi is going to end up at DH because his glove is so god-forsaken horrible. Hopefully Barton had the appropriate surgery to remove his head from his ass because, if he doesn’t hit early and often, he’ll be sent down quickly. Cust is almost as bad in RF as Giambi is at 1B, but he provides the thump that the lineup needs. He’s essentially a younger Giambi. And the most unfortunate thing about the whole situation is that all of these guys bat left-handed, killing the chance for platoon.

Anyway, for the first time in a few years, I’m holding out hope that the A’s can really challenge, wire to wire, for the division because the Angels certainly have not gotten better.