The A's have managed to sign their remaining 3 arbitration eligible players: Huston Street, Joe Blanton and Chad Gaudin. Each received 1 year contracts indicating their long-term prospects with the A's are still up in the air.
On the flip side to me this indicates that the A's have at least SOME hope for the upcoming season. I say this because clearly these 3 were not sold off, but were not signed on for extended contracts either. With these 3 1-year deals the A's have poised themselves to reevaluate the team for 2009 and see how soon their farm system will produce Major League caliber players.
Here's a 48 min clip from the A's Fan-Fest 2008 where fans got to ask Billy Beane, David Forst and Bob Geren.
**End**Edit**
As predicted - another veteran Athletic has been sent packing. This time Center Fielder Mark Kotsay:
Again, in return the A's receive a pair of young guys, RHP Joey Divine and RHP Jamie Richmond.
The interesting thing about this trade is that the A's picked up $5.325 million of Kotsay's remaining $7 million contract (including a $325,000 relocation bonus in the event of a trade). This further supports my previous theory that the A's aren't looking to save money as much as they are looking to get quality young talent on the baseball field and build for the future.
"Any time you're willing to pay a portion of the salary, it's because you like what you're getting back," A's assistant GM David Forst said in a conference call.
I like this move more than any other during this offseason.
Kotsay had some parting words for us A's fans in the wake of the trade news, I quote him here and echo his sentiment for the upcoming season:
"I wouldn't give up hope if I was an A's fan," he said. "Billy's a competitor. He's always going to want to win, and I don't think going toward a younger team right now changes that. So I don't think Lew's wrong at all (to think that the A's will be competitive in 2008). He believes in Billy, and so should A's fans."
"The possibility of being competitive is there. Obviously they'll need some things to go their way, but Billy knows what he's doing. I think A's fans would be crazy to jump ship, to be honest. I really do."
Though I've done so here - future moves by the A's during this offseason will be added as an edit to this post rather than adding a new post.
3 comments:
I am not much of a baseball fan but all that I am - I'm A's all the way.
I would like Dana and I to take in a game with you guys sometime. Our fav's our PM exhibitions. Let us know and we can set it up.
As an aside - I make spectacular catches too!
Ahh yes, but do you sometimes where sunglasses?!
We would love to go to a game with you guys! I can't imagine a more fun time than sitting next to Dom for 3 hours while he commentates about the goings of a baseball stadium!
Rob, I came here to read about your family. And I get A's stuff.
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