Athletics News

A's have plenty of trade and free-agent options
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October 5
Contra Costa Times
 columnist Marty Lurie
"As the playoffs unfold it is a good time to look at the type of player it takes to be successful over the course of the 162 game-season.A good starting point is to recall the players the A's have had on the roster as they made the playoffs five times since 2000. The A's have built championship teams before and are trying to do so again.The club has featured pitchers such as Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Jason Isringhausen, Billy Koch, Keith Foulke (in his prime) and Cory Lidle. On the offensive side, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez and Jermaine Dye have all been in the playoffs as an Athletic.Names we hear about in today's playoffs include ..."
Giants may have bright future; A's? Hard to tell
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October 5
Contra Costa Times
 columnist Rick Hurd
"IT HAS BEEN a week since the misery ended. General managers Billy Beane and Brian Sabean have delivered their state-of-the-sorrow addresses. So, only one thing left to ask as we survey Bay Area baseball in 2008. Which team had a more successful season? All right, maybe that doesn't seem all that intriguing. A combined total of 147 wins doesn't exactly set the table for ball talk, especially when the desired finish line is a cumulative 32½ games away. But lost summers go down like tobacco juice, and we here in NorCal have had to stomach two in a row. Not since 1984 and '85 have two successive non-strike-shortened seasons played out like these past two, and only if 2009 doesn't turn into a ..."
Duchscherer's hip cleaned out, he's good to go for next season
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October 2
San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Justin Duchscherer's right hip problem at the end of the season was the result of loose cartilage, which was cleaned out in an arthroscopic procedure, the A's All-Star right-hander said Wednesday. "Now I know I'll be ready to go during spring training," he said. The recovery time is two months, according to Duchscherer, and he expects he will not miss any time next spring. He's currently on crutches, but he said he'll be walking in less than a week. Duchscherer had had microfracture surgery on the same hip in July 2007, and he said he was concerned that the labrum in the hip had torn, which would have been a longer rehabilitation process. Instead, fragments of cartilage were impeding his ..."
Beane won't mortgage future for quick A's fix
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September 30
Contra Costa Times
 
"Never one to map out his intentions in concrete detail, A's general manager Billy Beane played things close to the vest in his end-of-the-season media briefing Monday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. He did offer some insight that should please most A's fans, saying the primary goal over the winter will be beefing up the offense. That's likely to come via free agency, as he indicated earlier this month. "I think we're in a position now financially "... where we can consider adding some guys," he said Monday. Another of his views, the A's faithful may not find so appealing. On the heels of his team's 75-86 record in the first season of a massive rebuilding, Beane stressed that continued ..."
A's Notebook
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September 30
San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Mark Ellis' recent shoulder surgery could result in the second baseman's return to Oakland. Ellis said Monday that he is concerned that the Sept. 19 arthroscopic procedure, which cleaned up damaged cartilage and fixed a pre-existing labrum tear, might lessen his value on the free-agent market and limit him to one-year offers. "It's just such an unknown," Ellis said by phone from Scottsdale, Ariz. So if the A's present Ellis with a multiyear deal when the sides resume contract talks, there's a strong chance that will do the trick. In addition, Ellis also mentioned how well A's general manager Billy Beane has treated him over the years, another factor that could sway Ellis. Ellis always ..."
A's Look Ahead
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September 30
San Francisco Chronicle
 
"This winter won't have the intrigue of last offseason, when the A's had the choice of trying to win with what they had or going in for an overhaul. They elected to revamp in December, continued with the out-with-the-old theme during the season - and those efforts will continue until the club is back on track. One day after his team's season ended, Oakland general manager Billy Beane emphasized that the rebuilding process is typically not quick. "Our goal is to improve every year, and sometimes you improve by a lot and sometimes by a little," Beane said at the Coliseum on Monday. "I'm not going to make a marketing statement to make everyone feel better. Realistically, to do it right in our ..."
Devine (0.59 ERA) snaps Eck's record
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September 29
Contra Costa Times
 
"Joey Devine got himself into a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the eighth inning of Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Then Luis Valbuena flied out to end the threat, and Devine ended his season with yet another scoreless inning. Over the season's final two months, Devine was about as good as a pitcher could be. He didn't allow an earned run in 24 outings after being activated from the disabled list Aug. 2. His season ERA of 0.59 was the lowest in major league history for a pitcher with a minimum of 40 innings. Opponents hit .150 against him this season, second-lowest in Oakland history to Jim Roland's .134 mark in 1970. But because he missed two months to injury, his ..."
A's close season with loss to Mariners
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September 29
Contra Costa Times
 
"The A's packed their belongings Sunday and began scattering about, some players returning to Oakland on the team charter and others hopping a plane and heading straight home for the offseason. In their final game, they fell short of manager Bob Geren's wish for the victory that would have given them a better record than 2007. A 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field left the A's 75-86, and how one views that final mark is open to interpretation. But considering last winter's trades of four veterans, the team's surprisingly strong start to the season, two more trades in July and the second-half fade that followed, 11 games under .500 sounds about right for the 2008 A's. And though ..."