Not defend Omar and Rios, but aren't they trending upward very strongly lately? I mean if you're going to insist that opening day is the only place we should measure from - that seems kind of arbitrary.

Yes, if one of the guys we traded for comes in and stabs Salvy, it could affect the clubhouse, team morale, and chemistry.

Note, I stress the could part of it.

Beane has been so good at finding Brandon Moss' and Steven Vogt's he got a bit cocky, I think. He's really aggressive with batting splits. For instance, Moose and Hos would basically never start against lefties in the A's organization. Donaldson had monster splits against LHP and Moss had monster splits against RHP. Donaldson is also a great defender. That was a pretty stupid trade, but I think Beane thought he could get 80% out of Lawrie while gaining years of control (Lawrie was a big time prospect a few years back). This was a team that platoon'd Moss and Chris Carter one year because, combined, they make an all-star player. The problem is, rosters are only 25 players deep. So you can't platoon every freaking position.

The A's have also been pretty unlucky this year. They aren't a bad squad. I respect Beane's approach and think he's the most innovative mind in baseball ... but it's not always going to work. You can't always just find shit on the scrap heap and go from there. He's kind of like Bill Belichick in that regard, though. I'd hate being an A's fan because every year it seems like they strut out 15 new guys on their 25 man roster.

The A's tanked because:
1) their offense had overachieved a bit to that point
2) they traded a middle of the order bat
3) moss got hurt and slumped in the second half
4) Donaldson was not as good, either

Basically, they had three legit middle order hitters early, and 1.5 late. The offense collapsed a bit as a result.

Cespedes wasn't even close to their best hitter at the time of that trade. He might have been their 5th best hitter. Maybe 4th. After Moss totally fell of the map due to his hip, he probably would have ended the year as their 3rd best hitter.

Cespedes is basically a slightly better Salvador Perez at the plate. Never walks. Bomb or bust. Swings at everything.

5) All time fluky Wild Card Game that they had in the bag.

I'm done being mad at Omar. He's a guy we need to upgrade offensively, but if he's our #9 hitter, who really cares? It's not the end of the world and his defense is above average.

Rios is a .700+ OPS guy. Maybe more. He no longer needs to be replaced. But come playoff time, we should use Dyson as his late inning defensive replacement and if he is slumping, probably use him as a Dyson's left-handed platoon.

But, but some people on CP tell me Escobar should be hitting 9.
:p

Esky should be hitting 9th when Gordon returns. There is absolutely no reason we should have a guy with a .680 OPS leading off in front of 4 guys with .OPS all over .800 while Gordon is hitting 6th ... you know, right in front of 3 guys with .OPS all below .700. It's dumb.

You lead Gordon off, he gets on base 39% of the time .. is a tremendous base runner ... and then we have Moose, Cain and Hosmer behind him to drive him in.

It's just simple math.

And then you put Esky in the 9 hole because he has an OPS of .680 ... meaning he gets on base a hell of a lot more than Infante ... meaning the 2nd time through Gordon has a better shot of hitting with someone on base.

It's just common sense.

Royals interest in Prado is 'minimal' from Joe Frisaro

Omar isn't the 9 hitter just because he bats there. He's our 6 hitter by PA. Remember: when Omar comes to the plate, he has the same chance of succeeding that Gordon does. It doesn't matter when it happens.

Well duh Royals are going all in for Zobrist

I'll pass on the shit surprise.
I'm fine with just water.

what in the **** are you talking about?

Guthrie is our #2 because of IP and Infante is our #6 because of PA LMAO

you can't be this ****ing stupid, can you?

I bet Infante would have a better chance than Gordon stepping to the plate today.