Decent outing in Toyko :

6IP
95 pitches
3 hits
1 earned
3 walks
9 k's

I don't care. Based on where I got him in my draft, he could be eaten by godzilla tomorrow and it would've been worth it.

decent? thats a monster line.

Have him in 3 of my 4 leagues, this is of no surprise to me. Oakland admitted in reports to rushing him back from injury previously in an attempt at contention. They know they won't be in contention this year and let him come along at his own pace. He won't pitch 200 IP's, but I believe I can get 150 out of him and given how well those 150 IP's will be he will severely outproduce his draft position.

Exactly, I got him pretty late so I guess I should be happy with anything he does.

How so? With the Angels staff falling apart, anyone can win that piss-poor division.

O/U 1 month

how late did you guys get him? i was hoping to get him late, though he may go a little earlier after this game.

i gambled on getting him at 250 and he got taken at 245 in my draft.

good luck getting him cheap drafting after today. he just mowed down the red sox. he could very well go from being vastly underrated to vastly overrated overnight (or over "morning" rather).
and although i don't play in them, i assume in H2H leagues, guys like harden and manny will be taken pretty early by someone just to get a jump on the 1st week.

very true. late drafts are a mixed blessing....

Awesome today.

I didn't pay too high a pick for him, I have no problem rolling the dice. When healthy, he is Cy Young material.

I would be huge if he got 150 innings since I got him extremely late in the one league I have him.

Pick 244

Very questionable staff, iffy bullpen outside of Street, lineup that will struggle to score runs. I don't see any way this team wins 80 games. They won't be awful, but they won't be good either. Oakland's looking at 09 and more likely 010 contention, given their youth they could be a force soon. They just need to deal Street at the deadline.

Pick 192, 199, and 209. The league I missed him in he was snatched up at pick 212, I was waiting for him at 217.

surely you're kidding

I put Oakland in the top half of runs scored in the AL this year.

If the last days games showed anything it's that Oakland players can get on base, but when they get there base running blunders and stranded runners are going to be far too frequent of an occurence. Over the course of the season this is something that could (and hopefully) will be improved upon but for now I believe it is a work in process.

blah blah blah

Oakland has a lot of young hitting talent. Scoring runs won't be a problem.

I picked Harden up at #256 in my draft this past Sunday, and I expect him to be the steal of the draft.

I was looking forward to taking him late in my draft this coming weekend, but now it looks like he might go much earlier.

BOS, NY, TB, TOR, CHI, CLE, DET, LA, SEA, TEX will all have a better offense this year.

You really don't expect the Emil Brown blunder to happen all year, do you?

If that's any more than a one-time occurrence, expect those players to be benched. Not happening. You learn from those mistakes.

Let's say you're right. You project them to win 80 games this year.

I expect 88 will be enough to be in contention for this awful division. Given standard variance, add on Beane's ability to put together a good second-half run, add in the fact that youth gets experience, and you're saying there's no chance the A's contend?

Yes, I'm a homer, and yes, I'll admit it's a longshot, but no chance is pretty strong.

Are we willing to put some cash behind this assertion?

With who? Jack Cust?

I don't think the A's are in the top half, but I fully expect Seattle to have the worst offense in the AL this year, and possibly 2nd worst in the majors.

They're brutal.

Jack Cust is the only offensive threat that Oakland has... you're right. I don't know what I was thinking.

really? maybe youre right, im having trouble coming up with names other than ichiro and sexon...

Young players make base running mistakes more than vets, Oakland is full of young players. Emil Brown will make more mistakes and others will too.

I feel 80 wins is their upside, I'm expecting something closer to the low 70's. If they want a shot at contending Blanton has to pitch more effectively, harden has to pitch 160+ innings, Duchscherer's transition to the rotation must be a successful one, Gio needs to come up sooner rather than later and at least be average, the bullpen needs to pitch better but the starters have to eat more innings, and the lineup has to finish in the top half of the AL in runs scored (I have them around 10th neck and neck with KC). All that and the M's and Halos need to not live up to expectations. I'd say saying they're a longshot is even a reach.

C- Suzuki - young catcher
1B- Barton - good OBP, no power in minors
2B- Ellis- average 2B
3B- Chavez corpse - hasnt been good in yrs
SS- Crosbys crippled body - probably wont get 400 ABs
LF- Brown- KC castoff
CF- Gonzalez/Denorfia - VERY young and who?
RF- Buck - average prospect
DH- Cust - platoon player?

Yeah thats a real exciting lineup. Im sure theyll put up top AL #s considering the band box they play in.

Meanwhile M's:

C- Johjima- solid C
1B- Sexson- K machine
2B- Lopez- AS 2 yrs ago
3B- Beltre- wrist injury could sap him of power but still solid hitter
SS- Betancourt- more of a gloveman
LF- Ibanez- VERY underrated cleanup hitter
CF- Ichiro- stud
RF- Wilkerson- hasnt been good in years
DH- Vidros corpse- ugh

They both suck

I still like the Angels diminished staff more than the A's and the Angels lineup destroys the As at every position. Meanwhile the Ms have a phenomenal staff and deep bullpen. Their lineup is about on par with Oakland's. Texas pitching staff is worse than all but they have a solid lineup. I think A's have no chance to compete and really disagree that its a piss poor division. I think there 2 solid playoff contendors and 2 piss poor teams.

the M's are nuts not to bring in barry lamar bonds.
that offense desparately needs some pop .
other AL contenders have DH's like ortiz, hafner, thome, sheffield, and vlad (sometimes). are they really going to roll out vidro again?

He went 201 in my 14 teamer(round 15).

Too early for my blood, but I hope he finds a way to stay healthy.

Leave it to a yankee fan to provide this insight.

Unless a lot of guys outproduce their expectations, I'm not seeing a really good lineup there. I like Barton and think Buck will be ok, maybe Cust as well...but it's really a weak grouping, imo.

that lineup is garbage. I'm a pretty fair baseball fan, and I looked at that lineup on opening day and said Who the F is that to 2 or 3 spots in the lineup.

I grabbed him at 160 in a 10-teamer

Leave it to a Red Sox fan to say the A's have a top half AL offense just cuz they scored 9 runs in a 2 game set against the haloed Sox pitching staff.

who the hell is between 201 and 241 that are getting picked ahead of him?

Gil Meche?

LEAVE IT TO BOSTON AND NEW YORK FANS TO MAKE THIS ABOUT THEM

LOL. Ain't that the truth.

Seriously, we need to remember that Haloed Pitching staff that Oakland was facing excluded Beckett and Schilling.

They should just pitch him twice a month...hopefully he can give his owners 100 solid innings this year...

The word you're looking for is "hallowed".

Why is the Seattle offense considered so terrible? They went from Jose Guillen to Brad Wilkerson, which is an obvious downgrade, but aside from that they lost nothing from a lineup that was 7th in the AL in runs (4.9) and tied for 2nd in team batting average (.287, tied with Detroit and trailed only the Yankees .290).

Their home stadium also obviously holds down offense, as they were 3rd in the AL in road scoring. And despite Richie Sexson being on the team, they struck out fewer than any AL team but the Twins. And if Sexson rebounds even a little bit towards previous levels, that should make up for the drop-off from Guillen to Wilkerson.

I'm not saying they'll be elite, but I'm having a tough time seeing how they're anywhere near as bad as the A's or the other dregs of the league.

too much love for Ichiro and too little for Vidro.

Ichiro is leaving Stud status, and while Vidro isn't a slugger, he's a guy who gets on base and will knock in those in front of him. I don't get why people are all over him, he had a decent year last year.

Vidro isn't a prototypical DH and doesn't provide any fantasy production in HR and SBs. But he's a professional who will be able to hit the ball as long as he's able to stand. He still has 2B eligibility. There are definitely worse choices as a late round MI in deeper leagues.

It's not a sexy lineup by any stretch of the imagination. They play station to station offense but as Michael Brown pointed out, they were productive last year. But it's not the sign of a juggernaut when they have worries about replacing Jose Guillen.

6 ks 4 hits and 0 runs through 5.

Not bad

Pitched out of a huge jam in the 1st.. a lot of pitches in 5 innings though.

I'm still pissed that CBS didn't count his first start, WTF.

If he's on your team your commissioner can manually ad the points. Ours did.

Entirely up to ytour commish. It's not the fault of CBS

This is just a public league, I don't know anyone else in the league. Any ideas?