White Sox add Swisher

The White Sox have added switch-hitting Nick Swisher to the lineup as the always rebuilding Oakland A's prepare to rebuild yet again.

I think it's a pretty strange quote from Oakland GM Billy Beane that was used in the San Francisco Chronicle article on the subject of team building:

"The best chance for long-term success is to have pitching you've developed and have a chance to hold onto," Beane said. "Personally, this (move) was very difficult, but as we said with Dan Haren, we need as many good young players as we can get, so we can be good for a long time."

With the addition of prospects in this deal and six more players by moving Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks, the A's have made a pretty clear signal that they're not planning to contend this season.

I can't think of a worse fan base to be a part of than Oakland's, which seems destined to hit the ceiling with a solid C-plus to B-minus ballclub every few years. Then, the team is blown up as young stars are starting to come into their own and the whole process begins again.

One of the head-scratchers in recent MLB history was the star power that was amassed in Montreal and then allowed to leave, even before the league was set to sell off the team. It's beyond me how the Moneyball A's are allowed to continue along this course without the fan base throwing up their hands and walking away from the franchise.

Sure, they've taken to covering the upper deck of the stadium to make it appear less empty, but there's still people at the games for the most part.

At what point does the team stand pat and try to make an extended run? I know much of the Moneyball philosophy is predicated on turning huge profits on manufactured statistics (like saves) but with players constantly leaving Oakland, the whole process seems self-defeating.

While the point had been made that the process was a result of a small payroll, there has to be some point where the front office is confident in their lineup and decides to open the purse strings a bit to hold the team together for a few seasons at least.

Off the top of my head, Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Barry Zito have all left town, which reminds me of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 90s, when they lost their fan base.

In the meantime, the White Sox pick up a versatile outfielder who can hit for average and from both sides of the plate. He reminds me a bit of another South Side favorite, Aaron Rowland, from what I've seen from him so far.

Say what you will about the Cubs, but at least they make it look like they're trying.

(Image from the Associated Press)

Catching up

No one told me that the All-Star Break wasn't a full week.

To bring Siberian Baseball back up to speed, here's a nice catch all post to put the train back on the tracks.

* Jason Kendall is the newest North Sider and many Cub fans who have seen games since 2003 are wondering why.

Phil Rogers wrote a short piece asking Cub fans to just trust the scouts on this one - which is pretty funny when you consider he's coming over from the Moneyball A's, which preach numbers over scouts' hunches - but you can't ignore declining numbers for a catcher.

From that story:

Kendall, acquired by the Cubs on Monday night from Oakland, has a great pedigree, impressive career numbers and more name recognition than Koyie Hill, Rob Bowen and Geovany Soto. But he also has a .226 batting average, a .261 on-base percentage and a 20 percent ratio throwing out base stealers.

OK, Phil, I'm with you - but only because the "Old catcher! Old catcher!" song was being sung for Pudge Rodriguez before his resurgence in Detroit.

* It's official, the Phillies are the, say it with me: Worst. Team. Ever.

The Cardinals beat the Phils for loss number 10,000 on Sunday night. Ouch.

But cheer up Cub fans:

Next on the losing list: the Braves, with 9,681 defeats. It took them stints in three cities (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) to reach that total. Not even those lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs, come close at 9,425.

* And finally, Scott Boras is causing a problem in Boston, questioning Daisuke Matsuzaka's pitch counts.

We all are, Boras. We all are.

I'll be back to get this thing moving in earnest soon, but as I mentioned at the mothership, it's a hectic week for me.

Keep your fingers crossed - if something good happens tonight, it'll be sooner versus later. Plus, there's always the embarrassing pre-season picks report card still to cover.

It'll go a long way to explaining why I have no future in the Vegas sportsbooks.

(Image from MLB.com)

News out West

Barry Zito to the Giants?

Hmm, didn't see that one coming. Too bad there's not much left on that team at first blush.

I'll have to stew on this a bit, but I'm surprised at this to say the least. Must really love the Bay, huh?

Week's end wrap up

I was really excited Thursday morning after a big night of moves in the hot stove league. Better yet was Steve Phillips chasing Barry Bonds around like Carl Monday, asking who he was talking to, if he was staying with the Giants and if he was jacking it.

Bonds told him his testicles were too far gone to even consider the last option. Not really, but in the television of my mind it was awesome.

The biggest, but least shocking moves were today, with Andy Pettitte going back to the Bronx and bringing rumors of a return of Roger Clemens with him. Bonds is also returning to San Francisco where he'll be hated the least.

Other big moves:

Jason Schmidt - Dodgers - Headed to the Dodgers, the biggest free agent arm (tied with Barry Zito this year) undercuts the Giants and helps Los Angeles which has a much better rotation on paper now (Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Schmidt, Randy Wolf and any number of arms looking to take over the five spot.)

Being able to beef up your team while draining a division rival is a nice bonus, but these moves put the Dodgers as the early favorites in the NL West next year.

To his credit, Drew has defended himself a bit to the media, but given that it's Boston, this could get ugly in a big way. We'll see what happens, but this could be a train wreck right out of the gates.

Seriously, you can't trust LA, but who else is going to step up? In other words, business as usual in the NL West.

JD Drew and Julio Lugo - Red Sox - Here's what worries me. Five words in 20 years: The Curse of Johnny Damon. Expect JD Drew to get a lot of face time with Joe Buck's kid and AJ Pierzinski if this becomes a story line of my future nightmares.

Bad attitude and injury prone? Where do I sign?

To his credit, he's defended himself to a point, but it's still Boston and it's not out of the realm of possibility that this could be a train wreck out of the gates.

As much as I'm skeptical of Drew, I like the Lugo signing.

Not as much as I'd like Damon and Orlando Cabrera, but still...

(The best part of the Cabrera Era was screaming, "Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" every night.

Ted Lilly - Cubs - Please, oh please can we get at least a half-powered Bronson Arroyo factor here?

He was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA in 32 games for the Blue Jays last season.

I can't lie, I was awake after I turned off the TV the other night asking over and again if Ted Lilly was worth $10 million per year. My gut reaction is no.

Hope it's worth hospitalizing a GM over, but this deal isn't as exciting as it should have been. Yes, Cubs front office, we get it, you're trying to win now. There's still no need to try and spend 15 years worth of surplus cash in one mediocre off-season for talent.

Mike Piazza - A's - It's about time, huh? Maybe they'll give him Frank Thomas' old locker.

Freddy Garcia - Phillies - I'm with Frankie on this one who sent me an e-mail when this signing was confirmed. In an off-season where Lilly gets $10 million per, the White Sox give away a very, very durable pitcher for peanuts?

I thought this would be a move to bring Aaron Rowland back, but was surprised when he was left out east.

Still waiting to get word back on whether or not Kenny Williams is still a genius. That said, I'm getting a Billy Beane vibe off Willaims still where no matter how ridiculous the signing or free agent drop is, you can't help but wonder what he's up to.

This is a direct turn around from the Williams we were given in Moneyball where he was emasculated and painted as too dumb to grasp the finer points of a simple multi-player swap.

More from Frankie on this subject can be found here.

Joe Borowski - Indians - This guy keeps finding work and he always seemed like a good enough guy, but I can't help but wonder how he keeps signing contracts.

He's never very good, but never very bad, either. I think this is indicative of the season Cleveland can expect next year.

Gil Meche - Royals - Good for you, Royals!

Aren't they cute everyone? Yes, they are! Yes, they are!

Cute little ballclub you got there, KC...

For more of the same, jump over to ESPN.com where Jayson Stark has a similar breakdown, but with, you know... facts and stuff.

Haven't we been over this before?

Mike Piazza is on the market again and it looks like his agency (I wonder if it's still the Beverly Hills group) might get it right this time.

As I pleaded last spring (and in between taking pot shots at his representation on the sister site - bonus points for being the very first baseball post at either site).

While aging pitchers now flock to the NL for the Bronson Arroyo treatment (I know he's not old, but his was the biggest turn-around last season from a simple league switch) sluggers will continue to take DH jobs to tack a few years onto their careers.

Why this hasn't happened with Piazza yet is well beyond me. Now, looking to fill the gap left by Frank Thomas' departure to Canada, it sounds like they're the front-runners to sign Piazza this off-season.

Please, oh please, do not let this man continue to catch. Granted, the Padres were more than happy to bump Doug Mirabelli out of the top slot in Spring Training in favor of an everyday catcher in Piazza, but let's hope Jason Kendall will stick around to keep his starting spot.

Just for old times' sake:

I thought the whole damned point was to get him a slot in the AL where he can DH and and catch every few days to spell the everyday catcher...There are only a handful of AL teams that don't have a great DH and a deep enough catching bench. In an era where Sammy and Corey are shopped in back-to-back years, Kevin Millar signs for a million plus for one year, Furcal breaks the bank (I could go on and on here) Mike Fucking Piazza isn't enough of a draw (if not so much a bat anymore and I contend that his numbers will get better when he's not squatting on Jake Taylor's knees) to maybe check in with the Beverly Hills Sports Council? Or maybe they can't make a few calls?

Yeah, that was me. I'm going to stand by that.

The prom queens of the NL: Your New York Mets!

Think back two years to the winter that Carlos Beltran was on the market.

He'd had a monster postseason in 2004, taking the Astros down to the wire against St. Louis and after wasting away in Kansas City, he'd suddenly exploded onto the national scene.

It's not overstating things to say that Beltran was the hot property in that year's free agent class. Teams came and went on the rumor mill columns, with the big bank teams leading the charge.

Would he take the Yankee money? Would he stay in Houston? The man could write his own ticket at that point and most people - myself included - saw the Mets buzzing around and immediately wrote them off.

Two years later, they not only picked up Beltran, but Pedro Martinez, Billy Wagner and a handful of other guys to take them to October this year.

Where is all of this going?

This evening, the Rumor Mill promo on ESPN.com has a Barry Zito to the Mets headline. Doesn't seem so strange anymore, does it?

* The Cubs have reportedly signed Mark DeRosa for $13 million over three years and fills a hole at second. While we're on the subject, he can play pretty much anywhere around the infield, with time at second, third and short, which is always a good thing for anyone who read at least two injury reports from the Friendly Confines last year.

According to MLB.com:

DeRosa, 31, is coming off a career year in which he set highs in batting average (.296), doubles (40), home runs (13), RBIs (74) and games (135).

I always get nervous about guys coming off career years, but as we're fond of saying at Wrigley, "He can't be worse than the last guy, right? Who was the last guy, again?"

* The Red Sox have "won" the right to work out a deal with Daisuke Matsuzaka for paltry $51.5 to $40 million dollars.

For the right to negotiate with Scott Boras.

At least $50 million.

That's not the contract, or anything... I hope the Boston brass gets a free "I fucked the Yankees" t-shirt or something.

That's great and I'm pretty excited overall, but I'm still stung over the NL Rookie of the Year announcement. I thought Moneyball was supposed to make the cost of running a successful team cheaper.

* And finally, the Oakland A's are eyeing a new home where they won't have to fork over funding for a tarp to cover half he seats every season and Cisco Systems is happy to slap their name on the new front door.

Two things:

First, they have plans for a spa at the park - I have no idea what to do with this information, but I'm pretty sure my sperm count just dropped.

Second, they better play The Thong Song before every home game, or the terrorists win.

(Photo from: Photofile.com)

Hater nation - your team sucks

October baseball jumps off tomorrow at noon at the Metrodome, but my song here has been the same: It's hard to dislike the Twins, but you need pitching to make it anywhere in the playoffs.

This isn't an opinion, it's a simple fact.

Go back a few years and look at what these teams have in common: 2005 White Sox, 2004 Red Sox, 2003 Marlins, 2002 Angels, 2001 Diamondbacks and the 2000, 1999 and 1998 Yankees. Just off the top of your head, most fans can pick out the top guys in those rotations years later.

There's a reason for that.

Fast forward to this morning's drive time here in the Twin Cities where speculation is reaching a boil that the fourth starter will be Silva, Garza or Perkins. Four games out and no one is quite sure who the starter will be.

Actually, the rotation of Santana, Bonser, Radke and Who Knows is the biggest hole in the Twins' post-season hopes.

Not to leave anyone out:

New York Yankees: The odds-on favorites to win it all, the Yankees have been dinged up and Rivera will only be used one inning per day (if that) according to this weekend's stories. Luckily for the Yankees, they'll keep playing long enough this year to make use of the payroll after they were rocked by injuries all season.

Still, when Chien-Ming Wang is your top gun it means things might get sticky... or that you completely disrespect the Tigers. Randy Johnson's back is an issue and the Tigers could go either way here after their top-shelf choke job to end the season.

Speaking of choke jobs, the Yankees are only two years removed from the biggest choke in post-season history... sorry, just had to get that in there. Yes, I know the Red Sox are on vacation this week. It was a cheap shot and I'd take it again...

Detroit Tigers: While we're on the subject, what the hell happened this weekend? My money says Leyland needed a smoke break and wasn't thinking clearly... all weekend. Just a theory, though.

You stumble down the stretch, lose three of three to the Royals... How is this a good thing for a team in the playoffs?

Young players, tired arms and a misplayed rotation (starting Bonderman and spelling him with Rogers?) put them behind the eight-ball against the Yankees. It's never a good idea to spot the Yankees any sort of advantage.

Trust me on this.

Oakland A's: Not even Philly could stand this team - that's saying something...

Also, the Moneyball A's never win in the post-season. Remember the Jeter play where he cut off the throw on the first baseline? That was against the A's.

Remember when the Red Sox had their backs against the wall in the 2003 ALDS? A's again. If they couldn't win with Jason Giambi, what chance do they have with the Big Hurt?

The National League: Go back to the list of World Series winners - the cream of the NL crop was the Fish and the D-backs...

The Cardinals faded down the stretch, the two teams from the West played in a joke of a division (moreso than the basement of the Central), lest you forget the Padres almost earned a berth with a sub-.500 team last year - need I go on?

Finally the Mets ran to a quick lead and are without Pedro for October. May I reference the Cards of the past few seasons? It's enough to make you sick...

Of course, I could also make a less-fun list of why you should feel good about your team, but where the challenge in that?

As a programming note, I'll be at the Dome tomorrow for Santana's start and plan on dropping some knowledge if I get time in the evening. If not, look for something Thursday.