2011 A's Regular Season Random Thoughts / News

[realmofotalk]

Apparently, Barton has had a torn labrum in his left shoulder since the beginning of the season and needs surgery. He should be ready for ST. That explains a lot about his struggles and lack of power this season.

Yeah, if it weren't for the torn labrum he might have matched last year's beastly total of 10 home runs in over 550 at-bats.

[Providence A's]

I never said homers. He's not ever going to be homerun hitter. His slugging was down from .405 to .267...the lowest it's ever been.

[realmofotalk]

A .405 slugging mark is in the neighborhood of James Loney, dude.

[Providence A's]

I'll take that over .267 any day of the week. His OPS was just shy of .800. The way the A's have hit, I'd take that, too.

[love_that_reefer]

The Indians claimed Harden but could not work out a deal. That's twice the A's have not dealt Harden. They must think too highly of him.

[Providence A's]

Or they were offered shit. Boston offered a fallen spec as Lars Anderson peaked a few years ago. I'm glad we got Brandon Allen from AZ instead. The A's don't have to move payroll so there's no reason to move players just for the sake of moving players. The Indians shot their load on Ubaldo. They probably don't want to move any decent specs.

[love_that_reefer]

Harden isn't worth decent prospects. That's my point entirely!

[Kingdom]

Even if he wasn't injury prone, I'd be worried about the inconsistency. He owns Toronto and the Angels, but that's about it. He's too much of a risk for someone to give up anything decent. Oakland just needs to keep him as a continued re-reclamation project, resign him and Willingham. Both want to return, right? Eh. With Braden and Anderson recovering, it wouldn't hurt to have Harden around as an emergency fill in.

If he's.. healthy at that point.

[Trendy Bastard]

It's kind of sad what's happened to Harden. The guy has shown complete dominance in the past. He's really fun to watch. When he's on top of his game of course.

[Providence A's]

Harden isn't worth decent prospects. That's my point entirely!

Then there's no point in moving him for shit

[Providence A's]

Even if he wasn't injury prone, I'd be worried about the inconsistency. He owns Toronto and the Angels, but that's about it. He's too much of a risk for someone to give up anything decent. Oakland just needs to keep him as a continued re-reclamation project, resign him and Willingham. Both want to return, right? Eh. With Braden and Anderson recovering, it wouldn't hurt to have Harden around as an emergency fill in.

If he's.. healthy at that point.

Yep, just resign both of them.

Harden beat the Yankees and Arizona. He's having a decent year since being activated from the DL. His WHIP is 1.23 (less hits than innings pitched) and has more k's than innings pitched (60 in 53 innings) to go along with an ERA under 4. I'll take it.

[love_that_reefer]

Then there's no point in moving him for shit

You can get organizational depth or a diamond in the rough plus some salary relief and then just re-sign him in the offseason.

[Providence A's]

They don't need salary relief. His salary was only $1.5 mil for the season. He's only owed a few hundred k at this point. I'm sure there are plenty of "organizational depth" players out there in the FA pool.

[Providence A's]

Oh, fuck you Red Sox. I'm going to the game on Friday and it was Gio Gonzalez vs. Jon Lester. Now it's says Wakefield is pitching. Boo!

[love_that_reefer]

Any salary relief is good for the A's! I'm well aware what he made this year but still no reason to just hang onto him when they can easily sign him next year. There isn't a lot of organizational depth out there unless you are talking about the minor league fee agents which I doubt you were.

Save some money-get some players-sign him in the offseason. All better than...nothing.