2006 A's Spring Training Thread

[A'sDiehard]

I don't have cable. I don't watch much TV. I'll order MLB.tv to watch the A's games. NESN is garbage though...it's owned by the Red Sox I'm pretty sure and it's all Red Sox biased to the Nth degree.

NESN is very biased. As for TV, I mostly watch sports or History, Dicovery and Discovery Times, National Geographic and the Military Channel. I also get a lot of the movie channels (HBO etc) and sometimes there's something good on there. I don't watch any sitcoms, reality tv etc.

[Providence A's]

I only get NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, and a very fuzzy UPN. I have it on as background noise sometimes, but I don't have any shows I watch religiously or anything.

[Fishercat]

The actual announced games (like the Red Sox) really aren't that bad in terms of bias. But otherwise (like the sports shows), yeah, they are bad. Nothing like FSN New England, now that's biased.

[Providence A's]

Here is another nice little blurb from the mailbag about Javier Herrera:

Have any of the youngsters in camp caught your eye?
-- Jerry T., Pittsburg, Calif.

Yes. His name is Javier Herrera, and he's the kind of guy you have a hard time taking your eyes off of. This kid has one of the best outfield arms I've seen in a long time, so whenever the A's are doing defensive work, I make sure to grab a seat and watch him throw bullets all over the diamond. He hasn't gotten a lot of at-bats in big-league camp and probably won't with the current glut of outfielders, but he's a legitimate five-tool player, and the organization thinks very highly of him.

2 years from now baby! I can't wait...when Kotsay's deal is up this guy will step in and be our CF of the future.

[Providence A's]

Oh yea, A's lost to the Cubs today and Haren got smacked around again...actually the pitching in general sucked as we lost 12 - 3. I couldn't find a box score so I don't know who else got hit hard.

Link

It also mentions that Harden is getting back on track after his illness and Thomas is hitting again.

[Providence A's]

A's lost to the White Sox today 8 - 5. Gaudin gave up 3 runs and Mac Suzuki gave up 4. Ginter had a 2 run double. meh...ST is teh dulls.

[Providence A's]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/athletics/ci_3577009

PHOENIX — Still a few more hurdles exist for each, but Frank Thomas and Rich Harden took significant steps Monday toward being ready for the start of the season.

Thomas swung at full power in the batting cage, his first time swinging since July, and reported no pain afterward.

About an hour later, Harden pitched three innings in a simulated game on a back field at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Harden has had no setbacks from off-season surgery on his non-throwing shoulder, but his endurance is off a little after he got food poisoning last week.

"You always try to take a positive out of every day in spring training," A's manager Ken Macha said, after the A's lost, 12-3, to the Cubs. "We took a pretty good beating, but we had some very positive things."

No radar gun was present, but Harden doesn't appear to have lost anyzip on his fastball. Pitching coach Curt Young called the outing "outstanding" with a "very crisp fastball and very good changeup."

Harden will make his Cactus League debut Friday in Surprise, pitch another simulated game on the team's March 15 day off, and is on track to start the second game of the season against the Yankees.

"The thought of not making that start has never crossed my mind," Harden said.

good news

[Providence A's]

Link

A's lost to the Rangers 10 - 3. Chavez homered and Kennedy pitched hitless relief.

[Providence A's]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PGK6HKF5C1.DTL

Ginter, 29, was insurance for the A's last year in case Mark Ellis' shoulder wasn't 100 percent, but Ginter wasn't needed and he wasn't able to get on track with a small number of at-bats. He was presented with an interesting dilemma after the season: Take his $1.06 million guaranteed contract and play at Triple-A, or opt for free agency and take his chances in another organization in which he might have a shot at a big-league job.

"I would think (general manager Billy Beane) doesn't want to pay someone $1 million to play at Triple-A, but my wife and I talked for about two days about it and we couldn't leave that money on the table," said Ginter, who hit a two-run double in the fourth Tuesday. "I have to provide for my family. The way I view it, it puts pressure on them -- if they don't want to pay me $1 million, maybe they can pick up part of it and move me somewhere else."

With a good spring, maybe that will happen, but if not, Ginter said, getting a full season of at-bats at Sacramento might be the best thing for him after such limited action in 2005. He assumes he then would be non-tendered, and can sign elsewhere.

Hopefully, he'll do well in ST and we can trade him and get a decent prospect. One possibility could be Florida since they just released Reese.

[A's Baby Girl]

Woo, the forum is back. Lookin good too. And Spring Training is here. Screw the WBC, I can't wait for the real season to start.

[A'sDiehard]

The whole food poisoning thing really sucks for Harden. I remember when the Chargers cornerback Sammy Davis worked all offseason to add mass and was in great shape. Then he got sick and lost most of it and that season was rough for him. I know it's difficult to compare baseball to football but this really worries me with Harden. Hopefully he can get some of that weight back.

[Providence A's]

it was only 2 days...I'm pretty sure most of that would be water weight. I don't think he'll have too much of a problem getting most of the back. I don't think you'd lose 8 pounds of muscle from 2 days of throwing up or shitting your brains out.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

A story about Barton. He'll be starting at AAA this year.

[A'sDiehard]

shitting your brains out.

Been there.

[Providence A's]

I liken what happened to Harden to the Hollywood 48 hour diet (lose 10 pounds in 2 days). It's all water weight...you pee and crap out 8 - 10 pounds. Getting ill from food poisoning isn't going to cause you to lose muscle mass. You lose muscle mass from not using the muscles after a long period of time and such.