Jack from San Francisco writes:

Let me be the first to start the Trade-Matt-Holliday-Before-It’s-Too-Late group.  How long will the A’s front office wait until they dump off Holliday to another team that thinks he will be of benefit to them? In 66 ABs this year, Holliday has only 16 hits (.242 BA) 4 Runs, only 5 extra base hits and 0 HRs!!! These may be encouraging numbers for someone like Travis Buck or Rajai Davis but this is the 2007 runner up NL MVP.  He is not in any way living up to his hype and it proves that hitting in Coors Field drastically inflated his numbers. Did Billy Beane even look at his career home/away splits? Career numbers in Coors Field are as follows… 84 HRs, 210 Extra Base Hits, 314 RBI, .354 BA, and 1.057 OPS. Very good numbers, right?!? Now check out his away numbers… 44 HRs, 134 Extra Base Hits, 180 RBI, .280 BA, and .798 OPS!

Despite this drastic lack of production thus far with the A’s I’m actually willing to forgive this…

Here is something I’m not willing to forgive http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/24/SPJ91783PC.DTL

According to the Chronicle this past weekend during the most recent road trip to NY, reporters asked Holliday if he’d like to be a Yankee.  Instead of responding properly by saying something like, “That’s not something I’m thinking about right now, I absolutely respect the Yankees organization and admire their rich history and incredible fan base but right now, I’m only focused on one thing and that is winning games with my current team, the Oakland Athletics.”  But NO that’s not what he said.

Holliday responded, “I think a little bit, you can’t help but to think that if the Yankees are interested I would definitely consider it…I think I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be interested, especially with the Yankees being such a storied franchise.”

Matt Holliday, have a little respect for the organization that pays you millions of dollars to put up mediocre numbers. Have a little respect for your teammates who go out everyday and try to make up for your lack of production. And have a little respect for A’s fans who, despite a recession still pay high ticket prices to support you the rest of the Athletics team.

Matt Holliday, go cash your checks somewhere else, there’s no need for you to be in an A’s uniform. Matt Holliday, go play for the Yankees, That is where you belong; with a team that will overpay for you to play as an individual and not a member of a team.  Oh and don’t forget to tag homeplate on your way out of town.

Jordan from Athleticscast:

This is a very disappointing thing to hear straight from the mouth of Matt Holliday. I was really hoping that he would be a part of this team that may be able to contend for the division title. Unfortunately, this seems like he is mentally not fully committed to being an Oakland Athletic. There is a lot of pride that comes from putting this uniform on as well. While the Yankees are a very storied franchise, there is no excuse for Holliday to be acting this way. If he wants to be a Yankee, he had better start producing. And hopefully that production nets us some good value in the trade market, as well as a few more wins. I have been pushed away from the slight hope that we could some way resign Holliday, and at this point, with that attitude, I would rather the team save the money. Thanks for a great find and good stats Jack!

That’s How I See It…Let’s Go Oakland!!!! 

Hey A’s fans, its Jordan here and I will not be able to bring you a show today due to the fact that I have a bad neck injury and can’t get to a studio. Therefore, I will bring you a blog post for now, and hopefully be able to get an episode with David done on Wednesday. The A’s dropped two of three in Toronto this weekend, which is quite disappointing. They were all very competitive, winnable games, and to come out of there with just one win, is, well…disappointing.

The A’s started thir trip withan exciting 8-5 comeback win over the Jays. After falling behind 5-1, Oakland rallied to come out on top, and draw first blood in the three game set. In thr fourth inning, the A’s came back to tie the game with a four run frame. With one out and the bases juiced, Bobby Crosby tripled to center, clearing the bases and bringing the Athletics within one, at 5-4. Then, it was all tied up after a wild pitch by David Purcey allowed Crosby to score. Oakland then went on top in the 7th, and added some insurance in the 8th to pull of the 8-5 win. In the 7th, Matt Holliday knocked in a run on a double, and was thrown out at third trying to stretch it to a triple. In the top half of the 8th, Oakland plated a pair on a Kurt Suzuki RBI single and an RBI groundout by Ryan Sweeney. Josh Outman struggled again, giving up five runs (three earned) in just four innings of work. The real credit though, needs to go to the A’s bullpen. They pitched five scoreless innings to hold on for the win. Andrew Bailey picked up his second win on the year with two scoreless innings, Michael Wuertz and Santiago Casilla earned holds in their scoreless innings of work and Brad Ziegler picked up his third save of 2009 with a scoreless 9th inning of work.

Oakland fell on Saturday to the Blue Jays in a tough loss in the 12th inning 4-2. Rookie Trevor Cahill pitched well again, as he went five and one third innings, surrendering just a pair of earned runs on five hits, but ended up with a no decision. Jason Giambi opened the scoring early in the first with an RBI groundout. Travis Snider tied it up in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout of his own. Oakland then took a lead for the second time in the top of the 6th when Giambi doubled in Sweeney. Unfortunately, Cahill couldn’t keep the lead, as he gave up a game-tying RBI single by Snider in the bottom of the frame. The A’s bullpen held Toronto scoreless for the next 5 innings, but the Jays broke through in the 12th in walkoff fashion as Lyle Overbay hit a 2-run bomb off Dan Giese to even the series at one game apiece.

Dallas Braden was asked one thing for his start on Sunday in the rubber match against the Jays. Save the bullpen please! The pen was overworked in the last two games, with Outman going just four innings, and a 12 inning marathon on Saturday, so it was important that Braden eat some innings. And that is what he did, as Braden pitched a gem, lasting seven and one third inning, allowing just one run on only five hits. Unfortuantely, he took the hard luck loss in the A’s 1-0 defeat at the hand of the Jays. Rookie lefty Ricky Romero outdid Braden on this day, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just four hits, while striking out six A’s hitters. Oakland threatened in the third when Sweeney doubled to center, and Mark Ellis tried to score all the way from first, but was gunned down at the plate on a relay throw by Aaron Hill. That was as close as the Athletics would come to scoring in this one, and fell 1-0, thanks to ROmero’s great outing and an Overbay RBI single in the second.

Oakland heads now to the new Yankee Stadium in New York for a three game set against the Yankees, which starts on Monday at 4:05 p.m. PT and can be seen on ESPN. The Yankees are coming off of a split with the Cleveland Indians which saw them lose on Saturday, 22-4. The A’s will send Dana Eveland to the hill on Monday night in the Bronx and he will be opposed by Andy Pettite in the A’s first visit to the new Yankee Stadium. On Tuesday, probable pitchers are Brett Anderson and CC Sabathia, and in the finale, the A’s look to send Josh Outman against Joba Chamberlain. This figures to be a tough series for the A’s, as the Yankees have shown they can score a lot of runs with that great lineup. Oakland needs Chavy to start hitting, as he is only hitting .125 early on in 2009. Hopefully the A’s can snag 1-2 games in the Bronx.

That’s How I See It…Let’s Go Oakland!!!

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Warning: There is some Chalk here…

number range=predicted number of wins, *=playoff teams

AL West:

*A’s: 88-92 wins

Angels: 87-90

Rangers: 75-80

Mariners: 50-65

AL Central:

*Tigers: 82-86

Indians:80-84 

Twins: 80-84

Royals:75-81

White Sox:75-81

AL East:

*Red Sox: 95-100

*Yankees:90-97

Rays:88-93

Blue Jays:78-81

Orioles:50-65

AL Wild Card:

*Yankees

Angels

AL MVP: Matt Holliday

AL CY Young: CC Sabathia

NL West:

*D-Backs: 85-92

*Dodgers:85-90

Giants: 81-85

Rockies:70-75

Padres: 40-60

NL Central:

*Cubs: 95-105

Cardinals:80-85

Brewers:80-85

Astros: 70-75

Pirates: 60-70

NL East:

*Mets:87-93

Phillies:85-90

Braves:85-90

Marlins:81-85

Nationals:50-65

NL Wild Card:

*Dodgers

Phillies

Braves

NL MVP: Manny Ramirez

NL Cy Young: Johan Santana

Hey there A’s fans, it’s Jordan here, hope all is well. It was announced earlier today by A’s manager Bob Geren that Justin Duchscherer is recommended to have arthroscopic surgery on his elbow, but that the team has yet to decide whether or not the 2008 All-Star will have the procedure done. If he does, the Associated Press is reporting that The Duke will likely miss at least the first month of the 2009 season. The standard recovery time for a pitcher with this type of surgery is around four to six weeks, but with our training staff, who knows.

This is absolutely devastating news for the A’s, as their rotation is already spread thin on the experience side. Who gets the nod on opening day? Your guess is as good as mine. One thing is for certain, however, that Justin Duchscherer will open the season on the disabled list if he and the A’s are smart. Hopefully the surgery will clean everything out and he can get himself healthy as soon as possible. The worst case scenario as far as I’m concerned is that the A’s decide to have him bypass the procedure and then the injury lingers the whole year, thus rendering The Duke ineffective and damaging his elbow further.

That’s How I See It…Let’s Go Oakland!!!