Jay Jaffe reviews The Rebels of Oakland, an HBO documentary. I haven’t seen it yet, it’s a must-see for me. I grew up on those Oakland teams of the 70’s. Unfortunately, I don’t get HBO, so I guess I’ll have to ask a friend to tape it for me next time it’s on.

Jay then proceeds to compare and contrast Charlie Finley with George Steinbrenner:

The difference, in a nutshell, is that Finley was a man who knew baseball talent himself; he served as his own GM and oversaw the development of that homegrown talent. But he was a miser who refused to reward his players for their successes on the field, and his breach of Catfish Hunter’s contract ushered in a new era of upwardly spiraling salaries. At the other end was Steinbrenner, unflinchingly willing to pay top dollar for talent, but lacking — to this day, some would say — any real understanding of how to evaluate it.

30 years later, the Yankees still have Steinbrenner, and the A’s still pinch pennies while expertly evaluating baseball talent with the smallest of staffs. The more things change…

I often wonder how Finley managed to find all that talent. Was he just lucky? He certainly didn’t have much of a staff supporting him. On the other hand, he did make his fortune selling insurance. The insurance business is all about risk management, understanding how to beat the odds in the long run. Could Finley have been a closet sabermetrician?

…and the robots who eat them.

The Sneeze is definitely going onto the next version of the Periodic Table. Unless, of course, I get crushed by a giant falling donut before I can get around to updating it.

I’d like to uphold Jon Weisman’s pledge to avoid making rash judgements about spring training stats. But when your team starts out 0-4 after a massive winter overhaul, it’s hard to keep the negative thoughts from creeping in.

It’s been a while since the A’s were a really bad team, so I started imagining what it would be like if they start out 0-4 during the regular season, and display the kind of pitching they showed yesterday in their 17-4 loss to the Angels. What if none of the rookies are ready? Could be a long year…

Well, thank goodness for Rich Harden. He went three shutout innings today, and a host of relievers followed him with shutout innings of their own, as the A’s won, 5-0.

Ahhhh, now that’s more like it.

It’s a win, and now all those doubts can go back into their winter burrows until the regular season calls them back out. Meanwhile, I have a month’s worth of spring training optimism to enjoy.

It’s been weeks since I last made a post.
Did you think that I gave up the ghost?
It’s just hard to find time
To make up a rhyme
While fixing to go make some toast.

Chad Bradford’s bad back will require surgery. The A’s said they don’t expect him back until July.

This may be good news for Rule 5 pick Tyler Johnson. He’s less likely now to get squeezed out in a numbers game and being returned to St. Louis.

With a good spring, Johnson just might stick around now.