Yipes! The Witasick deal is for after all.
Still, if you include the option buyout, the deal is $1.5 $1.375 million a year for two years. I’m still not crazy about guaranteeing two years, but that price ain’t too bad.
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Speaking of guaranteeing two years, remember the two-year deal the A’s gave Mike Holtz in 2002? Two years, $1.8 million. The dude lasted two months, then got cut.
Relievers are like that. They can be unhittable one year, and awful the next. The Dodgers traded Guillermo Mota in 2004 because they had Yhency Brazoban in the wings. 2005: they both sucked.
And then there are these two words: Arthur Rhodes.
So I’m gunshy about relievers. So here’s really hoping the A’s don’t offer two years to Ricardo Rincon. Rincon will turn 36 next year. He looks like could fall off the proverbial career cliff any time now. I’d be very surprised if he has two good years left. One year, maybe, but I think he’s approaching the end of the line.
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Speaking of done, the A’s declined the option on Scott Hatteberg. Good move. Not sure what took so long. Were they really considering keeping him? Hatteberg is a likeable guy, but he is of no use to the A’s anymore. Johnson has the 1B job, and Swisher can back him up there. There are plenty of other players who can put up better numbers as the team DH. Hatteberg can still put up a fightin’ AB, but there’s no jump off his bat anymore. The best use for him might be to sit on some National League bench somewhere and be a pinch-hit specialist. But with all the stathead GMs losing their jobs lately, who’s gonna hire him?
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Speaking of hiring, the A’s have hired a new hitting coach: Gerald Perry. The impressive part of his resume is that he was the Mariners’ hitting coach during their peak offensive years from 2000-2002.
The last three years, however, he’s been the hitting coach in Pittsburgh, where he’s had some hitters, like Brian Giles, Jason Bay, and (most importantly) Jason Kendall have success under him, but the talentless team as a whole has struggled to score runs.
Which goes to show two things, if nothing else:
- A hitting coach is only as good as his hitters, and
- Gerald Perry is at least capable of fulfilling a batting coach’s Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.
Perry may not do miracles, but at least he probably won’t screw anybody up. If he can do anything beyond that, it’s gravy.
Perry has some fight in him. He got into a scuffle with Dave Duncan before a game back in August. That’s OK with me. Baseball ain’t hockey, but you still like to see someone in your dugout who’s got your back, and is willing to do some enforcing. That seemed to be missing this year in Oakland without the likes of Tejada and Hudson.
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Speaking of coaches in dugouts, the A’s did some shuffling. Rene Lachemann is now the first base coach, Brad Fischer is now the bullpen coach, and Bob Geren is now the bench coach. Why, I don’t know, but when Ken Macha demands something, by golly, Ken Macha gets it every time. Or something like that…
1. Actually, the Witasick deal is a quarter-mil less than you think - the fifth paragraph of your linked article points out that it's $1M for 2006, $1.5 for 2007, then 0.25M or more for 2008. It still does seem a bit high for Witasick.
BTW, great blog, been reading you for a while - any thoughts on DePo? I realize it's wishful and unreasoned thinking, but I'd like him back here (on the Dodger dime mostly). Feels like Beane has been asleep on the job, of late - just a bit.
At any rate, the DePo firing looks good for the A's (and Giants) - Beane's in good position to take the new "true Dodger way" GM for all he's worth.
2. Don't forget's macha's martial arts background. If a playoff tie-breaker ever comes down to a steel-cage tag-team match of two coaches from each team, my money's now on the a's.
3. Yeah, I probably double-counted the 2008 option buyout.
As for DePo's firing, on the whole, it's really bad news for the A's. Not that having DePo in Oakland would be bad, but he's much more valuable to the A's in L.A., building a long-term winner there.
Like it or not, the A's and Dodgers are allies, as they have the same enemy: the Angels. The more the Dodgers are run by incompetence, the more the Angels become the darlings of Southern California, and the more money the Angels will have to outspend the AL West.
4. As it stands, the Angels are set to get a TV deal with similar numbers to those of the Dodgers, which will about triple their TV revenues. Whether they use it wisely is a subject of some debate.
Good contracts: Byrd, Vlad, Escobar.
Mediocre: Cabrera, Anderson (but his value goes down if he doesn't start hitting consistently in 2006), Erstad
Lousy: Finley, Shane Halter (2003 benchwarmer who got too many AB's, representative of his failing to pay enough attention to the bench that offseason)
That's just off the top of my head. You can add to the list of good things Stoneman's done with the things he hasn't done:
• Let Scott Spiezio walk after 2003.
• Let franchise hero Percival and oft-injured Glaus walk after 2004.
• (Probably) will let Washburn, Salmon, and Bengie Molina walk after 2005.
Personally, I think the Manny-or-Konerko-to-the-Angels noise has as much chance of becoming reality as my getting a date with, say, Eva Longoria. Where the money seems to be getting spent -- and to some benefit so far -- is on the farm, and they're not getting sucker-punched by the likes of Boras, either.
5. Other good things he's done (lately):
· Sign Paul Byrd for one year, now has a chance to do it again
· Getting Rivera and Izturaz for Guellin who had to go
· For those of us who watch Cabrera every night, watch him make two, three or more plays that Eckstien cld never have either gotten to or thrown out if he did, I think its a fine signing (Brandon Wood wont be a SS in the majors), Three or four years of Cabrera will make the Angel pitching staff very, very happy.
· Colon works fine w/ me.
On the bad side:
· It hurts to watch Jenks and Turnbow saving games in other uniforms.
· Estaban Yan?????