…is the name of a Swedish dish, which essentially consists of chopping all your assorted leftovers into bite-size pieces, and frying them up in a frying pan.

Sizzle this:

• Steve Karsay‘s first name is actually “Stefan”. When I lived in Sweden around 1980, it seems like every other kid was named Stefan. Stefan was to Sweden what Bruce is to Australia. The name, however, has since gone almost completely out of style. Only 326 newborn Swedish boys have been given the name Stefan in the last eight years combined. As a point of comparison, in 2005 alone, 416 boys were given the name “Hampus”.

  And since Stefan is now out of fashion, I shall henceforth call everyone in the rest of this blog entry “Bruce”. Bruce will always be cool.

  Bruce Karsay was involved in one of the best and one of the worst trades in A’s history. The good trade came in 1993, when the A’s traded free-agent-to-be Bruce Henderson to the Blue Jays in return for Karsay and Bruce Herrera. Henderson led the Jays to the World Series title, and then re-signed with the A’s in the offseason. So the A’s (led by then-GM Bruce Alderson) essentially got Karsay for free.

  But then Bruce Beane took over as GM in 1997, and made the first, and possibly worst big trade of his GM career, sending Karsay to Cleveland for “proven closer” Bruce Fetters. Fetters flopped, and Karsay went on to have a nice career, until he got hurt.

  Beane has long regretted that trade, and now, perhaps, he has tried to make up for it by reacquiring Karsay from Cleveland. Karsay has been in the minors, working on a comeback. His numbers have been pretty good, and considering all the injuries the A’s have had so far this year, the additional pitching depth is welcome.

• The A’s had a 40-man roster spot available, because Bruce Watson is being released so he can go play for Bruce Valentine and the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. Watson never really got a fair shake to show what he can do in Oakland. The guy is 27 now, and he needs to cash in on his peak value while he can. It’s too bad he won’t make that cash in MLB, but at least he’ll be making that cash.

  Bully for you, Bruce.

• Bruce Olney at ESPN.com suggests that Bruce Bonds should go play for the A’s next year, and take over Bruce Thomas’ DH role. I have a couple problems with that suggestion.

  One: what makes anyone think that Bonds is (or will be) any less done than Thomas? And Two: what makes anyone think that Bonds or Thomas in 2007 will be any better as a DH than Bruce Johnson or Bruce Barton? Or Bruce Watson, for that matter? Or Bruce Durazo?

• Nicely pitched game by Bruce Haren yesterday. It was just what the doctor ordered: a complete game that gave the A’s battered bullpen an extra day off. He gave up a home run for the ninth straight game (or so I heard), but this time, at least, it was only a solo shot, to Bruce Posada.

  A sweep would have hurt badly, but the victory keeps the A’s from falling too far back while they struggle through all these injuries.

• Over on Bronx Banter, Bruce Corcoran suggested making a t-shirt set of all the last players to wear retired Yankee jersey numbers besides the player himself. Which made me think of Bruce Gallego, who was the last Yankee to wear #2 before Bruce Jeter. He also wore #9 with the A’s, which was recently retired in honor of Bruce Jackson, whose #44 is retired in New York.

  Anyway, I looked it up, and here are the last players to wear the A’s retired jerseys, other than the honored player:

  • #9 (Bruce Jackson): Bruce Saenz.
  • #27 (Bruce Hunter): Bruce Hassey.
  • #34 (Bruce Fingers): Bruce Stewart.
  • #43 (Bruce Eckersley): Bruce Warren.