My kids’ latest running gag is to go around singing Christmas songs, but replacing the word “Christmas” with the word “fish stick”.

“I’m dreaming of a white fish stick…” “On the first day of fish sticks, my true love gave to me…” “Have a holly jolly fish stick…” “Fish stick is coming, the goose is getting fat…”

So is it any wonder that the first thought that passed into my head upon reading this story from Ken Rosenthal was this:

“…although it’s been said many times, many ways: Mike Piazza to you.”

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I’m happy about singing signing Piazza. He won’t quite be Frank Thomas, but he’s a good fit. A healthy year from Chavez and Crosby might make up for the difference between Thomas and Piazza. I have hope.

On the other hand, I’m not so sure I like signing Alan Embree and moving Joe Kennedy to the rotation. Kennedy was fabulous out of the pen last year, but I’ve never seen him do anything but struggle as a starter. I’d rather keep him in a role where he had success.

Plus, I saw enough Alan Embree here in the Bay Area as a Giant to know how flaky he can be. Like Jay Witasick, he can be good at times, and at other times he can get so out of sync that you want to send him to single-A to learn how to pitch again. I don’t need that kind of frustration, thank you.

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And while I’m peddling in rumors: can we please have an A’s trade rumor that doesn’t involve the Mets? C’mon! There are 28 other teams! This same old stuff is getting really boring. I don’t care if it’s real or not. If nothing else, just make something up. I’m begging you.

The Mets seem to be the frontrunner in landing Barry Zito. This is bad news for the A’s.

It’s bad news because the Mets also signed Moises Alou, who was one of only two players (Andy Pettitte is the other) ranked higher than Zito (according to Scout.com) in the free agent rankings. This means that if Zito signs with the Mets, the A’s would only get the Mets’ second-round pick, not their first round pick. The Giants will get the Mets’ first-rounder.

To increase the A’s odds of getting a first round pick from Zito, we have to root for Tom Glavine to stay with the Mets, which would make the Mets less interested in spending money on Zito. Then we can root for Zito to sign with someone like San Diego, which would put Zito in the other league, and net the A’s the 23rd pick in the draft.

Zito recently met with the Texas Rangers. I wouldn’t really want to see Zito in the AL West, but the Rangers have the 16th pick, which is the highest possible pick the A’s could get for Zito. So at least there’s that.

Update: Glavine re-signed with the Mets, but according to Ken Rosenthal, the Mets are still going to go after Zito. Boo.