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Archive for February, 2012
It's amazing how small the Raiders initially reported $11 million excess of the salary cap seems now that reports have come out with that number doubled to $22 million over the cap.Now is the time for new GM Reggie McKenzie to do what he was hired to do, which is to get very creative in finding ways to shed $22 million from the 2012 payroll.When making these decisions, there are a few ways to trim the payroll: restructure contracts and release players.  We've already seen Stanford Routt released and I'm sure we can expect more. Here are my candidates to ...
Speaking of former performance-enhancing drug users and the Oakland Athletics... No, not Manny Ramirez, the recently signed designated hitter. No, not Jose Canseco, who lobbied earlier this offseason for A’s general manager Billy Beane to give him a call. The latest desperate housed-baseball-player to want into the Oakland clubhouse is former Athletic Miguel Tejada, according to ESPN.com. Tejada, the 2002 American League MVP while with the A’s, is looking for a job after being released by the cross-Bay San Francisco Giants last offseason. “Tell Billy to give me a call,” said Tejada. “I don’t want big money. I just want ...
Football season is over, the NBA is going Linsane and hockey is doing its thing. Meanwhile, baseball is ready waiting in the on-deck circle. Pitchers, catchers and position players have arrived to their respective camps in Arizona and Florida by now. Spring training is always an exciting time of the year, a symbol of blossoming new growth where anything and anybody can get a fresh start to their baseball careers. No team exudes the essence of springtime more than the Oakland Athletics, a franchise that has almost completely re-harvested its roster over the past few months. Out with last year’s ...
With yesterday's report (from PFT's Mike Florio) that the Oakland Raiders need to cut more than $22 million in contracts before March 13, full-scale panic has broken out. The same report stated that the Raiders may have to dump "more than a few" of their top 51 players to get under the cap. The Raiders danced around the cap last season by paying Michael Huff, Carson Palmer and Kamerion Wimbley with peanuts in comparison to this year's cap figure. Those three alone are set to make roughly $34 million in 2012. Of course, the healthy contracts of Seymour, McFadden and ...
The Oakland Raiders are entering a new era and it's an era where the 40-yard-dash time doesn't automatically qualify or disqualify a prospect from being drafted by the team.Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen will usher in the new era and changes must be made to get the Raiders under the salary cap and improve the defense.  Speed Not EmphasizedReggie McKenzie reportedly chuckled at the notion that the Raiders would draft the fastest player in the 40-yard dash.Al Davis believed the best athletes made the best football players, it was just a matter of coaching the players to be great. McKenzie will ...
"Thank God, I already made my money. I'm here, like I said, because I love the game, I love to compete. It doesn't matter how much money you make. If you love the game, it doesn't matter. What you want is a chance to prove to people that you still can do it. So for me, it was not about the money, I could have gone someplace else."  - Manny Ramirez, 2011Ramirez made that statement shortly after signing with the Tampa Bay Rays last offseason. This year, after arriving at Oakland A's camp last week, Ramirez said, "I'm happy I ...
What an exciting few days, don't you agree?  I may be alone here, but the combine is one of my favorite events of the NFL season.  There's so many things that can happen, you never know what's going on.  First-round talent players do terrible, a la Vontaze Burfict.  Other players blow the roof off of Lucas Oil Stadium and eventually find themselves on my draft wish list.I don't know how many of you got a chance to see the combine, but one of the guys that impressed me was Marvin Jones.  Now, there were a lot of other players that ...
A quick glance at the A's depth chart will tell you all you need to know about the impact Scott Sizemore's season ending ACL injury will have on this season. The A's were hoping Sizemore would build on the promising work he put in learning the position, after the A's acquired him in a trade last season and converted him from a second baseman. They were so high on him, in fact, that they did not pursue any available third basemen this offseason, a position they have spent the last few off seasons chasing top talent. What is the result ...
One of the main focuses for the Oakland Raiders this offseason is the fine-tuning of a defensive unit that ranked 29th in the NFL in both total yards allowed and points allowed. The team was equally vulnerable to the run and the pass, ranking 27th in the league in defending both categories. With so much blame to spread around the defensive side of the ball, it’s a bit hard for the coaching staff to pinpoint one area that needs special attention. Looking at last year’s film would give the 39-year-old rookie head coach Dennis Allen a bout of heartburn. The ...
Hearing complaints that the movie  "Moneyball" wasn't exactly the way things went down is becoming nauseating. I get it—the movie didn't talk about the "Big Three" (Hudson, Zito and Mulder) and Miguel Tejada, the league MVP in 2002, was basically breezed over. Former A's Gold Glove award winner Eric Chavez recently complained that the movie didn't tell the entire story. Chavez was more or less left out of the whole book and movie equation as well.Baseball fans already know about the contributions made by Billy Beane's stable of pitchers, and they are well aware of the parts that Chavez and Tejada ...