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Archive for April, 2012
For a moment, it appeared that the A's might pull off a comeback bigger than the New York Yankees' rally in Fenway Park on April 21st. But it was not to be.Even after loading the bases with no outs in the 8th, the A's could not score and would fall to the Red Sox 11-6.Tom Milone took the loss, getting pounded for eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. David Ortiz hit two home runs for the Sox who led 11-1 at one point. Josh Reddick was the offensive star for the A's, ...
New Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie didn't wait long to re-organize his scouting department after the NFL draft, cutting ties with long-time Oakland Raiders employee Jon Kingdon, who has been with the organization for 33 seasons, according to NFL.com.Kingdon most recently served in the role of director of college scouting, and although there has been no official word about how the team will fill his role, the team has been linked to current New York Jets vice president of college scouting Joey Clinkscales, who was a teammate of McKenzie when the two played at the University of Tennessee (via NY ...
This really isn't about about Chad Harbach's 2011 novel, though I highly recommend that book, especially to anyone who's ever attended a D-III college or played baseball. But, on a related tack...The Orioles trailed the Athletics yesterday 2-0 to begin the top of the ninth inning.  Oakland starter Bartolo Colon had shut down the O's for eight innings, collecting four strikeouts through 28 batters faced and 95 pitches thrown. The seven Orioles in Sunday's batting order who had participated in the nine-run shelling of A's starter Tyson Ross on Saturday were, by my count, a combined 6-for-21 (.286) on the day, and nobody had ...
Tommy Milone. You’ve heard of him, right? That unassuming 25-year-old lefty on the Oakland Athletics. The dude with the 3-1 record and 2.00 ERA in four starts this season. Yes. That’s the guy I’m talking about. It’s been a very, very impressive month of April for Milone, who has helped the A’s reach a 3.11 team ERA, good for third in the American League. That certainly was not projected heading into spring training. Not after Oakland traded away four starters from last season’s rotation—Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso.Milone was one of the players received in the ...
What the hell happened to Bartolo Colon? Or maybe more importantly, what the hell is going in the A’s front office? That second question probably isn’t meant the way you think it is, because it’s a positive question. Somebody in the A’s front office—maybe Billy Beane, or David Forst, or some sharp-eyed old scout, who knows—has figured out how to find physically unimpressive veterans and turn them into competent pitchers again. Last season was the great comeback story of Brandon McCarthy, that tall drink of water. The Texas castoff was signed to take the fifth spot in the rotation, and ...
The rookie landscape took on a much different look this weekend, as two of baseball’s top prospects—Bryce Harper and Mike Trout—were recalled from the minor leagues and inserted into their respective team’s outfield. While it’s obviously too early to rule on how they've performed (or their seasonal outlook for that matter), there are a host of other rookies who have performed well in the first month of a season. So, before Major League Baseball announces their rookies of the month for March/April, I thought I’d poll the Prospect Pipeline readers about which player has been the most impressive thus far.After ...
In Major League Baseball, there are two types of winning teams. There are teams that can go out and buy the best talent out there (read: Yankees) and simply overpower any team that dares stand in its way. Then, there are teams that do things more tactfully. There are the teams that find prospects that they like and raise them through the farm system until they develop into a primetime player (still on their minor league contract) and get as much as you can out of that player before he gets bought away by the previous teams.Newsflash: The A's are ...
Those not buying into Oakland Athletics pitcher Tommy Milone's dominance on the mound may claim he's lucky—but his consistency proves it's all talent. You've heard the old saying, "It's better to be lucky than good." In baseball, this saying might hold true on one particular pitch in any given moment. The average Joe might get lucky enough to knock one out of the park once in 100 attempts. The same guy might even get lucky enough to dupe a major league batter into swinging and missing at a pitch. Tommy Milone is no average Joe. Likewise, he's not luckily duping ...
Grading a draft is more like grading a research paper than a math test.There is generally no right or wrong answer when it comes to the draft as there would be on a math test. If there was, we should be able to label every draft pick a "reach" or "value."Even the teams themselves don't know exactly what they have and the "hit" percentage is probably south of 25 percent. A research paper is graded on the supporting evidence and the strength or weakness of that evidence will determine the grade. I'll grade on the following three criteria:– Did the team address a ...
The AFC West has been a division that has not had a clear leader in some time.  In fact, many regard the division as one of the worst in the NFL. Last season, three teams finished with the same record.  This season, there has been many changes and it's time for one of those teams to stand out from the others.Of course, that team will be the Oakland Raiders, but which of the other teams made the biggest improvement through the draft and will be the Raiders biggest competitors?Begin Slideshow