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Archive for July, 2014
The Oakland Athletics are not hedging their bets or looking forward to next season. By acquiring Jon Lester from the Boston Red Sox in a blockbuster trade also featuring Yoenis Cespedes, Billy Beane and Co. are moving forward with a singular focus: the 2014 World Series. Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com reports the full deal will see Lester, Jonny Gomes and cash considerations head west in exchange for Cespedes and a competitive balance draft pick. It was the first blockbuster on a very active day around Major League Baseball. Lester is a true ace. The lefty sports a 2.52 ERA through 21 starts ...
MLB National Columnist Scott Miller breaks down what the Jon Lester-Yoenis Cespedes blockbuster trade, via ESPN, means for both the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox.  Read more Oakland Athletics news on BleacherReport.com
Like every other team in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders are currently working with a 90-man roster. Of those players, 37 will be gone before the start of the season. Many of the cuts won't come as a surprise—backup kickers, the third-string fullback, all those extra wide receivers—but there will also be players cut who looked like they could be important contributors in the upcoming season. This includes the veterans on the team, and Oakland already made the first of these moves by releasing veteran Kevin Burnett. During training camp, everyone on the team, including the veterans, will be closely watched and carefully ...
The NFL has long downplayed the importance of punting. Maybe that’s because a punt is an admission of failure of the offense or because monster punts don’t often make highlight reels. Yet punting is important enough that teams haven’t stopped doing it. A 1992 game between the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills was the first game without a punt in NFL history. If there were others, good luck finding that information. While punting may never be glamorous, if it weren’t for Ray Guy, there’s a chance we’d look back at punting as we do leather helmets. Guy changed the expectations of ...
Oakland Raiders cornerback D.J. Hayden is currently on the training camp PUP list as he recovers from a stress fracture in his right foot, and the team reportedly doesn't have a timetable for his return. When can the Raiders expect Hayden back in the lineup? How are free-agent signings Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers filling in at corner? Which young players could step up and make an impact in the starting nickel defense? Watch as Adam Lefkoe and CSN Bay Area's Scott Bair discuss the Raiders cornerbacks in the video above.Read more Oakland Raiders news on BleacherReport.com
The Oakland Raiders are now four days into their 2014 training camp and have thus begun an all-important season in the franchise’s rebuilding project. A productive offseason has likely raised expectations for this year’s team, but with upgraded talent across the board, they could certainly be up to the task. While there have only been a few practices to this point, there are already a number of key takeaways that could have significant impacts on how this season plays out overall. Here are some early impressions from the Raiders’ 2014 training camp.Begin Slideshow
Usually, any time the Oakland Athletics face the Texas Rangers, the series is magnified a touch. Competitively, the two American League West rivals have matched one another win for win over the years; the A’s have won the last two division crowns, while the Rangers won the two prior. This year was expected to be another wire-to-wire battle between these two divisional adversaries. However, the Rangers have experienced an incredibly disappointing 2014 season, the result of unpredictable performances and a rash of injuries. The team has never been at full strength and has limped short-handedly through the entire season. It has been ...
At the trade deadline it is commonplace for contending teams to ship away prospects in return for established big league players. The San Francisco Giants pulled the plug with two of their top pitching prospects to acquire Jake Peavy from the Boston Red Sox. The LA Angels parted with two hitting prospects and two pitching prospects to land closer Huston Street, who will provide an immediate fix to their bullpen. The Oakland A's also proved capable of parting with cherished prospects when they dealt shortstop-of-the-future Addison Russell and Billy McKinney for two years of Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. While the A's still have a ...
The Oakland Raiders are heading into the team's most important training camp in years. The depth chart at almost every position is still undecided, which means Oakland will have one of the most wide-open and exciting training camps in the entire NFL. But there's something different about this training camp. There's something to be found this year that hasn't been there in a really long time. Potential. There's always been hope, there's always been excitement, but the talent hasn't been there to make any of that real. This year is different. The Raiders experienced a huge influx of talent this offseason, and for ...
The Oakland Raiders traded down from No. 3 to No. 12 overall to select cornerback D.J. Hayden in the 2013 NFL draft, but to this point they haven’t gotten much out of him. Hayden missed eight games in 2013 with a sports hernia and missed far more practice time due to various other injuries. Now, Hayden will miss more time with a stress fracture in his foot, according to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle. He had surgery four weeks ago, and the timetable given for his return was four to eight weeks. It’s the fourth injury in just over a year that ...