Author Archive
Here’s a Thought: Nathaniel’s (Extremely Premature) Idea of Who Should Break Camp With the Oakland A’s (Position Players)
Posted: 18th December 2009 by Nathaniel Stoltz in MLB
Lately, I've been doing position-by-position breakdowns of the A's system, from the majors all the way down to Rookie ball.
With each player in those, I have a line that says where I think they should start 2010.
It occurred to me that it would be possible, doing just off-the-cuff "I think Player X should start at Level X" rankings, to wind up with more or less than 25 major league players. ...
Here’s a Thought: Michael Taylor Is Better Than Brett Wallace
Posted: 17th December 2009 by Nathaniel Stoltz in MLB
When the A's acquired Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen, and Shane Peterson from the Cardinals in July for Matt Holliday, my response was something of a "Meh." I mean, the A's needed to trade Holliday, and I trust Billy Beane to get the best package of players he can, and a lot of people love Wallace, but I wasn't too thrilled with the package. Ultimately, it was somewhat similar to ...
Here’s a Thought: Optimizing the Oakland Athletics’ 2010 Rotation
Posted: 1st November 2009 by Nathaniel Stoltz in MLB
As the A's continue to build what they (and all of us fans) hope is going to be a dynasty that peaks in 3-7 years from now, the core of the team is going to be the starting pitching, which has been the symbol of the A's since Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson were on the staff.
However, many of the young future cornerstones, especially Trevor Cahill and Vince ...
In my last article, I evaluated one speedy Oakland center fielder,áRajaiáDavis. Now, I'll look at the other one, Ryan Sweeney.
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STATISTICAL EVALUATION:
Sweeney has performed similarly the last two years, hitting .286/.350/.383 in 2008 and .293/.348/.407 in 2009.
Sweeney puts the bat on the ball on 88.6 percent of his swings, well above the 80.5 percent league average, so it's not surprising that he posts strong batting averages.á
Sweeney hits a good amount of ...
Now that the season is over, I can stop looking at minor league players in my examinations and focus on some major leaguers.
First up is speed demon center fielder Rajai Davis, who seemed to break out this year. Is he for real? Let's take a look.
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STATISTICAL EVALUATION
Davis spent 2008 hitting .243/.272/.346 between San Francisco and Oakland. He was 27 at the time, and it looked like he would forever be ...
In the last week, I've looked at two of the A's top Triple-A hitters, top prospects Brett Wallace and Chris Carter. Now, I'm switching gears slightly and looking at another top Triple-A hitter, but one who has gotten a little bit of big league time the past two years: outfielder Aaron Cunningham.
If you're wondering why I've stuck to Triple-A guys this past week, it's because I'm waiting for the season ...
A few days ago, in my ongoing series of thorough A's player breakdowns, I looked at mega-prospect Chris Carter. But Carter isn't the only slugger on the Sacramento River Cats who has scouts and A's fans drooling about his potential.
Brett Wallace, the centerpiece of the Matt Holliday deal with the Cardinals, hit extremely well after joining the A's organization and seems like he could be a major factor in Oakland ...
Lately (before my computer crashed last week, rendering my Internet time scarce; sorry for the recent lack of material), I have been doing comprehensive evaluations of A's players to see where they are in their careers and what to expect from them in 2010 and beyond.
The first two evaluations were of pitchersùDallas Braden and Josh Outmanùso this time, I'm switching gears and looking at the player who has seemingly all ...