AGRI Biz

I heard it best on the A's post-game show with Chris Townsend. You could not have asked for a better script. Dallas Braden, surrounded by friends, family and his community of Stockton, Calif., pitched MLB's 19th perfect game ever on Sunday, May 9, 2010. As the last out was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum, the stadium erupted. The bench rushed Braden on the mound. Braden had bear hugs for his teammates. As ...

At the end of Spring Training, The A's surprised everyone by designating Cust for assignment, ultimately sending him down to Triple-A Sacramento. The A's had a healthy Eric Chavez and decided it was best to have him as the DH. Cust, who was released and then re-signed over the offseason, sat at his locker, dumbfounded, quietly taking it like a man as he fielded questions from reporters. Then, after letting ...

The A's very good start has left them sitting pretty atop the AL West standings with a 9-5 record. That's got to have the A's feeling good about their chances. Breaking down the first four series of the season, the A's are now 4-3 vs. the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 vs. the Los Angeles Angels, and 3-1 vs. the Baltimore Orioles. Not bad. The A's were able to capitalize on a Mariners team ...

The A's know what they have in Brett Anderson. Two scoreless starts into his second season, Anderson was granted a four-year extension with two option years, effectively buying out Anderson's first year of Free Agency. Multiple sources reported the extension quickly, but as far as I could tell, it was ESPN first reporting the annual salaries: 2010: $500,000, 2011: $1,000,000, 2012: $3,000,000, 2013: $5,500,000. Oakland also included club options for Anderson for $8,000,000 ...

If you've read my articles so far this season, you many have noticed that I'm a strong believer in the Oakland A's being a good, underestimated team. I'm thinking their good start will continue to go overlooked until they're still playing this well after 30 or 40 games. A 7-4 start is good, but with such a small sample size, what critic will be deterred by an 11-game record? The given coming ...

Four games down. 158 games to go. Four games into the season and I do believe the A's made the most of the opportunity to prove themselves in the AL West, because four games into the season, the Oakland A's are actually in first place. I know, I know. It's a long season, it's just four games, against one team at that. Here's why it's important: The A's are projected by most analysts ...

In a flurry of last minute roster moves, the A's set their Opening Day roster after the Giants-A's Spring exhibition finale. Despite a reportedly healthy camp, several players will start the year on the DL. But thanks to all the depth the A's stockpiled over the offseason, the stand-ins stand to fill in admirably. Over the next few slides, I will break down the A's roster by position and offer a ...

The A's always seem to have a surprise up their sleeve when announcing the Opening Day roster. Usually the big news is some hotshot rookie made the team. This year that hot shot is Tyson Ross. Not bad for a starting pitcher who was only drafted in the June 2008 draft. Ross will make the club trying to help out a rather depleted bullpen. Perhaps the bigger surprise announced by the A's ...

Going into the offseason following the 2009 season, the Oakland Athletics' had depth at the outfield position. The question was what to do with Rajai Davis, Ryan Sweeney, Jerry Hairston, Travis Buck, Aaron Cunningham, Eric Patterson, and Jack Cust. Then they started a plethora of off-season moves including the signings of Coco Crisp and Gabe Gross, and trading for Jake Fox and Michael Taylor. The question is still the same, only half ...

Going into spring training, the Oakland Athletics had a highly touted battle for the fifth rotation spot between Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Vin Mazzaro. Truth be told, I'm not sure how many people ever considered it a three-man race. Cahill had just completed a full year at the major league level, Gonzalez has shown he has nothing left to prove in Triple-A, and all Mazzaro has done at the ...