So, even though i think King_Tanner and I are the only A's fans on FCP, i still think that Oakland deserves a Thread....

So, even if it is just you and me Tanner, I hope the season comes along great!

It always takes me half the season to get used to the new players because they have a completely different lineup every year lol. I don't think I like Giambi being back. I really enjoyed booing him at the A's Yankees games in Oakland.

why did you boo? he played well for us... it was our managment that got rid of him

From Mark Purdy's article in the SJ Merc recently:

Throughout the past decade, followers of the A's have been trained to watch their best players leave town for free agency. But in their minds, Giambi sparks the worst possible memories. He's the one who began the whole cycle-of-loss and insulted his East Bay fans in the process. After the 2001 season, Giambi rejected an A's contract proposal of six years and $91 million the richest deal ever offered by the team to that point — and accepted the Yankees' bid of $120 million over seven years.

But that was only the start.

"It wasn't the money," Giambi said at his introductory New York media conference. "It was the things about playing in New York — the fans, the city, the chance to win, the manager, the front office and an owner that wants to win."

Those remarks infuriated then-A's owner Steve Schott, who pointed out that in the previous two seasons, the A's had accumulated more victories than the Yankees. But insulting an owner is one thing. Insulting the entire A's electorate is another. And over the following weeks, Giambi kept dissing his former address.

For example, Giambi told the New York Post: "The West Coast differs profoundly from the traditions of the East Coast. I want to experience the incredible people and the lifestyle."

Worst of all, he went on the David Letterman show and read off a Top 10 list of reasons he signed with the Yankees. One of the reasons: "Have you ever been to Oakland?"

He was on a pretty damn good team at the time too that definitely had a chance to win. Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Tejada.... etc. The teams he were on were awesome in the regular season, but kind of choked in the playoffs. That had to do with injuries, choking, his brother Jeremy (all Oakland fans remember the Jeter play) etc. This happened a lot with the Yankees team for a few years. So it was more of the same in New York, I'm glad he didn't get any championships.

I might hoot or holler if he hits a lot of home runs or something, but even if he has a All-Star season, you won't hear "Jason Giambi is da man!" ever from me.

A lot of the other guys had to leave though because the A's wouldn't offer them shit. I'm still a big Zito fan even though he kind of stunk it up last year.

I'm a pretty big fan of Zito's work myself.

be a fan of his work... but he is a D!CK head.... got his auto outside of McAfee, AND he threw me a ball after he was done warming up before a game.... every time ive ever seen someone talk to him.... he has been a total ass ****. so i ended up wearing the hat... still have the ball though, got it auto'ed by someone else though.... Swisher i think

Swisher is one guy I wish they would of kept. He wasn't great, doesn't cost a lot, the fans liked him. Same with Eric Byrnes.

I guess I should have added an lol or a ; as a Dodgers fan, my admiration of Zito is not really because of his success.

You're right, what a dick.

No LOL or SW needed. I laughed.

Then it was worth the effort.

ohhhh. you got me.

haha, i didnt put the pieces together until afterwards..... you as a dodgers fan should LOVE Zito.... I dont "like" the Giants, but then again, i just dont give a **** about them either...... but they should have know that the A's didn't want him for a reason..... (juice) imo......


I wish they kept Byrnes and Swish too...... I still think that the organization found out about swish being on the juice and released him beofre it cost them, he didnt do much last year.....

Are you saying that the A's didn't want Zito because he was taking steroids? They didn't want him because they couldn't afford him.

Swisher was on the A's when they were doing heavy steroid testing. Did he test positive on the White Sox? What u talkin bout?

This is what i am saying.... when players test positive for substances for the first time, NO ONE has to know that you tested positive. so if and when the A's did the testing, and found that Swish goes positive, the fine him, and do not have to make it public....

Mind you this is all my speculation, but reasonable none the less. Do you remeber him jumping 50 pounds in the offseason, before his last year in oakland.... then he goes to Chicago and loses all of this power with his bat... he siad he gained the 50lbs doing lumber jack work with his cousin....

Zito, i dont know.... they could have afforded him, they had dumped mulder and hundson to keep him... i dont see why they would not have..... it is hard to bbelieve that just because he plays accross the bay he plays SOOO much worse. He lost heat last season too you know...

ESPN is finally getting on the A train!



oakland got its first special today on SC

I <3 the MLB channel thus far....

The other night they had an hour long special on the 2001 season, where the A's took the first two in NY then lost the next 3. I'm not the biggest Jeter fan really, but man was that play to get Jeremy Giambi at the plate special.

We don't discuss such things in this thread. Mods please delete.

Can't we be friends?

how dare you

BAN

Dodgers and A's fans have a common hatred for the Giants; I'll try not to endanger that alliance by making any more Kirk Gibson references.

oh my ears!!!! MY EARS!!!!

Nomar coming to Oakland? Do you wan him? What would you pay for him?

I think if you can sign him for 2.5 mill or less you want him. Then just use him to play for Chavez, Giambi, Cust, or Barton against lefties and give him some starts at short when the A's have a flyball pitcher on the mound to give them a little punch on offence instead of Crosby without hurting the defence too much. Besides that hes not a terrible backup.

Id still continue to look at Cabrera though.

Me too.... Will Nomar want to 'back up' though?

lifelong mariners fan here...so it's safe to say i hate the a's. however, i am able to look at things objectively and i think oakland wins the west year. that trade for holliday was brilliant. giambi will help too. if chavez is healthy that's a pretty solid 3-5 in the order. and if bobby crosby ever starts playing up to his potential, look out.

anyway, go m's

i began to read this and was like "OMG, get the retard off." but it was pretty smart.... props

No.

You will have to get through the Angels pitching. It is the Angels to lose.

if they had resigned tex then i would have agreed. it all depends on oakland's young pitching. if those guys can carry the load then they'll be very tough with the upgraded offense. and oakland's history of developing young pitchers is pretty solid.

al west will be a better race this year than last year, i just think oakland's upgraded offense will be the difference.

While I'm not as excited as I would have been if they had signed Tex (obviously they would be a better team with him), their winning % was better before they got him, and in the playoffs he pretty much was power dead.

Lackey for a full season.
Santana coming off an all-star season.
Saunders coming off an all-star season (don't know how he does it).
Weaver (a bit overrated so far but ready to bust out?)
Escobar gonna be back before June.

Just sayin'.

I'll take him. Just so I can go to a game and yell "NOMAR" with a stupid Boston accent. No offense to those from Boston with a stupid Boston accent. I have a stupid surfer accent and I don't even surf.

Do you think a slow start in the cactus league means anything?

Spring training doesn't matter. The only thing I pay attention to in spring training is who is winning positional battles.

Do you think that the pitchers are trying to win battles or prodominantly hit there spots in the strike zone?

A's picked up Orlando Cabrera today. another good signing...further solidifying my pick in the AL West.

damn i hate Billy Beane

ORLANDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

enjoy the team while you can

they stated on MLB's radio channel on XM that the Fremont stadium deal is dead in the water and that the team being moved out of the bay area is a real possibility

plz no. I seriously could not watch baseball ever again if this happens. I can't be a Giants fan.

Giants fans cant be Giants fans.... and I am with you 100% here. Ive heard them talk about San jose, Santa Clara, and Sacramento.... Sac only if the Kings leave though

at least San Jose is still the bay area...that's wouldn't be bad for you guys

I'd love it. Oakland traffic sucks!

Looks like A's got Nomar.... another 1 year contract.

This is starting to get ridiculous. Its hard to root for a team that you know is going to be dismantled the following season, even if they make the playoffs/world series.

tanner, you are such a downer.... They can always resign.... if they do make it to the show. THEY WILL RESIGN!

What should they do? Sign every guy for 4 years? you cant do that, its not a video game.

I'm looking forward to this year - The Angels will be worse than last year so the AL West is up for grabs. Cabrera is an upgrade over Crosby (Crosby is an upgrade over Murphy as the backup). The A's have a lot of lefties so picking up Garciaparra whose OPS was over 1000 last year against righties also makes a lot of sense. Holliday and Giambi obviously make the offense better.

We'll worry about next year when it comes. If you can pick up solid players for reasonable short term contracts, I think that it's great. Do you want to be like the Giants who overpaid for Rowand, Zito and Dave Roberts and are stuck in long term deals?

The starting rotation is the big question mark - Duke needs to stay healthy; Gallagher, Braden, Eveland are all question marks. Does one of the rookies make the jump? (Cahill, or Gio who was pretty awful last year in a short #of innings)

Billy Beane is a contrarian. When all the other teams (except the Yankees, of course) are looking to save money and not spend on free agents, he goes shopping.

I'm a huge A's fan too and this thread is way overdue imo. I'm pumped for the season, and excited to have Giambi back. Let's just hope we're still in the race past the trade deadline so we can possibly keep Holliday. Overall I'm excited about the off-season moves and can't wait for the season to begin.

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!!

I'm ok with not over paying guys and not having long year contracts. It is a little disheartning when all the new big name pickups have 1 year contracts though. The guys in the late 90's early 00's were on the team for a while, it seems like the last 3-4 years there is a completely different team every season. Are they just not willing to pay anyone?

I know this sounds gay, but what jersey T-shirt do I buy at the start of the season? I can't buy a shirt because if the guy is gone in a season the shirt goes in the trash. $40 DOWN THE ****ING DRAIN. And I refuse to wear a Eric Chavez shirt.

We cant afford it, bottom line. we are THE small market team, you and i do not go to enough ball games, it is our fault they dont have money, in retrospec. BUY the jerseys, BUY the tickets.... BUY beer at game..... BUT A's hats.... that is what it is going to take.... if we are ahead in the West fans will come.....

HMMMMMM..... in my honest opinion.... Ziegler, Suzuki, R. Sweeney, geo Gonzalez (if he starts well), Dallas Braden should be around for a while, M. Ellis should make it all season..

WHO NOT TO GET. Holliday, chavez, crosby, T. Buck, Cust (YUCK).

Maybes..... Giambi! he has played many seasons in Oakland, if he is gone after one year, oh well. Keep the Jersey. Devine, Blevins, eveland, Galharger. hope that helps, ive been been one to get a Baseball jersey, maybe this year is the year

Tanner, are you going to opening day? ill be there you should try to go.... maybe you could buy me a beer.... (20 yo) ..... haha. let me know man