Athletics - 04/19/03

::FIC Local Spin::
Although some people were concerned with the performance of the bullpen thus far, all doubts were at least somewhat allayed with the A’s pitchers returning to normal. During an eight game stretch in which the A’s lost seven of the eight games, all three A’s aces turned in a pitiful performance. The bullpen was thus thrust into a somewhat undesirable role, trying to limit damage when in fact the starters were not pitching well enough to win in the first place. However, after Tim Hudson threw a gem, Ted Lilly threw a good game, Barry Zito followed with a complete game shutout of the Texas Rangers, and Mark Mulder got the A’s rolling with his best start of the year thus far.

::Latest Team Info::
In years past, Ramon Hernandez had emphasized that he was working on shortening his stroke, but the results didn’t appear. However, as of April 19, 2003, Hernandez is batting .385. Eric Chavez is showing a little more patience at the plate, which is a good sign, as many people believe he is quite capable of hitting 50+ homers a year. Scott Hatteberg, still playing with a sore ankle, is on fire once again. After being named the AL Player of the week, he suffered a mini-slump after being bothered by his ankle. Erubiel Durazo also went through a mini-slump, but started to heat up again after his homer in Seattle. Barry Zito threw his 4th career complete game shutout, six-hitting and shutting out the power Rangers 9-0 to record his 50th career win. In the same game, Terrence Long picked up his 500th career base hit. Chris Singleton has looked once again overmatched at the plate, leading to a few starts in centerfield for Eric Byrnes. Byrnes hasn’t shown anything special this far however, and Singleton will probably remain the regular starter for a while.

The A’s are currently 3-7 on the road, and 7-1 at home. After the finale of the Texas series tomorrow, the A’s will finally face some non-AL West opponents when Carlos Peña comes back to town with the Detroit Tigers.

::Injuries::
*Jim Mecir will soon be back from his knee-injury. He will be throwing two innings in a triple A game on Saturday, and one inning on Sunday. He will rejoin the A’s if his minor league assignment goes according to plan.
*Scott Hatteberg’s ankle is still bothering him a little, but he is running much better.

::On the Farm::
Rich Harden, A’s phenom, after throwing THIRTEEN perfect innings was promoted to triple A. In his first start there, he pitched 6.0 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs (all earned), hitting a batter but walking none, and striking out 8. On the season, he has pitched 19 innings, given up 4 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, and 25 strikeouts. He starts again today. I’ll keep you updated. A lot of people wonder why the A’s haven’t called him up just yet. Sports Illustrated pointed out that the A’s could be delaying calling him up so as to push back the date when he is eligible for free agency by one year. Mark Mulder was called up in mid-April of 2000.

::Quick View::
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~ Ramon Hernandez is calling terrific games and is just on fire offensively.
~ Erubiel Durazo .. If you don’t already have him by now, I honestly doubt you can get him. The man is amazing. He takes walks and hits for serious power and RBI’s. He has 19 RBI’s through 18 games.
~ Keith Foulke is also near impossible to obtain. He throws strikes..lots of them. In a game against Texas, he threw only five pitches to record three outs in a non-save situation.
~ Ricardo Rincon has been throwing a lot better recently, and it looks like his slider is back, or at least his fastball is a lot more effective. He would be a good pick up!

Drop/Deal
I would probably package Eric Byrnes and Adam Piatt up and try and trade them. If not, drop them. Byrnes has speed, but so far he hasn't been able to get on base much to make anything happen. If you have lots of room on your roster for non-productive guys with potential, I would hold on to them.

Hold
~ Chris Singleton .. in my last report I stated that his first hit could have been a breakthrough. I was right – it was. For about a week he was hitting the ball extremely well, as were the rest of the A’s. He then went cold again, looking once again overmatched at the plate. If that weren’t enough, his defense looked sloppy. Hold onto him for another week and see what he can do.
~ Jermaine Dye I have a lot of faith in Jermaine, having watched him do amazing things the second half of 2001. He’s gotten pounded inside, helplessly, but he will heat up soon.