Athletics -- 08/13/03

:: FIC Local Spin ::

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rich Harden has arrived. ESPN’s Peter Gammons recently wrote how rookies who make an impact can in fact be the difference in whether his club makes the postseason or not.
"Not only are you talking about pitchers who make a difference," said Billy Beane, "but they're lost cost, which allows most teams to do something else at another position. It's sometimes hard to gamble on those young pitchers, but they're the lifeblood." So, at the deadline, Beane decided not to trade 22-year-old Joe Blanton, who has eaten up the Midwest and Texas Leagues a year after being picked in the first round out of the University of Kentucky (like Webb). After seeing Blanton throw a shutout last weekend in Midland, Beane knows he made the right decision because at this time next season Kelvim Escobar would be gone and Blanton may be better than anyone on the trade market.

Jim Mecir is finally back from the DL, and OF Adam Piatt has been designated for assignment. He will probably be claimed by some unsuspecting team.

Tim Hudson, 11-4 with a 2.51 ERA. He would be among the frontrunners for this years’ AL Cy Young award had Keith Foulke not blown his 4 saves during Hudson’s starts. But Hudson is not going down quietly. He recently 2-hit the Boston Red Sox, the AL’s most fearsome offense. Not only did the 6-foot tall bulldog limit the Red Sox to two hits while shutting them out, but both hits were infield hits.

Jose Guillen is proving himself a very capable right fielder. He wasted no time in showing off his arm – he unleashed a strike to Ramon Hernandez, who dropped the ball in surprise. He had come out in front of the plate to block the ball, later saying he had no idea Guillen could throw a no-hopper to the plate. He batted in the .330’s with the Reds but got off to a slow start with the A’s. He’s now batting in the .280’s with the A’s, higher than anyone else on the team, so I’m not complaining. Yesterday, he also held Varitek to a single when it looked like it could’ve been a double (the ball was creamed). I’d just love to see someone dare run on Guillen.

:: Latest Team Info ::
Thanks to Tim Hudson’s dominating pitching performance, Zito’s relatively solid outing, great defense, timely hitting, and outstandingly brilliant bullpen work by Chad Bradford and Keith Foulke, the A’s now go into tonight’s game with a one-game lead on Bahston in the wild card, who they’ve been chasing most of the summer. Both teams however are still wrapped up in tight division races. The A’s are only 3 games back of the Mariners.

The A’s and Red Sox will play each other 5 more times in the next 8 days.

:: Injuries ::
Jermaine Dye is “essentially healed” and now is in the process of getting back up to game speed. His return date is tentatively set at September 1st.

:: On the Farm ::
Fikac, Jeremy: 3-3, 2.12 ERA 34 G, 46.2 IP, 31 H, 11 ER, 4 HR, 12 BB, 42 K, .188 OPP AVG
Crosby, Bobby: .302 AVG, 112 G, 407 AB, 77 R, 123 H, 29 2B, 6 3B, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 55 BB, 98 K, 20 SB, 4 CS, .536 SLG, .389 OBP, 11 E

:: Quick View ::
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Jose Guillen
Terrence Long

Deal/Hold
Chad Bradford (solid middle reliever) – this is as much as you’ll ever get for him