Idiots Write About Sports

Actual iChat transcripts from A’s-Injuns game: Oakland begins the game with a Kendall single, a Kotsay walk, and a Kielty walk. That brings Eric Chavez — the man A’s ownership is paying $66 million to rise to these very occasions.

“Which Chavez outcome will it be?” I instant-message Jason. “1. The feeble strikeout. 2. The feeble pop-up. 3. The double-play cutting off the lead runner at home. 4. Other.”

For those of you who didn’t watch the game, Chavez opted for outcome No. 1.

“Great,” I say to Jason. “That sets up Keith Ginter perfectly to ground into the inning-ending double play.” Which he does — the rarely seen 3-2-3 twin-killing to end an inning in which the first three Oakland players reached base safely without plating a run.

Let it never be said that I am not intimately familiar with the many ways your 2005 Oakland Athletics can lose a ballgame.

I can’t say that last night was the low point, the moment I realized this team was going nowhere. That low point wasn’t even Wednesday when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of all teams scored 10 runs in the first inning and sent the suddenly mortal Joe Blanton to the showers with the always encourage 1/3 IP, 6H 8R, 7ER, 1BB, 0K pitching line. (With a triple and a homer, Tampa’s Carl Crawford was halfway to the cycle… in the bottom of the first!). No, I’ve known this team’s goose has been cooked fro about two weeks now. Dropping nine of 12 to the Yankees and Red Sox is usually a pretty good hint that you’re not much of a contender.

But I am hopeful that this latest wretched stretch of A’s baseball — six consecutive losses as of this sentence, with No. 7 against Cleveland tonight still a distinct possibility — will convince A’s ownership that any effort spent on salvaging the 2005 season is effort wasted. It’s time to think about next year and, more importantly, start making the moves that position the A’s for contention 12 months from now.

Ken Arneson proposed a number of like-minded moves a week ago. I find many of his suggestions intriguing and wish to subscribe to his newsletter. Here’s what I’d like to see the A’s do during what promises to be a long, unsatisfying slog to September.

• Dan Johnson — just called up from Sacramento — needs to play until he proves that he cannot. None of the usual Ken Macha lineup magic of starting a guy once or twice and then benching him for three weeks after he goes 0-for-3 — this guy is 25-years-old, under contract for a few more seasons, and an accomplished minor leaguer. It’s time to see whether he can perform at the major-league level, even if it means Scott Hatteberg and/or Erubiel Durazo are affixed to the bench for the time being. Those guys aren’t helping us win next year; Dan Johnson might. It’s time to see how likely that “might” is going to be.

• As soon as Octavio Dotel can throw a slider without screaming in pain — I’m not sure he’ll ever be able to throw one without me screaming in pain — he should be dealt, preferably for some youthful right-handed power. If healthy, Dotel is a valuable commodity for a contending team, which we are not. A team in need of bullpen help — the Yankees, the Giants, the Dodgers — might be willing to overpay for Dotel, which is just fine by me.

• If it helps grease the skids a little, include Eric Byrnes in any Dotel-for-right-hand power hitter deal. In fact, I would endorse a Byrnes-for-a-sack-of-used-baseballs trade if I didn’t think the deal would immediately be voided by the commissioner’s office for being a one-sided ripoff. After, a sack of used baseballs has value.

• So if Dotel is off plying his wares for another ballclub, who becomes Oakland’s closer? Huston Street. Too young, you say? Who cares, I retort. Will Street’s youth and inexperience going to cost us some close ballgames? Maybe… but I think I can live with finishing 18 games out instead of 14 games out if it gives Street experience and confidence for when we’ll need a proven closer. Huston Street is the future, and the future began a couple weeks ago.

• When Bobby Crosby returns, we will have four guys (Crosby, Marco Scutaro, Mark Ellis and Keith Ginter) to fill two positions (second and short). Obviously, you pencil in Crosby for the shortstop position, so that leaves you with a decision to make about second base. The vote here is to give the job to Ellis, keep Scutaro around as a versatile backup and deal Ginter to another team that’s as seduced by his supposed power as we were this offseason. But I could be persuaded that Ginter’s the better long-term bet. Either way, we’re going to have one guy too many in the middle of our infield, and that’s not a luxury this team can afford.

• I know Billy Beane spent many years pining for Durazo. But maybe, the way he helps the team this year is by bringing in guys who might help us win in 2006. Because we’re certainly not going to do that in 2005.

• Rich Harden, take your time coming back from that oblique muscle strain. We will be just as crappy when you come back tan, rested, and ready as we would be if you hurry back and injure yourself further. You’re far too important to waste on a lost season.

• Time to decide whether to fish or cut bait on Barry Zito. My thinking is that he’s certainly a valuable guy to have in your rotation, but not at the price he’s likely to command.

• Joe Blanton has been dreadful as of late — a 13.25 ERA in his last five starts — but the A’s should resist the temptation to boot him out of the rotation in favor of Keiichi Yabu or another journeyman in the Seth Etherton-Britt Reames vein. A 36-year-old veteran of the Japanese League is unlikely to make too many long-range contributions to the glorious march back to playoffs. Better to figure out who the real Joe Blanton is — the guy who had a 1.75 ERA after his first four starts or the current, stinky incarnation trudging to the showers in the early innings. I think I know the answer — hint: not the former — but it won’t hurt us any to get some confirmation.

• Speaking of the pitching staff, there’s probably nothing wrong with weathering the remainder of the season with the likes of Kirk Saarloos and Danny Haren and Seth Etherton. But two of those guys probably shouldn’t be starting for a team that’s serious about making the playoffs — something for Billy Beane to consider in any upcoming player transactions.

• As I suggested above, Ken Macha needs to pick a lineup and stick with it. No more of this “start Kielty on Wednesdays against righties but Byrnes if it’s a lefty pitching during a day game in the Central time zone” jazz that seems to be informing most of the roster decisions. This “guys play themselves into the lineup” approach has proven to be counterproductive — players know that they’re bench-bound at the first sign of failure so they start pressing. Me, I’d like to see an outfield of Kielty, Kotsay and Swisher with Chavez, Crosby, Ellis, Johnson and Kendall filling out the infield, but if Macha wants to field a team of Eric Byrnes and eight guys he picked up in the parking lot on the way to the stadium, that’s fine with me so long as that’s the lineup he goes with consistently.

• Speaking of Macha, should he be retained? I’m not a big fan, both because of his impatient roto-player approach to filling out a lineup card and the miserable way he handles pitching changes. But I don’t know that firing him now would fix anything. Macha isn’t really the problem here — poor offensive execution, inconsistent starting pitching, lousy defense and injuries are, in that order — so canning him is unlikely to jumpstart the team. Waiting until the offseason would at least afford the A’s time to do a comprehensive search, even if that’s likely to yield another passive Billy Beane-controlled marionette in the Macha-Art Howe mold.

• Above all, resist the quick fix. Over on Athletics Nation, there’s a guy actually advocating that the A’s sign the ghost of Rickey Henderson to a contract. Now obviously, I don’t think anyone in the A’s employ is so idiotic as to follow this nonsensical advice. But I do worry that the success of the past few seasons might up the pressure on Beane to trade for a player with no long-term value to team in order to quiet the howling mob. The only reason to pay attention to this current season is because the schedule says we have to. 2006 — that’s what every decision needs to be geared toward in the coming weeks.

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