Oakland Athletics

Type B free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre could be a relatively cheap free agent to plug in at the hot corner for the Oakland A’s for the next few seasons.

His power and walk numbers declined steeply in 2009, but his defense remains impressive. The A’s have often injured Eric Chavez topping their depth chart at third. Oakland won’t count on Chavez to return to full-time playable health as he’s totaled just 121 games played over the last three years.

One of the most fascinating rumors to come to life over the past few weeks has been the Adrian Beltre to the A's rumor. The normally frugal Athletics are taking a "serious look" at signing Beltre, who at just 30 years old, is one of the best free agents left on the market and by far the best free agent third baseman. As ESPN's Buster Olney writes:

And in a classic Billy Beane signing, it looks like the Athletics have found their ace:

Late Saturday night, the Athletics and Coco Crisp came to terms on a one year pact worth $4.5-$5 million dollars . The deal set off some heated discussion in the blogosphere, namely, what in the world is Billy Beane doing? For one, ESPN's Rob Neyer is not a fan of the signing:

I think Billy Beane is an excellent GM, and I agree with most of his moves.

But it's been reported that the A's are close to a 1-year deal with free agent outfielder Coco Crisp, and while I think Crisp is a fine player, such a move leaves me scratching my head as to what Beane is doing.

Presumably, the A's will go into 2010 with Rajai Davis in center field and Ryan Sweeney in right field. Crisp would slot into left field.

Crisp is a career .271/.331/.407 hitter, which is shy of acceptable for a left fielder.

Let me say to begin that I have long dreamed that the Oakland Athletics would move to my hometown of San Jose.

The issue has long been that the San Francisco Giants "own" the rights to the San Jose market, which in my opinion is anachronistic. 

The San Francisco ownership of the San Jose market is from a time before San Jose became the technological powerhouse of Silicone Valley, and one of the largest cities in America, larger even than San Francisco.

If you take a quick look at Trevor Cahill's 2009 stats from, say, Yahoo! Sports, you probably would come away thinking "It's not great, but he did okay for a 21-year-old."

Cahill went 10-13 with a 4.63 ERA...something like a No. 4 starter.

However, a deeper look reveals a season built on luck rather than skill, and some serious problems for the righty.

Continuing with the theme of last night's position players article (see: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/310728-heres-a-thought-nathaniels-ext...), here is a look at who, among the current pitchers in the Oakland organization, is best served to break camp with the team in 2010.

As I said in the other article, a lot can happen between now and then, but this operates on an "If the Season Started Tomorrow" premise.