Yikes! 90 is an ugly number in the loss column, but Rob Neyer brought up the possibility today and it got me thinking how real that number could be for the 2008 A’s.

Neyer thinks the A’s are more likely to lose around 85 than to hit the big nine-oh, but I’m not so sure.

To lose 90 games, the A’s would have to go 15-23 - or worse - the rest of the way. That is a .395 winning percentage. That is a better winning percentage than they’ve posted since the All Star Break (.195). That’s right - the A’s have to improve to avoid losing 90 games.

The last time the A’s lost 90 or more games was in 1997, the worst year of my A’s fandom. Is this team as bad as that team? Well, our current pitching is a heck of a lot better than the staff on the ‘97 team, but no one on this current A’s offense can dream of being as good as the 1997 incarnations of Geronimo Berroa, Jason Giambi, and Matt Stairs. Sad, but true. (Frank Thomas doesn’t count.)

The good news for the ‘08 A’s is that they now get to play a four-game set with the Mariners, a team that is actually worse than them! The bad news is, to break the streak of series losses, the A’s would have to win three out of four, which is tough to do against any team. A split in a series doesn’t count as winning it.

Then again, it shouldn’t count as losing it either…

Uh, go A’s!

But man, has this been a rough stretch. Watching games just isn’t even much of a thought in my mind right now - though I may tune in to see a few innings of Gio Gonzalez tonight, as I missed his debut last week.

The A’s, as a team, slug at an AL-worst .366. Who on this A’s offense would start on other teams? Carlos Gonzalez and Ryan Sweeney, maybe? But even those guys would be fourth and fifth outfielders on some teams. There is not one guy who would start on every team in baseball. It’s really depressing.

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle brought up the idea of bringing up Cliff Pennington from Sacramento to play in place of Jack “.056 in August” Hannahan. I hope they try that and maybe consider brining Wes Bankston back up to play first in place of Daric “.114 since the Break” Barton. Those two should have to battle it out for a job in the spring next year. Daric should have to earn it if he wants to keep his job.

I’m looking forward to the September 1 roster expansion, when we can try out some more Rivercats and try to get our minds of the horrors that have been the post-Break Oakland A’s. Of course, that’s still three weeks away so maybe we can turn it around before then.

The A’s face the Evan Longoria-less Rays tonight. Go A’s!

Let me remind you that in the past two weeks, the A’s haven’ t traded a single hitter. Sure, they’ve traded away three pitchers, but all the position players that were on those “contending” Oakland A’s of April and May 2008 are still in green and gold.

OK, so some of them are on the DL. But it’s not like the DL wasn’t full of Chavezes and Sweeneys (both varieties) and others in the early part of the season. This is vastly the same team - offensively - that was winning those games.

Do I sound a little cranky and defensive here? Maybe I am a bit tired of responding to other A’s fans who insist that Billy Beane’s trades of Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin, and Joe Blanton were bad moves because this team was contending. Yeah, with this inept offense.

The horror that is the A’s offense - if we can even call it that - was on full display this weekend against the Yankees. The A’s best player right now is Ryan Sweeney. Sure, I like his frequent,  yet powerless, multi-hit games and his cannon in right field. But do you think ayone is afraid of him?

And oh, Jack Cust - a hat trick on Friday, a golden sombrero on Saturday, and a big whiff in his pinch-hit at bat on Sunday. I know his all-or-nothing routine isn’t news to anyone around here, but it’s beyond old to me now.

Jack Hannahan! Donnie Murphy! Matt Murton! Oh yeah, I’m sure the Rays are afraid of us coming to town this week. Look out, here come the big boys!

Maybe I’ll be in a better mood after the Monday workday is over, especially if the A’s win one tonight. Prove me wrong this week, A’s!!

So Joe Blanton doesn’t get the chance to remain the A’s #1 starter going into the second half, as he’s now a Philadelphia Phillie.

I’m a lot more OK with this one right off the bat than I was with the Rich Harden trade. I mean really, the A’s do not get worse by handing the ball to someone other than Joe Blanton every fifth day. Joe is a capable pitcher, but the truth is, the A’s have lost a heck of a lot when he’s on the mound in ‘08. I’m fine with him - and the A’s - moving on.

The highlight of this trade for the A’s is second baseman Adrian Cardenas. He projects as a pretty good hitter but not nearly the defender we’re used to at second base. He’ll go to Stockton now as a member of the A’s organization.

The A’s also picked up lefty pitcher Josh Outman and outfielder Matt Spencer. Outman will go to Midland and Spencer to Stockton.

Phillies Phans are pretty ticked about this and some say even Cardenas for Blanton straight up wouldn’t have been acceptable. We’ll see if they’re right or if Big Joe can turn it around in the National Leauge (speaking of which, do you think it’s a coincidence that every time Billy trades a pitcher, it’s to the NL?).

Greg Smith has been moved up in the rotation and will pitch against the Yankees tonight, with Justin Duchscherer going Saturday and Sean Gallagher taking the ball Sunday. Nothing’s been announced yet, but the general feeling is that we will begin the Gio Gonzalez era once a fifth starter is needed.

Go A’s!!

Well today is the A’s much-needed day off after three days off. I mean, those guys are tired from all that resting. They need a day off from it. It certainly wouldn’t have been better served in August when they have a twenty-day stretch with nary a day off. They really need it today.

Well it looks like Joe Blanton is still the #1 starter, as he’s starting tomorrow night’s game at Yankee Stadium against Mike Mussina. Maybe Bob Geren didn’t want to hurt his feelings by demoting him, but wouldn’t our All-Star Justin Duchscherer have been a better choice?

Or maybe he wants to make sure Kentucky Joe gets as many starts as possible before the deadline, as his name will be coming up a lot in trade rumors over the next couple weeks.

Speaking of the next couple weeks, are we going to be more interested in trade rumors than the actual play on the field, like we were last year? My guess is yes, but only because we’ve already made one big trade so we’re expecting more. If the A’s start off the second half playing well, well that will be a bonus.

I find myself mostly looking forward to Bobby Crosby and Ryan Sweeney getting back in the lineup and Sean Gallagher’s next start. We’ll see if I’m right to be looking forward to those things.

Go A’s!!

…you’ve got a friend in Dave Cameron.

Well, at least he likes the Harden trade for the A’s.

Fifteen runs, or roughly 1.5 wins - that’s the entirety of downgrading from Rich Harden to Sean Gallagher, based on the assumptions I made above. If you don’t like the numbers I used, feel free to plug in your own, but unless you’re very bullish on Harden’s health, you’re going to come to the conclusion that the swap will cost the A’s at most two or three wins between now and the end of 2009, when Harden’s contract expires.

The A’s sold two to three wins for four years of a guy who projects out as a league average pitcher, three years of a useful platoon outfielder, six years of a potentially useful utility player, a young catching prospect, and $8 million in cash. And they’re getting killed for it?

This is a trade that I don’t love but I understand. But could it actually be good for the A’s, as Dave Cameron suggests? We’ll see…

Well, so much for my blowing off the Harden-to-the-Cubs rumors yesterday, because today, it happened. And the A’s threw in Chad Gaudin as well, getting four players in return.

I tend to like trades made by William Lamar Beane. Blindly? Maybe a little, but usally, I can see the upside in them.

And in this one, well, there’s not as much upside as I’d like to see in return for a guy like Harden.

But that’s the thing - when I say “a guy like Harden,” I have visions in my mind of swinging and missing and lots of zeroes on the scoreboard for opposing teams. But really, when I say “a guy like Harden,” I should also have visions of a skinny Canadian on the Oakland A’s disabled list, because that’s happened just as much - if not more - as the swinging and missing.

So that’s why now was the time to deal him, when he had actually had the apparance of a healthy pitcher for a significant amount of time. He wasn’t going to bring a Haren-like haul with the durabilty issues, and there’s no way for us to expect that.

But why Gaudin? Why send him packing to Wrigley too? My guess is the A’s #1 target was Sean Gallagher, and the Cubs wouldn’t move him without getting some insurance in the versitile Gaudin.

Let’s take a look at some stats for Sean Gallagher, who is already penciled in as Friday night’s starter versus the Angels:

2008 in AAA: 2-2 with a 3.10 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and 30 strikeouts in 29 IP.
2008 in MLB: 3-4 with a 4:35 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP, and 49 strikeouts in 58 2/3 IP.

He’s a mere 22 years of age; won’t turn 23 until December.

The A’s also get the following, who will head to Sacramento:

26-year-old outfielder Matt Murton, a former first round pick who was part of the big Nomar trade back in ‘04. He hasn’t been given much of a shot in Chicago, and I’m not sure why, as over four seasons he’s hit .294 with a .362 OBP and a .810 OPS. In Sacto for a week or two until the A’s get rid of Emil Brown somehow? I hope so, as he needs the playing time - and the A’s need to get him acclimated - more than Emil.

Second baseman/outfielder Eric Patterson - the brother of notorious ex-Cub Corey Patterson. He’s 25 and has also not been given much opportunity in Chicago. He’s raked in AAA the past 2+ seasons.

And the fourth player is an A-ball catcher named Josh Donaldson who was a second-round pick last season and is underachieving at the plate this year.

So maybe the A’s made out OK today, or maybe they just traded for Kirk Saarloos, Charles Thomas, and Keith Ginter. But one thing’s for sure - it’s tough to say goodbye to a guy like Harden, just when I was getting used to him being around on a regular basis.

If you haven’t heard yet, the Cleveland Indians traded their ace, C.C. Sabathia, to the Milwaukee Brewers.

OK, nice baseball news, but what does it have to do with the Oakland A’s? Potentially a lot.

MLBTradeRumors.com reports the Cubs are working the phones trying to get Rich Harden from the A’s. They’ve been discussing a deal for the past month, but maybe the C.C. Effect will make them push harder.

Of course, my first thought is - wasn’t it speculated that the Cubs didn’t have the prospects to get Sabathia? And the A’s supposedly want a Haren-like package for Harden. Hmmmm… it’s not adding up to me.

It’s only July 7, so there will be much of this for the next 24 days.

1. What? Bobby Crosby is on the DL now? It was just a week or two ago when I read an article online in which he was referred to as the A’s “Iron Man.” Unfortunatley, there is no such thing on this Oakland A’s team. The other two players who have played almost as much as Crosby has (and will pass him on the games played list this week) are Daric Barton and Jack Cust with 83 games played apiece.

2. Don’t look now, but Joe Blanton has actually won two of his last three starts. In each of the wins, he went seven innings and gave up one earned run. If he keeps up this two out of three performance, he could get his ERA into the low 4’s and maybe even reach 10 wins.

3. In the battle of players who were traded for each other, Ryan Sweeney held his own against Nick Swisher with a 4-for-13 (.308) series, with one homer, two RBI, a pair of walks, a run scored, and a stolen base.  Swisher went 2-for-13 (.154) with one home run, one RBI, two walks, and three runs scored.

I guess with the runs scored combined with RBI you could say Swisher had the edge, but Ryan was on base more and therefore had more success at the plate. Slight advantage - Sweeney!

4. It’s back home for the A’s and I’m a little sad as I didnt’ take advatage of them being in the same time zone as me and watch very many games. I’m sure the A’s are glad to be home for an AL West showdown before the break though, so I won’t whine too much.

Go A’s!

We usually don’t see a lot of these - $ - when we’re talking about the A’s. They’re always $ to the Angels’ $$$$$$$$$$, no matter what facet of the game you’re talking about.

But today, it looks like the A’s are getting ready to pony up some $$$$. And it’s not on an established major leaguer - it’s on a 16-year-old 6-foot-7 pitcher named Michael Inoa.

I’ve been following the sweepstakes for the Dominican’s services over the past couple weeks and have known the A’s were in the mix. But when the signing amount reached and exceeded $3.5MM, I didn’t really think the A’s, of all teams, would come out on top. Not when the Yankees, Reds, and Rangers were the other suitors.

But it sounds like they did indeed come out on top and it’s going to be announced Wednesday.

$4.25MM is the magic number. Yeah, that’s a lot for a 16-year-old pitcher who is probably several seasons away from sniffing the majors. But what I like in this is the aggressiveness. This isn’t or passing on better talent for a cheaper option like taking Jeremy Brown in the sandwich round in ‘02. This is cojones where cojones are needed.

We can’t continue to trade off superstars for young pitchers and keep recycling this team every 4-5 years. This move says that the A’s are going to be aggressive in stacking our system with our own scouting and our own $$$$.

Let’s see more of that $$$$$$, Lew. Don’t spend it all on your soccer team.