A's Get Cabrera, What Happens to Crosby? Garciaparra? (3~2~09)

As an A's fan I find myself to be relatively stoked about this deal. For those of you in Bean-town, stoked is kinda sorta like wicked. Why you all say that is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, Cabrera is great for the A's. When considering what they have had and comparing that with what they are getting its a good move. Some people might say something like what I was told by someone who will remain nameless, "a career .274 batting average? That's not very good!" Well, in my opinion a .274 is pretty good; I mean they can't all be the late great Ted Williams. That average compared to Crosby's career .239, I mean come on there is no comparison.

I will admit I am not familiar with Cabrera's history of injuries but it doesn't really matter when you consider how often Crosby is placed on the DL. Crosby has talent no doubt, but he is becoming more and more of a liability. Now I am a bit excited about him working with the likes of Mark McGwire and trying to perfect his swing. But a perfect swing means nothing if he's injured.

But now we also hear that Nomar Garciaparra is in the mix. He is basically pondering the idea of retirement unless the A's decide to sign him. Even though he was at one time a Boston Moron I still like the guy. I am under the assumption that if Garciaparra does sign with the A's it will be another one of those one year jobbers and either way Crosby is odd man out. But this is what I get for actually reading articles; they say if they get Garciaparra then Crosby will be a utility man. Well what is Garciaparra? Isn't he a utility man right now? That was his job with the Dodgers. What do you need Garciaparra for if you are going to keep Crosby? I personally thought they should have gotten rid of Crosby a couple seasons ago and kept fan favorite Marco Scutaro.

I hate reading articles, I should know better than to read anything by so called experts they just confuse the situation. That's why I like reading blogs, the fans know more about this darn game (well some of them.)

I'm not really sure what the A's should do in regards to Garciaparra or Crosby. I wanted to give Crosby the boot but it sounds like he might be doing well and now that he is working on his swing he could surprise us this season, however Garciaparra hasn't been a total disappointment. He played in less than half the games Crosby did last year, who had a .239 ERA compared with the .264 ERA of Nomar. Crosby is 29 years old and Nomar is pushing 36 years of age. I actually would hate to see Nomar retire but I don't know if there is any other option for him, it's A's or Bust. But do we pass on Crosby? He is still relatively young and I believe his batting average will be better this season. I know I wanted to give up on the guy a couple seasons ago but now I'm not so sure. I think at this point I will approve of either decision the A's decide to make.

When it comes down to it, the A's need pitching. Now rumor has it Duke's elbow issues may be worse than we are led to believe. As far as I know he is all we have right now that has proven himself, at least as a starter. I am excited to see Ziegler close; I hope he can accomplish what he did last year. It does remind me of Cust though. When Cust came to the A's it felt like he finally found where he belonged. Eight straight games with a homerun! Who does that? Jack Cust does that! Then the following season he is just average. Ziegler went how many innings without a run? Thirties? Forties? Yah I know I should just look it up but I want to show some legitimacy to my knowledge, I'm not a numbers person I know about and around what they are and that's good enough for me. I'm a fan, I'm not a scout.

I love my A's! I have all the faith in the world that whatever team they come up with can win, but I would be more confident if I felt we had adequate pitching. Our hitting is going to improve dramatically; our fielding never really was an issue. However, starting now I am going to pray every night for a healthy season for the entire team but especially Chavy, Duke, and Ellis. I'll pray for Crosby too if it looks like he will stay. I am confident but I still have that little ache in my side that it might not go as well as I hope. But that's why they play 162 games. You never know what is going to happen. Teams have gone from last to first in just a matter of one month so until the A's are down to the last game of the season and more than a game back from going to the playoffs my faith will remain high.

GO A'S!!!!