The Oakland Athletics are in a phase that organizations are generally reluctant to enter—rebuilding mode. With it comes almost a certainty for failure.At first glance the team's decision making seems irrational. Players are acquired and lost for a reason that most fans can't see. A player's skills during this time may not be as important as his age or tradability. What the fans cannot see are the two moves ahead that only their club's general manager knows. In this case, that man is Billy Beane. No stranger to this process, he has made no secrets about his intention for the ...
During the last week of March, most Major League Baseball teams are still ironing out their rosters, evaluating players and determining key position battles in preparation for Opening Day. Lineups are brainstormed and pitching rotations are beginning to fall in order. For the Oakland Athletics, however, all personnel housekeeping is already set in stone, as the team prepares for its season opener next Wednesday, March 28th, against the Seattle Mariners, in Tokyo, Japan. While the rest of the MLB has a bit more leeway to begin their seasons, the A’s—and Mariners—must ramp up their preparedness for Opening Day. Earlier this ...
Not everyone is celebrating the loss of Michael Bush (news from PFT). He did a good job when Darren McFadden was injured and the Raider Nation really appreciates his fine performance. On Twitter, you can read that Matt Forte may not be pleased with Bush’s addition to the Bears’ roster.Reportedly, Forte said, in summary, that he embraced competition as well as help, but he perceives that the Bears may not be taking care of their own and may be undervaluing a player under his market value. This comment recorded his perception of his situation with the Chicago Bears. The question ...
The Raiders may not have made a big splash in free agency, but they have been active. General manager Reggie McKenzie has released and signed a number of players to solidify the team's roster. In order to know what McKenzie may do with his picks in the draft, it's important to know what he has done in free agency.The first thing McKenzie did was make moves in the secondary. Tyvon Branch and Michael Huff return as the starting safeties, but Stanford Routt and Chris Johnson were released. McKenzie needed starting cornerbacks so he signed Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer. The Raiders ...
Reggie McKenzie has been busy lately bringing former linemen back to the team. First was Cooper Carlisle, a player that frustrated the Raider Nation time and time again. The next was Khalif Barnes, a one time promising left tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Those days are over, and Barnes is now a right tackle with a tendency to commit hair-pulling penalties in the most crucial times. The two signed for a maximum of $3 million. Not so bad, if things play out well. If they continue to play at the level they have recently, many fans will call for their ...
Michael Bush has had a disappointing career in the NFL to say the least. Not in terms of statistics, but in terms of where he thought he would be.Bush suffered a nasty injury to his right leg as a senior. That dropped his stock from a top-10 pick in the NFL draft to a mid- to late-round pick. He was passed up by every team up until the fourth round, where the Oakland Raiders drafted him 100th overall. Still recovering from his injury, Bush sat out the entire 2007 season.Things only got worse. The Raiders had used their fourth overall ...
When Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen came to the Raiders organization earlier this year, one thing was already apparent to them: this was not going to be the Year of the Draft for the Oakland Raiders. Through various trades and questionable exchanges, the Raiders dwindled down their 2012 draft picks to just about nothing that could be worked with: a pick in the fifth round, and a pick in the sixth...zip, zilch, nada. Comedic ways of saying 'zero' aside, the Raiders did get some good players for their picks, and will receive compensatory picks as well, which I'm sure will ...
The Oakland Raiders added two more players to their roster today, one a familiar face and the other unfamiliar. I am puzzled by the signing of the former and like the signing of the latter.Let's begin with the familiar and puzzling signing.The Raiders announced they have brought back RT Khalif Barnes, who played for the Raiders the past three years with mixed results. Barnes performed well at times, even lining up as an eligible receiver in certain goal line packages.When he didn't perform well, however, it was ugly.Barnes often accumulated holding and false start penalties on consecutive plays. With the ...
If you were told to choose between the following two players as your team closer, who would pick? Player A: 199 career saves, 367 games finished, four-time MLB All-Star Player B: 10 career saves, 79 games finished, zero-time MLB All-Star You’d probably Player A, right? Not unless you’re Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin, who, on Tuesday, tagged Player B, aka Grant Balfour, as the A’s full-time closer, as reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. After all, if career numbers truly meant everything, then Oakland should have reacquainted itself with Jason Isringhausen or something, he being of 300 ...
New Oakland Raiders' general manager Reggie McKenzie inherited a mess.The Raiders had been a mom and pop shop for decades under the leadership of Al Davis while the rest of the NFL was expanding their operations to more closely reflect Fortune 500 companies.The mom and pop shop had advantages, but the lack of structure on the football side of the organization also had unintended consequences once Al Davis died.Lopsided contracts became something of a norm in Oakland and McKenzie was left the task to clean them up while still trying to improve the on-the-field product.The contracts of Stanford Routt and ...