Yesterday, the A's upgraded their catcher position by being part of a three-team trade that will land them John Jaso of the Mariners.As soon as news of the trade broke (via the Washington Post), many fans and experts, myself included, were thinking that Jaso, coming off a career year—a .302 batting average, .394 on-base percentage and 10 home runs in 294 at-bats over 108 games played—would be the everyday starter.Now that the dust has settled and we have had time to look closer at Jaso, he is still an upgrade over George Kottaras, whom the A's designated for assignment to clear ...
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane swung a deal to steal catcher John Jaso from the division rival Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.According to multiple sources, the A's acquired Jaso from the Mariners and sent pitching prospects A.J. Cole, Blake Treinen and a player to be named later to the Nationals—who flipped slugger Michael Morse to the Mariners to complete the three-team deal. The A's then designated catcher George Kottaras for assignment to open up a spot for Jaso (via MLB Trade Rumors, citing a team press release). The A's were fifth in the league with an 8.9 percent walk rate last ...
Billy Beane is definitely still active this offseason. Today, the A's appear to have improved another deficiency by acquiring catcher John Jaso from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for two minor league players (A.J. Cole and and Blake Treinen) and the always curious player to be named later (news via Jane Lee of MLB.com, among others). For what it's worth, Seattle acquired slugging outfielder Michael Morse from the Washington Nationals, and the three Oakland players will be headed to D.C.In the short term, this is a nice move for the A's. Like the shortstop position, Oakland's catchers were not very productive ...
The Oakland Athletics acquired catcher John Jaso from the Seattle Mariners as a part of a three team trade. The A's gave up minor league pitchers A.J. Cole and Blake Treinen and a player to be named to the Washington Nationals.Jaso just hit for a career-high .276 batting average in 2012 to go with his career-high on base percentage of .394. The film Moneyball educated everyone that the A's like players who get on base.The Jaso trade does two things for the A's.First of all, it gives them a proven veteran behind the plate that they have lacked since trading away Kurt ...
The Oakland Raiders have a list of 17 unrestricted free agents. We don't need to evaluate guys like Matt Leinart who are obvious candidates to not be re-signed.The focus of this article is to look at several of the Raiders' biggest free agents and to decide whether or not they should be brought back by Reggie McKenzie and company. There are many factors to look at here, such as salary versus cap space, as well as talent and depth versus how expendable that player is.With those factors and more in mind, let's look at some of the Raiders' key free ...
The Oakland Raiders opened the season with four losses in their first five games and, in a division that now features Peyton Manning, that's enough to sink a team. The Raiders ended up 4-12 with just one win over the final nine weeks. It marks the 10th consecutive season in which the Raiders failed to qualify for the postseason. They are tied with the Cleveland Browns for the second-longest drought, behind only the Buffalo Bills. In eight of those seasons Oakland has won five or fewer games.The terrific football fans in Oakland deserve credit for sticking with the team through ...
Once again, the Oakland Raiders are forced to enjoy the playoffs from the comfort of their own homes instead of actually playing in them.We're less than four months until the 2013 NFL draft, and Oakland has plenty of holes to fill on both sides of the football before next season begins.With such a defensive-heavy draft class coming out in April, the Raiders are sure to draft a talented prospect that will help a defense that finished in the bottom half of the league against the pass and the rush.The defense wasn't the only unit that struggled for Oakland in 2012 ...
The Oakland Raiders have 17 players that will be unrestricted free agents when the new league year starts March 12. Unfortunately, having 17 free agents is not the only issue facing Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen this offseason. McKenzie and Allen are facing another year of taking on a lot of dead money with the idea that things will ease up in 2014. There are still outstanding bad contracts to shed from the team’s recent past. The Raiders will also have all of their draft picks in 2014 and the true healing can begin. As frustrating as it has been ...
Oakland A's shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima is going to win the 2013 A.L. Rookie of the Year Award. Say that again? Sure. Oakland A's shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima is going to win the 2013 A.L. Rookie of the Year Award. The 30-year-old Japanese-born infielder is not only new to the Athletics, he'll be taking his first stab at Major League Baseball as well. That qualifies him as—you guessed it—a rookie. "Hero" stands a great chance at winning the award in 2013. Now before you think I'm off my rocker, consider these reasons. If you're still not a believer, by all means, call ...
Ryan Delgado, the designated hitter/catcher for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the Independent American Association, has had his contract purchased by the Oakland Athletics. According to a January 11 press release from the AA, Delgado is the fifth RedHawks player to have his contract purchased by an MLB club this offseason and eighth this year. Delgado was originally drafted by Atlanta Braves in the 32nd round of the 2010 MLB draft out of Azusa Pacific University. His statistics (courtesy of Baseball Reference) are deceiving, though this may be another case of a late bloomer finally ...