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Sports & Culture
I can’t stand it when big trades go down and they always favor the “other” team. So when Billy Beane traded away Rich Harden for two bags of wheat and some cornflower, I had to sound off.
Check out my column in The Union.
All I feel inside is disgust and a deep sense of loathe for the two baseball meccas in Northern California.
We’re in week three and I’m pretty sure the season is already in the tubes for my esteemed San Francisco Giants while the Oakland A’s aren’t too far away from toilet fodder either.
This weekend, while braving a two-hour journey through traffic to the Bay Area, I went to go watch the lesser of two feebles as the A’s took on the Cleveland Indians - all while celebrating a friend and devout A’s fan’s birthday.
It was a chance for me to hang out with old friends while getting an up close look at what Billy Ball can produce in the depths of the American League West.
In my mind, it’s truly comical what the A’s are doing to their fans. Team favorite Nick Swisher: Gone. Loveable bonehead Marco Scutaro: Gone. Team pitching: Downgraded. Team defense: Downgraded.
For the first time in my life, I wonder if Billy Beane is imitating Brian Sabean.
Surely the atrocities of the offseason will not equate into a bottom dweller status for the best ball club in the Bay since 2002.
Or will it?
I ask these honest questions as a fledgling Giants fan after becoming supremely confident that my team is a willing participant in the draining of its fan base.
To read the full article, go to The Union.com.
I know this post is a little late, but — as most A’s fans probably understand — I needed a few days to calm down.
A few days to let it all sink in.
In his latest move, General Manager Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s traded off the team’s most exuberant, and most talented, player, Nick Swisher. Note that this was just weeks after trading the A’s only All Star last season, Starting Pitcher, Dan Haren. But this trade was more devastating to A’s fans. It was more shocking. Now this was Beane’s boy; he was featured in the book, Moneyball, and was dubbed the poster boy for the A’s.
More importantly, Swisher gave fans a reason to watch. He was my — and most of my buddies — hero.
Now, he’s gone. Traded to the Chicago White Sox for three minor league prospects.
Some say this is Beane’s way of rebuilding for the future — especially with the A’s moving to a new ball park in Freemont in a few years. Some say this is just more of Beane’s “Moneyball Mentality.”
I say Trading Swisher (and maybe even Haren, but that’s another issue) was stupid. What about the fans? Did Beane even consider how damaging this could be for the Oakland A’s fan base? I seriously have no reason to watch next season. Like one person wrote in a comment to a story on the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site, “Prices for tickets better be cheaper next season.”
They really should be. Swisher was, for some, the sole reason to go to the games. He was a true sparkplug in the dugout; he was the guy who would greet new players and make them feel comfortable on the team. And he was the guy who would drive in close to 100 RBI’s and smash about 25 to 30 homeruns a year. He was also the most versatile guy on the team, playing multiple positions, all without complaining. Basically, Swisher was the Oakland A’s, and surely he shouldn’t be happy about this decision.
But, like the honorable guy he is, he didn’t sound hurt by Beane’s decision. He didn’t take it personally.
“Billy Beane gave me my shot,” Swisher told the Chronicle. “He’s a genius, he knows what he’s doing. … He’s got a game plan and he’s gonna stick to that.”
Unfortunately, trading Swisher was part of the game plan. A’s fans just have to hope that Beane knows what he’s doing, because this latest move really hurt. And I’m not sure if we can recover from this.
In today’s Union newspaper, I opined on the one person who has escaped blame for the steroid era: you.
Check it out:
Steroids have almost split the nation further than the war in Iraq.
Well, at least in the world of baseball fans.
There are those fans who see the steroids era as a product of itself and then there are those who see the game as a travesty besmirched upon our once revered pastime.
Because you’re reading the sports page, I’ll assume you care somewhat about the morality of the game, its integrity and the integrity of its participants because of their influence on our youngsters. I’ll also assume that you’re a fan.
And as such, have you considered the fact that you implicitly consented to the cheating and skullduggery of this era?
Take a moment to acknowledge, accept and apologize for your role. If it weren’t for you and your blind faith, we wouldn’t be here.
It’s as simple as that.
When Mark McGwire, a beloved Oakland Athletic turned St. Louis Cardinals home run king, raced with Sammy Sosa to break Babe Ruth’s record, where were you on the issue of steroids? In the middle of McGwire’s home run chase, an Associated Press sports writer, Steve Wilstein, noted the slugger’s use of a known steroid substance. There was evidence for you then.
Bash Brother Jose Canseco even alleged in his book that McGwire, 1998’s savior of baseball, had been doping since the 1980s.
Did you miss out, or did we? Don’t answer that just yet.
Steroids as we know it, thrown in your face.
And by all accounts, and I mean those by the media, the haziness is more evident than ever. I haven’t been more confused about how I feel about the steroids era until now. I feel like a disoriented boxer in the ring, lashing out wildly for any sense or reason. I’ve turned to commentary nationally in hopes that someone has gotten a stronger grasp of the situation, but I keep pulling up lames.
The evidence is overwhelming. Check out these prominent pieces, all of which point to the same simple fact: there is no closure.
So I guess I can feel comfortable in saying that I’m not the only sports writer and commentator in this country that is vexed by this 409-page thesis. But unlike some of the work I’ve listed here, it’s not a question of the evidence, most of which in the Mitchell Report is circumstantial. It’s more of the grip that is taken on this era and the steroid stronghold that’s been in place. I think any reasonable person can come to believe that there was never going to be any sort of totality from the Mitchell report or any sort of authoritative understanding for the last four years, let alone the last two decades.
But there are also rumors that have been validated. As a writer who has consistently ripped Barry Bonds (mostly in this blog), it was no comfort of mine to see him mentioned in the report more times than any other player. No, it was the simple notion that there were other, equally arrogant stars such as Roger Clemens prominently mentioned in the report that brought a smile to my face.
Why would I smile? Because any man who will deliberately lie and besiege the game with ill prudence and arrogance is woefully hurting the integrity of America’s pastime, and therefore holding the game hostage until it can be rightfully returned to sportsmen and role models. Clemens, as well as every other athlete who vehemently denies steroid use without a libel/slander suit to back it up, no longer qualifies as rumor or a wrongfully accused individual. No, they follow the depths of Bonds and Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire (who by the way, was not mentioned in the report). Shame on them.
Jose Canseco, on the other hand, (in my eyes) is vindicated.
So, confused or not, I can walk away not feeling like an idiot for taking the plunges I’ve taken. I still don’t feel satisfaction in my knowledge of what’s happened, or feel proud of the MLBPA, or enjoy letting drugs become the major conversation of sports. But I can, as many writers around the nation can choose to, accept the reccomendations of the report and move on. There will be no other mass investigation and after Bonds gets his day in court (probably sometime in June 2008), the gist of the era will be behind us. I guess what started with BALCO and Bonds, will end with him as well.
That, I’m sure of.
Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane joined the board of directors at Net Suite, a new venture for the GM who is looking to “diversify.”
Net Suite chief executive Zachary Nelson always wanted to work with Beane, particularly after the book Moneyball came out. The book details how Beane, who works on one of the slimmer budgets in Major League Baseball, has put to use several formulas for finding the best talent for the cheapest buck.
For some reason this makes me think of that episode from the show “Numb3rs.”
I guess Beane doesn’t have enough to do already. You know, besides losing one of his best pitchers, ushering in a new skipper, and working for two other boards.
With all the money he’s pulling in, I feel like I should read Moneyball.
The San Francisco Giants have reached a preliminary agreement with the free agent Barry Zito for a seven-year $126 million contract, according to the Associated Press.
Sweet music to my ears.
Zito, who already lives in San Francisco, decided to stay in the City by the Bay after an offseason full of rumors about going to the New York Mets and literally every other American league team with dollars to throw. He had spent his first six seasons with the Oakland A’s.
The Giants will now benefit from a proven winner after losing Jason Schmidt to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Zito has a career 102 wins and 63 losses, pitching with a 3.55 ERA. Last season, he went 16-10 with a 3.83 ERA.
He’ll join a lineup of Matt Morris, Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessy and Jonathan Sanchez where he’ll be the second most tenured player in the league after Morris.
The deal comes after Barry Bonds reportedly was coming to terms with the Giants to agree for less money as long the team pursued high profile free agents. Turns out, Zito was always on the Giants mind.
Now, the Giants can focus on getting one more bat (a young one) in the lineup and we can pretty much declare next season exciting … at least from a fan’s point of view.
Barry Bonds is a Giant by many standards, but right now he doesn’t have a contract to make it official.
I’m not too fond of making a deal with Bonds by any measure. In fact, I’m (and will always be) on the record as calling him the cancer of the team.
His steroid investigation is too much of a distraction for my personal belief and his slowing game doesn’t help the cap space any. This supposed deal was estimated at $15.5 million or more with another $4 million in incentives before the story broke.
I can hear the argument that he still brings fans to the game, but if you watch the line of events that I’ve seen (steroid allegations, run-in with reporters and fans), it’s not enough for a general manager to justify $10 plus million.
He’s 42-years-old, declining in production (26 homers and 77 rbi in 2006 compared to 45 and 101 two years ago) and has a pissy poor attitude. Yeah 26 and 77 is nice, but not worth $15 million.
I say we dump the guy and chase Barry Zito (16-10 in 2006 with a 3.83 ERA) who’s still on the market. The A’s don’t seem to be interested, and he’s a proven pitcher. One would think the Giants would want to invest in their bullpen with the 28-year-old lefty after the Giants bullpen ranked No. 22 in the league in team ERA (4.63).
And reportedly, Zito is in no rush to make a decision, giving the Giants the proper leverage (dollars and location ) to nab him.
Giants GM Greg Sabean has to be thinking this. I mean, a lot more is at stake than Barry Bonds’ chase for the homerun record.
