There’s not a whole lot of new info when it comes to the A’s minor league system this time of year; in fact, we’re pretty much at the point when all that’s left to do is to start speculating about who’ll be playing where to start next season. It’s a bit of a desperation move but one that’s usually good for a few rounds of discussion. (Good work there, Zonis!)

So what to write about on this the first Monday of 2009?

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After the disaster that was the A’s most recent foray into free agency, we need to re-evaluate where the team stands. Shortstop remains a hole in the line-up and possibly in the field. 1st base would be almost as bad if it weren’t for the not-completely-unfounded hope that Daric Barton can be a productive big leaguer next year. We’re counting on Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis to return from injury and perform at some reasonable semblance of their former selves. Buck and Sweeney have potential, but they’ve had problems staying healthy and don’t exactly have a track record of consistency. The rotation is long on potential but short on experience, the depth of options is nice but the best young arms might not be ready to blossom until 2010.

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I'm writing an article for AN, discussing potential SS prospects the A's could go after via trade now that Furcal has decided to stay in SoCal. The problem is I've got a lot on my plate and can't do the research on 29 organizations to find quality shortstops. The way I figure it, there are plenty of people on this little slice of SB Nation who follow other teams and if you'd be willing to throw out the names of any SS in your favorite organization who'd be ready to play in 2009 I'd surely appreciate it. The only guideline I set is that you expect your nominee be better than Bobby Crosby... so really I've set the bar fairly low! It would be great if you wanted to share a quick scouting report, especially if he's a bit of a dark horse but a name will do just fine.

And thank you for your support!

I am not a patient muppet. Nor am I renowned for my optimism. So the last time I wrote something that wasn’t, at best, a summary of the work of others I took a small leap of faith to include Rafael Furcal as one of the assets on the A’s 2009 roster. At the time, I didn’t think there was any way for Billy Beane to screw up the deal. The A’s were the only team pursuing Furcal as the Giants and the Cardinals had dropped out of the race and acquired new shortstops. I thought, there was no way that the A’s were heading to Las Vegas without Furcal in green and gold!

I was wrong.

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Oddly enough, Ben Copeland doesn't make the list.

B+ Category

Cahill

Anderson

B Category

Cunningham

Gonzalez

Cardenas

Carter

Weeks

Doolittle

B- Category

Inoa

Mazzaro

Simmons

Rodriguez

Outman

Hunter

Carignan

Follow that with 11 players rated as C+ and the A's have a very deep system. I'm of the opinion that one of Cahill/Anderson should be an A- and Sickels himself said both pitchers are borderline canidates for an A- and that he chose to grade conservatively. My choice would be Anderson but it's his list so....

Just for comparison's sake, I'll re-post BA's Top 10.

This starts with a simple question: Can the A’s afford to keep Matt Holliday beyond 2009?

What follows is a detailed breakdown of the financial commitments and organizational depth of the Oakland A’s over the next 5 years. This involves a bit of educated guesswork in places but wherever dollar figures are involved my rule o’ thumb was to budget high and hope to spend less. And just in case I’ve bid low on anyone I round up on the overall budget prior to adding Holliday’s potential dollar figure. For the purpose of this exercise I’m placing Holliday’s contract at 6 years/$135 million starting in 2010. The money is evenly spread out over the length of the contract at $22.5 million annual. I don’t think that is what it’ll take to actually sign Holliday but again, I’m budgeting high and hoping to spend less.

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About a week ago I made a joke about posting a list of 3B prospects currently within the A's organization. Since I didn't bring up salb's height or Nico's goat affection some people didn't realize that I was telling a joke. So I'd like to set things straight once and for all...

There is no list.

Because there are no legit 3B prospects in the Oakland organization at this time.

That's the joke! HA!

Ha ha.

Heh.

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This is the part where I usually say something funny or profound.

I got nothing.

I do have the link to one of the most popular sites on the Web today:

PUPPY CAM!!!

http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?q=box+of...    

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We're all pretty much in agreement that Trevor Cahill is a good prospect although we tend to disagree just how good he really is. I see no reason to re-hash that discussion but I am curious to know how much relative trade value this "good" prospect has. The A's have a ton of pitching depth and a gaping black hole at SS. They just traded for Matt Holliday, who will most likely at least sample the FA market a year from now. If the A's are going to seriously contend in 2009 then one of the things they must do is replace Bobby Crosby as their starting SS.

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I know it may seem like all I do around here is circle like a vulture and pick at the bloating corpse that is the San Diego Padres... come to think of it, that's pretty much all I've done since I joined the site. But you've got to understand that all I want to do is go back to AN and throw out an idea and create an intelligent, stimulating discussion. That typically means starting a conversation with enough information to feed both sides of the story.

So here I am crashing your party again.

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