OT: Some thoughts

I know that the blog has been slow, but I am working on a project regarding Jay Payton and that should be up next week.

In the mean time, I thought I would discuss about what I have been doing lately. Along with school work, I have been doing some little repair jobs regarding some things that broke around the house.

I had a dvd/vcr combo system suddenly forget how to record in Super Long Play mode or SLP for short; the audio was garbaled and the video played fast. Turned out to be some dirty vcr heads so that required opening up the system and cleaning the heads using pieces of paper soaked in alcohol. I also got the service manual from www.manualzone.com which seems like a neat site for diy-ers.

Another project I am working on is a small Yamaha PSS-80 toy synth from 1989 that I found at a thift shop. I had been looking for one to fiddle with and convert into a midi controller for my computer desk. As of right now, it's waiting for some parts in order to add such as a headphone jack, volume control, and an automatic shut-off circuit for the batteries in case it hasn't been played for a while and I forget to turn off the synth. After these upgrades, I'll be looking into how I can modify it to have midi outputs.

I mention these things because I think durring the offseason, when there isn't many day-to-day events that require analysis, I will add musings and just thoughts regarding things in the news and in my life. Think along the lines of Andy Rooney.

RIP Bill King

While I'd like to think that I knew the impact King had on the Bay Area and with sports in general, I don't. I'm too young to have really listened to King enough in order to grasp his complete resume but I will share one story I have.

When the A's were going for win 20, and they blew the lead, I was pretty pissed off. I couldn't believe that the same team that had just beaten on of the top closers in the league, Eddie Guardado of the Minnesota Twins, could lose such a huge lead against the lowly Royals. Although I couldn't stand listening to the tv announcers, I decided to see if the radio side would be any different. In the 9th inning, when Hatteberg hit that pinch-hit homer to win the game, I remember how King made sure to acknowledge that this was a game that the A's should have won in 8 and a half innings.

It may seem mundane, but even then, in a moment of overwhelming-excitement, it was King's professionalism which accentuated the point that the A's blew a huge lead. He could have been like any number of other team personalities and rambled about how the A's "just accomplished the improbable" or some hyperbole along those lines, but that wasn't Bill King; it wasn't his nature.

It was a character trait that we should all strive to have.

It's as if he never left

By now you have heard that Macha is back and with others saying how bad of a decision it is, I can help but feel that my suspicions have been verified.

In my post, "The Company Man," I talked about how Hatteberg had been playing a lot more than he should have and that he should have been placed on the DL. Through a lot of the message boards and other blogs, you will see that a lot of the blame of 2005 is placed on Macha. This blame is unfounded as it should only be going to the top, squarely at Beane.

By bringing back Macha, it tells me that most of the decision that were made during the 2005 season had Beane's hands all over them. If Hatteberg playing too much, or Ellis not playing in the earlier part of the season, or even Chavez not moving from the third spot until Crosby came back, would have been grounds to fire Macha, it seems that these issues were perfectly fine with Beane to the point of retaining Macha. And Beane is the one with a pseudo-lifetime contract with the A's.

The only thing that Beane could not control to a varying degree is the bullpen usage and that is where Macha failed at a manager. It was almost as if he spaced out during the games and allowed pitchers to stay in the game for too long. In actuality, that was his biggest mistake. Many times, as document by my post, Cruz Control, Macha would allow a reliever to create a tense situation and then bring in another reliever at the most inopportune time. Yet this is the only credible strike against Macha that has a tangible difference from him being re-hired and what another manager would do. Everything else is under Beane's control.

So honestly, if someone wants to talk about lineups and how Ken Macha is the one at fault, they are completely mistaken. Think about it this way: When Tejada was struggling in 2003 and had a thumb injury, Ken Macha talked about how it was best to move him from the third spot. Now, with Chavez struggling and his shoulder sore, Macha is talking about how a lineup change won't matter. And we all know that Chavez is a Beane favorite so there is no doubt in my mind that Beane had far more leeway with Chavez than Tejada.

Sometimes, conventional thinking can prevail.

Macha's Departure

By now you know about Macha leaving the A's and while it's great news for the future of the team, I thought it would be appropriate to convey the feelings of the wonderful-ness that is Ken Macha.

Enjoy.

"The Blame Game"

The A's decided not to renew hitting coach Dave Hudgens contract after 2 and a half years of having the job. While it's safe to say that the A's weren't offensive forces, this was hardly just his fault. While Hudgens told MLB.com's Mychael Urban that Beane did not ask any players, Susan Slusser said that Beane "contacted a number of people."

What's funny is that the player with the biggest endorsement of Hudgens, Eric Chavez, was apparently not asked his opinion. Makes you wonder if this is because of the hands-off approach the '99 team complained about, it makes you wonder if Beane feels Chavez likes Hudgens because he is free and easy? The one problem I have is that it's not very smart to talk bad about a former employee to the media, but he did open up the fundamental issue with the 2005 Oakland Athletics: "We were the type of offense than needed 15 hits to score eight runs." It's a complaint that every A's fan has and yet it took the disgruntled employee to bring the situation to light.

NAME	YEAR	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	TB	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	GIDP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Hudgens	2005	162	5588	764	1462	306	20	155	2273	731	536	812	31	22	153	0.262	0.330	0.407	0.737
Hudgens	2004	162	5728	793	1545	336	15	189	2478	752	608	1061	47	22	142	0.270	0.343	0.433	0.776
Total	2003	162	5497	768	1398	317	24	176	2291	742	556	898	48	14	118	0.254	0.327	0.417	0.744
Hudgens	2003	108	3665	513	930	208	17	120	1532	501	377	610	41	17	78	0.254	0.326	0.418	0.744
Bosley	2003	54	1832	255	468	109	7	56	759	241	179	288	11	5	40	0.255	0.328	0.414	0.742
Bosley	2002	162	5558	800	1450	279	28	205	2400	772	609	1008	46	20	128	0.261	0.339	0.432	0.771
Bosley	2001	162	5573	884	1469	334	22	199	2444	835	640	1021	68	29	131	0.264	0.345	0.439	0.784
Bosley	2000	161	5560	947	1501	281	23	239	2545	908	750	1159	40	15	147	0.270	0.360	0.458	0.818
Hudgens	1999	162	5519	893	1430	287	20	235	2462	845	770	1129	70	37	128	0.259	0.350	0.446	0.796
Walling	1998	162	5490	804	1413	295	13	149	2181	755	633	1122	131	41	120	0.257	0.334	0.397	0.731

In 2004, his first full season with the A's, the team had the 4th highest OPS amongst the others and that team did not have Giambi or Tejada. He came back for a third season where circumstances mainly out of his control took place. I take issue with is that this is going to mask he fact that Beane made decisions like allowing Hatteberg to continue to play. The fact is this team did not hit for many homers and with the amount of injuries, that is to be expected.

One common thread between the 2004 and 2005 A's were their numbers with runners in scoring position. And it is very likely that the failure was because of his ideals that you should look for a pitch to drive. But I can't help but notice that the team as a whole failed at this aspect, yet when you look at Mark Kotsay and Jason Kendall, both led the A's in AVG with RISP and Kendall had a horrible season. So either his production "in the clutch" was an aberration, or it goes against the argument that it was all Hudgens fault.

Something to think about is the close relationship Hudgens had with Durazo. Throughout his tenure with the A's, Hudgens became, as close to being a personal hitting instructor as possible with Durazo. In 2003, he worked with Durazo in getting closer to the plate; in 2004, he worked on getting his hands inside the baseball; this year, he was going to work with Durazo to get him back to hitting, but it was discovered that he needed Tommy-John surgery. That Hudgens was released makes it almost a certainty that Durazo will not be back.

Durazo was a big loss to the team from the get-go; the way the rest of the team was constructed, the foundation was made of players who put the ball in play rather than their ability to slug the ball. So when the team grounded into their highest GIDP total in 7 years, who's fault was that? The failure of the team to produce offensively is also shared by Beane. But, Hudgens, just like every other coach Beane has fired, became a scapegoat as the sole problem that plagued the A's.