"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.