http://conditionoakland.com An Oakland A's blog with a slant towards stats and focus on who's hot, who's not, and minor league prospects. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:52:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en What a depressing start of the week for A's fans - swept by the Kansas City Royals and scoring only 7 runs total over the series. Today was a game the A's should have won with 13 hits and 6 walks. The glaring problem? Not a single extra base hit. ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=239 No, I'm not dead, even though it's been a whopping 3 months since my last post. As I mentioned to my friend Ryan Armbrust when I stopped writing for A Minor Consideration, I decided to cut wayyy back on my blogging so that I could focus more attention on my ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=238 Over at A Minor Consideration where Farhan Zaidi runs down the list of prospects the A's recently acquired and mentions a couple of under-the-radar farmhands that might step up in 2008. Key quote: Ultimately, the decision-makers in this organization aren’t satisfied with mediocrity, and are willing to take risks to get ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=237 I was surprised but pleased to see the news that Kirk Saarloos is back with the A's after his disastrous year with Cincinnati. I know some fans are scratching their heads at this move, but this is a win-win for both sides. Saarloos returns to familiar territory where he has ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=236 As you most likely already know, Mark Kotsay is no longer an Athletic, having been traded to Atlanta for cash and not one, but two RHP prospects. The first, and the one that had been getting all the attention over the weekend, was 2005 first round pick Joey Devine. But ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=235 Update: Kotsay passed his physical, it's a done deal and the A's are not only getting Devine but also young RHP Jamie Richmond.  While the A's are certainly having to give up a good chunk of Kotsay's salary, I have to think that Billy Beane once again came out ahead ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=234 I've been remiss in pointing out that you can get the low-down on all the new A's prospects that Billy Beane has acquired over at my old haunting ground, A Minor Consideration. Ryan Armbrust and Andrew Pentis have done a good job breaking them down on a one-by-one basis. Click ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=233 Update: As per Susan Slusser, Brown will be paid $1.45 mil + incentives. But I think it would be fair to see how much the A's have to give Atlanta (if the deal goes through) for Kotsay to see the real cost of Brown. Still, $1.45 mil is a pretty ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=232 Update: 1-29-08: Added salary info for Chad Gaudin who agreed to $1.775 million in arbitration. Update 1-21-08: Added salary info for Joe Blanton who agreed to $3.7 million in arbitration. Update 1-18-08: Added salary info for Huston Street who agreed to $3.3 million in arbitration. Supposedly a multi-year contract is in the ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=231 When Hudson and Mulder were traded to Atlanta and St. Louis for a bunch of prospects, it was hard to deal with, but I always thought after that shock to the system that I could handle any kind of surprise announcement from the A's. But Billy Beane has proved me ... http://conditionoakland.com/?p=230