Your 2021 Oakland Athletics

[Lastplaneout]

Still one of my favorite dynasties.

How are your minor league affiliates doing?

[Purple Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Lastplaneout

Still one of my favorite dynasties.

How are your minor league affiliates doing?

Thanks!

I haven't really been focusing too much on the minors since I don't have them set up correctly in terms of the IL & PCL and on down the line but I've been doing some research to do a proper review at the all-star break. We're horrible at all levels. It's amazing, I don't know what the previous management was doing with all those high draft picks the team should have stockpiled over the years because they sure had the money to keep at least a core group together.

For now, though:

Sacramento River Cats, AAA, 32-41, 4th place, Pacific Coast League Division 3, 12 GB
-The Mariners' Tacoma affiliate leads the division with a 44-29 record and the last-place Salt Lake Bees are 31-42, right on our tail. There haven't been a lot of strong performances at the AAA level. In fact, Francisco Quinenes still leads the club in home runs (11) and RBI (35) and he's been up with the A's for over a month now. Gib Glaus, who just got his 3rd start with the A's, is the leader in wins (5) and ERA (2.98). We really are one big injury away from being in some big trouble.

Midland RockHounds, AA, 30-42, 4th place, Texas League Division 3, 17 GB
-The division-leading Tennessee Smokies (Arizona) have the best record in all of AA at 47-25. The rest of the division is .500 or below so that record is obviously a bit bloated. Once again the last-placed team is only one game behind our affiliate. 22-year old third baseman Bernardo Betancourt and 21-year old catcher Chale Capuchin are leading the team but neither one makes any of the league leaderboards. 20-year old left fielder Carlyle Chamberlain who looks real good on paper has been disappointing thus far. 23-year old first baseman Cranley "Houdini" Merrell is supposed to be a can't miss prospect but someone needs to tell that to his bat because he's only hitting .247 since getting called up from A ball where his OBP was nearly .400. A bunch of starters have 3 wins... 20-year old Steve Strickler, a big Texas boy, is 3-6 with a 3.42 ERA & 68 strikeouts in 105 innings but he's walked 47 batter which is third worst in the league.

Stockton Ports, A, 29-43, 5th place, New York-Penn League Division 3, 17 GB
-The brave Ports have the worst record in A-ball. Arizona's Lancaster JetHawks (look out for Arizona in the next couple of years!) leads the division with a 46-26 record but once again beyond them the remaining four teams are all .500 or below. There haven't really been any players that stand out in a positive way, but 23-year old center fielder Clay Runion stands out in a negative one. Touted as a great contact hitter with lightning-quick wrists the guy is hitting .235 in nearly 300 at-bats. He does have 16 steals and is slugging .343 but he's not ready to hit AA pitching right now. 20-year old former 2nd round draft pick John O'Shanly, a right-handed starter, went right from rookie ball last year to A ball this year and has lost some of the control that was the main reason he skipped short season A with 46 walks in 110 innings. He also has a 2-11 record but he just hasn't had any run support whatsoever as his 4.34 ERA should have won him a couple more games.

Kane County Cougars, SSA, 28-26, t.2nd place, Pioneer League Division 3, 1 GB
-The Cougars finished the season 1 game out of first and 2 games out of last! It was a tight race all season to be sure and the "SSA World Series" is about to begin this week between the Burlington Bees and the Hickory Crawdads. 21-year old first baseman David MacNeill was the batting star and 18-year old blue-chipper Harry Hatfield posted a 3.52 ERA in 72 innings of work.

Vancouver Canadians, R, 29-33, 4th place, Gulf Coast League Division 3, 4 GB
-Another tight division sees all 5 teams within 5 games of each other (Everett AquaSox lead the division at 33-29). The team has a dearth of talent in the field but are being led by two promising arms - 19-year old righty Brian Blalock and 18-year old Demetri Mayers.

Not so promising, eh?

[Lastplaneout]

Thanks!

It really doesn't look too promising down on the farm, does it?

[Purple Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Lastplaneout

Thanks!

It really doesn't look too promising down on the farm, does it?

Hatfield & Merrell are the two that all my scouts agree upon and they still not close to helping the MLB club. And outside of those two we're really thin!


Next Up: 3-game series at home against Seattle

We come into this series with Seattle holding a 6-0 record against them this season and with all kind of momentum having reached the halfway point of our 12-game homestand with a 5-1 record. The Wednesday after this series completes will be our last off-day until the All-Star break, a stretch that will see us compete for 17 consecutive days. So instead of having the Mariners come to town and us looking to drop the hammer on them we weren’t going to take any unnecessary chances heading into 2½ straight weeks of baseball. This didn’t mean letting up on them by any means or resting starters it just meant starting pitchers had a shorter hook when leading late in games and starting position players might get yanked for replacements in late innings when we were ahead.

But this was going to be no cakewalk. The Mariners might be 29-39 but they came to town after completing an improbable 3-game sweep of the World Series Champion New York Mets and playing sizzling baseball with an 11-4 record in their last 15 games overall. Since the last time we played them the Mariners completed two minor trades – one which saw them acquire 29-year old left-handed reliever Corcoran Thomas from the Boston Red Sox, and the other where they traded 31-year old starter Pellegrin “Javelin” Lindeman to the New York Yankees for some prospects.

Unlike us who only have two, the Mariners have six players that have at least 10 home runs this season. 33-year old first baseman Julian Diaz, who played the 2014 season here in Oakland, has been a constant threat in the heart of the M’s lineup, leading the team in batting average (.348), home runs (13), RBI (44), and slugging (.546). The pitching has been the weak spot for the Mariners this year with 35-year old “ace” Louis Chouinard sporting a 4-7 record, 4.38 ERA, and 98 hits allowed in 84 innings.


Sunday, June 20, 2021
Game 69 vs. Seattle Mariners
6-3 Win; 24,266 in attendance
W: Nakamura (11-1) L: Swain (5-7) SV: Basnett (1)

Recap: Travis Byers hit a 2-out, 3-run home run in the bottom of the 1st inning to stake the oft-lucky Nori Nakamura to an early 3-0 lead. The A’s had a great chance to extend the lead the following inning but Teddy Revelez struck out looking with the bases loaded on a controversial pitch by 25-year old Seattle starter Allen Swain. Of course missing that opportunity would hurt as the Mariners promptly loaded the bases on 2 walks and a single to start the top of the 3rd inning. With the bases loaded another single and a walk got the M’s back into the game before a couple of infield popups and a strikeout got Nakamura out of further trouble. Mumbles Yamasita broke the game open with a 2-run single in the bottom of the 4th inning before Revelez blasted one of the longest home runs you’ll ever see in the bottom of the 7th, a 512-foot bomb to right-center field. Nakamura’s luck continues and he moved to 11-1 on the year despite allowing 10 hits and 7 walks in 7 innings. Gregg Basnett, who had been struggling greatly coming into the series with an ERA of over 9 on the season, pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief to get his first save of the year since Bill Mathis needed the day off. Coming into this series I had basically made up my mind on the Artie Page trade and an 0-for-3 performance with 3 strikeouts and 3 men left on base didn’t do anything to change my mind.


Monday, June 21, 2021
Game 70 vs. Seattle Mariners
20-8 Loss; 23,439 in attendance
W: Thomas (5-0) L: Cake (5-4)

Recap: Seattle had a 6-4 lead after the 1st inning highlighted by Mariners shortstop Montenegro Mesa and our Dome Guevaro trading grand slam home runs in a wild opening to an eventual blowout. All of our scoring would be finished by the bottom of the next inning when Guevaro delivered the key blow in a 4-run rally, a 2-run double (Guevaro finished 3-for-5 with 6 RBI and 2 runs scored) which put us up 8-6. But the Mariners took control for good in the top of the 3rd when Fred Cake left the game and Jonathan Leverett promptly gave up 6 more runs (3 attributted to Cake) including a 3-run shot to Seattle catcher Armando Calderin. Mesa & Calderin combined for 11 RBI on the day but it was 33-year old M’s first baseman Julian Diaz who took home Player of the Game honors with a 5-for-6, 3 RBI, 5 runs scored performance. Mumbles Yamasita was 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored but was caught stealing at second base after a perfect throw by Calderin in the 8th inning. Artie Page was 0-for-3 with another strikeout.


Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Game 71 vs. Seattle Mariners
12-8 Loss; 24,058 in attendance
W: Chouinard (5-7) L: Knisley (6-7) SV: Thomas (14)

Recap: 37-year old right fielder Miguel Cabrera became the 8th player in history to hit 600 career home runs as he smacked a 3-run shot off of J.D. Knisley in the top of the 1st inning to give Seattle a lead that they would never relinquish. 35-year old Mariners starter Louis Chouinard, whom we’ve beat up on in the past, wasn’t great as he allowed 10 hits and 5 earned runs through 6 innings but it was more than enough as the homer bug returned to Knisley (he gave up 4 homers and 9 earned runs in just 4.2 innings of work including a shot to our former catcher Colby Sunday) and we remained at arms-length the entire game. Reliever Fairfax von Schoening proved to be human as he gave up earned runs (3) for the first time since early May. In his defense he really hasn’t had much work out of the bullpen lately and may have cost him a bit in the concentration department. Despite the loss our designated hitter Francisco Quinenes was named Player of the Game for his 4-for-4, 2 home run, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored performance. Teddy Revelez also added a solo shot in the losing effort, his 18th of the year, off of Chouinard in the 3rd inning. With the heat clearly and openly on “high,” Artie Page folded again with an 0-for-4, 1 strikeout, 2 men left on base performance.


Current Oakland Record: 47-24

That’s baseball for ya. We look like world-beaters against the World Series Champions and then the last-place Mariners come to town and we lose a series for the first time since we dropped 2-of-3 to the Dodgers last month. And now with the 44-27 Dodgers coming to Oakland after an off day on Wednesday to finish off our homestand this was becoming an important series. We need to ensure that we don’t start floundering during this wicked 17-games-in17-days stretch leading into the All-Star break and we’d need some good performances from everyone to keep on moving ahead with optimal confidence.

Artie Page was as good as traded. I feel a little badly for both Cornelius McInally and Tanyon Meagher since we’ll be getting a starting catcher back in return and since neither one of them has played poorly enough to be labeled a liability but it was probably going to be Meagher going down to AAA to play everyday and McInally becoming the protégé to Lawrence Alison. When the deal is completed we’re going to investigate the possibilities of trading catcher Thomas Goodloe for a quality prospect.

[Purple Cowboy]

23rd June, 2021: Goodbye #36

It has been 11 days since Emmanuel Geyer of the Reds asked me if I felt like trading up-and-coming 26-year old shortstop Artie Page for a proven catcher in 32-year old Lawrence Alison and a 21-year old first base project player Roderick Carey. This was basically a slight salary dump for the Reds since Alison makes $880,000 on a contract that expires after this season and Page is making the $350,000 league minimum but it was generally thought that Page would be in the mix for an everyday spot in Cincinnati for the next several years at the very least. Plus Page is much younger than Alison. But the fact that Alison’s contract expires at the end of the year and that Page just hasn’t been what we were hoping he was made this deal make sense from our point of view. If Alison is a bust we wish him well at the end of the year and if not maybe he can stick around another season to help polish Cornelius McInally, Tanyon Meagher, and the other younger catchers.

We had given Page every opportunity to prove himself as someone that could at least be serviceable at the Major League level. But he followed up a miserable Spring Training where he didn’t even make the team with a .235 on-base percentage in 129 at-bats with no home runs and just five RBI when he did get his chance. We as an organization were beginning to fall into Einstein’s definition of crazy if we kept playing him: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

With the two-week deadline approaching I gave Geyer a call and just made him say aloud again what the offer was. Everything checked out – Page for Alison and Carey. I let him know that as far as I was concerned this was the best deal for both parties and agreed to it. Geyer immediately hit up my blackberry with the official league form to sign and I did it.

Catcher Alison had been splitting time behind the plate for the 35-36 Cincinnati Reds with 28-year old Arturo Diaz and after spending the last 4 seasons in Cleveland as the starter Alison didn’t take kindly to being lumped into a platoon with someone he obviously feels he is superior to. The Reds actually used him primarily as a defensive replacement this season and he’s wanted out of Cincinnati for the better parts of two months since his role became clear to him. He had some sharp words for the Reds’ management while being questioned about the trade rumors by the media, mentioning that it will be a relief to get back into the swing of being an everyday player and that he wished this trade would have happened earlier in the season when he wouldn’t have wasted so much time on the bench.

Tanyon Meagher was sent down to Triple-A and Cornelius McInally informed that he would now be the backup.

It was up to Jeff Hance to decide the lineup but we still had a hole to fill on the 25-man roster, namely a starting second baseman. While I began hitting the phone lines I told Hance to go into the Dodgers series with 24 men and play Reydel Vazquez at second until I checked out some options. If all else failed 26-year old second baseman Ken McCree, who was hitting .302 with a .365 OBP down at AAA Sacramento, would probably be the option. I really don’t have much faith in McCree though, as he was part of last year’s awful team and hit just .223 in 319 at-bats last year while committing 5 errors in just 60 chances.


Here’s a look at the current player stats for the three men involved in the trade:


Artie Page – 2B, Oakland Athletics, MLB

Name          G   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Page 2B      34  129  10  26  4  0  1   5   4  41   1  1 .202  .235  .233  Page 2B

Lawrence Alison – C, Cincinnati Reds, MLB

Name          G   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Alison C     60  121  12  31  1  0  1   8   4  33   0  0 .256  .286  .314  Alison C

Roderick Carey – 1B, Billings Mustangs, R

Name          G   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Carey 1B     33   41   3   7  1  0  0   2   3   4   0  0 .171  .239  .195  Carey 1B

They Said It…

“Yeah, I hope they have a real good time with this Rod Carey dude. I hear he’s hitting .171 in his second year of rookie ball.”
-New Cincinnati Reds second baseman Artie Page sounds a bit bitter when being asked about the trade.

“I’m glad we were able to accommodate Larry; I know he would have liked for this to get done sooner but I think we all leave things now on good terms. It just wasn’t a good fit here with us, there was probably some miscommunication from early-on in his brief stint with us and that’s probably my fault but I’m sure he’ll be happy in Oakland.”
-Cincinnati General Manager Emmanuel Geyer takes the high road in his comments to the media on outgoing catcher Lawrence Alison.

“Manny Geyer is horse buttocks, and you can print that! He’s not even Jewish, either, he’s Spanish.”
-Lawrence Alison makes bizarre comments regarding his former General Manager Emmanuel Geyer.

“You know, you think one thing that you’re going to be up with the big club all year and then circumstances dictate a different course of action. Of course I don’t like it but then again I’m probably going to get to play everyday for the River Cats and I’m positive that I’ll prove that I deserve another chance.”
-Catcher Tanyon Meagher keeps a stiff upper lip despite his demotion to AAA Sacramento.

[Purple Cowboy]

Artie Page Homosexuality Bombshell

The national media has been cautiously reporting (based on unsubstantiated local reports) that Oakland supposedly traded Artie Page to Cincinnati because of Page’s forthcoming book in which he reveals that he is a gay American.

“The atmosphere in the locker-room was absolutely appalling,” said Page, who went on to say that many of his former Athletics teammates and members of upper management knew full well that he was gay. “If they didn’t know, they were either blind or being ignorant.”

Page went on to chastise society as a whole while coming off as a bit insensitive to the plight of the everyman:

“Everyone always says, it’s 2021, this sort of thing doesn’t happen. But I was basically tortured everyday in the locker room by teammates who are now being hypocritical or present themselves as accepting when they are actually merely tolerant. Since the rumors of my book came to public attention I’ve also received unpleasant emails from fans and that’s really what I’m most disappointed with. These are exactly the same kind of people that if their own son or daughter came out their view would be much, much different.”

Page took some flack of his own for his use of the phrase “kind of people” which seems to have fueled some members of the media. But some others maintain that this was just a sensible baseball move by Oakland and has nothing to do with Page's sexual orientation.

“The A’s needed a catcher that could hit the damn ball, that’s all this trade was about,” said Manny Guaman of the East Bay Express. “All this extra stuff about Page ‘gaying up the locker room’ is just hogwash, plain and simple.”

The A’s are rumored to be in negotiations with the Chicago White Sox about their backup second baseman, 30-year old defensive specialist Dan Volquez, in exchange for AAA catcher Thomas Goodloe.

[Jestor]

Given that Alison was so pissed after having to wait so long, maybe he'll go on a tear for you now, esp. since it's contract year for him.

[Purple Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Jestor

Given that Alison was so pissed after having to wait so long, maybe he'll go on a tear for you now, esp. since it's contract year for him.

I hope so! I've been itching to play but I've been doing some travel for work lately and can't install anything on my work laptop. I thought the Artie Page story would get some more heat, too. He's going to retract everything and say he's misquoted coming up next.

[ifspuds]

Bump!

How's my favorite team from 2021 doing?

[Curtis]

I hope they're not waiting for 2007 to come out. Living in 2021, they know that 2007 was an urban legend.

[Purple Cowboy]

I'll be back at it relatively soon. It's been a combination of finally running out of juice from the playoffs, travel for work, and marathon sessions of Final Fantasy XII and Football Manager 2007.

But we'll keep marching forward! I'm excited to get to the post-All Star break to start "scouting" the other clubs; it should hopefully prove to be a fun way to incorporate more of the league's 15-year history.

[Purple Cowboy]

Next Up: 3-game series at home against Los Angeles Dodgers

This series marked the end of our Interleague games for the season and the Dodgers were going to be a good test as they took 2-of-3 games from us last month at Chavez Ravine (including Rio “Rocky” Basurto’s no-hitter) and we were coming off a 2-games-to-1 series loss to Seattle in our last set. The second-place Dodgers, though, were in a tailspin despite a 44-29 record and despite being just a game behind division leader Arizona. They come to Oakland having lost 7 of their last 8 games including sweeps at the hands of third-place Minnesota and fourth-place San Diego.

The big news was still about Artie Page as our former second baseman held another press conference to announce that he wasn’t, in fact, homosexual. He said that all of his comments were taken completely out of context and that he was upset about having been traded from a first-place team to a team with a below .500 record in Cincinnati. He said the mix-up ensued as he “speculated aloud about the reasons why (he) was traded” when he felt he had been playing solid baseball. He also said that his comments could be construed as offensive to the gay community and he offered an apology and a $10,000 donation to HIV & AIDS research. Page becomes the first baseball player since Mike Piazza had to explain his frosted tips in a similar press conference a generation ago to openly deny his homosexuality.

As we went into the series talks were heating up with the Chicago White Sox for their 30-year old backup second baseman Dan Volquez. Volquez was a comparable hitter to Page but much better defensively around second base. Even though he’s been on the White Sox’ roster all season long he’s only appeared in three games as a defensive replacement and has no at-bats. Volquez has bounced around a lot since debuting with St. Louis in 2012 with stops in Milwaukee, Houston, Kansas City, Colorado, and Chicago and has never had more than 58 at-bats in a season. But he seems like he could be the perfect role player for us in that we have other bats that can carry the offensive load. In return the White Sox are considering taking our 23-year old catcher Thomas Goodloe who has been with Triple-A Sacramento this season after being part of last year’s Unwinables. Goodloe is touted to be both a good hitting prospect (although he’ll never hit for much power) and an above-average defensive catcher.

Since no deal was made before the opener Manager Jeff Hance decided to give Reydel Vazquez a rare start at second, only his third appearance in the month of June.

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Revelez LF
4. Guevaro 3B
5. Byers RF
6. Arce 1B
7. Alison C
8. Vazquez 2B
9. Quinenes DH


Thursday, June 24, 2021
Game 72 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
8-7 Win; 24,097 in attendance
W: Dickson (11-2) L: Flores (5-5) H: von Schoening (5) SV: Mathis (25)

Recap: The game wasn’t quite as close as the final score as we held an 8-4 lead going into the top of the 9th inning. Fairfax von Schoening, who had rolled through a perfect 8th inning, gave up three runs on two walks and two hits without getting an out before Bill Mathis came on to record his Major League leading 25th save of the year. Rowley Dickson didn’t have his best stuff, allowing 8 hits and a season-high 5 walks for 4 earned runs but the offense did enough for him to nab his 11th win of the season. Dodgers’ starter Julio Flores was hammered for 10 hits and 5 earned runs in just 3.2 innings, including 1st inning home runs by Travis Byers (his 11th of the year) and Edgard Galdames (his 3rd). New acquisition Larry Alison doubled in his first at-bat in an A’s uniform and went 2-for-3 with a walk in a solid debut. Galdames was 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored and Dome Guevaro was 4-for-5 with an RBI. L.A.’s 34-year old shortstop Jessie Switzer was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI in the losing effort.


Post Game News: Volquez Deal Done

White Sox General Manager Ryan Murray called me after the game to confirm the trade. We sent 23-year old catching prospect Thomas Goodloe to Chicago for 30-year old second baseman Dan Volquez and an 18-year old reliever that’s projected to go nowhere named Ricardo Rivero.

Designated hitter Francisco Quinenes would be moved up one slot in the batting order to hit eighth as Volquez would assume the everyday number nine slot. Volquez requested the controversial Artie Page’s #36 and perhaps as a bit of petty payback for Page ripping the organization for his trade in the press we agreed to give Volquez the number.


Friday, June 25, 2021
Game 73 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
2-1 Loss; 27,213 in attendance
W: Martin (3-1) L: Mathis (3-1) H: Leverett (4) BS: Mathis (3)

Recap: It took us until the bottom of the 4th inning to snap Dodgers’ starter Rocky Basurto’s 12-inning hitless streak over us when Dome Guevaro hit a line drive single to left. Despite Basurto’s great stuff our starter Gib Glaus left the game in line for the win after 6 gutsy innings of 4-hit shutout ball, striking out 5 while walking none despite tossing 107 pitches. Teddy Revelez hit his 19th home run of the season, a solo shot, off Basurto in the bottom of the 6th to stake Glaus to the slim 1-0 lead. Our 29-year old lefty reliever Jonathan Leverett, who came into the game on very shaky ground with an ERA near 7.00, pitched 2 innings of sterling relief, striking out 4 and walking none in his best outing of the season. Hopefully it will be a confidence boost for him going into the All Star break. But in a rare showing of mortality Bill Mathis couldn’t close the door in the top of the 9th when Dodgers’ first baseman Glenn Pierce sacrificed flied in a run after Mathis had allowed a walk and a double. After Mathis said he wanted to go and pitch the top of the 10th he promptly gave up two more hits including another double and a run scored to take the loss. It was a disappointing late collapse in front of our very best crowd of the year. Dan Volquez had an uninspiring debut (0-for-3 with a walk) and it was back to earth for Larry Alison in his second game with the club (0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout). In a nod to his determined performance, Glaus was named Player of the Game.


Saturday, June 26, 2021
Game 74 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
24-3 Win; 28,372 in attendance
W: Nakamura (12-1) L: Lopez (4-2)

Recap: Nori Nakamura became the softest 12-game winner in recent memory as he gave up 10 hits and 4 walks in 8 innings but the recently frustrated bats awoke with a nasty 22 hit attack including two grand slams and a cycle! Everyone in the Oakland lineup had at least one hit, the biggest being Francisco Quinenes’s grand slam in the 6th inning and Dome Guevaro’s grand slam in the 8th inning. Travis Byers hit for the cycle going 5-for-5 with two home runs, 3 RBI and 5 runs scored. Jose Arce and Teddy Revelez also homered making it five different Athletics with at least one home run! The Dodgers trailed 9-3 going into the bottom of the 8th inning but a 15-run, 11-hit barrage gave this blowout its flattering final scoreline. A huge win in front of an even bigger crowd than yesterday was a nice way to clinch the series with the Dodgers and finish out our Interleague play on a high note. 26-year old lefty reliever Josh Frank threw a perfect 9th inning to finish off the game for us.


Current Oakland Record: 49-25

We now have a 7-game road trip to Seattle for 4 games and Cleveland for 3. It’s looking like this team is pretty close to a finished product to try to make a strong run for the rest of the year and it will be interesting to see where we’re at in a couple of weeks once Larry Alison and Dan Volquez have had some time to settle into the club. We have a big decision to make in about a week as 25-year old starting pitcher Neifi Villaluazo will just about be fully recovered from his back and wrist injuries. We might just leave him on the disabled list until the All Star break and figure things out at that point. Right now it wouldn’t seem quite right to demote Gib Glaus with the way he’s been throwing.

[Jestor]

for Rowleyball!

[Purple Cowboy]

Here are the stats for the players involved in the Goodloe for Volquez trade:


Thomas Goodloe - 23, C, Sacramento River Cats (AAA)

Name          G   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Goodloe C    45  127  14  30  2  1  1  14  11  24   0  0 .236  .295  .291  Goodloe C

Dan Volquez - 30, 2B, Chicago White Sox (MLB)

Name          G   AB   R  H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB   K  SB CS AVG.  OBP.  SLG.  Name
Volquez 2B    3    0   0  0  0  0  0   0   0   0   0  0 .000  .000  .000  Volquez 2B

Ricardo Rivero - 18, RHP, Kannapolis Intimidators (SSA)

Name          G GS  W  L HLD SV BS   IP HA HR  R  ER  BB  K   ERA  OAVG CG SHO Name
Rivero MR    11  0  0  1   1  0  1 16.1 16  3  9   9   8  8  4.96  .258  0   0 Rivero MR

[Purple Cowboy]

Next Up: 4-game series on the road at Seattle

Despite the fact that Seattle is 17-games behind us in last place in the American League West with a 32-42 record, they are 14-9 in the month of June including a 3-game sweep of the World Series Champion New York Mets and a 2-games-to-1 series victory over us last week in Oakland. On the other hand, with the impending return of starting pitcher Neifi Villaluazo from the disabled list these would be very important starts for our Gib Glaus and Fred Cake, who will essentially be trying to stake their claim to keeping their spot in the starting rotation. I also thought that it was going to be a really good thing for new acquisitions Larry Alison and Dan Volquez to settle into the club away from the home media with a 7-game road trip, another benefit being that the entire team will basically be together all the time and get a chance (or be forced) to bond for a solid week.

Sunday, June 27, 2021
Game 75 at Seattle Mariners
8-1 Win; 18,999 in attendance
W: Cake (6-4) L: Chouinard (5-8)

Recap: Seattle’s 35-year old veteran righty Louis Chouinard outpitched our J.D. Knisley and New York Mets ace Brandon Radley last week and Fred Cake was the losing pitcher in the Mariners’ 20-8 victory last Monday. But despite the bad omens, and with his possible future in the rotation on the line in this one performance, Cake came through with a Player of the Game outing, throwing 8 innings of 5-hit baseball, walking 3 and striking out 4 in one of his strongest overall performances of the year. Dome Guevaro smacked his 19th home run of the year, a two-run shot, with two outs in the top of the 1st inning to give Cake all of the run support he would need for the victory. Travis Byers was 3-for-4 and Dan Volquez doubled in his first two runs in an Athletics uniform. Larry Alison was 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI. 23-year old rookie center fielder Pepe Ochoco was 2-for-4 for Seattle. Our reliever Terry Rogers came on to pitch a scoreless 9th inning.

Monday, June 28, 2021
Game 76 at Seattle Mariners
5-4 Win; 17,305 in attendance
W: Knisley (7-7) L: Felt (1-1) H: Basnett (5) H: von Schoening (6) SV: Mathis (26)

Recap: J.D. Knisley came out throwing bullets, striking out eight batters in the first four innings. But Seattle gradually wore him out, and after touching him for 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and 6th innings, he loaded the bases and was yanked after 125 pitches with two out in the bottom of the 7th. In perhaps another season-defining performance, previously struggling reliever Gregg Basnett picked up a called strike three to get us out of the inning. Farifax von Schoening also got back on track with a scoreless 8th inning (he did walk a batter, though) before Bill Mathis worked a perfect 9th for his Major League-leading 26th save. Dome Guevaro had the big blow again, a solo shot off of Seattle starter Patrick Felt in the top of the 7th inning to break a 4-4 tie. Jose Arce went 3-for-4 to nab the Player of the Game prize. Seattle’s 27-year old Mexican reliever Wilson Quenby pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief out of the Mariners’ bullpen.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Game 77 at Seattle Mariners
3-2 Win; 17,022 in attendance
W: Dickson (12-2) L: Arvizy (3-10) H: von Schoening (7) SV: Mathis (27)

Recap: Seattle’s exciting 27-year old second baseman Hermon James gave the Mariners a 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning with a 372-foot home run to left field. 30-year old Seattle starter Carlos Arvizy has been searching to regain his 2018 form when he was 17-13 with a 3.35 ERA for the last two-and-a-half seasons but even though he started his outing against us with four no-hit innings he gave up a 3-run blast to Francisco Quinenes in the top of the 5th that would cost him yet another loss. Since 2018 Arvizy’s record is 18-43. Overall Dickson went 7.1 innings giving up 5 hits and walking no one while striking out 10 to take Player of the Game honors. Fairfax von Schoening walked a batter, hit a batter, and struck out a batter in his two-thirds of an inning pitched before Bill Mathis shut the door in his second straight game. Both von Schoening and Mathis were now unavailable for the series finale. Teddy Revelez was 3-for-4 and Mumbles Yamasita and Jose Arce both went 2-for-4.

Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Game 78 at Seattle Mariners
5-1 Loss; 8,240 in attendance
W: Swain (6-8) L: Glaus (2-2) SV: Quenby (2)

Recap: This was a tough night for Gib Glaus as Seattle’s underachieving Allen Swain allowed 6 hits and walked 6 in just 5.1 innings but we just couldn’t make him pay for his wildness. Wilson Quenby pitched 3.2 innings of relief to really earn his second save of the year. Quenby gave up a solo shot to new catcher Larry Alison, his first home run as an Athletic, in the 8th inning for our only run and the only blemish during gutsy performances from both Seattle hurlers. It’s hard to tell what’s going on with Allen Swain. He’s the former #2 overall pick by the Mariners in the 2016 draft and he won the 2019 Cy Young Award for an unbelievable season: 25-4 record, 1.27 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 379 strikeouts, 79 walks, 165 hits, 269.1 innings pitched. But this season his ERA is close to 5 and he’s on pace to smash his season-high walk total (65 walks this season, his season-high is 78). As for Gib Glaus, he made two big mistakes - a two-run shot given up to Hermon James who homered in his second straight game for Seattle in the 4th inning and then a 3-run shot to 26-year old Montenegro Mesa in the 6th for the final scoreline. Mesa was 2-for-3 on the day and was named Player of the Game. It was a decent effort for Glaus, 6 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 2 walks and 9 strikeouts but not good enough to save his spot in the rotation. Dome Guevaro committed his 9th error of the year, a throwing error, in the 6th inning.

Current Oakland Record: 52-26

It was a horrible job by the Seattle crowd who barely showed up on Wednesday, perhaps resigned to a sweep. But just when you count Seattle out they show you just how scary they are going to be in the future with all of these promising younger players and gritty, underrated veterans getting a chance to get some quality at-bats and innings this season. I’m very happy we were able to grab 3-of-4 games; if I were a betting man I would have said this series was going to be a split considering how hot the M’s had been.

(That concludes the month of June, but with just 10 games left until the All Star break I’ll hold off on the player stats until then.)

I reached a mixed decision on Gib Glaus and he’ll be going down to Sacramento at the All Star break when we activate Neifi Villaluazo from the disabled list. This way he’ll get one or two more starts and maybe we can throw him into a trade for some young arms for a team that needs an arm going into the stretch run. It might be best to keep him as insurance for our rotation but if a sensible deal is available or we get an approach for him towards the end of the month at the trade deadline we’d be foolish not to look at it. I'm not totally convinced with Fred Cake though and reserve the right to amend that decision.

3-games at Cleveland coming up, followed by finishing off the first half of the season at home with 3 against Kansas City and 4 against Texas.

[Purple Cowboy]

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Cleveland

Cleveland’s 36-41 record has them mired in a last-place tie with Kansas City in the American League Central, 13½-games behind the Chicago White Sox. The Indians have been playing some better baseball of late, going 8-5 over the last two weeks and stringing together back-to-back series victories against Arizona and Kansas City.

33-year old third baseman Roydrick Williams, a 4-time All Star, is the hitting star for the Indians with a .347 batting average, .485 OBP, .609 SLG, 15 home runs, 47 RBI, 46 runs scored, and 78 hits in 225 at-bats. 27-year old left fielder Totoya Yoshida and 30-year old shortstop Chris Reeves give Williams support in a lineup that really lacks punch – Cleveland’s 69 homers as a team are ahead of only Texas and Toronto (65) in the American League while their 357 runs scored is second-worst in the league behind only Kansas City’s 337.

An offense like that puts a lot of pressure on its pitching staff and it has exposed the Cleveland bullpen as a major weakness. Especially disappointing this year have been 28-year old Jaime Cancino, 35-year old Kelvim “Poison” Saliva, and 23-year old Jorge “Ripper” Covto, all middle relievers. They just called 21-year old starter Kevin Holcomb up to the Major League club for the first time in his career. Holcomb was the 7th overall pick as a high schooler in the 2017 draft so there’s some hubbub about the move in the local press but I’m not sure that we’re going to get a chance to see him throw in this series. 27-year old righty Ben King leads the rotation with an 8-7 record and 4.11 ERA. 23-year old rookie Ricardo Colon, a lefty, has had flashes of brilliance this year, posting a 4-6 mark with a 4.53 ERA and a complete game shutout under his belt.

With the notable exception of Reeves at shortstop, Cleveland has one of the best teams in terms of position-by-position defensive talent in the American League.


Thursday, July 1, 2021
Game 79 at Cleveland Indians
7-2 Loss; 13,952 in attendance
W: Colon (5-6) L: Nakamura (12-2)

Recap: This one was a whitewash from just about the very beginning. After Travis Byers singled home a run in the top of the first inning to stake us to the early 1-0 lead Nori Nakamura promptly gave up four runs in the bottom of the frame including a two-run home run off the bat of first baseman Harold Alfred. After that point it might as well have been 20-1 because we never threatened for the rest of the game – it felt like we were three miles behind the leader near the end of a marathon. 23-year old Nashville native Ricardo Colon pitched a strong complete game for Cleveland, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5. After his first inning meltdown an infuriated Nakamura struck out the side in the second, third, and fourth innings before giving up two more runs in the fifth. Byers, Dome Guevaro, and Larry Alison all went 2-for-4 on the day for us. Cleveland third baseman Gerald Wimmer was 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI to lead the Indians offense but Colon’s performance earned him Player of the Game honors. Dan Volquez committed his first error at second base since coming to Oakland.

Friday, July 2, 2021
Game 80 at Cleveland Indians
13-3 Win; 13,465 in attendance
W: Cake (7-4) L: Lima (4-6)

Recap: I won’t lie, it did feel good to shake off two straight losses with a nice blowout win. But it was a strange evening in Ohio. Aside from a bizarre 9-run third inning that saw 14 Athletics come to the plate we seemed to be playing in a fog. Two key errors from the otherwise defensively sound Indians along with four walks in the inning contributed to the not-quite-blowout blowout vibe. From my point of view it was disappointing that starter Fred Cake didn’t have pressure on him after his first two innings of work. With Neifi Villaluazo ready to come off the disabled list after the All Star break I was still weighing whom between Cake and Gib Glaus would be sacrificed to create the roster slot for Neifi. Cake ended up with an unspectacular 7 innings of work and was always in trouble, allowing 6 hits and issuing 6 walks along the way. Struggling reliever Gregg Basnett allowed one earned run in two innings of relief. Francisco Quinenes hit his 10th home run of the year in the 9-run third inning while Dome Guevaro took home the Player of the Game Award for his 2-for-4, 6 RBI performance. Oakland newboys Dan Volquez and Larry Alison were both 3-for-5 on the night.

Saturday, July 3, 2021
Game 81 at Cleveland Indians
10-2 Win; 14,670 in attendance
W: Knisley (8-7) L: King (8-8)

Recap: If ever any one game could be seen as a “message” sort of game I think this one, as a message to Oakland fans that the future is much brighter than the recent past, just might work. Against Ben King, the #10 overall pick in 2012 by Oakland who blossomed into a solid major league starter for Cleveland after another lopsided trade, Teddy Revelez hammered a ball 518 feet in the top of the first inning and set a nasty tone for the rest of the day. Francisco Quinenes homered in his second consecutive game and went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI in a Player of the Game performance. J.D. Knisley gave up 11 hits and walked 3 in 8 innings of work to get his eighth victory of the year. Dan Volquez had two more hits and seems to have hit an early decent groove at the plate since joining us from the White Sox. Most of the everyday position player starters were pulled early as we were coasting after the third inning for the second consecutive day.

Current Oakland Record: 54-27

We have 7 games to go until the All Star break and we were headed home to play out the string. It should be a great atmosphere as we still have the best record in the American League and presumably should be celebrating a few All Star selections. If we can make it through these last 7 with the Royals and Rangers with a 4-3 record I’ll be over-the-moon with our first half of the season performance.

Right now Fred Cake is the obvious choice to remain in the rotation since he’s been pitching decently since we signed him as a stopgap free agent and because he’s a righty and we have too many lefties. At least one of our lefty relievers would also have to be traded or demoted to make room for another righty arm in the bullpen. I don’t know what offers might be out there at the trading deadline which looms at the end of the month but I might want to try and make a move sooner rather than later to allow some room for error.

[ifspuds]

Great to see a new post in here!