signs of life?

Speculation abounds as to what the A's will do come trade deadline time. Yes, it's still early. The division is far from won, and all 4 teams have beat each other up pretty good so far. One thing is for sure, Beane will not hesitate to deal the big guns if we are not in contention. Right now, the gap is small enough to assume we can be.

Season summary thus far:

Our short term rental in Matt Holiday is finally flashing signs of ROI. He hit a 3 run shot yesterday to tie Jack Cust for most homers hit at 4. Still technically slumping, at .230, Holliday seems to be finding some rhythm, and it couldn't happen sooner. Giambi has yet to find his stride, posting a dismal ground ball ratio and hitting .225. Nomar is predictably plagued by injuries as is fellow infielder (and sugery recoveree) Eric Chavez, and neither have contributed much. Orlando Cabrera has played nothing short of gold glove defense at shortstop, but is hitting .220 with 0 homers.

The young rotation is holding up about as well as we could have hoped. Not stellar, but certainly not bad. The team ERA is 3rd in all of baseball at 3.77 . The young starters are 8th in hits allowed. Pair that with one of the worst offenses in baseball and you get, well: a 10-16 record. Pleasant surprises include Josh Outman and Trevor Cahill's latest performances, posting 6 strikeout and 5 strikeout gems, respectively.

The bullpen is pretty shaken up. With would-be closer Devine out for the season, the responsibility has fallen onto the skinny shoulders of submariner Brad Ziegler. Heavy is the crown, as Ziggy succumbed to a flu that kept him off the field for th last week, only to return Thursday and give up 3 runs in the 9th against Texas. Santiago Casilla sprained his right knee and left his set-up duties to one-year-deal vets Russ Springer and Mike Weurtz. Both have been decent, but not lights out. The true diamond in the rough seems to be young Andrew Bailey, at 3-0 with 24 K's through 19 innings pitched. If he keeps it up, he could find himself pitching more than just late inning relief.

The A's are only 4 games back in the West, and Seattle has lost 4 straight, earnign them a #2 spot, half a game behind Texas at 15-13. It's safe to say this division is soft, and ripe for a take over. What remains to be seen is if the A's are men enough to take it.

gone away on Holliday

While (sort of) enjoying a sick day this week, I happened to catch a day in the life of Matt Holiday behind-the-scenes on Comcast Bay Area. All told, it was B- entertainment value, C+ education value and surprisingly, quite telling as to the psychological limbo the one time batting champ now finds himself in while playing for Oakland.

Holliday looked uneasy when asked to discuss his new situation. His anxiety was thinly veiled behind a facade of optimsm as he conducted a sports radio interview by cell phone at his Malibu home (one can hardly expect he'd move his family to Oakland). So shaken up was the slugger that he actually thought he was fooling the listener by claiming he was happy with the move. He was glad to be playing for an entirely new team... for one year.

It must be tough, to be traded without warning in a contract year... to go from one of the best hitters parks in the majors to the #1 worst. The world must look a little different in the AL, wearing white shoes and being the highest paid player on one of the smallest payrolls in the game. It must feel like the rug has been pulled under you when you've just gambled by turning down a 4 year, $82MM extension for promise of even bigger dollars, and now those dollars are less certain.

It doesn't take a genius to offer an amateur blogger's psych profile: he feels deflated and cheated. He feels like his destiny has been taken out of his hands. He feels powerless. Naturally, his psyche projects onto his performance, and his hitting has been just that: powerless. Batting a pedestrian .240, with 12 stikeouts, Matt Holliday in green and gold is a far cry from the stud power hitter from Colorado. I guess feeling powerless can be tough.

Well you know what? Boo fuckin' Hoo. It's May 1st and Holiday has 1 home run to show for his $13 million dollar salary. That is both highly unexpected and totally unacceptable. All shake-ups aside, this is pro baseball, and he is a professional. The uniform should be irrelevant when it comes to production, especially in a contract year. If he still has his eyes on that big 7 year deal, Holliday’s next team will not accept excuses for an unprecedented drop in numbers. He needs to quit sulking and pick it up. Now.

The Mark Texieras and A-rods of the game can thank consistency for their record payouts. Well, consistency and Scott Boras. Without solid, regular numbers, player profiles can go from legendary to above-average in a heartbeat. Above-average players get 3 year deals. Legends get 8 figures. Holliday's contract extension offer from Colorado was fair and then some. He elected to let his bat do the talking and homer his way to legend status and legend dollars.... which was great until he was traded away to Oakland. Surprise!

Maybe Colorado felt snubbed. Maybe they knew they couldn't afford him as a free agent. Maybe they saw a chance to rebuild their roster in one feel swoop. Whatever the reason, the Rockies were somehow convinced to deal the face of their franchise to the A's. Holliday's opinion was not solicited.

The A's made an equally bold gamble in trading away 3 of our most promising young ballers in exchange for the slugger. Carlos Gonzales, Greg Smith and 2005 rookie of the year Huston Street made up what looked like a substantial personnel upgrade for Colorado. That trade seems to have worked out in Oakland's favor, as none of the youngsters has yet earned a starting spot.

So here he is. Point of no return. Holliday didn't ask for a trade, but he got one. He didn't ask for a monkeywrench in the gears of his well oiled, high altitude offensive machine... but nonetheless, here he is playing west coast mechanic with a bat. Attitude affects confidence, and confidence is everything in this game where performance pays. It's a compeptive game and a cut throat business, and there are no contracts awarded on goodwill (except for maybe Mike Sweeney). If Matt Holliday feels he's worth the biggest free agent contract of 2009, he's going to need to need to hit a few more homers than 1.

But hey... the season is still young, and the value of the trade for both sides has yet to be determined long term. Players go through slumps and hot spells alike. The future is anyone's guess, but one thing is clear: Matt Holliday looks unsettled, and he has a very limited amount of time to get comfy.