Despite being injured for most of his career, Rich Harden is still very valuable to any team…that is when he is healthy. But when he is healthy he is arguably one of the top 5 pitchers in the game. So Billy Beane should not bite on just any offer just yet. Why would he? Beane knows that there are a lot of desperate teams looking for pitching(Yankees, Cubs, Mets) and are willing to give up half their farm system just to land him. Yes, Harden is this good..when healthy of course. If the right deal comes along Beane will pull the trigger.

And why does Oakland always seem to have a good team no matter who plays for them?  I had no idea that they had any talent left (other than Blanton and Street) after they traded both Dan Haren and Nick Swisher.  Of course they always have depth in the minors, but how do they get them to always develop at the same exact time and form a good team?  Kurt Suzuki, Jack Hannahan, Daric Barton, three guys under 25 who have been solid contributors so far.  It doesn’t hurt to get lucky with Jack Cust who has re-shaped his career since joining the A’s.  Getting a consistent (and healthy) Rich Harden back is huge for them also.  Imagine how much better they would have been in past years had he been healthy.  Hopefully this isn’t an aberration and he can keep everything in one piece for a full season.  He’s a top talent if he does, and also increases his value, something Billy Beane would love to see, as I’m sure he’d trade Harden in a heartbeat.  He did trade Dan Haren and Tim Hudson, after all.

I guess I should learn to have faith in Billy Beane, he certainly knows his baseball, and he knows how to get the most for his players.  Looking back, the Mark Mulder trade was pure genious.  He netted Dan Haren who is now an ace (albeit for another team), Daric Barton who is one of the game’s top 1B prospects and is now in Oakland, and Kiko Calero, a solid bullpen arm.   All of this for Mulder who had only one good season in St. Louis and has since taken a gigantic dump.  The Haren trade may work out in their favor also.  Carlos Gonzales is a high-potential OF who can do it all, Dana Eveland is a solid young pitcher, and Chris Carter has a ton of potential at first base.  6 players for 1 is never a bad thing, and odds are that this will work out to make the trade a little more even as opposed to a highway robbery by the Diamondbacks.

It’ll be interesting to see what the A’s do the rest of the year and if they’ll give Anaheim and Seattle real competition for the top spot in the AL West.  I think they need a little more offense personally, but anything is possible.

Danny haren was looking to win his 15th game of the year and looking to take 2 out of four against the Devil Rays. Danny Haren did not reach any of the goals though. Danny Haren struggled pitching and was disgusted by the way he was pitching. He was determined to win his 15th game and was short of that by a team the A’s thought they could come in and destroy the Devil Rays to keep their season alive.

Danny Haren thinking that he would have a record of 15-4 after todays game with the Devil Rays was broken when the Devil Rays ran off 5 runs in 6 innings of work. Danny Haren know for being an ground ball hitter was able to do something else today. Though the good news of this was Danny Haren not really considered a struck out king was a struck out king today. Haren coming into the game today only had 147 struck outs coming into the game was able to struck out 10 today.

Danny Haren know for keeping the ball down and getting hitters to ground out. It has been different in the last four games he has pitched. Danny Haren has given up five home runs in the last three games which Danny does not do often. Danny gave up two more Home Runs today to add to his grand total of seven home runs, in the last four games.

It was not all bad for the A’s though. They had a few players who have not been able to get it down for a while now. Those two names, Nick Swisher, and Kurk Suzuki. Kurt had a home run, to go along with three total hits. Nick Swisher, had a monster game also. Swish went 3-5 which hopefully will get him out of his slump.

The next face of the Oakland Athletics
 

Nick Swisher
 

By: Silver Man
 

            “With the 16^th pick in the 2002 Major League Draft the Oakland Athletics from the Boston Red Sox select Nick Swisher out of Ohio State University”, is what Bob Selig after the A’s selected Swisher. The A’s received this pick after they had loss Johnny Damon do to free agency. The A’s showed once again that they would use money ball which A’s have been know for.
 

           
Nichols Thompson Swisher came into the world November 25^th, in Columbus, Ohio. Though, at a very young age he and his family moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Nick wasn’t really able to see his father much though, because Swisher’s dad, Steve Swisher, played in the Major Leagues. I guess it runs in the blood.
 

Steve Swisher played in the Majors for 12 years where he wasn’t a very strong batter only hitting batting only .219 in 509 games. He played for the Chicago Cubs from1974-1977, then was shifted off to the St. Louis Cardinals for a couple of years and then finished his career with the San Diego Padres for the 81-82 season. 
 

While Nick Swisher was at Ohio State he was a .299 hitter, with 10 home runs and 48 RBI’s in just his freshman year. It was to nobody’s doubt that Nick was going to win Big 10 Freshman of the year. That was in 2000. Now we are talking about 2001 which Swisher’s numbers went through the roof, literally. He was a monster player who had an average of .322, 56 RBI’s and club leading 15 home runs. You guys thought that his freshman year was big, but wow his sophomore year were numbers that you don’t see everyday.
 

           
            Spending two years in the A’s farm system, Swisher was developing himself as a player and trying to improve in the outfield instead of playing first base. Down in triple A Sacramento Nick Swisher was playing and received a call saying he was needed for the Oakland A’s. This was in 2004, and he made is Major league Debut September 3^rd, 2004. During the 2004 season Swish only played in 20 games so he was not yet considered a rookie.
 

            In 2005, Swish played for the A’s and was a pretty good player for his rookie season. Nick Swisher ended up coming in 6^th place in the voting for American Rookie of the Year.
 

Two other A’s players were also mentioned Huston Street who was actually the winner and Joe Blanton who came out being a spot behind Swish.
 

           
            Swish remains to be a force for the A’s and there winning ways as the A’s made it past Johan and the Twins, and made it to the Tigers. A’s didn’t do so good, but this young team kept there heads high above and was ready to come back in the next year and do the same thing just make it one step farther to the World Series and Two Steps farther and winning the World Series.
 

            They definitely have the team to do it, but so far this season they have been battling injuries. Great thing is even during the teams struggles with injuries and players like Eric Chavez and Jason Kendall they have other guys who step up such as Nick Swisher, Travis Buck, Mark Ellis, and Jack Cust. Shannon and Piazza when they are healthy do the A’s a great deal. Nick Swisher is in a bit of a slump but will shortly getting back out as the A’s head into the second part of the season.
 

           
            Nick Swisher’s Stats
 

            .252 Average
            68 Home Runs
            219 RBI’s

Do the A’s have a Cy Young winner?

Without doubt the A’s have one of the best pitchers in the MLB right now in Danny Haren. Danny Haren was a part of the St. Louis Cardinals until he came over to the Oakland A’s when Mark Mulder was traded to the Cardinals, when the Big three were broken up.

Danny Haren, starter of the All Star game for the American League has been the Ace for the Oakland A’s all year. Danny Haren gave up one run in two innings in the All Star Game as he got the No Decision.

In the first half of the season(meaning before the All Star Break) Danny Haren was bascially impossible to rack up the runs. In the second half he has been dominating just not as much. So far this year Danny Haren has not given up more than 3+ runs in every start besides 1. One time he has given up more than three times. Now that is extremly amazing.

Danny Haren is tied for fourth in the AL with 14(Three way tie for 1st which makes him fourth, really would be second without it), 5th in the MLB in era with a 2.66 era, 4th in innings pitched. He is top of the league in about every catergory.

With all of the injuries the to the A’s the fans might be proud to know that Danny Haren might be an Cy Young winner. Though Danny has some very toughother pitchers to go against including Josh Beckett, Dice-K, and Eric Bedard. You can throw in some other pitchers, but those are the big guys.

Danny Haren for Cy Young!!!

Is this going to be a a season to remember?

After making this close to the World Series last year, the A’s had high hopes again this year.

With the A’s first game in Seattle the A’s were looking to do what they did last year against the Mariners. It was opening day in Seattle and the pitching match-up was Rich Harden for the Athletics, and Felix Hernandez for the Mariners.

Though shortly after the game the A’s found out that their young star pitcher Rich Harden actually got hurt during the game. Though these was only the bigging for the A’s trouble with the injuries. Many were followed by these one. First Harden, Chavez, Loazia, the list goes on and on. One person would come off the DL and someone would go on right after that player was taken off.

The A’s got for back in the division behind the Angels, and one of the biggest surprises this year, the Mariners. This happened in around Juneish.

The A’s weren’t this far back for the whole year. The A’s were just sticking around in th division for a while until they went into a big slump where they could not win any games. Ever since then the A’s just could not come back.

Though with Chavez and Crosby out the A’s have seen some great play from Donnie Murphy, Marco Scutaro, and Hanahhan. It has not been happy for all these players though. Marco was told by Coach Bob Geren that he will not be coming back for another year with the Oakland A’s.

The A’s have been playing much better baseball. In the last few series; in Detroit 2 of 4, at home against the White Sox; three game sweep, at home against the Royals; one of three, aginast the Blue Jays at Toronto Three game sweep, and they are winning today aginst the Devil Rays. A’s 8-2 in last 10 games, and are going to be above .500 if they win today.

Will this be a huge comeback for the A’s? Can they still make the playoffs? Well, it’s going to be a long road ahead, but if they do it will be a season to remember. Well, as of right now it could be a season to remember with all this injuries. It’s a long season. We will see how they will finish.

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