RINGOLSBY: A's aren't doing it by the book

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 7, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images

With management knowing the team expects to struggle for a few years, Oakland manager Bob Geren, left, shouldn't have to worry if he's keeping it from contending.

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The Oakland A's have undertaken a massive makeover.

They have told their fans to be patient.

But the real message is the A's are vulnerable to misjudgments, just like every other team in baseball.

A's general manager Billy Beane is one of the more innovative and personable executives in baseball, but for all his planning and foresight, even Beane makes errors in judgment.

That's why the A's are facing the reality of struggling the next couple of years, why Beane had to ship off the likes of Nick Swisher and Dan Haren and why the A's can let manager Bob Geren stumble along without anyone feeling as if he's keeping the franchise from contending.

In praising the A's for the way they have rebuilt their farm system with the offseason deals for Haren - four of the top 10 prospects in the Oakland system came from Arizona in that deal - and Swisher - two other top-10 prospects came from the White Sox in that deal - what's not mentioned is the A's not only had gotten old and unable to contend at the big-league level, but their farm system was feeble, too.

Beane understood that, and as a result, the A's had recently modified their approach to the draft. A team that gained fame in the book Moneyball because of its refusal to consider high school prospects, according to an author who was big on infatuation but light on facts, the A's actually selected high school players with six of the nine selections they had in the first seven rounds in 2005 and with four of their first seven selections in 2006.

That, however, still left a void of prospects at the upper levels. That's why Swisher and Haren had to be dealt to restock the farm system, instead of young players being ready to step in at the big-league level, so the A's could remain a contender instead of having to rebuild.

The Moneyball draft of 2002 was raised recently when catcher Jeremy Brown, the controversial player selected 35th overall by the A's, retired for personal reasons. Brown was the major overdraft that the book had proclaimed was testimony to the A's brilliance. The book feted the A's because they paid well below slot money in signing Brown for $350,000 but ignored the fact that, even by the A's admission, had Brown been allowed to slip in the draft to where he belonged, he most likely would have received about $5,000.

What never gets much discussion is that the six other players the A's took before the start of the second round that season all received bonuses in line with where they were drafted. Also, they were all projected to be selected in the first four rounds of the draft, so none of them was a surprise pick.

In fact, two of the five largest signing bonuses in Oakland history were given to Swisher, the 16th player selected overall ($1.78 million), and right-handed pitcher Joe Blanton, the 24th player drafted overall ($1.4 million).

Overheard

* Detroit, searching for bullpen help, is hoping to use outfielder Marcus Thames to make a deal.

* Right-handed pitcher Bartolo Colon is creating a feeling in Boston he will be able to make the season-opening rotation, which would prompt the Red Sox to send Clay Buchholz to Triple-A to open the season.

* Left-hander Scott Schoeneweis, guaranteed $7.2 million for the next two seasons, is being actively shopped by the Mets.

Two cents' worth

Here's a bit of advice for the likes of Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Zimmerman:zip it.

Nobody wants to listen to players whining about being shortchanged in salary by clubs.

The fact of life is, teams have control over salaries for the first three big-league seasons of a player's career. Then an arbitrator decides. Then free agency becomes a player's trump card.

Teams have learned the hard way that going the extra step in the first three years of salary negotiations isn't repaid by a player giving the team some kind of a discount once they get the leverage of arbitration and free agency.

Anybody who needed a reminder should have paid attention to Ryan Howard and Philadelphia this past offseason. After paying Howard $900,000 last year - more than $500,000 above minimum - the Phillies offered him $7 million this year.

But Howard wanted $10 million, so he went to arbitration. And won.

MILE HIGH WATCH

The Rockies have made it known they would like to continue to hold their spring training in Tucson, even if it means there are only two teams. The Chicago White Sox, who are moving to the Phoenix area, so far haven't found a team willing to consider coming to Tucson, much less replace them.

The question is how committed the Arizona Diamondbacks are to staying in Tucson.

There is talk the Gila River Indian Reservation, which is adjacent to Scottsdale and is a corporate sponsor of the Diamondbacks, would build Arizona a training facility on reservation land.

The Diamondbacks, however, know their statewide image would suffer if they pulled out of Tucson, leaving the city without spring training baseball. About the only way they could leave is if the Rockies opt out of their lease first, which would open the door for the Diamondbacks to follow suit.

As convenient as the Diamondbacks might feel it would be to train in the Phoenix area, club officials would be wise to touch base with the folks with Tampa Bay. The Rays have trained in St. Petersburg since their inception but have found being at home for spring training a bit of a distraction, so they are moving their spring base to Port Charlotte, Fla.

Of course, just what's going on with the White Sox remains a bit of a mystery. They are supposedly going to share a new facility with the Los Angeles Dodgers in Glendale, Ariz., right by University of Phoenix Stadium. There apparently are concerns about whether that facility will be completed for next spring training, which has led the White Sox to delay officially breaking their lease in Tucson and also has kept the Dodgers from officially terminating their relationship in Vero Beach, Fla.

There also is speculation the Dodgers aren't happy with the way a sweetheart land deal for the franchise is turning out and want some adjustments.

NUMBERS GAME

67 starts the past six seasons for Yankees pitchers 25 or younger. They could have more than that this year alone with Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Joba Cham- berlain in line for spots in the rotation. The previous time the Yankees got 70 starts from pitchers 25 or younger was 1970, when Stan Bahnsen led the group with 35, Steve Kline made 15, Mike Kekich 14, John Cumberland eight, Bill Burbach four, Ron Klimkowski three and Rob Gardner one.

SPLIT CAMPS?

With general manager Pat Gillick having announced he will retire after the season and his assistants, Mike Arbuckle and Ruben Amaro Jr., candidates to replace him, the Phillies face the challenge of avoiding the staff splitting into Arbuckle or Amaro camps.

HE SAID IT

"It was like a Springsteen concert."

Stan Kasten, Nationals pres- ident, on selling out Opening Day in the new ballpark in six minutes.

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