This is the eleventh in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. Want to read my previous entries? Click on the Nostalgia section to read about 1988 through 1997. 

Already five years into The Sucky Years, 1998 came and none of us were expecting all that much, except maybe a Rookie of the Year award from one of our young’uns and some interesting new faces in green and gold.

Billy Beane made a big move in the offseason, acquiring Kenny “I Don’t Lose in the Coliseum” Rogers for young third baseman Scott Brosious. Brosious, of course, was well on his way to becoming the True Yankee that A-Rod will never be, as he was set for a run at third during the Yankees’ dynasty. Rogers became the first A starter to win 16 games since the A’s were actually a playoff team.

Rickey was also back, though at age 39, it was probably more for butts in the seats than anything. But really, what were you going to do? Give those at-bats to Jason McDonald?

This was the year of random journeymen filling the gaps where rookies didn’t. Guys like Tom Candiotti, Mike Blowers, Ed Sprague, Bip Roberts, and Kevin Mitchell were on this A’s team. I honestly can’t remember Kevin Mitchell being an A, but Baseball Reference says he had 127 at-bats as one in his final season in the majors. Huh.

And then there were those rookies. A.J. Hinch got the starting catching job, and 1998 was the first year Miguel Tejada was the starter at short. And of course, sweet-swinging Ben Grieve - as my brother had correctly predicted the year before, he was the 1998 AL Rookie of the Year. Sure, he covered the outfield like he was running in quicksand, but boy, could he hit.

The pitching, aside from Rogers, still left much to be desired. However, the pipeline was two-thirds full of the Big Three, as Hudson and Mulder were on the farm by 1998.

As for me in 1998, I was much more interested in my fake Oakland A’s as I discovered Baseball Mogul that year. Would the real A’s be able to reclaim my interest?

Coming next Friday, January 4 - 1999: Sniffing the playoffs?

This is the tenth in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. My previous entries are: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996. 

By the time 1997 rolled around, I had gotten pretty used to the A’ s being a pretty bad team of no-names and pitchers with ERAs north of 5. Little did I know, it was about to get worse.

Last week we talked about how the Schott and Hoffman era began in ‘96, and it was time for some penny-pinching. Well, the penny-pinching turned into a big punch in the gut in 1997, when the A’s traded Mark McGwire and his 34 home runs to the Cardinals for a trio of would-be scrub pitchers. We all know what happened in 1998, and now he’s a Cardinal legend (albeit a pretty tainted one).

1997 ended up being the worst of my 20 years, record-wise.  The 65-97 record wasn’t just last place in the AL West - it was the worst record in all of baseball. Jose Canseco was back, but he didn’t help much. And when guys like George Williams, Jason McDonald, and Rafael Bournigal were getting over 200 at-bats, it’s no wonder the team was last in the American League in attendance.

The future, however, was bright. We got our first look at outfielder Ben Grieve and shortstop Miguel Tejada in 1997. Tejada didn’t do much to make us believe that he’d be an MVP in just five short years, but Grieve made a good impression with his three doubles in his first major league game. I remember my brother had a Ben Grieve baseball card up on his wall and he had written under it, “1998 Rookie of the Year!”

We also had a new man in the GM seat - former A’s player Billy Beane. It didn’t mean much to me then, but it would mean oh so much in the near future…

Coming next Friday, December 28: 1998 - My brother’s prophecy comes true.

Unless they’re putting on the right uniform, of course.

But no matter if I think it was a good trade or a bad trade, these pictures always feel like a punch in the gut.

Sure, some are worse than others, but still - ugh.

After being a bit brief the other night on the news of the Haren trade in the midst of a crazy Christmas prep weekend, it’s time for me to hash this out a bit more.

I’ve been dismayed - though not surprised - to read a lot of negative comments from A’s fans in reaction to this trade, such as “Billy Beane and Lew Woolf don’t care about the fans,” “The A’s are cheap,” “I’m not an A’s fan anymore!” So, relax, breathe - it’s time for a reality check.

The A’s were not going to contend in 2008, even with Haren. The 2007 healthy checkup last week revealed that Chad Gaudin needs surgery, Rich Harden is still having elbow tendinitis, and Eric Chavez may not be ready to start the season. Couple that with the facts that last year’s batting average leader (Shannon Stewart) won’t be back and Bobby Crosby is still slated to play shortstop, and you have yourself another mediocre team.

I said it at the start of this offseason and I’ll say it again - there’s a big difference between “We are contenders” and “I think we might have a chance to contend.” If I’m saying the former, I’m going to make some moves to either a) get better this year, or b) stack myself for the future. The A’s, coming off their first losing season since 1998, were in a better position to do B than A, so they Beane logically chose B.

This was not about money. Really, enough with the “The A’s are cheap!” comments. It is well known that Dan Haren was considered a bargain for a pitcher of his caliber. The A’s could certainly afford him. This trade wasn’t about that. It was about selling high.

You can’t get much better than an affordable, 27-year-old pitcher coming off the best year of his career. If I have that, and I’m not contending, I strongly consider my options.

The A’s are a team that functions well with the strength of its farm system. All those stars who have come and gone? Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Mulder, Zito? All spent time in the A’s minor league system. And with the exception of Mark Kotsay, every current A in the starting lineup has spent time as an A’s farmhand. That is just the way this team is built.

The system was pretty crappy before this trade, and now looks quite a bit more stacked. Baseball Prospectus ranked the A’s top 11 prospects five days before the big trade, and have now redone the list with the new acquisitions. Things shake out much, much better, as four of the six former Arizona prospects cracked the A’s top SEVEN. That means only three prospects who were A’s before last week were as good as or better than these new guys.

Billy Beane knows what he’s doing. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those “OMG, Billy is a genius!!1″ people, but I think he’s a pretty smart guy and he knows how to run the A’s. Remember the trades of Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder three years ago? I remember Linda Cohn scoffing on SportsCenter saying, “The A’s are now the Kansas City Royals west.” The reaction to this trade seems like the same knee-jerk reaction.

Sure, the two are very different situations. The Hudson and Mulder trades were retooling trades, while this was a rebuilding trade. Where Haren, Kiko Calero, Juan Cruz (bleh), Charles Thomas (yuck) and Dan Meyer (double yuck) were considered major league ready right way, probably only Dana Eveland will crack this year’s Opening Day roster, while the other five prospects will spend a year or two or three in the minors. But it was something that needed to be done to give the A’s a chance to have future success the way they are built to have success at all.

The A’s are in position for an early teens run, much like their early zeros run. By then, who knows? If Cisco Field opens in 2011 or 2012, they could be able to open the new park with a 26-year-old Carlos Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Daric Barton, a 24-year-old Brett Anderson, and so on. Then you’ll have a guy like fan favorite Nick Swisher, who, at age 30, could be extended thanks to the new revenue.

Of course, I could be delusionally optimistic and all these prospects could be busts and the A’s could go on a 10-year losing streak. But we’ve lived though the trades of not one, but two aces before. We can live through this one.

Forget the Barry Bonds talk. This team is in full rebuilding mode, as evidence by today’s trade of Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks.

Carlos Gonzalez and Brett Anderson are very good prospects, but this almost looks like more of a “let’s restock the system” trade, as none of the six are big-time major-league-ready prospects. It’ll be awhile before we know who got the better of this deal.

So the 2008 Oakland A’s? Likely not contending. Likely losing more games than they win. Likely being difficult to watch at times. But with the facts that Chad Gaudin may need surgery, one should never rely on Rich Harden being healthy, and one should never rely on Bobby Crosby being healthy or good, I think this move may be for the best in the long run.

Back to my Christmas card writing and prepping for the trade of Joe Blanton…

This is the ninth in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan. To read my previous entries, click on the Nostalgia section.  

The year 1996 was already in the crapper for the A’s before it even started.

First, there was the Raiders coming back to Oakland beginning in the 1995 NFL season. After the Raiders’ first season back, what is now known as Mount Davis was added to the Coliseum, forcing the A’s to begin the 1996 season in Las Vegas while construction was finished.

Then, there was the death of A’s owner Walter Haas, Jr. in late 1995, which made way for the penny-pinching Schott and Hoffman era. Instead of being a team that held on to big names in attempts to win championships, the A’s became a team of no-names and traded away the veterans in slashing the payroll.

1996 was also the year we welcomed Art Howe as manager of the team - the first managerial change in my A’s fandom. It was also the year Mark McGwire had his best season as an A, hitting .312 with 52 home runs. It was the year Terry Steinbach hit 35 and Geronimo Berroa hit 36, and the ‘96 A’s set - and still hold - the franchise record for home runs hit in a season.

I went to a lot of games in 1996, as I still have some ticket stubs. Looking through them, I can remember some of these games. One was Memorial Day against the Red Sox, and another was a double-header between the A’s and Orioles. I remember the A’s lost both of those games, but it was fun spending practically the whole day at the Coliseum. I also just checked baseballreference.com, and we went to the game the night before the doubleheader too. The A’s got creamed 18-5. Ouch.

I don’t think I noticed at the time, but 1996 was the year that the only remaining link to the current team was realized, as the A’s first-round pick in the 1996 amateur draft was a high school shortstop named Eric Chavez. With Jason Giambi becoming a fixture in the starting lineup, the first pieces of the early-zeroes team that would get us back to the top were starting to emerge.

Coming next Friday, December 21 - 1997: A new GM takes the helm and it’s the suckiest of the Sucky Years. 

This year for Christmas, my husband and I decided that, in lieu of getting each other gifts, we are were going to get ourselves a Nintendo Wii. Emphasis on the “were” - as you know, Wiis are extremely hard to come by and we have all but given up hope of having one to play with on Christmas Day.

So instead, we’re figuring we’ll have to wait until the desperation to get one dies down. But how long after Christmas will we have to wait? After the new year? Will we have one by Martin Luther King Day? How about by the time pitchers and catchers report for spring training?

So we’re playing the waiting game on a Wii, much like we’re playing the waiting game when it comes to whatever the heck Billy Beane is going to do with our 2008 Oakland Athletics.

First, during the winter meetings, we were hearing all kinds of Dan Haren rumors, and then there was the Barry Bonds talk. But maybe the Barry Bonds talk was there to fuel more Dan Haren talk, as Ken Arneson at Catfish Stew suggested.

The Haren talk is still alive and well, and the Diamondbacks are still at the front of it. There is supposedly an offer on the table, and they’re waiting for the A’s answer or (probably) counter-offer. And Buster Onley suggested this weekend that the Indians, who have oodles of young pitching, could be in the running as well.

So, we continue to wait. Will Billy blow up the team or add some pieces (potentially controversial) for a run at 2008?

And who will strike first - me or Billy?  Stay tuned…

This is the eighth in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. Missed my previous entries? Read about 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994 by clicking on the Nostalgia section.

As I mentioned in my look back on 1994, my attention waned from baseball (as did much of country’s) by the combination of the strike and the A’s overall crappiness. 1995 was no different, as the season started late because of the strike and the A’s… well, as those Asian groundskeepers said in Major League - “They’re still shitty.”

And me? I graduated from high school in 1995, so my attention was on getting my first job (Jack-in-the-Box in Livermore) and starting college (Las Positas College, also in Livermore), and saving up money for my first car (a 1977 Mercury Bobcat). The A’s were on the backburner, though I did manage to attend a couple games that summer.

And what did I see that summer? Mark McGwire was back to  his old self and mostly healthy, as he slugged 39 home runs in just 104 games. Geronmio Berroa mashed as well, and we greeted a young, 24-year-old 3B/1B named Jason Giambi on May 8.

The pitching, however, was as awful as ever, as Dave Stewart (now back after winning a ring in Toronto) and Ron Darling had ERAs over six. And the pitching didn’t get any better, despite the drafting of the hope of the future of the A’s - Ariel Prieto.

It’s now known what a blunder the A’s made that year in the amateur draft, eying pitching and going with 25-year-old Cuban pitcher Ariel Prieto instead of star Tennessee first baseman Todd Helton. Sure, Prieto made his A’s debut four days after signing, but he never posted an ERA higher than 4 as a starter and only won 15 games over six years in the A’s organization - not exactly what the A’s had in mind for the fifth overall pick.

After this ho-hum 67-77 1995, was there much to look forward to? Well, at least we’d be back to playing a full 162-game schedule from now on.

Coming next Friday, December 14: 1996 - Viva, Las Vegas and the Schott and Hoffman era begins…

OK, I’m going to just add to this as the day goes and hopefully cover the important stuff for the A’s as the Winter Meetings continue in Nashville.

1. Hank Steinbrenner says the Yankees aren’t going to deal with the A’s for Haren because the asking price is “ridiculous.”

As for Haren, a 27-year-old righthander who was 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA this season, Steinbrenner stomped on the idea of the Yankees acquiring him. Oakland general manager Billy Beane has told teams he would need to be blown away to deal Haren. He would want a similar haul from the Yankees as the Twins asked for in exchange for Santana.

Steinbrenner called that price “ridiculous” and vowed: “It won’t happen, not with us.”

2. That’s OK though, because there are not any shortage of suitors for Haren if trading him is something Billy really wants to do. The Arizona talk is heating up and possibly at the forefront of rumors involving Haren.

Yesterday we heard that first baseman Connor Jackson was in the deal, but that’s apparently not the case. That makes sense because we have enough 1B/DH types.

Top prospects Carlos Gonzalez (RF), Emilio Bonifacio (2B), and Brett Anderson (LHP) are in the talks. Jack Magruder speculates that Dustin Nippert (RHP) and Alberto Callaspo (2B) could also be had in a deal in which Billy is seeking SIX (6!) players in return.

Another name that has come up is Jose “Crazy Eyes” Valverde, and Magruder says that by acquiring him, it’d open the door for the A’s to trade Huston Street. WTF? He’s a good pitcher and all, but I don’t know if I want my closer looking like he wants to eat babies after he strikes someone out.

3. The Dodgers are the other NL West team loaded with young talent, but they apparently don’t want to give up enough to get Haren, as they’re supposedly still showing strong interest in Joe Blanton. Not that Blanton comes that much cheaper, though. But I can imagine they wouldn’t have to give up their top gun in Clayton Kershaw like they might for Haren.

4. This one’s a doozy - from MLBTradeRumors.com:

Mets send Jose Reyes, Kevin Mulvey to A’s
Mets send Hector Pellot to Twins
A’s send Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson to Mets
A’s send Dan Haren to Twins
Twins send Johan Santana to Mets

So the A’s would end up with a pitching prospect and a big-time upgrade at shortstop in exchange for Haren and a couple of guys most A’s fans wouldn’t mind seeing gone. Hmmm…

EDIT: Billy squashed this rumor:

“I rarely comment on trades publicly, but let me comment on this one: It is an absolute, total fabrication.”

This morning I had read speculation that the Diamondbacks might be in on a Blanton deal, but now the Boston Herald reports that the A’s and D-Backs are talking about a deal involving first baseman Connor Jackson, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and two other players going to the A’s for Haren.

A couple thoughts on this little nugget:

1. If the A’s acquire Jackson, certainly he and Daric Barton would share first base/DH duties. Where would that leave Jack Cust? Would Travis Buck move to center, opening a corner outfield spot for Cust? Or maybe the A’s aren’t counting on Cust. That’s not a bad idea, really.

2. This news leaking out has to help the A’s on the Yankees/Red Sox front. The loser of the Santana sweepstakes might feel more desperate, knowing a deal with another team is in the works.

3. If Haren does go to the Diamondbacks, the thought of a Webb-Haren 1-2 punch in Arizona should make the Rockies, Dodgers, and Padres crap their pants.