So much for my prediction. I thought the A’s - and Frank himself - would pass on bringing the Big Hurt back to Oakland. But he is an Oakland A again, and he was in the lineup in today’s trouncing of the Twins and went 0-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.

The roster may get dicey as guys get healthy, but you can’t do much better than the league minimum for a future Hall of Famer. Welcome back, Frank!

I’ve got a couple A’s items to address as we begin our first full week of Spring Training:

1. Jeremy Brown retiring was surprising news. But, how surprising to me, really? It was only a few months ago when I created him in The Sims 2 to play out his post-baseball life. He was a school teacher, married a doctor, and had two daughters. Did I subconsciously expect that the end was near for our loveable “fat catcher”?

In response to Brown hanging it up, the A’s signed Matt LeCroy to a minor-league deal. LeCroy was another one of my Baseball Mogul favorites and he has often been an A in my imaginary A’s world. But this time he’s likely to be a Rivercat, baring some catastrophic event involving Kurt Suzuki or Rob Bowen.

2. Baseball Prospectus released their 2008 PECOTA projected standings, and guess what? The A’s didn’t finish in last place. They didn’t even finish third. They finished second, bee-yotches. (78-84, 11 games behind the obvious division winner, LAAoA.)

Sure, it’s fake baseball played with fake stats, but if I can get confirmation from a credible source that I’m not crazy in thinking this team isn’t that bad, I’ll take it.

3. My hubby and I cleared 8 inches of snow from our driveway this morning. We’ve been dumped on mercilessly by Mother Nature this winter, but just knowing there are men in green and gold playing baseball somewhere in the country right now makes me see a light at the end of this cold, dark tunnel.

Go A’s!!

It’s Pitchers and Catchers Eve, so let’s getting to a few of the developing A’s items as our green and gold battery mates descend on Phoenix!

1. The A’s signed Mike Sweeney to a minor league deal. We love us some former Royals, don’t we?

I know it is is just a minor league deal, but I can’t imagine them signing him to be the Rivercats’ DH. This seems to spell the end of Dan Johnson’s green and gold days, as Daric Barton is definitely the full time first baseman and Sweeney and Cust could platoon at DH (Sweeney vs. LHP). There is really no place for Johnson anymore. He should be wearing a different uniform come Opening Day.

2. Joe Blanton is on the front burner of the hot stove again, now that Santana, Haren, and Bedard have all been moved. He’s the best available pitcher, and Beane is looking for a Swisher-like package for him, or even more. Sounds good to me, as with Haren, we don’t have to trade Blanton. Give us what we want though and we will.

MLBTradeRumors.com reports the Reds are pursuing him the most aggressively, and they definitely have an attractive group of prospects in their system. Jay Bruce ain’t happening (though I did trade him to the A’s in Baseball Mogul once), but guys like Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, and Drew Stubbs are being discussed.

A lot of other teams have been mentioned, with varying sources saying they are and aren’t interested: Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Rockies, Indians, Devil Rays, Twins, Angels.

3. I’m going to squeal with delight the first time I see a green catcher’s mask this year. Woooooo! I can hardly stand it!!!

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that the A’s have signed Keith Foulke to a one-year, major league deal. This is baffling to say the least.

If you don’t recall, Foulke retired last year.  So we’re going young, but we’re signing retired guys. Is Goose Gossage next?

The A’s signed Kirk Saarloos to a minor league deal yesterday. I thought the trade of him to the Reds a year ago was a little funny at the time, and even funnier when he posted a 7.17 ERA in Cincy.

So now the A’s have Kirk and Lenny. What are they going to do with them?

Here’s how the starting rotation looks now, if no one else is traded (*cough*Blanton) or no one else is hurt (*cough*Harden):

1. Blanton/Harden
2. Blanton/Harden
3. Gaudin
4. Duchscherer

Then the fifth spot gets a little crowded. As far as I can tell, it could be any of these guys:

Dana Eveland
Dallas Braden
Kirk Saarloos
Lenny DiNardo
Dan Meyer

It should be an interesting battle in spring training. My guess is Eveland goes into Phoenix with the edge.

The fact that Saarloos is the only one of those guys not on the 40-man probably makes it likely he is in AAA as injury insurance.

A month from today, A’s pitchers and catchers will be working out at Papago Park in Phoenix. I can’t believe it! We’re so close to being back to some daily baseball. And American Idol starts tonight. W00t!

Let’s get to a few items of note:

1. The Kotsay trade was finalized yesterday, as hoped and expected. It turns out the A’s got another pitcher along with Joey Devine, an A-Ball pitcher named Jamie Richmond. Richmond is 21 and was listed as the #8 prospect in the Braves’ organization last year by John Sickels of Minor League Ball (looks like he hasn’t rated the Braves yet this year). He projects as a middle reliever or even fifth starter.

Wow - just wow! I thought Billy made an amazing deal by getting Devine. But an additional arm? Wow! How does he do it?

2. I didn’t mention it yet, probably because the Kotsay trade seemed to be more exciting news around the same time and I’m not sure how much of an impact this will be in ‘08, but the A’s did sign outfielder Emil Brown to a one-year deal last week. Brown is a former A’s farmhand who got plucked away from Oakland in the 1996 Rule 5 draft by the Pirates. His ‘05 and ‘06 campaigns were his best, though he regressed a bit last year. However he looks to be somewhat of a poor man’s Shannon Stewart. (Funny I said that - wasn’t Shannon Stewart a poor man’s somebody last year? That’s where these A’s are at, folks.)

It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, but if the idea is to keep Carlos Gonzalez (CarGo) or Ryan Sweeney in AAA for some much-needed development, it’s probably an OK move.

3. Word is now that the A’s may decided to keep Joe Blanton. Sounds like Billy isn’t getting the kind of offers he wants, so he may hold him until mid-season or even next offseason. Might as well - he’ll go up to $2M or $3M in arbitration, but he’s certainly affordable and not a guy you need to trade just to trade.

Of course, anything can happen as we saw with Swisher. But for now, it looks like we have Blanton and Harden as our top starters, likely to face the Red Sox in the Japan games.

4. Congratulations to SFGate.com user bakunin - you get the Athletics for Life “Getting It” Award for the day. From the comments section on the Kotsay Trade Finalized article:

I hate seeing fair weather fans grousing. Get behind your team or find another team to follow. I’ve been with the A’s through 4 World Series championships and through some horrifically painful 100+ loss seasons. Either way, Go Swingin’ A’s!

Enjoy the rest of your day, A’s fans. Now I need to figure out who to replace Mark Kotsay with on my A’s calendar.

From MLBTradeRumors.com, in the comments section of the Kotsay to Atlanta post:

5:18 p.m.:

You ain’t gettin’ Devine, A’s fans. Keep dreaming.

9:13 p.m.

What drugs was Wren taking when he made this deal? Beane just $#%!ed us up. I think he’s still pissed about the Hudson trade.

Well, it looks like Billy has done it again.

Last summer, I was surprised he was able to trade Jason Kendall for actual baseball players. This time, he’s done it with Mark Kotsay.

The A’s and Braves have reached a preliminary deal to send Kotsay to the Braves for 24-year-old reliever Joey Devine. Kotasy will have a physical Monday, which will likely finalize the deal.

First, who we lost: I’ll always have fond memories of Mark Kotsay and his stellar center field play. Vastly underrated and vastly talented, it was a pleasure to watch him play center for the A’s every day when healthy. He had a decent year or two at the plate as well, but back problems got the best of him and he didn’t play much - or well - at all last year.

I will always have one big memory of Mark Kostay, and that’s him chugging around t he bases in Game 2 of the 2006 ALDS after Torii Hunter’s ill-advised dive. If Marco Scutaro’s Game 3 double was the final nail in the coffin, Kotsay’s inside-the-parker in Game 2 was a few nails before that. I’ll never forget him, with his shirt untucked, jumping and pumping his fist as he was called safe. What a great Mark Kostay and Oakland A’s moment.

And now, who we got: Joey Devine was a first round draft pick of the Braves in 2005, but was probably rushed to the majors and has the dubious distinction of being the first player to give up grand slams in his first two major league appearances.

Despite the yuckiness of that, this is a very nice acquisition for the A’s. He’s put up great minor league number and will be groomed for a setup man or even closer job. Precursor to a trade of Huston Street? I wouldn’t be surprised.

The beauty of this deal is Devine could bust and it still won’t be a bad trade for the A’s. Kotsay wasn’t going to be of any use to the A’s in 2008, and instead of playing his $8M, they only have to pay $5M and get a reliever with upside in the process.

Nicely done, Mr. Beane!

Every year since 2004, I have had the A’s wall calendar to hang on my wall either at work or in my home office. The first one came as a Christmas present. I haven’t gotten it as a Christmas present again since, but have always bought it for myself from Calendars.com after Christmas.

I’m one of those people that is really anal about displaying only current A’s. The Big Three bobbleheads? Stowed away in a box. The only non-current A I have on display is a Catfish Hunter figurine, and he is only OK because his number is retired by the A’s.

So this is bad news for the 2008 calendar. I’m always cutting pages that display non-current A’s out of the calendar so that a current A is shown. Usually what I can do is, when I turn to a month with a non-A, I cut that page off and use the A from the previous month for a second month. For example, in last year’s calendar, Frank Thomas was Mr. April. So I cut his page out and used Dan Johnson, who was Mr. March, for another month. (Of course, Barry Zito was Mr. May, so I had to cut his page out. But I didn’t want Dan Johnson for three months, so I cut him out too and used Rich Harden, who was Mr. February.)

But this year, I had to get even more creative. Dan Haren is Mr. January in the 2008 calendar. If I cut his page out, there’d be no one to display. So I had to go back to the 2007 calendar, and cut a page out. I chose Mark Kotsay, because he is a) still on the team, and b) not featured at all in the 2008 calendar.

The calendar will be quite the cut-and-paste project, as Mark Kotsay will probably be used through February as well, as Jason Kendall is Mr. February. Here’s how the rest of the calendar shakes out, with the pages I will need to cut in italics:

Mr. March: Mark Ellis
Mr. April: Rich Harden
Mr. May: Marco Scutaro
Mr. June: Bobby Crosby
Mr. July: Eric Chavez
Mr. August: Travis Buck
Mr. September: Huston Street
Mr. October: Joe Blanton
Mr. November: Shannon Stewart
Mr. December: Nick Swisher

As you can see, the summer months look pretty solid, but I get nervous after August. I will already be cutting November and December out, but I have no confidence in September or October. Could I be using Travis Buck for the final five months of the year? Could Billy just wipe out my whole calendar by the time 2008 is done? Will I even care by the time 2008 is done?

I better keep my scissors and tape handy.

In 2007, the Oakland A’s won four more games than the Chicago White Sox won. Both teams had years that were below expectations and which most considered a disappointment.

And both teams play in two-team markets and play second fiddle to their National League counterparts. The A’s have remained in the shadow of the Giants, despite having won four championships to the Giants’ zero. And the White Sox World Series win just three seasons ago hasn’t done much to help them take over Chicago from the lovable loser Cubs.

And both play in divisions with tough opponents who have gotten better this offseason. The Angels have added pitching in the form of Jon Garland and acquired Torii Hunter for the outfield. In the AL Central, the White Sox have to compete with the Tigers who added Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, and the talented Indians, who were in the ALCS last year.

So what’s a team like the A’s and the White Sox to do? Make some moves to get better and improve on last year? Or tear it all down and start over? Based on last week’s trade, as well as moves prior to that, we know who’s doing what. Let’s take a closer look at these teams’ strategies going into ‘08.

The White Sox model

The Sox had one of the worst offenses in baseball last year - even worse than the A’s. So they beefed it up this offseason by getting shortstop Orlando Cabrera and then Nick Swisher. But at what expense? An established starting pitcher in John Garland was swapped for Cabrera, and two top pitching prospects and a mediocre outfield prospect for Swisher.

Kenny Williams certainly is hoping to compete in 2008:

“From the first day I was assigned this position, I’ve been in the win mode. I’m worried about the 2008 championship before winning a title in 2010 and 2011, when these [traded] players will be ready to contribute on a championship team.

But are Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher enough to compete with Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and the Detroit Tigers? Or last year’s AL Central champion Indians, for that matter?

Andrew Reilly at South Side Baseball thinks the Sox may have turned what could have been a bright future into more mediocrity. I tend to agree with him. Of course, the White Sox could go 110-52 and Swisher could win the AL MVP. But I wouldn’t bet my Nick Swisher belt buckle (if I had one) on it.

The A’s model

Tear it down and start over - that’s what the A’s are doing this offseason with the trades of Dan Haren and then Swisher. It’s enough to make even the most loyal A’s fans question the dealings of the GM we’ve grown to trust over the last 10 years. But the fact is, Billy just wants to stay one step ahead of everyone else:

“I got off the plane from the winter meetings, I said to David, ‘Who are we kidding?’ We can’t let hope be our strategy here. That’s what we’re doing. … We can’t waste another year. If this needs to be done, it needs to be done.”

“Our status quo as we stood going into the season was mediocrity at best. That’s my opinion. If anything we’re taking a step back with the idea we have a chance to build something very good for a long time. … The cost of indecision for us probably would be a bigger mistake.”

Not satisfied with mediocrity, Billy would rather piss off the casual fans for the short term in the hopes of gaining them back in the long term, with the help of a new stadium in Fremont.

Attendance will be awful this year, and we’ll have to sit through some lopsided games at the A’s expense. But I would rather have it be done this way, as we expect it and nothing more. Had Billy stayed the course, there would have been hope to compete and the disappointment that comes with not doing so.

So keep your eye on these two teams over the next few years. We’ll see who gets back to the top first.