Oakland making moves

[Runnys]

After losing the WS last year, Oakland knew they were gonna have some questions marks, especially at SS. Vizquel's range and batting stats fell for the third straight year and we didn't feel that he could be a reliable starter for us any longer. We released Vizquel to make a bid on 22 y/o 2B Lawrence Clark. With limited scouting, we really have no idea what we have, but, his RA number was intriguing to us. We were planning on making him our starting SS. But, we were then able to pull off probably the biggest deal we've made since we acquired Norbert Thaxton and Willie Wilson that started our string of winning.

We were able to land 29 y/o Derrick Rayford in a deal with Cleveland. His bat should add another 30-40 homerun hitter to a lineup that already includes Boyer, Hollowell, Downey, and Chavez. However, the biggest reason we wanted to acquire Rayford was for his elite defense at SS. His defense will definitely help our GB pitchers, especially Donato.

Oakland is trying to complete one more deal to see if we can acquire a 5th starter which will also lengthen our bullpen. However, if that doesn't happen, we are confident with the team we are going to put out there each day and we are looking forward to another competitive season.

[Runnys]

Oakland made one final move before the season starts. We acquired George Wright to be our 3B and leadoff man. With his career .400 OBP we feel he will be the perfect player to start off games. Being followed in tjenorder by Boyer, Hollowell, Chavez, Downey, and Rayford should make for a high scoring offense.

However, we were unfortunately unable to upgrade pitching. Hopefully our offense picks up the slack.

[bruin24]

Oakland made one final move before the season starts. We acquired George Wright to be our 3B and leadoff man.

He passed the physical??...err...I mean...good luck with him, lol.

[Runnys]

LOL! Based on stamina we’ve only got him penciled in for about 130 games.

[Grimm]

Despite some big cuts needing to be made to get Miami back under the salary cap, I think we've hopefully got a stronger team that last season's World Series winner. We had to let go starting catcher Kevin Franklin, but he was our third lowest OPS on the team last season. In his place we brought up 3B slugger David Young. His defense is pretty atrocious, so he'll take over the DH slot, with RF Michael Frank moving over to catcher. We would have liked to give Young another season in Low, but his power is too good to leave down there. He should more than make up for Franklin's loss, and any possible slide from veteran LF Raymond Williams.

On the pitching side, we should hopefully look even better than last season with a good group of youngsters. The rotation is anchored by William Roberts who saw a slight improvement in CO and is only 25. 26 year old Ernest Painter should be solid again. 25 year old Adam Rader has improved FI. Then we've brought up two very promising prospects in Archie Hopkins and Tomas Adams, who will fight with David Kegley and Manuel Bridges for the last two spots. At the very least, our bullpen will be much improved from last season's disaster.

The good news is we should compete for getting to the World Series again. The bad news is we'll likely need to cut a bunch of salary again next season, so we'll be gunning for back to back championships while we can.