Fletch, you were definitely swaying toward SF on this one. They must’ve invited you to a sweet buffet in the clubhouse that day to butter you up.

Fun concept though…. you should keep this one in your back pocket and do it again around the All Star break.

He also said he’d take Cabrera over Renteria. Cabrera is much better defensively and they’ll hit about the same, he said.

We argued a bit about Ryan Sweeney vs. Aaron Rowand and ended up making a bet on who would have a better offensive year. I took Rowand. He took Sweeney. I think he just wanted to argue with me about Rowand, though, because he also said he’d rather have Rajai Davis in center than Sweeney, so that’s not much of an endorsement.

Zito- 1.5
Eveland- 2.7

I don’t see Zito improving much considering he’s no puppy anymore and his declining velocity and iffy command.

Eveland, given his age and lack of experience has a better chance to improve and should with experience.

This is a no-brainer Jeff.

upon review I’d say they are offensively neutral. Bengie hits for a little more power, Suzuki has higher OBP and a better walk to strikeout ratio. I wish they showed the HIDP stat because I would venture that Bengie is far worse there, and if he is on the same pace as he was with the Angels, one of the worst in the league.

Bengie’s defensive skills are not those of Suzuki at this point. Suzuki was exeptionally good fielding his position and he does a very good job of throwing out runners on the basepaths. Bengie’s days as a great defensive catcher are about 200 cheeseburgers ago. He’s still good but there are probably 10 catchers better than him these days.

I will give you the nod with the game calling although it took Suzuki just a part of a year and a spring training (as a rookie) to get in a rythm for game calling. Its so rare to watch an A’s game and see him get shaked off.

I actually disagree with everyone who is bagging Zito. This is coming from someone who shed no tears when he signed his really, really ridiculously good looking contract with the Giants. He has had several down years but he also has a track record of success which you cannot say of the A’s young guys. Is he the pitcher he once was? No. Will he win 20 again? Doubtful. Will he more often than not put you in a position to win? I would say yes. The guys on the A’s side don’t have the term of service to even answer any of these questions with any degree of certainty.

The day will come when one or more of the A’s young guns is a better choice than Zito on this fantasy team but it isn’t at the moment. Eveland has the most experience of the bunch and if memory serves had a pretty similar record to Zito last year. If all things are equal, I go with the former Cy Young guy and the guy who has post season experience.

Compare their stats and please tell me how someone who was outperformed in almost every offensive category last year is better magically better.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=28802
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3865

2nd… Suzuki over Molina by the slightest of margins IMO, similar offensively and defensively but the fact that Suzuki isn’t the slowest man in baseball on the basepaths is my X factor since the rest is so close.

Rowand, Lewis, AND Winn over Ryan Sweeney??? Sweeney is the best defender of the three, and hit for the 2nd highest avg. They all have similar OBP, the only knock is he does has the least power of the three, but he at least deserves the backup OF role over Lewis.

Zito over Eveland?? No one in their right mind would ever make this choice. Zito has been one of the worst starters in baseball since he became a Giant.

May be nitpicking… but Ziegler would never be behind Affeldt and Howry in the bullpen. I can’t argue with that bullpen though, given Devine’s exclusion due to injury.

I like to think of myself as fairly unbiased… but seems like serious bias in the Giants direction on this. Zito?? wow….

“If he’s (Zito) right he has a chance…”. That statement signifies all that is wrong with the Giants. How many times have the Giants fans been asked to “hope” for something big only to be disappointed. Weren’t they supposed to ‘go after’ top free agents? How many offers were made to any of the top free agents? Now, they are saying they have flexibility to be a major player at the trade deadline. So to be a major player, who are they willing to give up? Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgardner, Posey, Alderson? To get a top tier player at the major league level, you have give up top tier prospects or young players.