Bob Geren estimated to be close to 500 feet

Beane estimated it at 9 miles

Is there a plan to dh him because is strongly suggesting he shouldn't make throws.

reading the title i thought "holy #### Eric Chavez is so fragile that now he has a stroke?"

Eric Chavez: I'm getting better!

John Cleese: No, you're not; you'll be stone dead in a moment.

He's going to have to apologize unreservedly for that one.

Fool me 20 times, shame on me.

my body’s felt as good as its ever felt.

At least they are learning to say "best shape of my life" using different words.

Some people consider "pitchers and catchers report day" as the unofficial beginning of baseball. I consider it to be the first day I see the "Eric Chavez feels like he can play this season" story.

Two additional things:

1) I wanna see the old Eric Chavez, just one last time. Like if he could stay healthy for just 20 games, and hit like Eric Chavez again, I'd be pretty happy with that.

2) If by some act of God he actually has a full, relatively productive season, do the A's actually try to bring him back? (He could hit 50 home runs and that option ain't getting picked up, but at a reduced price?)

“I just told (A’s trainer Steve Sayles) today, for the last two days, my body’s felt as good as its ever felt.”

You got to put this stuff in context. For Chavez this just means he's not in excruciating pain right now.

For Chavez this just means he's not in excruciating pain right now.

I don't know about that...

"The last two or three days, my body has felt as good as it's ever felt," Chavez said.

That said, he wakes up in pain every day and he has to be careful for the first 45 minutes to make sure he loosens up correctly. His right shoulder is still barking at him. But he's becoming more accustomed to first base, and he said he has "a fighting chance" as long as he limits his throws.

As much as I'd love to see Chavez put together a healthy season as a reserve 1B/DH, he's really going to screw up the roster if he's healthy enough to start the year in Oakland.

Damn you Eric Chavez, leave us alone! You know we can't quit you on our own.

I don't know about that...


"The last two or three days, my body has felt as good as it's ever felt," Chavez said.

That said, he wakes up in pain every day and he has to be careful for the first 45 minutes to make sure he loosens up correctly. His right shoulder is still barking at him. But he's becoming more accustomed to first base, and he said he has "a fighting chance" as long as he limits his throws.

Wow! You can't even snark on this guy's "health", it's that bad. Real shame. He was a really nice player when healthy.

is he right handed? i could imagine that could put him off his stroke.

As long as it's against pitchers working in games that don't count, and he's spent an hour stretching, and he doesn't have to play the field, and somebody runs for him after the third at-bat, and the field area's been swept for obstacles, and his IV bag on the stand by his spot on the bench remains cooler than 85 degrees, and he receives a two-hour massage after the game and has his blood replaced, and all the red m&m;'s are removed from the post-game buffet, his body will feel continue to feel good...

If Chavez could get healthy, he'd be an excellent platoon player against RHP. To get him in the lineup, of course, he's gonna have to play first or DH--and that latter slot is best occupied by Cust.

Seems to me that the "Beane there, done that" logorrhoea that has been going on for most of this decade has mostly steered away from the fateful decision to keep Chavez and let Miguel Tejada go. In '04, it certainly looked as though this was a sound decision: Chavez had his best year at the plate (though that was the year he first got hurt) and looked as though he might have finally learned to hit lefties. That proved to be transitory, however, and over the six years that Tejada has been gone from Oakland, he's averaged 156 games a year, while Chavez has averaged 90 (107 if we throw out '09).

Keeping Chavez certainly seemed to make sense: he was three years younger, and it was a significantly cheaper deal. And those estimable talent evaluators who'd been cranking out solid players for five years thought Bobby Crosby was gonna be great. And he was RoY. Then he turned into a pumpkin, Chavez turned into a one-man ICU, and a few other leaks in the dike made themselves manifest. And here we are, still fussin' and fightin' over the difference between "market inefficiency" and just plain bad (or unlucky) guesswork.

Seems to me that the "Beane there, done that" logorrhoea that has been going on for most of this decade has mostly steered away from the fateful decision to keep Chavez and let Miguel Tejada go.

Net, net, in restrospect they probably should have kept Giambi (if he really was a offering a discount for an NTC).

That way they'd have had all three together for as long as possible, and the best chance at a ring.

If Chavez has to play 1B, that could mean Barton in AAA for a while. My head is opposed to this but my fanboy parts kinda like it if they can keep Fox and Powell. I'm also kinda hoping Crisp has to start on the DL so they can keep Patterson and Gross, even though this is all really stupid tail-wagging-dog thinking.

Seems to me that the "Beane there, done that" logorrhoea that has been going on for most of this decade has mostly steered away from the fateful decision to keep Chavez and let Miguel Tejada go. In '04, it certainly looked as though this was a sound decision: Chavez had his best year at the plate (though that was the year he first got hurt) and looked as though he might have finally learned to hit lefties. That proved to be transitory, however, and over the six years that Tejada has been gone from Oakland, he's averaged 156 games a year, while Chavez has averaged 90 (107 if we throw out '09).

In hindsight, the best decision would probably have been to let both of them go.

The guys the A's should have kept were Matt Stairs and Marco Scutaro, dammit. At least let us keep our cheap favorites, Billy!

There's an alternate universe out there in which Jason Giambi stayed in Oakland and the A's are the 2002 champs. But they never won 20 in a row because Scott Hatteberg wasn't around to hit that home run against KC.

There's an alternate universe out there in which Jason Giambi stayed in Oakland and the A's are the 2002 champs. But they never won 20 in a row because Scott Hatteberg wasn't around to hit that home run against KC.

But that's also the alternate universe where The Halos traded Garret Anderson not Jim Edmonds in 2000. Of course, Edmonds went berzerker in that Alt. Univ. 2002 postseason, letting the Halos squeak by the A's in the LCS before winning the WS vs. Bonds and Chuck Norris who parlayed his athleticism into a brilliant, late-life pitching career.

and Chuck Norris who parlayed his athleticism into a brilliant, late-life pitching career.
Maybe, but with a leg kick that slow he'd give up steals left and right.

That said, he wakes up in pain every day and he has to be careful for the first 45 minutes to make sure he loosens up correctly. His right shoulder is still barking at him. But he's becoming more accustomed to first base, and he said he has "a fighting chance" as long as he limits his throws.

His arm's going to fly off at the shoulder the first time he has to come off the bag and throw across the diamond. First base guarantees that you won't have to make many throws, but the ones you do make will need to be of the .44 magnum variety.

That plan ain't going to work.

Anecdote: My daughter broke one of my bobbleheads this winter while she was dusting... one guess who it was.

But they never won 20 in a row because Scott Hatteberg wasn't around to hit that home run against KC.

#### it, I'll take The Streak over a WS win. Teams win World Series all the damn time. Ain't nobody gonna touch that streak, both in length and drama. Everybody remembers game 20, but people forget that the streak was saved by late-inning heroics in games 17, 18, 19, and 20 *and* it survived a potential work stoppage. It was the *only* time since the 89 Bay Bridge Series that there was palpable A's buzz in the East Bay air.

#### it, I'll take The Streak over a WS win.

Man, it would be tough for me to decide. That streak was the most fun I ever had watching baseball, but it would be nice to tell all the A's haters to stick it. I might go with the streak.

#### it, I'll take The Streak over a WS win. Teams win World Series all the damn time. Ain't nobody gonna touch that streak, both in length and drama. Everybody remembers game 20, but people forget that the streak was saved by late-inning heroics in games 17, 18, 19, and 20 *and* it survived a potential work stoppage. It was the *only* time since the 89 Bay Bridge Series that there was palpable A's buzz in the East Bay air.

Huh, I never thought of it that way. I probably remember the game 17, 18, and 19 heroics better because I hit myself in the head with a bat during game 20 when Koch gave up run #11.

Jason Giambi stayed in Oakland and the A's are the 2002 champs.

Hatteberg was the A's best hitter by far in the playoff series against the Twins, hitting .500/.588/.857. Ray Durham was the DH and hit .333/.417/.762.
Sure, Giambi might have been even better, but it wasn't lack of production from 1B/DH that cost the A's that series.

But that's also the alternate universe where The Halos traded Garret Anderson not Jim Edmonds in 2000. Of course, Edmonds went berzerker in that Alt. Univ. 2002 postseason, letting the Halos squeak by the A's in the LCS before winning the WS vs. Bonds and Chuck Norris who parlayed his athleticism into a brilliant, late-life pitching career.

Angels would have survived Giambi just fine, even if he led the A's past Minnesota. Giambi did hit well in the 2002 playoffs, but not enough to stop the Angels. Had the Angels traded Anderson instead of Edmonds, I would hope they still got Homerun Kennedy out of the deal. Now there's a player integral to the 2002 championship. Anderson wasn't too bad himself, with the big hit in game 7.

I had been under the impression that Tejada was shifted to 3B a few years ago, but B-R indicates he's played nothing but SS and DH in his entire career. Guess I don't see the 'Stros all that often.

Boy my alternate universe sure has a lot of holes in it.


Anyway I was at 18,19, and 20, and I definitely wouldn't give those up for a WS. 15-year old me was having a ####### time But I'd still like a WS. Like it'd be nice.

I was at #20, when they blew the 11-run lead. I remember at some point in the middle innings, an A's baserunner declined to score from third on an outfield fly ball, i.e., didn't tag up and run home but just stayed at third, presumably because the A's had the huge lead... that runner didn't score in that inning. I said right then to my buddy, hey! - we might need that run, you never know. And as it turns out I was right, because the Royals rallied to tie it. This is why I *do not* believe in the "unwritten rule" which says you're supposed to stop trying at some point during the game if you're ahead.

Did any of you guys sneak that massive flag in under your shirt?

I tried to bring a broom in to the Jeter flip game. Broomsticks could only be a certain length. In the garbage mine went.

I was at 20, as well as 16 (right after the CBA was agreed upon) and 3 (part of Lidle's scoreless streak). Great times.

Did any of you guys sneak that massive flag in

I have some UConn basketball stories I could tell - relating to sneaking banners into arenas. But I've never brought anything into an A's game. Except drugs and knives, of course. Okay not really knives. I have a couple of sign ideas that I haven't acted on yet. One is "Baby Please Don't Go (to Fremont)" and the other is "Let's Show Some Sock".