A's sign LeCroy; Jeremy Brown retires!

[raiderjohn]

Boy...the As are just loading up on scrap heap guys now...do they do this every winter? It seems like more than normal.

When there's a Lew Wolff budget to be met, that's where Beane has to look to fine his 25 Oakland A's and then some(Sacramento River Cats)

A's starting rotation: Harden, Blanton, Duke, Eveland, Gaudin, DiNardo

River Cats rotations: Gio Gonzalez(Swisher trade), Greg Smith(Haren trade), Dan Meyer(Hudson trade), Dallas Braden(A's system), Kirk Saarloos, Brad Halsey

Other notable starters: Brett Anderson(Haren trade), James Simmons(2007#1 pick)

Beane picked up Foulke off the scrap heap, allows Duke, DiNardo to start this year. Picked up Joey Devine(Kotsay trade) another pen guy for depth.

It's not the who's who of the Cy Young race, but they are innings eaters, I mean with the inevitable Harden injury, Beane can choose from MLB guys or young kids.

[Zito75]

LeCroy was released yesterday... So much for that!

[SABR Matt]

Boy...the As are just loading up on scrap heap guys now...do they do this every winter? It seems like more than normal.

[Zito75]

Did the book Moneyball really adversely affect his career?

I asked him that- And the answer I got was more or less being in the book extended his career. If you look at his stats, he should have been out of baseball by 2006, if not 2007. He toiled in the Minors for quite a while- even Ken Macha said that he was slow to move up levels. Last year when he signed my book, he did mention that he gets very few requests to sign copies of the book these days.

[Hack_Miller]

Did the book Moneyball really adversely affect his career?

I think it could have depending on Jeremy's personality. From the article Beane seemed to feel Jeremy was shy and maybe he didn't cope well with all the attention he got from being in Moneyball. With Jeremy you have to wonder if being known as this great bargain in the draft, as Moneyball took no small pains to mention, really dragged on him when he was in the low minors. Certainly it added a level of expectation that wouldn't have been there otherwise.
Having said that it's really hard to say conclusively that it affected his career. Maybe it just took him too long to adjust to the professional pitching and at 28, with younger guys in the majors at his position, he decided it wasn't going to happen for him.

I do wish him the best.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

This article says that the A's are leaving the door open if Jeremy Brown wants to return.. He was a main subject in Billy Beane's book "Moneyball"!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20080...letics_moves_2

Did the book Moneyball really adversely affect his career?

[Zito75]

This article says that the A's are leaving the door open if Jeremy Brown wants to return.. He was a main subject in Billy Beane's book "Moneyball"!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20080...letics_moves_2

Brown is a cool guy. He signed my copy of Moneyball last year when the 'Cats came to Tucson. I wish him well!

[anna]

The A's have signed Matthew LeCroy to a minor league deal and he's been invited to Spring Training. He'll be taking the roster spot of Moneyballer Jeremy Brown who has announced his retirement effective today. Good luck, Jeremy!

This article says that the A's are leaving the door open if Jeremy Brown wants to return.. He was a main subject in Billy Beane's book "Moneyball"!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20080215/ca_pr_on_ba/bbl_athletics_moves_2

[Zito75]

The A's have signed Matthew LeCroy to a minor league deal and he's been invited to Spring Training. He'll be taking the roster spot of Moneyballer Jeremy Brown who has announced his retirement effective today. Good luck, Jeremy!