Kuzul

Say what you will, but Billy Beane is not averse to making decisive moves. Adding guys like John Jaso and Jed Lowrie may not be as sexy as Josh Hamilton, but the Oakland Athletics have further addressed offseason deficiencies with their moves. With Lowrie in the fold, the A's now have someone with real Major League pop to fill in voids all over the infield. That means players like Eric Sogard and Adam "Skolnick" Rosales have less at-bats in meaningful situations. I like them both, but neither should be hitting more than 70 times a year in the big leagues. The reality is, the A's were not far away last year and the two biggest holes in the lineup have been addressed with a trio of potentially big time upgrades in Jaso, Lowrie, and Hiro Nakajima. Yes, losing Chris Carter has the potential to take home runs away from the lineup. As ...

The Oakland A's have a new sensation in Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, a man who is completely smitten with his general manager, Billy Beane. Then again, he may just be a smitten kitten over the man who played Billy Beane in Moneyball, Brad Pitt.  CBS Sports spotted this tweet from the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser: Nakajima says he wanted to sign with #Athletics because "Billy Beane is extremely sexy and cool."— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) December 18, 2012  Wait, Billy Beane? The guy on the left?The A's have more than a shortstop with a slash line of .311/.382/.451 while playing last year with the Seibu Lions, via NBC Sports. They have a gushing 30-year-old who is completely taken with the dude that hired him. From there, the quotes spiraled into Twitter comedy. This tweet gives us this faux quote we could only hope he would say: "Fight Club was my favorite Billy Beane movie."- Hiroyuki Nakajima— TGWTWS ...

Oakland Atheltics General Manager Billy Beane got into the act of big trades before the World Series even got started. He stepped into the middle of the Miami Marlins trying to dump Heath Bell and walked away with Chris Young in exchange for virtually nothing.Re-energized by the Division Title and possibly by Moneyball being on BlueRay, Billy Beane is looking to make the defending American League West Champions even better in 2013.The Young trade has given the A's a surplus of talented outfielders. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Billy Beane has no intention of trading Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp, Seth Smith, Yoenis Cespedes or Young.But of course he will deal one of them, because there are too many teams that could use a solid outfielder and Beane is too clever to say something like "Man, I got to get rid of at least one of these guys. Let's ...

When people mention the name of Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, many adjectives follow: Overrated, brilliant, shrewd and ring-less are a few. And while there are those who may never give Beane the credit he deserves for having built a solid small-market playoff contender during the 2000s, the job he has done in 2012 simply cannot be overstated.Understand, the A's were simply supposed to be a bad rebuilding team working towards a new stadium in Oakland or elsewhere. It was expected that their nucleus would not be solidified until at least 2014, and this was supposed to be the year when the bottom finally fell out completely to allow the A's to reload through the MLB Draft like the Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays.Instead, the Oakland A's sit on top of the American League Wild Card and a mere four games from the top of the AL West standings. ...

As the 2012 MLB season trickles down to the final stretch, a handful of teams are seeking playoff berths, while others seek vacation destinations following game 162. For the first time since 2006, the Oakland Athletics are putting their postseason paradises on hold. Oakland's midseason surge peaked in July during the 19-5 stint and has yet to fully subside. Boasting a 31-14 record since the All-Star Break break, Bob Melvin's Athletics have patched up their 2012 season quilt with variations of miscellaneous fabrics—and boy, is it warm. Following the series-opening 20-2 demolition of the Boston Red Sox, the A's preserve the top spot in the AL wild card race in front of the Baltimore Orioles on the shoulders of these second-half standouts. Begin Slideshow

After Oakland GM Billy Beane scooped Brandon Inge up when the Detroit Tigers released him at the end of April, I wrote a piece titled, "Brandon Inge's Heroics a Flash in the Pan: Oakland Athletics Need a 3rd Baseman."At the time, Inge had 10 hits, 17 RBI, and four home runs in 39 at-bats, including remarkable stretch of four straight games with four RBI. Inge, incredibly, became only the second player in 80 years to have four RBI in four games over a five-game stretch.The other player to do this? Lou Gehrig.There he was, in Oakland, seemingly rejuvenated by a change of scenery, and Billy Beane's moneyball approach seemed to have worked yet again, with a majority of Inge's $5.5 million salary being picked up by the Tigers.In my article, I mentioned Inge's career slash line of: .234/.304/.387 and the fact that in his last season with the Tigers, he ...

Last year, a player that emerged from obscurity in the Oakland Athletics farm system was third base prospect Stephen Parker.  In 2010 he hit .296, with 21 home runs and 98 RBI, yet coming into 2011 he was still largely overshadowed by fellow prospects Grant Green and Michael Choice.  Despite his breakout 2010 campaign, he solidified his position as the team's third baseman of the future with his consistent and solid play last season.Parker, like Green and Choice, was drafted out of college.  That's usually been Billy Beane's draft philosophy, select players out of college who'll be more prepared for professional ball, and therefore advance through the minors quicker.  In recent years, however, he's started to value high school players more in the earlier rounds.Though a lot less is known about the high school players, there's generally more of an upside to them even though they have the potential to become ...

Do not buy the Oakland Athletics 2012 team calendar for anything other than humorous reasons. As an avid fan, let me explain why. Recently, I was at a Barnes and Noble doing some last-minute holiday shopping, along with what seemed like everyone else in the Bay Area. The store was packed and the shelves barren. I found myself wandering into the calendar section, the only place that didn't look destroyed by Hurricane Procrastination. Scanning the available stock, I was sorely disappointed with myself—socks and calendars rival each other as the most thoughtless gift to give someone. But on Christmas Eve, anything becomes a possibility. Top shelf, at eye level, a green and gold one caught my attention. It was the A's team calendar for 2012, with four players gracing the cover: starting pitchers Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill, closer Andrew Bailey and catcher Kurt Suzuki. At the time, half of those players had already been traded ...

Though Thanksgiving has come and passed, the period of giving thanks and self-reflection for what we are fortunate to have in our lives continues. Athletes, sports franchises and owners are no different. Once in a while, they need to set aside some time for introspection. And in the end, they get to cherish all that they have going for them in the tumultuously wild world of sports ownership. Surprisingly, the Oakland Athletics organization, one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball, has a lot to be grateful for. Despite the worst five-year stretch since their move to Oakland, the A’s should be happy this holiday season. Here are five things the Athletics organization is thankful for.    Begin Slideshow

With the release of the film Moneyball earlier this year, many fans have learned about the fascinating economics of the Oakland Athletics. Specifically, the viewpoints on what the A’s deem to be important—and unimportant—pieces of a baseball roster and the best way they can attain the highest return on their investments. The central theme, obviously, is how to stretch the very little amount of money they have and use those pennies to create the most competitive roster possible. Every year, the cash-starved Athletics use their food stamps to collect oft-injured free agents or to acquire aging veterans through trade. But under Billy Beane’s tenure as general manager, one specific area where the Athletics seem to be the most frugal is the role of closer. In Beane's 14 seasons with the Athletics, eight players have been designated as the true closer, with several others filling in as injury replacements along the ...